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IN
THIS ISSUE:
Cover
Page
From
the Head Servant
by Bro.
Pete Lapid
The
Father Speaks
By Fr.
Binzler, SJ
Our
Faith
By Fr.
KJ Veeger, MSC
Place
of Refuge
By
Philip Yuson
Surabaya
Corner
By
Ramon Martillano
Sharing
By Rita
Gomez
Here's
the Latest
By
Pinky Torres
Sharing
By Bro.
Alvin Barcelona
Sharing
By Joji ESCUBAN
By
Armand Sol
Saint
for the Month
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-
- Catholic
Links
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 - PROFILE
OF THE
- GENESIS
CATHOLIC COMMUNITY
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 Catch
this latest cassette album from the River of Life Catholic
Charismatic Community featuring Bro. ALVIN BARCELONA and
other Christian artists in - "ANG
HIMAYA NG JUBILEO"
- Available in Indonesia
through the Genesis Catholic Community.
- For more info., please
contact the Genesis Secretariat at 0816-1888-494 or e-mail
us at genesis@catholic.org
- HURRY! Get a copy now!
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- Special:
LIFE TESTIMONY
-
 
-
- It
was in 1995 when I felt everything was going my way, as if the
world was on the palm of my hands. I had problems then as I do now but
the great things happening to me then were greatly outweighing the not
so good ones. I felt all my "worldly dreams" were now
achieving their peak.
-
- I
was one of the 45 youth delegates selected from
among a thousand applicants nationwide to represent our
country, the Philippines, in a Southeast Asian Youth Cultural
Program sponsored mainly
by Japan. This program gave me the one in a lifetime chance
to tour Southeast Asia and Japan and perform in each country. I was
even the Cultural Chairman and Director of the delegation. This
is my dream come true - my life. You see, all my life I wanted to be a
professional artist-entertainer - whether in music, theater arts, etc.
I believed I prepared
 myself
well for this. My theater arts training was with no less than the
Actors Workshop Foundation of Johnny Delgado and Laurice Guillen. I
was already running a CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines)
recognized Theater Group I founded, which in 1994 was awarded the
best in our province of Bulacan. Not a small feat considering the
quantity and quality of theater groups and artists in our province
known to be rich in such craft and talent. Music, on the
other hand, has always been in my blood. I breathed in melodies
and breathed out lyrics. I "invented" songs even
before I went to school making my own lyrics and melodies. Before the Southeast
Asian tour, I had already been producing and directing shows of "Banig",
Andrew E., Joey Ayala, Francis M., Heber Bartolome, and a lot of
other bands. Of course, I was also performing with them, singing
my own originals. Before the program, I was already starting to be
recognized as a neo-ethnic artist, a la Joey Ayala, with a band named
TRIBE. All the time however, my "practice ground" was our
school, my "trial audience"- our students. I have been
a teacher for about half of my lifetime now in a family owned school
in Bulacan. The subject I taught for more than a decade?
Christian Living! So what else was lacking in my life! Oh, a few
more. So I also entered politics, (yes, of all things) and became SK
Chairman for 6 years. Only on my 3rd year term, I was already awarded
the best in our district. More! I pursued masteral studies in U.P.
(University of the Philippines), wasn't satisfied, went to Ateneo,
then, would you believe, even took up Law in Arellano. It was
therefore no surprise that by then I have become an authority-speaker
on "How to Stress Yourself to Death" or "How to Live
Fully and Die Early!"
-
- Anyway, wasn't
I really the man to be sent by Malacaņang for the Asian Program?
So I went, successfully, even leaving a theme song I hurriedly wrote
behind for the program which up to now is being sang 6 years after,
arranged and translated in every participating country.
-
- When
I came home, I believed there was nothing I couldn't do. I even dared
GOD to give me any challenge and bragged that there's nothing I couldn't
overcome! GOD MUST HAVE HEARD ME and took that dare seriously!
