MikeLigalig.com

bantay dili mo fall.

Quote from: taga tigbao on May 27, 2013, 03:40:31 PM
Haha. Part-time ra Bro. After office hours. I need to shake off pud the constant boredom of accounting works.

Off topic ni, but i had a recent conversation with my good friend JR. He's getting ordained this summer 2013, btw! He asked me recently about my life and i updated him on my work and studies. Straight to the point lagi ni si JR, "Brother Lorenzo, so you're studying again? Why don't you study the seminary?"

hahahaha!

na nganga na pod ko.

Hahaha! pariho pod diay ta, bro. Full time sa hospital, pero part time sa college mo teach. Extra incompe pod ba, intawon...

Hehehe! Bro, off topic ni ha, you're a teacher na diay? Ka ingon ko you're an accountant.

Why you need to be in a state of grace for Communion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU0XZ0g7Y8o#ws

Brother Jim Akins does a wonderful job in his explanation!

Does God love Lucifer?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAnDmYnjH-w#ws

Does excommunication condemn someone to hell?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=271I0gb0Ns4#ws

Brother Jim Akins does a GREAT job!!

We need to dispense the proper information with them, bro.

1. Repentance

2. Faith in Jesus Christ

3. Baptism

What do Catholics believe about Salvation?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0c_iyxNb4g#ws

Theologically speaking, the term pride is used to describe an excessive or unjustified love for oneself and one’s accomplishments. Colloquially speaking, pride is used to signify pleasure or satisfaction in those things or persons that reflect well on a person or those related to that person. In the colloquial sense, when pride is justified and not excessive, there is nothing wrong with being proud of oneself or of others.

It is more spiritually edifying to cultivate a sense of gratitude rather than pride, particularly when it concerns those things that cannot be credited entirely to one’s own accomplishment. In the examples you gave, it would be better to say that one is grateful for the graces to be Catholic and to have had a successful marriage. Gratitude fosters a sense of humility because it focuses on othersâ€"such as God and neighborâ€"rather than on oneself.




http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/is-it-right-to-be-proud-of-some-things

Is it right to be proud of some things?

Hehehe, okay lang, bro. Their cult is only 100 years old. Holy Mother Church is over 2 thousand years old..empires have risen, fallen, nations made and destroyed. Cults have come and disappeared but Holy Mother Church is still here standing strong and lighting the way for all. Let's just pray for our dear friends in the INC. May God shed light on them.

In the words of Brod Vince, "Boom!"

A good rule of thumb is not to say anything that we wouldn’t want said about us.

http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/when-does-communicating-information-turn-into-gossip

When does communicating information turn into gossip?

Unless the matter under discussion is a common news item, when someone’s gossip negatively alters the opinion another has regarding a third person, one has committed a grave action. If it is done with full knowledge and deliberate consent, the grave action then becomes a mortal sin. Gossip is a far more serious matter than most of us like to consider.

 

http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/when-does-gossip-become-a-mortal-sin

When does gossip become grave enough to be considered a mortal sin?

Hehehehe ! When the Church says it, She says it alright...

It is only partly correct. Laicization is a process which takes from a priest or other cleric the licit use of his powers, rights, and authority. Laicization occurs automatically when a priest, deacon, or monk marries or joins the military without permission. Major clerics (priests and deacons) are directly laicized through their superiors by the penalty of degradation. The Holy See also has the privilege of laicizing major clerics.

Laicized clerics are forbidden to wear clerical dress or to perform ceremonies or to administer the sacraments ordinary to their former offices. Priests who are laicized are required to continue practicing celibacy, although dispensations from this discipline are frequently given. Otherwise, laicization renders a cleric for ecclesiastical purposes the equivalent of a layman.

The supernatural mark of holy orders and the powers connected with the sacrament (especially for the priest) remain even after laicization, although they cannot be used licitly. A laicized priest has the power to confect the Eucharist. Although to the world he may live as a layman, in a sense "once a priest, always a priest."


http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/does-laicization-remove-a-priests-powers

Does laicization remove a priest's powers?

Seventh-day Adventism is not a cult. It does promote some strange ideas, including some with a decidedly anti-Catholic foundation, but it is a genuinely Christian denomination. Its members are both validly baptized Christians and theologically Christian in their beliefs (unlike, for example, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are neither).


http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/is-seventh-day-adventism-a-cult

Is Seventh-day Adventism a cult?

The Rosicrucians are an occult sect originating in either the 15th or 17th century, depending on which account you accept. The latter is the more plausible and involves the 1610 publication by Johann Valentine Andrea of a work called Fama Fraternitatis, which purported to be a history of a society of mystical healers begun by the German scholar Christian Rosenkreuz. Though this "history" was later admitted to be a complete fabrication, the concept of a brotherhood of men interested in science, medicine, and occultism was a fashionable one at the time and took root in Germany; the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross spread also to England.

The history of this movement becomes vague after the end of the 17th century, and little is known of it until 1866, when modern Rosicrucianism was organized as a branch of Freemasonry. It spread from England to the United States and then back to Continental Europe, and by the end of the 19th century, Rosicrucians had established numerous lodges, colleges, and regional headquarters throughout the Western world.

Rosicrucian theology is vague and undefined. It has borrowed certain Christian concepts while rejecting others, viewing "all things as complicitly and ideally in God" and tending toward a kind of pantheism. Here there are similarities (unsurprisingly) with the occultic religion of upper-level Freemasonry. Despite their name, the Rosicrucians are not a Christian denomination, nor even a quasi-Christian sect; a Catholic should have nothing to do with them.

http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/who-are-the-rosicrucians-what-do-they-believe-and-why-do-they-believe-it

Who are the Rosicrucians, what do they believe, and why do they believe it?

NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004

IMPRIMATUR: In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004


http://www.catholic.com/tracts/iglesia-ni-cristo

Did Christ’s Church Apostatize?

