Mantra for the week: “I always have a choice, I now choose to love.”

Be still and know that love is God expressing and manifesting. Yes, God is love. And truly when you love, God is with you in the highest sense of the word, for you are expressing it—it is being done through you.

Love is simply finding ways of showing that you care. There are many ways of showing this in small and special ways.

Many do not find it easy to express love or caring, but this is only because they do not fill their minds with loving, kind and prosperous thoughts. Instead they fill their minds with judgments, hurt, guilt, fears and blaming, thus, making it difficult to express love.

But when you become still and know that love is God expressing, you begin to understand that you are truly an instrument of love. This will be visible in all the areas of your life—it will show in your body temple.

You will express wholeness, vitality and vigor. Disease cannot touch you. You shall always be filled with enthusiasm, renewed and restored constantly.

One must always be ready to love, whether or not it is returned.

Oftentimes, we hesitate to love for fear of being hurt. And this is only because we expect something in return for loving the people we love. But it does not work that way.

The person who does not love you in return may love somebody else and, therefore, still be loving. For as long as you are expressing love, it will always be in your life.

When you are alone, you are still with God. And you always have a choice, you can either be lonely or just be in solitude. When you are lonely, it means you do not get along with yourself and you must find out why.

You must accept yourself unconditionally with all your frailties, just like the way you love your best friend. And when you are your own best friend, wherever you are, alone or with people, you can be happy, you can have fun, you can feel secure, you can be confident.

‘Huwag mo-tell’

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. Many call it the love day.

In the Philippines, it is the second-most celebrated special day of the year, next to  Christmas.

All you have to do is to survey  motel and hotel occupancies from the 13th to the 15th of February, to realize how many loves a man has in this country and why, chances are, more babies are born in November.

I know of someone who celebrates the 13th with his mistress, the 14th with his wife and the 15th with an extra girlfriend.

This is not called adultery—it is called adul-three.

Loving our country more

I wish, however, there were more emphasis on love of country, for I believe we Filipinos do not love our country as much as we should. We only claim it… we do not show it in our attitude and behavior.

If we did, we would not need as many policemen as we do because we would be following our laws. Furthermore, we would not resent Kim Henares as much and  words such as palusot, padulas and lagay would not be part of our vocabulary. We will have no government officials or employees asking, “Anong akin diyan?”

South Koreans, as far as love of country is concerned, top us by a mile. I remember, not too long ago, when South Korea was in dire straits and the government called on its citizens for assistance, and the result was, its coffers got filled to the brim and its gold reserves overflowed. They really showed love of country by putting their money where there mouth was.
We, on the other hand, pay only lip service.

Also, it is about time to make amendments in our Constitution. Let us make the Church pay taxes because it cannot seem to help itself but always get involved in the affairs of the State.

Why should the Church not pay taxes when it is the richest institution in the country as shown in the inquiries in regard to its bank accounts and landholdings?

Add to the Constitutional amendments, a requirement to have voters be at least high school graduates—the ideal would be to have a college degree. If not, an IQ test would suffice.

Anyone with an IQ below average should not be allowed to vote. This will inspire parents to make sure that all their children go to school, so they may exercise their right of suffrage.

This will result in candidates not having to spend a fortune for campaigning, thereby eradicating an administration of patronage coming from the utang na loob practice.

For love of food and music

Last night it was nice to see Evelyn Lim Forbes with Assumption classmates Madlen Faustmann and Paradies sisters Jenny and Katy at Makati Garden Club Café enjoying the music of the Saraza father-and-son duet—Dick playing violin and Mike on the keyboard.

The good news is that Sandra Jocson, the loquacious but gracious head of the food committee of the café, has decided to keep these two virtuosos every Friday and Saturday until May.

The Sarazas have added a male vocalist, Arlan Cabrera, who has just come back from a singing stint in England. Their repertoire ranges from the classical to the popular.

However, the main event is always the excellent cuisine of Swedish chef Robert Lilja, who comes up with unique dishes that never fail to make a meal unforgettable.

Recently, Chloe Periquet celebrated her birthday at the club. The guests included the legendary Beth Day Romulo and other members of the Romulo and Periquet clans.

You will also often see Ambassador Chuching and Marge Tambunting and family; Rep. Roman Romulo and wife Shalani, who is as lovely as her mother-in-law, Lovely Teczon Romulo, with their friends.

Henry and Jojo Zabarte were also in a romantic dinner to celebrate their 46th wedding anniversary. Jojo looks like she married when she was just a fetus.

“Henry got to me through my digestive system,” said Jojo. “He would constantly invite me to lunches and dinners so I finally said ‘I do’ because with him I was sure I would never go hungry.”

There are many theories about the origin of Valentine’s Day. My favorite is that in the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed that Feb. 14 was the mating season of birds. The Filipino men must have subliminally picked up this idea from the ethers and activated their own mating instincts.

So, on this day, we should be greeting each other, “Happy bird day.” Enjoy!

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