-
- Anyway,
the first thin
 g
I did after the program was to join Ka Freddie Aguilar's Battle of the
Bands. We won twice and landed as a "glorious
finalist". Glorious because even if we didn't get the top prize,
only 2nd runner-up, we got all the major awards - Best Composition,
Best Keyboardist, etc. - and best of all, it was our band, in fact it
was ME, whom the legendary Freddie Agular "favoritely" took
in. Didn't I tell you there was nothing I couldn't do now? Everything
went fast - recording deal, T.V. and radio guestings, a promise of a
"solo album", recording sessions with "big names"
like playing percussions for Ogie Alcasid, flute for Maegan Aguilar,
etc. (Give me any musical instrument and in less than a day, I'd be
able to play songs for you on that instrument.)
-
- And
yes, I was still teaching, SK Chairman, getting "another
additional job" in marketing and sales of a well renowned
company... Whew!!! You'll be exhausted just listening to what I did
all at the same time! After all didn't I convince myself I was
SUPERMAN!
-
- Then,
it came!
-
- One
morning, after a series of pa-morningan
shows (we end up at about 2 a.m.) in Tagaytay, where I was then
regularly performing at Ka Freddie Aguilar's Music Restaurant, I went
to the comfort room which I regularly do. I saw blood in the toilet
bowl. It was from me! At first I didn't mind it. I had this
experience before, even during the program tour. But this time, the
bleeding became more often. It then came to a point wherein I
bled even when I wasn't in the bathroom. I remember one time when
I was meeting with a colleague in school then suddenly I felt my chair
was wet. To my horror, I saw blood all over my pants, and spilled
on the chair. I even remember giving a talk in leadership in
Baguio and wearing diapers or a sanitary napkin so as to "control"
my now "uncontrollable" bleeding.
-
- Not
only was I bleeding. I was beginning to lose weight, get feverish at
night and coughed a lot. I also started feeling pain all over my
abdomen and back. My wife started to really worry, most
especially because a few months ago she just gave birth to our
first and only baby boy, "Aio". I didn't want to
see a doctor. Nothing was wrong with me. But really, I was
afraid, afraid that something might be wrong with me... very, very
afraid that this life which was going quite well, in fact moving
to its peak, be "derailed".
-
- Finally
I saw a doctor, an internist. With an instrument he peeked into my
"insides". Painful process. He saw a "growth" in
my lower intestines. He suspected it was causing the pain and the
bleeding. I asked him if it was
something serious. He answered, nothing serious "yet"
but added that he just operated on a younger patient with a very
similar case. After six months the patient died. I thanked him for the
"encouragement". Whew!!! My wife was crying a river. She was
thinking all the while of our newly born baby boy. I was thinking of
them also, but along with my "careers". "Lord, is this
it! The answer to the dare?" Well, I'm not going to die yet. It's
still far from that. The doctor then said he would schedule an
operation at the UST (University of Santo Tomas) hospital for me to
conduct biopsy.
-
- I
didn't show up on the day of the operation. I, who could do what
Superman was doing, cowed out. Inside me, I knew I was a coward.
So I started looking for "alternatives". Bro. Oscar, a
cenacle leader, a lay minister, a faithful man who really loves
God, is my "assistant" in school. He learned of my problem
and said, "Don't worry. God has a very great plan for you. Why
not go to a friend of mine, a certain Bro. Aris, who will pray over
you and bring upon God's Healing!" Why not? I said to myself.
After all, I am a believer. I taught Christian Living for a good ten
years, remember? I finished Philosophy at UST in my younger attempt to
enter priesthood. I know I knew GOD. I studied Him, even taught about
Him. But I also thought, this time, it was for real!!!
-
- So
on a rainy afternoon, I went to see Bro. Aris who couldn't see me
back. He was blind! How ironic. I thought I saw God all my life
and here was a blind man telling me how to really start seeing Him
again. He prayed over me and my wife, intensely and powerfully. I
cried because I saw my sins as my life flashed before me. Well, a
lot of people say it is a life fully lived. But for me, I
realized I was moving in all directions - here, there and
everywhere - but was reaching nowhere. It was like an endless journey
- no, a roller-coaster ride - exciting - but just circling around and
around without any clear destination.
-
- Then
I heard Bro. Aris boldly proclaim, "In Jesus' Name, you are now
healed Bro. Alvin!" Wow! Just like that! Then he added, "Go
to the Divine Mercy Shrine in Marilao, (Bulacan), get some water and
drink it to sustain your healing!"