The doctrines upon which all Iglesia’s other doctrines depend is its teaching that Christ’s Church apostatized in the early centuries. Like Mormonism, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other fringe groups, Iglesia asserts that the early Christian Church suffered a total apostasy. It believes in "the complete disappearance of the first-century Church of Christ and the emergence of the Catholic Church" (Pasugo, July-Aug. 1979, 8 ).

But Jesus promised that his Church would never apostatize. He told Peter, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). If his Church had apostatized, then the gates of hell would have prevailed against it, making Christ a liar.

In other passages, Christ teaches the same truth. In Matthew 28:20 he said, "I am with you always even until the end of the world." And in John 14:16, 18 he said, "And I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever ... I will not leave you desolate."

If Iglesia members accept the apostasy doctrine, they make Christ a liar. Since they believe Jesus Christ is not a liar, they are ignoring what Christ promised, and their doctrine contradicts Scripture.

They are, however, fulfilling Scripture. While Jesus taught that his Church would never apostatize, the Bible does teach that there will be a great apostasy, or falling away from the Church. Paul prophesies: "[Do not] be quickly shaken in mind or excited . . . to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion [Greek: apostasia] comes first" (2 Thess. 2:2â€"3); "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Tim. 4:1); and, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own liking, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths" (2 Tim. 4:3â€"4). By falling away from the Church, members of Iglesia are committing precisely the kind of apostasy of which they accuse the Catholic Church.

The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:1: "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world." Was Felix Manalo a true prophet? Is his church the "true Church?" If we test the claims of Iglesia ni Cristo, the answer is apparent. His total apostasy doctrine is in flat contradiction to Christ’s teaching. There is no way that Iglesia ni Cristo can be the true Church of Christ.

The Name Game

Iglesia points to its name as proof it is the true Church. They argue, "What is the name of Christ’s Church, as given in the Bible? It is the ‘Church of Christ.’ Our church is called the ‘Church of Christ.’ Therefore, ours is the Church Christ founded."

Whether or not the exact words "Church of Christ" appear in the Bible is irrelevant, but since Iglesia makes it an issue, it is important to note that the phrase "Church of Christ" never once appears in the Bible.

The verse Iglesia most often quotes on this issue is Romans 16:16: "Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you " (Pasugo, November 1973, 6). But the phrase in this verse is "churches of Christ." And it’s not a technical name. Paul is referring to a collection of local churches, not giving an organizational name.

To get further "proof" of its name, Iglesia cites Acts 20:28: "Take heed therefore . . . to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood" (Lamsa translation; cited in Pasugo, April 1978). But the Lamsa translation is not based on the original Greek, the language in which the book of Acts was written. In Greek, the phrase is "the church of God" (tan ekklasian tou Theou) not "the church of Christ" (tan ekklasian tou Christou). Iglesia knows this, yet it continues to mislead its members.

Even if the phrase "church of Christ" did appear in the Bible, it would not help Iglesia’s case. Before Manalo started his church, there were already groups calling themselves "the Church of Christ." There are several Protestant denominations that call themselves Church of Christ and use exactly the same argument. Of course, they aren’t the true Church for the same reason Iglesia isn’tâ€"because they were not founded by Christ.

Iglesia Prophesied?

A pillar of Iglesia belief is that its emergence in the Philippines was prophesied in the Bible. This idea is supposedly found in Isaiah 43:5â€"6, which states, "Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, ‘Give up,’ and the south, ‘Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth.’"

Iglesia argues that in this verse, Isaiah is referring to the "far east" and that this is the place where the "Church of Christ" will emerge in the last days. This point is constantly repeated in Iglesia literature: "The prophecy stated that God’s children shall come from the far east" (Pasugo, March 1975, 6).

But the phrase "far east" is not in the text. In fact, in the Tagalog (Filipino) translation, as well as in the original Hebrew, the words "far" and "east" are not even found in the same verse, yet the Iglesia recklessly combine the two verses to translate "far east." Using this fallacious technique, Iglesia claims that the far east refers to the Philippines.

Iglesia is so determined to convince its followers of this "fact" that it quotes Isaiah 43:5 from an inexact paraphrase by Protestant Bible scholar James Moffatt that reads, "From the far east will I bring your offspring." Citing this mistranslation, one Iglesia work states, "Is it not clear that you can read the words ‘far east’? Clear! Why does not the Tagalog Bible show them? That is not our fault, but that of those who translated the Tagalog Bible from Englishâ€"the Catholics and Protestants" (Isang Pagbubunyag Sa Iglesia ni Cristo, 1964:131). The Iglesia accuses everyone else of mistranslating the Bible, when it is Iglesia that is taking liberties with the original language.

God’s Messenger?

A litmus test for any religious group is the credibility of its founder in making his claims. Felix Manalo’s credibility and, consequently, his claims, are impossible to take seriously. He claimed to be "God’s messenger," divinely chosen to re-establish the true Church which, according to Manalo, disappeared in the first century due to apostasy. It was his role to restore numerous doctrines that the Church had abandoned. A quick look at Manalo’s background shows where these doctrines came from: Manalo stole them from other quasi-Christian religious sects.

Manalo was baptized a Catholic, but he left the Church as a teen. He became a Protestant, going through five different denominations, including the Seventh-day Adventists. Finally, Manalo started his own church in 1914. In 1919, he left the Philippines because he wanted to learn more about religion. He came to America, to study with Protestants, whom Iglesia would later declare to be apostates, just like Catholics. Why, five years after being called by God to be his "last messenger," did Manalo go to the U.S. to learn from apostates? What could God’s messenger learn from a group that, according to Iglesia, had departed from the true faith?

The explanation is that, contrary to his later claims, Manalo did not believe himself to be God’s final messenger in 1914. He didn’t use the last messenger doctrine until 1922. He appears to have adopted the messenger doctrine in response to a schism in the Iglesia movement. The schism was led by Teogilo Ora, one of its early ministers. Manalo appears to have developed the messenger doctrine to accumulate power and re-assert his leadership in the church.

