HAVE FAITH IN GOD, no matter what happens.
This is the thought that came to me after reading an article written by Rev. Fr. Francis D. Alvarez, SJ, a Chaplain of Philippine General Hospital, published in the Philippine Star, May 22, 2011.
Fr. Alvarez realized that God can go beyond procedures and technicalities and make things happen according to His own will.
This sharing of Fr. Alvarez has actually strengthened my Faith in God.
In my past life, I indeed prayed for many thanks that did not materialize.
I prayed to be ordained a Priest. For eleven years I studied for the priesthood, but somehow I was not offered the grace of ordination. When I lost my first wife, a Bishop, Most Rev. Pedro Magugat, MSC, wanted to ordain me and commission me as an Army Chaplain. Rome, however, denied my application for ordination, since at that time I still had three children below the age of 21.
I prayed for a house of my own wherein I could give a decent living for my family. God, however, made me travel from one town to another, so that the best alternative for me was to stay in buildings for rent.
I prayed for a retirement benefit that would be adequate to provide for my basic needs till my last breath, but now I am receiving a monthly pension of only P3,500 from the SSS, which is hardly enough to meet my daily sustenance.
God, however, answered my prayers in His own way.
Yes, I was not ordained a Priest. But as a layman God gave me many opportunities to serve Him in the field of Evangelization. After my retirement from St. Paul University at the age of 60, I was commissioned to serve as the Archdiocesan Catechetical Coordinator of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao for eighteen years. I was further elected to serve as the President of the Archdiocesan Council of the Laity since 1964 up to now. At present I am serving in our parish as an Extraordinary Minister of Communion and a Lector. Now and then, due to lack of priests, I am asked to conduct a Bible Service with Communion in some Barangay Chapels.
While I could not build a house of my own, God provided me with a decent place to live in at the ancestral house of my second wife, Ofelia Quimosing.
Although my monthly pension is inadequate, God also gave me a Life-Partner, whose retirement benefits could take care of our basic necessities, hopefully for the rest of our life.
God, therefore, will always answer our prayers – not always in the way we want, but in His Own Way – a Better Way.
by: Salvador 'Buddy' Cagurangan
June 1, 2011
