The Golden Arrow Prayer

One of my "quick-hitters" for prayers, The Golden Arrow. I found this prayer in the Pieta Prayer Booklet which I carry with me wherever I go. Its either in my bag, in my bike, inserted in my books, notebooks and my notes.

Aside from praying my set: Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Fatima Prayer, St. Michale Prayer, Guardian Angel Prayer and Memorare, I make sure to pray the Golden Arrow often within a day. I hope you guys pray these prayers too on a daily basis.

So here is a copy of the prayer:

THE GOLDEN ARROW PRAYER
MAY THE MOST HOLY, MOST SACRED, MOST ADORABLE, MOST INCOMPREHENSIBLE AND UNUTTERABLE NAME OF GOD BE ALWAYS PRAISED, BLESSED, LOVED, ADORED AND GLORIFIED, IN HEAVEN, ON EARTH AND UNDER THE EARTH, BY ALL THE CREATURES OF GOD, AND BY THE SACRED HEART OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, IN THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. AMEN. 

After receiving this prayer, Sister Mary of St. Peter was given a vision in which she saw the Sacred Heart of Jesus delightfully wounded by this "Go/den Arrow" as torrents of graces streamed from It for the conversion of sinners. 

Queen of Heaven, Pray for Us.

John Kerry Carries the Same Tune: Religion

And just like that, Secretary of State John Kerry spills the beans on a very sensitive matter: R-E-L-I-G-I-O-N. Almost a decade ago, its then Prime Minister Tony Blair who thought of studying religion and reaching out globally and say "Religion is the future of the world".

John Kerry said in a speech at Rice University:

“The more we understand religion and the better able we are as a result to engage religious actors, the more effective our diplomacy will be in advancing the interests and values of our people,” 

And adds:

“It is up to us to recognize that we can’t lead a world that we don’t understand,” ...  “and that we can’t understand the world if we fail to comprehend and honor the central role that religion plays in the lives of billions of people.”

Tony Blair's Leap of Faith  carries the same tune right?

Click here to read the entire speech, as well as the question-and-answer session that followed at the speech of John Kerry at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Safety.

Life on Hold

Got a call from my wife
Her tone, her voice can't make much of a lie
And then she said "Got back from a meeting...with the nuns"
And so I knew it wasn't good, the meeting not nice

For a year or almost a year
I worked and coached a high school basketball team without fear
I learned the ways and went through the maze
Of working for this school that's not really blessed with grace

When friends and colleagues learn about my team
They look at me with silly grin
They ask sheepishly "how are you doing in that gym?"
I answer "Everyone's adjusting and everyone's learning"

And after about ten months
During this Summer Camp month
All hell broke loose from the nun's camp
They are asking for a lump sum

My camp it seems too good for the nuns
How come it had to be me running the camp?
Why didn't they see this in the last 50 years?
It took me and not them to see the beauty of the beast

They've gotten used to their ways
Their abusive and tyrannical days
Their teachers have learned to sway
But were always dumped in favor of the Greys

To end the meeting with the Greys
A shot was fired in a sense
Telling my wife that I won't be back
As a coach for next year daw

Do I care about it?
I'll be ready to leave today
The school that's been there for 50 years
And yet only has 600 students for the past year

A school that asks for 50k a year
But gives nothing for the kids
How can you expect them to grow
When the parents are campaigning to leave

I gave my best
I worked my best
I tried my best
Its your turn PS

Give back, give back
Help and share
It's time you give what's due to the students

I'll be perfectly fine. I wonder what will happen to my players and to the parents who opted to stay because I was there?

I wonder.

The Buzz on Amoris Laetitia

We had our regular round table discussion (without a round table) after our Holy Rosary prayers today and focused on the recently released Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love). I haven't read the entire document though but watched the EWTN's World Over Episode with Raymond Arroyo:
  

I don't know what will come out of this but it doesn't look good.

Let us all pray for the enlightenment of those who appears to be in error and for those given the opportunity to help and in a position to rectify the situation, may they provide the true and correct solution to the "errors".

May the Queen of Heaven, Mother of God pray for us!

Hour of Code Discovered

Our school is going to celebrate S.T.E.A.M. Week (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics) and in the first two days of the celebration, there will be Hour of Coding for our middle school students.

Just what is Hour of Code?

"The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. Anyone, anywhere can organize an Hour of Code event. One-hour tutorials are available in over 40 languages. No experience needed. Ages 4 to 104."