This poses a problem for Iglesia, because if Manalo had been the new messenger called by God in 1914, why didn’t he tell anybody prior to 1922? Because he didn’t think of it until 1922. His situation in this respect parallels that of Mormonism’s founder Joseph Smith, who claimed that when he was a boy, God appeared to him in a vision and told him all existing churches were corrupt and he was not to join them, that he would lead a movement to restore God’s true Church. But historical records show that Smith did join an inquirer’s class at an established Protestant church after his supposed vision from God. It was only in later years that Smith came up with his version of the "true messenger" doctrine, proving as much of an embarrassment for the Mormon church as Manalo’s similar doctrine does for Iglesia

Is Christ God?

The Catholic teaching that most draws Iglesia’s fire is Christ’s divinity. Like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Iglesia claims that Jesus Christ is not God but a created being.

Yet the Bible is clear: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). We know Jesus is the Word because John 1:14 tells us, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." God the Father was not made flesh; it was Jesus, as even Iglesia admits. Jesus is the Word, the Word is God, therefore Jesus is God. Simple, yet Iglesia won’t accept it.

In Deuteronomy 10:17 and 1 Timothy 6:15, God the Father is called the "Lord of lords," yet in other New Testament passages this divine title is applied directly to Jesus. In Revelation 17:14 we read, "They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings." And in Revelation 19:13â€"16, John sees Jesus "clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. . . . On his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords."

The fact that Jesus is God is indicated in numerous places in the New Testament. John 5:18 states that Jewish leaders sought to kill Jesus "because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God." Paul also states that Jesus was equal with God (Phil. 2:6). But if Jesus is equal with the Father, and the Father is a God, then Jesus is a God. Since there is only one God, Jesus and the Father must both be one Godâ€"one God in at least two persons (the Holy Spirit, of course, is the third person of the Trinity).

The same is shown in John 8:56â€"59, where Jesus directly claims to be Yahweh ("I AM"). "‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad.’ The Jews then said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’ So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple." Jesus’ audience understood exactly what he was claiming; that is why they picked up rocks to stone him. They considered him to be b.aspheming God by claiming to be Yahweh.

The same truth is emphasized elsewhere. Paul stated that we are to live "awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). And Peter addressed his second epistle to "those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 1:1).

Jesus is shown to be God most dramatically when Thomas, finally convinced that Jesus has risen, falls down and exclaims, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28)â€"an event many in Iglesia have difficulty dealing with. When confronted with this passage in a debate with Catholic Answers founder Karl Keating, Iglesia apologist Jose Ventilacion replied with a straight face, "Thomas was wrong."

The Iglesia ni Cristo (Tagalog, "Church of Christ") claims to be the true Church established by Christ. Felix Manalo, its founder, proclaimed himself God’s prophet. Many tiny sects today claim to be the true Church, and many individuals claim to be God’s prophet. What makes Iglesia ni Cristo different is that it is not as tiny as others.

Since it was founded in the Philippines in 1914, it has grown to more than two hundred congregations in sixty-seven countries outside the Philippines, including an expanding United States contingent. The Iglesia keeps the exact number of members secret, but it is estimated to be between three million and ten million worldwide. It is larger than the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a better known sect (which also claims to be Christ’s true Church). Iglesia is not better known, despite its numbers, because the majority of Iglesia’s members are Filipino. Virtually the only exceptions are a few non-Filipinos who have married into Iglesia families.

The organization publishes two magazines, Pasugo and God’s Message, which devote most of their energies toward condemning other Christian churches, especially the Catholic Church. The majority of the Iglesia’s members are ex-Catholics. The Philippines is the only dominantly Catholic nation in the Far East, with eighty-four percent of its population belonging to the Church. Since this is its largest potential source of converts, Iglesia relies on anti-Catholic scare tactics as support for its own doctrines, which cannot withstand biblical scrutiny. The Iglesia tries to convince people of its doctrines not by proving they are right, but by attempting to prove the Catholic Church’s teachings are wrong.

Both the Sadducees and the Pharisees were religious parties in Jesus' day. Both were critical of and were criticized by Jesus.

The Sadducees thought of themselves as "conservatives," as the Old Believers. This is because they accepted only the written Law of Moses as authoritative and rejected subsequent revelation. As a result, the Sadducees denied many of the doctrines held by the Pharisees and by Jesus, including the resurrection of the dead, the existence of angels and spirits, and the meting out of rewards and punishment after death. These beliefs were thought by the Sadducees to be Zoroastrian corruptions of the authentic faith of Israel.

Although a religious party, the Sadducees were more important as a political force. They represented the priestly aristocracy and the power structure of Israel. For them, the duties of religion centered primarily around the Temple.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, were a lay group more representative of the common man. In addition to the written Law of Moses, the Pharisees accepted as authoritative the rest of what is for us the Old Testament, as well as the "tradition of the elders."

Whereas the Sadducees saw worship at the Temple as the main focus of the Law, the Pharisees believed this to be but one component among many of proper Mosaic observance. It was over the interpretation of the Law and which understanding of it represented the authentic tradition of Israel that Jesus and the Pharisees disagreed.

After the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, Sadducaic Judaism disappeared and Pharisaic Judaism became dominant. It is from the Pharisees, then, that contemporary Judaism is primarily descended.

http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/please-explain-the-difference-between-the-sadducees-and-the-pharisees-in-the-gospels

Please explain the difference between the Sadducees and the Pharisees in the Gospels.

(Page 2 of 2)

he just followed their formulaic approach to religious living. These words need to be shouted in some places in our own day. Job was fully surrendered to God. He refused to turn God into an object for His own use. He grasped the true mystery of a faith that really saves.

