lance’s blog

many people think that being holy is an impossible thing. that it is not an easy task to be like St Francis, St Ignatius, St Dominic, etc. well they really are big names in terms of holiness. but we also have little names like St Bernadette, St Dominic Savio, St Therese, though they become magnified due to the impact of their simple lives on the world. everyone of us is called to holiness, in fact, even those who do not know Christ could become holy. it is true that Catholics pride in having the so-called deposit of faith. but let us debate over that now. what matters is that everyone could become holy if only we could LOVE. you see, love is what really matters in this world. without love we could observe and experience indifference, conflict, war, hatred, anger, and many other negative things. but when we love there’s no room for anything negative. when we are friends there’s no reason for conflict, even competition. you know, only humans love to compete. but God doesn’t really care about the records we glory about such as being the fastest runner, the athelet with the most medals in an Olympic, the person whose feat has not been oveshadowed in the Guinness Book of World Records, or the perosn whose capability becomes a subject of Ripley’s. of course God has given us various skills, talents, etc. but these are not for the sake of glorifying ourselves but of giving honor to Him and uplifting the lives of our fellowmen who have less in life. God is not unfair. if He is He would not have made heroes out of children like David. He would not have chosen a poor couple like Mary and Joseph to be the earthly parents of His only begotten Son, Jesus. He would not have given this Son to be crucified on the Cross for our sake. God’s only concern is the good of everyone and He is opening up His doors to everyone through the invitation to Divine Friendship. hence I would like to encourage you to become one of those who respond to this invitation. let us be friends of God for holiness is not that difficult. we only have to LOVE. it might not so appealing or easy to do at first but when you get the feel of it, just like being a great athlete, a record holder, or a famous subject of Ripley’s, you can live your life as holy as others have been while on earth. come one, let us be holy and be God’s friends!

each day of our lives we wake up, do our things, and sleep. many of us do some other things in between waking up and sleeping. but many live their usual boring lives. however, we are being given that option to do more than what we usually do in between waking and sleeping. and we could do things that would benefit all of us instead of destroying some. friendship is one thing that would bring order in this world. this site, friendster.com has been doing something good for us. each one of us who enter into this site could contribute further by being friends with others who do not have access to the Internet. we are only about 45,000,000 out of the total population of the world which is about 7,000,000,000 right now. i am therefore challenging each one to make use of this site not only through the Internet but also through other means of communicating especially without the use of advanced technology because as I have said not everyone has an access to the Internet. let us do our part in spreading the Gospel of Holy Friendship and if ever you do not understand what holy means just consider being love in a general way, that is, being with everyone including the environment. this way we can build a betetr world and sustain nature and everyone else in this lonely ship sailing in a universe of stars and planets and comets and meteors which we call the Earth! God bless us all!

i believe this site has been inspired by God in order to spread something more than mere human friendship, I believe He has made us a site in order to spread the Gospel of Holy Friendship. the Lord Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospel according to John, Chapter 15, verses 12 to 17, discusses the invitation of God to man to enter into a divine relationship never before discussed in the Bible. In fact, only one person has been tagged as God’s friend in the Holy Sciptures and it’s only Abraham. even Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, King David and others didn’t earn such a privilege. yet, through the sacrifice of the Lord we became honored to be invited into the regat family of God and be privileged to become His friends. I am therefore inviting everyone to enter in to this divine relationship and spread the Gospel of Holy Friendship to tohers through this site and other sites!

god bless the friendster.com and its members!

this city is destined for greatness. but it can only be great if its people will unite. it can only be great if its leaders exert political will.

when it was established by the Spanish colonizers the natives lived in scattered hamlets. but the Spanish only knew too well that progress and security could be established only when the people move into a community and live together for the purpose of attaining a single vision.

from its simple beginnings it has risen into the capital of the eastern province of the Island of Samar. it has the advantage of being located at the center of the province, at the very heart of this land facing the western portion of the Pacific Ocean. it has the privilege of being chosen as the center of the province’s economic and social activity. through these opportunities she has achieved the honor of cityhood recently.

amidst the opposition of some who thought she doesn’t have the prerequisites of what a city should be, she managed to muster a wide margin of votes for her to become a city. much is to be done though - these has to be challenges she has to face.

being a city means a bigger share in the IRA and consequently a bigger responsibility to the people and to the national government. being a city means a greater independence from the provincial government hence its leaders need to have the political will to enforce laws and ordinances so that the city will attain the level of progress and development befitting its new status, that of a city!

perhaps some of the people who opposed her conversion into a city deserve to be congratulated for raising points of arguments against her viability to become a city. but since being a city doesn’t mean an overnight change, Borongan could do well that for the next few years she slowly undergo that transition from being a mere municipality into a city.

the ingredients for a successful transition are political will of the leaders and cooperation of the constituents. without these, no amount of IRA increase or infusion of cash by investors could achieve for Borongan the true development and prorgess being envisioned by those who supported its objective of becoming a city.

let us unite therefore and move as one towards our goal of progress and development. as the late Pope Paul VI stated in his encyclical Populorum Progressio (On the Progress of the Peoples), development is the new name for peace! without development there could be no peace. just look at the examples that aboud everywhere. we need not enumerate them. the mere fact that troubles abound is that people do not enjoy at least the basic needs of life. if we could meet these basic needs, everything else will follow.

and mind you, development doesn’t only mean economic, political and social. moral and spiritual aspects must also be taken into consideration for without these the City of Borongan will never be GREAT really!

june 20, 2007, 11:15 pm

our town was proclaimed a city after the plebiscite to ratify the charter converting it into a city turned out a resounding victory for the YES vote (10,176 against the 3,452 NO votes).

personally i was apprehensive of this conversion into a city. i was thinking of the capacity of the people to be responsible enough to make the city a place to live in - with true peace, order and security, with development being attained not only in the physical aspect but in its totality - morally, socially, spiritually, etc.

i really wanted to say NO.

but after a serious reflection i considered it instead as a challenge, of being able to overcome the fears of cityhood, and being able to contribute what i can for the betterment of this locality, of this community.

we do not know what lies ahead. but we can prepare and be ready when the future comes. we must be steadfast amidst the troubles that lie ahead and remain committed whatever problem comes our way. being a city is not a joke, as the league of cities state in their opposition to the cityhood of the new cities, "it is a serious business."

yeah. we should really be serious in making our cityhood work. we must not glory for a day, during the moment of triumph which is the proclamation of our town being a city already. the real moment of triumph is when we are able to make our city a safer place to live, a better community to stay, and a more peaceful locality where our children would develop into really productive members of the society and where development would take place successfully, although not without any hitch which is part of any struggle.

for now, let us take pride as we savor the sweetness of having the YES vote triumph over the NO vote amidst the opposition of those who fear cityhood. but when the time comes to really savor the true fruits of cityhood, let us remember that without their opposition we would not be challenged to succeed, to excel and to achieve true development by which time we shall fully enjoy the real moment of triumph!