The Journey with Teddy

MORNING PRAISE | April 24, 2020 The Multiplication of Loaves | John 6:1-15 PERSONAL REFLECTION When I was a young boy, I was once taught that Jesus did not literally perform a miracle by multiplying the loaves and the fishes; instead, when the people saw the young boy and his humble offering, they were moved by his compassion and felt ashamed, and so they started to take out the food that they had with them all along; sharing what they had to those who had little or none. I think about it now, but it doesn’t seem to matter how all those people had been fed. Is it even worth the trouble to obsess over processes, procedures and methodologies when at the end of the day, everything is shaped by a single over-arching reason? Put to words in a more general and practical sense, you can have many “how”s, but would any of that still matter when all of them are driven by a single “why”? Interestingly, it was a barrage of “how” questions that had been a source of great desolat...

MORNING PRAISE | April 15, 2020 The Appearance on the Road to Emmaus | Luke 24:13-35 PERSONAL REFLECTION I remembered Fr. John Hagileiram on the evening of Maundy Thursday, intoxicated as I was with the negativity that I had been brewing for myself over the days leading to the Triduum. The memories of Fr. John proved to be a very potent antidote against the toxic thoughts and ideas I was willfully poisoning myself with. I remembered Fr. John for the way he always intently listened to me with a non-judgmental look on his face as I shared to him the many scandalous wrong turns I have made over the course of my life. I remembered how he would often smile and close his eyes as he nodded his head while I shared with him the fruits of my prayer and my experiences as a candidate here in Arvisu. I remembered Fr. John and the words he told me on my last SD session with him last January, during his birthday. Seeing how distressed I was and how I rambled to articulate the fea...

MORNING PRAISE | April 05, 2020 The Anointing at Bethany John12:1-11 PERSONAL REFLECTION How does one measure self-worth in the time of Covid-19? In the midst of helplessness and isolation, where does one even begin to find his value to his family, his community, and the world? As I go through my quarantine-altered life here in Arvisu, my social media feed is bombarded with stories that direct my attention to what’s happening outside 134 B. Gonzales Street. My digital screens open my eyes to stories of other people’s pain and suffering: the dire situation that our medical front liners are being made to confront; the plea of the marginalized for food to quell their hunger; the grieving of families who lost someone they love to the virus, and how their final moments are laced with loneliness – dying alone in the company of strangers, deprived of the dignity of final goodbyes and I love you’s. Yet almost in the same breath, I am also made aware of how oblivious s...