When we first encounter the friends of Job at the beginning of the Book they seem empathetic, tearing their cloaks, weeping and even spending a week with him in his anguish. But, their feigned compassion ends all too soon. They have something to tell Job, that is why they really came to be with him. They were not compassionate, in the Biblical sense. The ancient words in Hebrew and Greek translated as compassion in English mean to suffer with.

They had no interest in entering into Jobs pain but in blaming him and his behavior for it. After all, they had this whole faith thing figured out and they were going to enlighten him with their higher knowledge. Sound familiar? Perhaps in contemporary circles they would have given him the latest teaching from their superstar pastor or the new speaker making the circuit who had it all figured out, along with some formulaic use of bible texts to prove their point.

Or, perhaps they would have given him the latest popular book from the local Christian book store promising that if he just followed these seven, or eight or even twelve steps, all the pain would go away. After all, Jobs life was a mess, right? He was obviously not really living for God or he would not be suffering or abandoned. Right?
Wrong!

These -wearisome comforters- (Job 16:2-4), as Job later calls them, reveal their true agendas in their errant assessment of Jobs suffering and their false recommendations for his deliverance from them. They think they have the answer for life's deepest mystery, suffering. They do not. No one does. In their counterfeit answers we find one of the greatest dangers to authentic faith.
These false teachings are still wreaking havoc in too many lives.

In response to their long winded discourse, Job tells them all to be to be silent because they are -uttering falsehoods- and offering -vain remedies. So, in our day, the self appointed guardians of the formulas are still wrong.

Oh, for the voice of a Job in some of our contemporary Christian communities. Enough of the formulas, the claims to hidden knowledge (a new form of Gnosticism) and the claims of being able to manipulate the power of God to achieve our own ends (a new kind of simony). The byways are filled with wounded people who have suffered as a result of such poor teaching.

Let's look at their explanations of Jobs difficulties for a moment. I know they will sound familiar to you. Elephaz the Temanite tells Job that God is mad at Him (Job 5). Bildad the Shuhite tells Job that his misfortunes are his own fault. (Job . Finally, Zophar the Naamathite tells Job that he is being punished. (Job 11). All of them were wrong then - and their spiritual descendants are just as wrong today.

Job was right. In fact, he was living in the heart of God's will. When Job was stripped of what his fairweather friends believed were the -proofs- of Gods favor, he found the greatest treasure of all, the beautiful poverty of purified Love. He found the richness reserved for those who love God for God's sake. Jobs fairweather friends told him that his loss and difficulties were his fault, but Job knew better. In his unwavering hope in God's love and mercy we find the way of purified, living faith.

The Lord not only heard the prayer of this faithful servant Job but He also spoke to these fairweather riends of Job in these words addressed to Elephaz the Temanite: -I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

In sincere contrition, Job acknowledged in a profound dialogue with God that he simply did not understand His mind on these kinds of matters. He repented for his lack of trust and even interceded for these fairweather friends who had wrongly accused him (Job 42:. After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord again made him prosperous. Oh, there was quite an encounter between Job and the Lord. It is well worth reading.

Job showed his humility and the Lord restored him after strongly, but lovingly, instructing him. His brothers, sisters and those who knew him before the struggles came and dined with him. The Lord gave him double what he had lost; fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. He had seven sons, three daughters and lived a hundred and forty years. He saw his children and his grandchildren to the fourth generation.

The greatest gift that God gave to Job was real, purified faith. God answered Jobs' sincere, heartfelt prayer for insight into his struggles when He spoke to him -out of a storm (Job 38). That's right, God was right there in that storm! He always is. He always turns the difficulties, struggles, pain, betrayals, loss in each of our lives to good, as St Paul would centuries later remind the early Christians (Romans 8:28).

This stormy encounter between Job and God is reminiscent of another storm, the one we read about in the New Testament on the Sea of Galilee. There, the disciples were with God Incarnate, Jesus Christ in a boat (Matthew 8: 23-27). He was asleep. Terrified, they woke Him and He calmed the storm. In His sacred humanity, asleep in that boat, he showed them an important truth they would later come to grasp as they lived their lives as witnesses for Jesus Christ.

He was already there, right in the storm, they just needed to trust and rest in Him. In Jesus Christ, this God of Job came among us in the flesh. In His sacred humanity He reveals the way to live free of fear, even in the midst of the struggles and storms of life. He emptied Himself out of perfect love for the whole human race.

Jesus still seeks men and women who will love in that same way, following Him along His Way and not their own. He calls them the poor in spirit and gives them His kingdom. These are the ones who really know how to love and how to live. They do not love for a return but love for Loves' sake.

Job did not follow God because He was so good to him, but because He is God. So should we. When we encounter the inevitability of loss, suffering, difficulties and persecution in our lives, as we certainly will, we must always beware of the fairweather friends of Job. We must also choose to follow the One who never sleeps nor slumbers.


http://www.catholic.org/homily/yearoffaith/story.php?id=51060&page=2

One of the most profound of biblical characters is the man named Job. The book which bears his name is rich with insights about real life. It is profound, disturbing, and yet incredibly helpful precisely because it reveals something of importance. Things aren't always the way they seem - or feel.

Yet, - in the words of the Psalmist David - God "never sleeps not slumbers". (Psalm 121:4)

This is a troubling and difficult time for many people. Over and over again, I hear the sad stories of financial setback as the U.S. economy struggles. People are watching their retirement funds, their homes and their savings, seem to vanish. When we look around us it seems our culture is in collapse as it rejects the moral foundations of a free society.

I have seen an increase in serious illness in the lives of good people whom I love. I -and those whom I love the most - have had relational, emotional and physical struggles on almost every front. Sound familiar? Let's be honest. Life is often difficult. That is the case even when you are praying and being as faithful as you can to Lord and His Church.

Pain just seems to be a part of the program. The real question is what do we do with it.

Recently, one of my dearest friends experienced betrayal at the hands of someone in whom he had placed a great deal of trust. He is struggling with sorting it all out and experiencing one of the worst kinds of suffering, betrayal. I can only listen to his pain, pray with and for him, and tell him I understand.