There are 198,474 Hour of Code events around the world and its interesting to know that my students will be participating. And guess what? Participants are learning in 40 languages.



Who's behind this project?

"The Hour of Code is organized by Code.org, a public 501c3 non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science by making it available in more schools, and increasing participation by women and underrepresented students of color. An unprecendented coalition of partners have come together to support the Hour of Code, too — including Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the College Board." 

There are so many things to do and learn from in the whole wide internet. Try this one out for your class or for your kids or even for the kids in the community you're helping.

Check it out!

Scholastic Interventions

Scholastic Interventions is a dream, a project and a mission by our family: Francis, Claire and our four kids Pat, Free, Migs & Fids.

Scholastic Interventions (SI) is envisioned to give and provide interventions in the areas of academics, sports and events by providing workshops, mentoring, coaching and consultancy in the academe and baranggay communities.

SI has been working with kids of all abilities in several places, community-based and school-based settings. Since 2004, we have reached out and provided privately-sponsored activities like chess camps, basketball camps, teacher training development and events organization. Work in the areas of Marian Spirituality has always been the main motivation of Francis and Claire.

As of April 2016, we have decided to change our name (and dream) from Creative Education Interventions to Scholastic Interventions to reflect a more realistic description to what we have been doing:  doing interventions in the context of scholastic endeavors: teacher training and development, reading camp, chess camp and basketball camp.

To date, Scholastic Chess Camp and Scholastic Basketball Camp are the two major projects we use to help spread and promote Marian virtues and teachings together with the basics of the two sports. We have produced several student-athletes in the last twelve years and they are now giving back by assisting us in our weekend projects in Cavite, Quezon and Manila.

Help us in our endeavor, pray with us and promote physical, spiritual, academic health and wellness among the youth of our nation. Anywhere you may be.

It is worth mentioning that in the last couple of years, Jason F of OBBO Socks has been helping us in bringing our Scholastic Basketball Camp in Imus City.

For the Glory of God, in the service Men.

Semper Ad Meloria!

The Divine Mercy Prayer

The "3 o'clock Prayer" as we know it, is the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy whose roots date back to September 13, 1935 with Sister Mary Faustina receiving the prayer from Jesus Christ though a vision. The ABC of the prayer:

A— Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach  Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and
asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.

B— Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us.

C— Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our
trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

The message of mercy is that God loves us — all of us — no matter how great our sins. He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share His joy.

Here is the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in Song:




The Original Divine Mercy image which is also known as The Vilnius Divine Mercy Image has this background story:

The original Divine Mercy Image, painted by Eugene Kazimierowski in Vilnius under the direct supervision of St. Faustina and Fr. Michael Sopocko. It was completed in 1934, and first shown for public veneration in 1935 at the Church of Our Lady, Gate of the New Dawn, where the Ostra Bramska Image, also known as Our Lady of Mercy, resides.

St. Faustina was apparently very disappointed with Kazimierowski’s work during the painting of the image, because it was not capturing the beauty of Jesus as Faustina had seen him. Jesus appeared to St. Faustina again, and told her to settle for this image with these words:

“Not in the beauty of the color, nor of the brush lies the greatness of this image, but in My grace.”
                                                                                                                                      (Diary, 313)

The image fell into disrepair from storage during the second World War, and the following decades when public veneration of the Divine Mercy was forbidden. The image was restored back to it's original beauty in 2003 by an artist of Vilnius. 

Here are other online resources for Sister Faustina's visions and the Divine Mercy Prayer:

1. Faustina Message
2. Divine Mercy in my Soul
3. Divine Mercy Sunday

Let's celebrate the Divine Mercy Weekend 2016 on the 2nd and 3rd of April by praying the Divine Mercy Novena!

Our Lord's Passion by Preciosa Soliven

Hello everyone.

Today I am sharing the two articles by Ambassador Preciosa Soliven, publisher and columnist for Philippine Star, educator and owner of OB Montessori School. She shared and wrote the details of Jesus Christ's suffering based on the book The Life of Mary as seen by Mystics. This is a compilation of the private revelations and visions of the following: St Elizabeth of Schoenau, St. Bridgette of Sweden, Venerable Mother of Jesus of Agreda ( Mystical City of God) and Sister Anna Catherine Emmerich.

I was gladly surprised to have read her column and was brought back in time when all I ever wanted to read were books about Mother Mary: The End of Days, Mystical City of God, The Secret of the Rosary, The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and  Imitating Mary.

Here are the two links for the articles on the The Way of Our Lord's Passion and Cross:  Part 1 and Part II.