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TODAY we share with you quotations from an Easter homily by St.
Josemaria Escriva, “Christ’s presence in Christians,” that
explain why today’s commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ is
the greatest of all Christian festivals:
“‘Christ is alive.’ This is the great
truth which fills our faith with meaning. Jesus, who died on the
cross, has risen. He has triumphed over death; He has overcome
sorrow, anguish and the power of darkness. ‘Do not be terrified’
was how the angels greeted the women who came to the tomb. ‘Do not
be terrified. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was
crucified. He has risen; He is not here. (Mark 16:6)’ ‘This
is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in
it. (Psalms 117:24).’
“Easter is a time of joy—a joy not confined
to this period of the liturgical year, but to be found really and
fully in the Christian’s heart. For Christ is alive. He is not
someone who has gone, someone who existed for a time and then passed
on, leaving us a wonderful example and a great memory.
“No, Christ is alive. Jesus is the Emmanuel:
God with us. His resurrection shows us that God does not abandon His
own. He promised He would not: ‘Can a woman forget her baby that
is still unweaned, pity no longer the son she bore in her womb? Even
these may forget, yet I will not forget you. (Isaiah 49:14-15)’
And He has kept his promise. His delight is still to be with the
sons of men (cf. Proverbs 8:31).
“Christ is alive in his Church. ‘I tell you
the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not
go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will
send him to you. (John 16:7)’ That was what God planned: Jesus,
dying on the cross, gave us the Spirit of truth and life. Christ
stays in His Church, its sacraments, its liturgy, its preaching—in
all that it does.
“Christ is alive in Christians. Our faith
teaches us that man, in the state of grace, is divinized—filled
with God . . . And this divinization affects everything human; it is
a sort of foretaste of the final resurrection. ‘Christ has risen
from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For
since by a man came death, by a man also comes resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made to live.
(1 Corinthians 15:22)”
Rice police
ONE of these days the “rice police” could be
peering over your shoulders while you’re having Chickenjoy at
Jollibee, checking how much rice you’re having and if you’re not
wasting a grain.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said he will
request fast-food outlets to ask customers if they would rather have
a half-cup, not a cupful of rice, to minimize waste since many do
not finish their kanin anyway.
We don’t believe diners would pass up a full
cup since Pinoys are big rice eaters. If they can’t have enough
chicken or “bor-jer,” they might as well have their fill of
kanin.
Mr. Yap assured us we have plenty of rice but,
just the same, we need to conserve on the cereal. A good way is to
offer diners an option between a full cup and a half-cup to go with
their dish.
That is different from asking customers whether
they want water or a half-glass of water after a meal. Three years
ago, a looming water shortage prompted the government to ask
restaurants and diners for the same cooperation, seeing how many
customers left glasses half-full.
There is, of course, a great wastage going on.
Partygoers, especially, habitually overfill their plate and then
leave them half-eaten. “Takaw sa mata, (the urge to take a little
of everything)” we say. Some also want to save the second trip to
the dining table.
A standard explanation, when asked why one did
not finish his food, is “Baka sabihin nila gutom ako (People might
think I am starving).”
For all their affluence, most Americans do not
waste party or restaurant food. They finish everything they put on
their plate.
We doubt that uneaten rice at restaurants go to
waste. Many restos give away leftover rice to panhandlers or to
charity institutions. Cold rice is also often recycled into
high-priced fried rice.
Everyone takes home leftover food. There is no
embarrassment, even among the rich, to tell the waiter to “balot
(doggy-bag)” the unconsumed rice and Peking duck.
There are other ways we could help Secretary
Yap. Let’s forego sinangag (fried rice) for breakfast. Eat more
bread, soup and pasta at home. Try mixing rice with white corn.
Consume more potatoes, kamote and root crops. Congee uses less rice
but is filling. Eat every grain of rice on your plate. And let’s
start producing the rice that we need.
Rice patriotism will help save the country from
a politically disastrous rice shortage.
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