It does not take the pain or disillusionment away.

I have experienced my share of fair-weather friends in my life. You know the kind that I mean. They are there with you when everything is flourishing, claiming they have your back. They love to be there in the picture with you, smiling and enjoying identification with someone who is perceived as successful, whether it is on the financial, career or even the spiritual front.

However, when the storms come and the leaves begin to fall, when the difficulties of life throw a proverbial wrench in the works, they are quickly gone, having dropped you, as they say, like a bad habit. However, in my later years, I have begun to understand there is an even worse kind of false friend.

These are the ones I refer to as the friends of Job. I believe that most of us have experienced them. The sooner we come to understand the danger that their false posturing poses, the happier we will all be. These are the folks who claim to have somehow figured God all out - as though the Christian life were some kind of puzzle - and they are very willing to tell you why things are not going easily in your life.

They often act as though following the Lord Jesus Christ involves living out a formula. They fail to speak of the fact that those who embrace His way will walk, as He did, along a rugged road. After all, we follow in the footsteps of a Savior who, in His greatest act of Love, His self giving embrace of death on a Cross, was deemed by most who witnessed it to be His complete failure. These friends of Job are quick to wrongly judge when difficulties come into the lives of good people, as they inevitably will.

These friends of Job seem to be everywhere these days. Sadly, some even occupy the pulpits of some of America's fastest growing churches in certain Christian communities. They fill the airwaves with claims of health, wealth, prosperity and blessing for those who really -get- the Gospel, at least the Gospel they preach. Sometimes, what they are preaching is what St Paul warned of as - another gospel - (Gal. 1:6), one which reduces our walk with God to following a formula.

The Book of Job reveals a truth about authentic spirituality which I want to address.

The background of the Book is a dispute between Satan, whom the New Testament rightly refers to as the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10), and God. Satan contends that Job served God for what He got from Him not for who God is. How rampant is this kind of self interested service of God in some of the Christian circles in our own time? How many self styled teachers seek to reduce Christian living to formulas?

At the beginning of this book we find the mystery of true faith, authentic spirituality. After his own wife told him to -curse God and die- Job spoke these words of caution and then wisdom to her, - Are even you going to speak as senseless women do? We accept good things from God; and should we not accept evil? (Job 2:10)

Later, in the midst of his discourse with three friends, he added the following acclamation which gets to the heart of the mettle of this man named Job, -even if he slay me, I will hope in Him. (Job 13:15)

These words were spoken to the self professed experts who had come to tell him how he could get out of the mess if ...

The friends of Job

(Page 2 of 2)

reconciled. The Second Vatican Council used this phrase and reaffirmed another Patristic Image of the Church as a seed of the kingdom.

Some of the confusion concerning our relationship to the world comes from the remnant of one of the early heresies in Christian history, Manichaeism. The followers of that error believed that matter was evil. That is NOT the Christian belief. We profess in our Creed a belief in a bodily resurrection and the coming of a new heaven and new earth!

Yet this error of viewing matter as evil - and the world, by extension, as a place to be avoided - still infects. It can lead to a kind ghetto mentality whereby Christians withdraw from the world. Some of the confusion can also arise because of the differing ways the phrase - the world - is used in the New Testament.

There is the world that God created and looked upon and said - it is good. (See e.g. Genesis, chapter 1). That world is still good. It is filled with beauty and reflects the Divine artist and architect who made it. That world He entrusted to the crown of his creation - man and woman.

Then there is a system, a culture of death and use, which has squeezed God out of His rightful place and substituted idols. That system is also called the world in the bible. (See, e.g. James 4:4). We are not to love that world, in the sense of giving ourselves over to its dominion. We are to reject that system in order to free those enchained by its lies.

The Father wants to bring the entire human race back into a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Those who live in Jesus Christ are sent on mission into the world in order to bring all men and women into the new world of the Church.

We need to become salty Christians who bring the flavor of God's Love and Life into a world which has lost its flavor and gone flat. We can also help to prevent the further decay. The power to effect redemptive change in the world comes from the life of God within us.

Along with the metaphor of salt, Jesus also used leaven or yeast in His parables. For example, \"Again he said, \"To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.\" (Luke 13: 18 - 21)

It is amazing how little leaven it takes to raise a loaf of bread. That is because within those little particles of yeast is found the power to ferment, to change the lump of wet dough into a loaf of aromatic, tasty, nourishing bread. However, the power contained within that yeast is not activated unless it is mixed and kneaded into the dough.

Once you work the leaven in, it is still hidden to the eye but how it transforms that loaf! So it is with Christians within human culture! The power within us is the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead (See Romans 8:11)! All we are asked to do is to mix it up. We have to get in the loaf. We must be in the world - where Jesus is - in order to be used to accomplish His ongoing work of redemption.

Leaven that is not used in time spoils and loses its capacity to ferment that dough; it must be active or it becomes useless. Salt also can become useless. That leaven must be in the dough to effect its extraordinary change. That salt must be sprinkled.

So it is with you and me. We must be in the world to effect its transformation.

We are invited to help to bring the world back to God. This mindset has inspired great missionary ages in the past and brought extraordinary changes to entire cultures. It can once again! However, it begins one person, one grain, at a time.

The seed of the kingdom has been planted within us. And now, we become the seed, the salt and the leaven for the Divine Sower who continues His redemptive mission in a world waiting to be reborn in Him.

Let us become salty Christians in a world without flavor, rotting from within.

http://www.catholic.org/homily/yearoffaith/story.php?id=51073&page=2

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - At the end of today's Gospel passage from St. Mark (Mk. 9: 41 -50), after Jesus emphasized the importance of avoiding all temptations to sin, Jesus offered what appears to be a cryptic admonition to his disciples:

"Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another."

What did He mean?