-
- So
again, I went, with my wife, Tes - yes, she who has carried all my
burdens all the time.
-
- The
Divine Mercy Shrine was only about 15-20 minutes awa
 y
from my place. Funny why I never thought of visiting it before. Now, I
went to the place out of desperation which turned to be out of faith
and hope. From that day on my wife and I hardly missed a day without
visiting the Shrine - to get water and above all, to pray. Morning,
noon, night - we went there to pray. What happened to all those
"activities" - singing, politics, career? They stopped! I
even stopped teaching for a while. I just stopped. It was as if
the Lord was telling me, "Alvin, take a rest, from the world,
from yourself!" I also realized that the most important
thing now for me was my relationship with God, especially if I was
going to die anyway! Nothing more!
-
- Yes,
I still thought I was dying because sadly, even after that
prayer-healing session with Bro. Aris, and even with my daily prayers
at the Divine Mercy Shrine, I was still bleeding. In fact, my physical
condition was worsening. It was then however that I felt God was
at His peak in my life. It was all that I had. It was all
that I needed! I told myself, I am praying for healing, but if
the Healer has already shown Himself to me, then I could go - yes,
die! I have found Him anyway and that would have mattered the most.
-
- Still,
my faithful friends, especially Bro. Oscar would tell me, "The
Lord is doing a great thing in you!" even when I continued to
bleed. "Go see a doctor and be confirmed of your healing."
Yes, that must be it. So see another doctor I did. I was given
medicines for ulcer only to be told after a few months that no, it was
not ulcer.
-
- I
then went through a barrium enema test where my internal organs were
X-rayed. Painful process again. But the process helped because it
really confirmed this time - that I had three "growths"
inside my intestines. This time, it really has to be operated on. No
more "no shows"! I went to a specialist in Metropolitan
Hospital who saw the x-rays and scheduled my operation after two
weeks.
-
- I
prayed doubly harder during those two weeks of waiting. No medicines.
Just prayer. The night before my operation, the image of our Lady of
Manaoag came to our school. Parents, teachers, and students
gathered the whole day to pray. After they were all gone, I was
left alone. It was now past midnight. I thought of a crazy thing to
do. I got my guitar, and started to stage a solo-concert with my
audience - Mama Mary and her Son, JESUS. I sang songs I wrote, songs I
sang in clubs - love songs, pop songs. Then I prayed, "Mama
Mary, please tell your Son to heal me. If I get healed we can use
these "talents" your Son gave for His glory, for His service
and yours."
-
- The
next day, I was in the hospital with my wife. Yes, this time I
showed up. I didn't stop praying the Rosary. The doctor said the
operation, a high-tech one with monitors to see what's going to happen
inside me, would only take about 15 minutes. I fell asleep because of
the anesthesia. My wife was beside me and the doctor watching the
monitor and praying. In front of the doctor was the x-ray showing the
three growths in my intestines, He now had this instrument inside me
which can be tracked via the monitor.
-
- The
process reached 30 minutes. My wife asked, "Why is it taking so
long? I thought it would only be a 15 minute operation. The doctor
answered, "I'm having a hard time finding the growths!"
"You may want to repeat the process to be sure", my wife
demanded. The doctor did for another 15 minutes or more. Finally, the
doctor pulled out the instrument. "Wake up your husband. There's
nothing in there. I think he's well now."
-
- When
I woke up the first words I heard from my wife were, "Love,
the growths are not there. The Lord has healed you!"
-
- A
lot of "incredible" miracles have happened to me since then.
A lot of day to day miracles continue to happen to me until now, the
biggest of which is His day to day showing of His Divine Mercy to me
who never deserved it. In fact, many times, I have fallen short
of my promise to Him. But GOD, He never fails to deliver His end of
the bargain.
-
- So
today, I live by the day because of and in His grace and mercy.
Well, I've also gone back to doing 10 things at a time. Got to live
and survive, you know. But I make it a point that when He calls, I
stop, and I let the world around me stop for Him - whether it's to
sing or play for Him, witness for Him, or simply be with Him anytime,
anywhere...until the day that I would no longer stop ...being with Him
forever.
-
- What
a merciful, loving, great God we have! Amen!
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