The Jerome Biblical Commentary reflecting on the passage notes, \"Salt and fire suggest the purification the disciples will undergo through persecution and suffering.\"

The Venerable Bede suggested a further insight, \"Everyone will be salted with fire, says Jesus, because spiritual wisdom must purify all the elect of any kind of corruption through carnal desire. Or he may be speaking of the fire of tribulation, which exercises the patience of the faithful to enable them to reach perfection\"

These words are offered within the context of the Lord's instructions on true greatness. They follow right after he had placed a child in their midst in order to show them what it meant to become the servant of all.  The context directs us, his contemporary disciples, to reflect upon our response to the Lord's invitation to follow Him.

We are salted with fire, through the struggles and hardships we inevitably face as we seek to live the fullness of the Gospel as taught by the Catholic Church. We are all called to holiness within our own state in life and vocation. In a culture and an age which increasingly rejects God and His Ways, we are to live differently. This will offend many who have been seduced by the age.

We will struggle as we seek to cooperate with grace and grow in holiness, in order to reflect more fully the character of Christ. We will deal daily with what the Tradition calls concupiscence. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:

"St. John distinguishes three kinds of covetousness or concupiscence: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. (1 John 2:16) In the Catholic catechetical tradition, the ninth commandment forbids carnal concupiscence; the tenth forbids coveting another\'s goods."

Etymologically, \"concupiscence\" can refer to any intense form of human desire. Christian theology has given it a particular meaning: the movement of the sensitive appetite contrary to the operation of the human reason. The apostle St. Paul identifies it with the rebellion of the \"flesh\" against the \"spirit.\" (Cf. Gal 5:16,17,24; Eph 2:3) Concupiscence stems from the disobedience of the first sin. It unsettles man\'s moral faculties and, without being in itself an offense, inclines man to commit sins."(CCC #2514, 2515)

So we will face ongoing struggle, both within and without. That is if we truly want to respond more fully to the Lord's call in our own lives. We are being salted and we are called to become salt. In a compilation of his homilies entitled Friends with God, St. Jose Maria Escriva prays:

\"May Our Lord be able to use us so that, placed as we are at all the cross-roads of the world - and at the same time placed in God - we become salt, leaven and light. Yes, you are to be in God, to enlighten, to give flavor, to produce growth and new life. But don\'t forget that we are not the source of this light: we only reflect it.\" (St. Jose Maria Escriva, Friends of God, 250)

Jesus used salt as an image in his parables because salt was used in multiple ways which are not as common in our own experience. Salt was used to preserve and purify food as well as to flavor and to cure it. His hearers knew this.

St. Matthew records these words: \"You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."  (Matt. 5: 13)

We have been baptized into Jesus Christ and now live our lives in His Body, the Church, of which we are members. He lives His life in and through us. He reveals Himself to a world which desperately needs Him - through us.

This is why we need to be continually salted with fire. So that we can more fully reflect His Divine Life for others. We also need to become salt for a world which has lost its flavor and is decaying. We need to help to preserve the good, cure, and hold back the decay caused by sin.

The Father still loves the world and sends His Son to save it. (John 3: 16)  That continues through you and me. He has placed us in the world with redemptive purpose. Jesus now walks into the world through His Body, the Church, of which we are members. We live in the Church and go into the world.

As Christians we are called to love the world as God loves the world. One of the titles that the Fathers of the Church used to describe the Church was - the world ...

At the end of today's Gospel passage from St. Mark (Mk. 9: 41 -50), after Jesus emphasized the importance of avoiding all temptations to sin, Jesus offered what appears to be a cryptic admonition to his disciples: "Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another." What did He mean?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj7QhIUGUOs#ws

Almighty, true and incomparable God,
You are present in all things,
yet in no way limited by them.
You remain unaffected by place,
untouched by time,
unperturbed by years,
and undeceived by words.
You are not subject to birth
and in no need of protection.
You are beyond all corruption,
above all change,
immutable by nature.
You live in unapproachable light
and are invisible,
yet You are known to all those
who seek You with hope and love.
You are the God of Israel,
and of all who hope in Christ.

Amen.

Amazing ! Praise God !

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Known only as "L.B.," the patient was given an intravenous stem cell treatment from umbilical cord blood. Having suffered a heart attack, the boy's condition improved considerably.

The doctors say that the success of the treatment should dispel "long-held doubts" surrounding the effectiveness of stem cell therapy.

After going into cardiac arrest in November of 2008, the two-year-old boy was left paralyzed with severe brain damage and in a vegetative state. Doctors told his parents that his chances of survival were minimal.

"In their desperate situation, the parents searched the literature for alternative therapies," Dr. Arne Jensen of the Campus Clinic Gynecology, who carried out the new treatment said. "They contacted us and asked about the possibilities of using their son's cord blood, frozen at his birth."

In January of 2009, after nine weeks after the brain damage, the doctors administered the prepared blood intravenously.

Recording the progress of recovery at two, five, 12, 24, 30, and 40 months after his brain injury, doctors said that the chances of survival after such a severe brain damage and more than 25 minutes duration of resuscitation was six percent.

Two months after treatment with the cord blood containing stem cells, his symptoms improved significantly. The child learned to speak simple sentences and to move.

"Our findings, along with those from a Korean study, dispel the long-held doubts about the effectiveness of the new therapy," Jensen said.

Within two months, the boy was able to see, sit, smile, and to speak simple words again.

Three years and four months after treatment, the child was able to eat independently, walk with assistance, and form four-word sentences.

"Of course, on the basis of these results, we cannot clearly say what the cause of the recovery is," Jensen said. "It is, however, very difficult to explain these remarkable effects by purely symptomatic treatment during active rehabilitation."

In March of this year, in a controlled study of 100 children, Korean doctors reported for the first time that they had successfully treated cerebral palsy with allergenic cord blood.

http://www.catholic.org/health/story.php?id=51115

The doctors say that the success of the treatment should dispel "long-held doubts" surrounding the effectiveness of stem cell therapy.

Wow !

Quote from: taga tigbao on May 27, 2013, 01:38:30 PM
Hinoon, naa ra pud na sa pagpili. Di sa jud magsaja saja ug dasdas kay basin diay ug flirt lang. Is religion an issue sa relationship dihaa Bro? Like you should only date and marry people within your religious circle?

Depende sa tawo, bro. I'm surprised that there are equal amount of people who are 'not religious' as there are who are 'religious' in my circle of friends and acquaintances. My two room mates who just moved in with me are both white guys. One is originally from Arkansas and grew up going to catholic school; my other room mate , Ryan, comes from Wisconsin and a cradle Catholic. When we cook together we always say grace before eating. So, naa jud tawo diri nga religion matters ; there are those who don't care.

In regards to relationships, yes. For serious relationships, i notice that it tends to be harder if one is from another faith than the other. There are a lot of American youth now joining online dating such as catholicmatch.com to find people who are of the same religious background and values. The church that I am part of, St. Mary of the Lake Roman Catholic Parish, has a group called "20's and 30's group" that tries to introduce single Catholic men and women with each other and holds weekend functions like movie night, adoration of the eucharist, etc. Daghan mo attend; kai daghan man Americans that do adhere to Church teachings, despite what the media tries to portray.

Majority of white-americans diri sa USA are pretty much very christian and conservative. Family life , just like in the Philippines, is central to their life. That's one thing I like.

12. You immediately turn your head when you hear these phrases.

11. Every year you sent a giant cardboard box to your relatives in the Philippines.

10. Which was no easy task because you had approximately 15 "titas" and "titos" growing up.

9. You know you had to "mano" every adult in the house before you were allowed to go play.

8. Their names are lolo and lola, not grandpa and grandma.

7. The only name you were ever called by was:

Isug gajud ang dugo...hehehe.

6. You had a hundred pairs of "tsinelas" spread around your house.

Mao na ang generalization, bro. Yes, if I were to take you out to the bars where I go to and introduce you to some of my girl friends, you'll see that they're very much liberated and empowered. Pero, that does not represent all kai there are many who are very conservative still, labi na Christian gajod. Depende lagi sa baji, pariho ra gud sa Pinay sa Pilipinas. Naay uban nga conserbitibo, naay pod nga uwagon kaajo.

But from my experience in dating Pinay-American and White-American, ang puti baji, very passionate ni sila. My gf at the time was hesitant to date me because she was scared kono that I would not be attracted to her because she was white. lol. There are a lot of white girls who like Asian guys, pero asian guys don't approach them.

On the sexual side, White women are very passionate lovers. Whereas the Filipina will be hesitant on some techniques, the White woman will be open to her partner. Just from my experience lang.

5. This was your "ketchup."

4. You have no idea how to make rice on the stove, only in a flowery rice cooker.

3. And when all else failed there was always this.

2. But this was your actual favorite breakfast.

1. This was a perfectly normal breakfast

Reference:
http://www.catholicmatch.com/blog/2012/07/kansas-girl-on-catholicmatch-i-expected-to-marry-a-white-man/dd-proshot-of-girls/

Their two adorable babies.

DIANNE SAYS:

I was raised in Kansas, which isn’t quite a multi-cultural melting-pot. Being white in a largely white area, I guess growing up that I suspected I would marry a white man. I wasn’t completely isolated from other races; I did a fair amount of traveling, and even Kansas isn’t completely pale, but white was familiar.

In college, that changed as I met more people and eventually moved out of state and to large cities. I did date men of different races. And then I met Dave, and I fell in love. 

When I first saw Dave’s profile, I was drawn to his funny pictures. I was also initially hesitant because he was Asian. One of my potential concerns was the possibly significant cultural differences between the Asians I had known, and well, me. However, Dave listed Pacific-Islander as his race, so that distinction made me consider him, whereas I suspect I may have written him off otherwise.

Sounds silly now, but that’s where I was at the time.

Even though he is pretty Americanized, there are cultural differences between us. While dating, there was enough of a fundamental same-ness that the differences just seemed exotic or irrelevant. There were times I think I was more interested in his heritage than he was. In time, though, some of the differences became more pronounced. Some have been great, like Filipino wedding traditions and the cultural support of traditional family roles, which we espouse. Others have been much harder, such as differentiating between our understanding of the difference between respect of elders and submissiveness.

DAVE SAYS:

I spent about nine years of my childhood in a town in East Texas, where we were one of about four Filipino families in town. Being among the minority had various consequences â€" it made me proud to be who I was, and I had a tendency to stand out (which was both good and bad), but it also really encouraged â€" required? â€" me to keep an open mind.

Growing up, my parents always said they were OK with me dating whomever I wanted.  Many times I got the impression that deep down, they wanted me to marry someone of my own ethnicity, but in the end, they said that as long as I was happy and we treated each other right, that’s all they could ask for.


Dianne and I had previously exchanged messages on CatholicMatch but lost contact.  Once I discerned that I was called to be a husband and father (not a Father), I decided to renew contact, and that was just the beginning of our story. As we talked and then went out on dates, I found her beautiful in so many ways, and our different backgrounds just didn’t matter. She made me happier than I’d ever been, and that’s all I needed to know.  It may sound cliché, but I knew God placed her in my life for a reason. How could I second guess that and say, “Well, gee, she’s great, but her skin tone is a little off…I’ll pass, Big Guy”?   

Despite living in different cities from our parents, we soon introduced each other to the future in-laws. Throughout our dating phase, we spent various times with each other’s family, and they all saw how great we were for each other. So as news of our engagement spread, we got mostly supportive feedback from everyone, including my parents, echoing much of the sentiment I heard as I was growing up. (Guess that study cited in the blog post was right!)

Editor’s note: We asked Dave and Dianne, who met on CatholicMatch, to reflect on a much-buzzed-about New York Times blog post on the growing societal acceptance of interracial marriage. Their response follows.

I understand that everyone has their type.

It’s entirely possible some Asian men only like white women who are shorter than them, or with small hips and a boyish figure. Maybe there are those out there that don’t have a real preference, but see a taller or bigger-build girl and think that they’re unapproachable due to body issues on both ends.

My advice to that is simple: Stop this unnecessary comparison.

Eliminate this insecurity from the mind. Confidence can help a girl see past a potential height difference, but even if she doesn’t, all that’s lost is few minutes wasted on someone not worth the time.

http://www.asianmanwhitewoman.com/heather/interracial-dating-advice/are-tall-white-women-attracted-to-short-asian-men/

So, how does this help anyone else?

A common complaint I hear is height, or the lack thereof. Being kind of tall myself, I can appreciate it when a girl wants a taller man. I’ve given it a lot of thought over the years and decided it’s because:

QuoteThe feeling of being protected and totally enveloped by a man’s embrace is wonderfully soothing.

For whatever reason, that has come to be associated with height, and thus, girls vocalize that desire and attraction by looking for men taller than them.

It could be just me, but I think how tall a person is has little to do with their height and more to do with how they carry themselves.

Take, for example, my first Asian boyfriend who was short. At 5’5” (and remember JT Tran, your Asian Dating Coach is a “mere” 5 foot 5 inches too!), I was taller than him by four inches (Jocelyn from Speaking of China had 3 inches on her husband), and I’m sure we got stares for that difference. It was a rare occurrence for me to think of him as shorter, however, because he made his presence known.

He had perfect posture, high self-esteem, and amazing confidence. In other words, confident and attractive male Asian body language! My memories of him reflect this; I even remember him either at eye-level or taller. I doubt he fully understood how he came across to me or how attracted I was to him, but height is and never will be an issue for him.

Another short Asian man I recently dated made it clear early on that he would never tell me his weight. I knew I weighed more than him, and he had a somewhat petite build, but his short Asian stature, or the way he carried himself, actually made me feel smaller than him.

Even looking at pictures where we’re standing side by side, a short Asian man with a tall white woman, he looks bigger than me.

He even appears taller than me, and I had at least an inch on him. I wasn’t slouching or sucking in â€" he just had that confidence about himself, knowing that how his body was and how he felt about it shouldn’t have any impact on how he felt about mine.

That made me more comfortable and attracted just being with him; I didn’t have to worry about him thinking things like “she has bigger legs than me,” or “I wear smaller pants than she does.” I knew that it didn’t matter to him, which made me like him so much more.

by: Heather


The most ironic thing about me dating only Asian men (short or otherwise), I feel, is my body type. At 5’9”, 150 lbs and hips to spare, I’m a relatively tall white woman and I know I’m NOT the kind of girl that Asian men typically go for.

Before I get called out for stereotyping or generalizing, I do have my reasons and experiences.

For every short Asian man that does come forward and say that hips are attractive, there are at least ten of them that expect a less curvaceous figure from me. While there are some short Asian men that are attracted to tall white woman, there are so many more that are turned-off by my height. I know that there are those out there that don’t care about my weight (which is actually normal for 5’9”), but there are multitudes that would rather not weigh less than their dating partner.

To be honest, though, I’ve come to accept my body, even though it took a few years. I finally like who I am â€" curves, height and all. I’m not afraid to wear high heels and I’ve come to tolerate my hips. I don’t know where it came from, but I started realizing my self-esteem depended on me and what I liked about myself, not what others liked about me. I became more confident, comfortable, and content with not only me but Asian men (short or tall) in general.

Are Tall White Women Attracted to Short Asian Men?

Hehehe. I dated a puti girl for 2 years in college and one thing that i really like about them is that they are very open when it comes to affection and emotions. They are very loving, too, bro. When they love, they give their whole heart into it.

I have a good friend (pinoy siya) and he married an americana several years ago. I met up with them recently and they already have 2 kids. She is pregnant with their third baby hehehe. I told my buddy Paul, "Hoy pre, dalia man na buntis si Rebecca uy!"

Ingon pod siya, "Awww, receptive man gud ang Americana sa Pinoy..."

hihihi! their two babies are so beautiful tho. mestizo kaayo.

Quote from: taga tigbao on May 27, 2013, 12:11:46 PM
Ug country girl mao ba nang mga baje sa countryside sa America? Kanang kung dire pas atoa probinsiya? Hmmmmmm.

ehehehe, yes, bro. they make beautiful babies, too.

Quote from: hubag bohol on May 27, 2013, 11:52:07 AM
Agoi, kagwapa sa mga kanahan. Pero mo-swoon ni sila sa ahong charm...

engineer pussy...cat?

She's showing the boys how to do it the right way...

39. The Cranberries - Linger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Kspj3OO0s#

38. Eurythmics - Here Comes The Rain Again (Remastered)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzFnYcIqj6I#

   

37. Simple Minds - Alive And Kicking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljIQo1OHkTI#

hahahaha, bakante man sigoro, bro.....

hehehe, pwede uy. ayaw lang pag nganga kai maka kita siya ninyo.

Nice shades.

Americana beauty.

Quote from: chriswise on May 27, 2013, 12:35:48 AM
madapawan oroy ni,,he,he,

hehehe, soft kaayo ang americana, bai chris.

The red coloration is due to the chemical admixture of sodium bicarbonate and sodium chloride, with reaction with halophilic bacteria, the product is the pinkish / reddish hue.

Interesting noh?

hmmmmm, interesting noh ngano puwa man.

Very Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon-esque.

Wow ! Kuyawa uy!

Do you know how to speak and understand Spanish?

I recommend you listen to Lea Salonga's version of "I dreamed a dream..."

Saw these guys, too. They were here in Chicago 2 months ago.

Nice! I saw them live in Chicago.

My good friend was the producer of the show. hihihi!