October 25, 2020

Loving your neighbor is like loving God. You should love your neighbors equally. If we
hate our neighbors or others, we are blinded of what we should love, and we are blinded by
what the love of God really means. But humans as we are, we tend to hate someone even if we
deny it. We are not perfect and so does Jesus Christ when He was still here on Earth, but we
should never keep our hatred to someone just because we are not perfect. Love conquers all. If
we learn to love, we learn how to let go of hate.

November 1, 2020
Regardless of what is our situation, the Lord never forgets us. We might be suffering
now but that doesn’t mean that we are suffering forever. These problems will come and go. We
are just experiencing it right now because God is testing us how far can we go, how strong we
are and how worthy are we of His promises. We are faced with these struggles to reminds us
about our Christian faith. But fear not with these struggles because God sent us His Holy Spirit
to guide us in whatever we do.

November 8, 2020
Are we ready to face the Lord? Am I ready to face the Lord? I was never ready to face
Him because I know I was not good at living on His words and Wisdom. It is not too late to
change; it was never too late to change. We never know when he will come back so we must be
prepared, alert and always be ready when that time comes. No one knows when but we should
always put our faith to the Lord and never forget His words and the grace He had showered
upon us.

November 15, 2020

No matter what we looked, what talents we have, how smart we are or anything in
between, we all have our values. It’s our personal preference or understanding that sometimes
we might say that someone is an asset to the institution or something but we forgot that we all
are worth it because all of us are valued by the Lord, we are all equal in His eyes because all of
us are beloved. We should be thankful for that and even though we are loved and worthy in the
Lord’s eyes, we should always remember our role as a Christian and a follower of Him.

November 22, 2020

 Treat everyone the way you want to be treated by them. Treat everyone nicely and take
care of them for God is within those who needed care the most. We should treat everyone with
outmost sincerity, passion to help others, and love for that is what the Lord wants us to do and
it feels so nice to help others. In times like this, if we have more than enough, we should learn
how to share it for we are fortunate enough to have something that others do not have.
November 29, 2020
We should be reminded always that we are blessed to experience the grace of the Lord
even when we are in our hardships and sufferings because that just proves that God is with us
helping us face those temptations and never letting us fall in the abyss. There is a light at the
end of the tunnel. Hope is one of the greatest blessing that the lord has given to us. Hope is so
powerful that it is the reason why we never give up, why we keep moving forward and why we
love others despite their imperfections. If there is still hope, then the Lord is with you.

The Labyrinth of Life

By: Jamille Icalina

“Who are you?”

I am Jamille P. Icalina
“What on earth are you doing here?”
I am here to wander.

You thought it was that easy to answer those questions. But when reality hits you hard and
experienced being lost, you will realize it was not enough. What is my purpose? There is a gap
that needs to be filled. A gap that only the self could discover and answer. Just when you
thought you got the answer, you came to think that you were stuck on some sort of a maze. A
maze that you made, and you do not know the way out.

Why do we still struggle to live?

Why are we here when we are made to suffer?
Is life worth living?
How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?
 We are looking for the way to get out of here. There is no light to see through this dark
path. Just when we thought that it is the end, we will come to realize it was just another
turnaround. You are walking in circles until you got tired. You are stuck.
I took a deep breath and let out my tears. Frustrations rush through my veins when I
started questioning my existence. Why me? Why is my life like this? Could I take a break from
my problems oh Lord? Just when I thought He would answer my questions, I get no response.
This keeps repeating until I got tired. Searching for the answer did nothing good to me.
All I got from that were depression, anxiety, and insomnia. When I was searching for the
answers, I lost touch to what matters the most. I lost connection with God while I was searching
for myself. I forgot why I am created in the first place. I admit my connection with God was not
that strong when I was searching for myself. That is why I got lost when I was looking for
myself. I forgot to bring the light that I need and that is God. There is nothing wrong with
questioning everything that exist, I just need to be contented to what is given to me.

“Who are you?”

I am Jamille P. Icalina. Once lost but now found.
“What on earth are you doing here?”
I am here to wander with the brightest light with me
to guide those who were also lost

[
How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?
“That is the mystery, isn’t it? Is the labyrinth living or dying? Which is he trying to escape–the
world or the end of it? You figure out what the labyrinth is and how to get out of it.”
-Looking for Alaska]
 Pursuit of happiness
By: Jamille Icalina
Most of us would remember God in times of need. When we are faced with problems
that we do not know what to do, we pray. Greedy as we are but God never abandoned us. God
is forgiving and never forgets us even if we forget about him. He always makes plans for us that
we would cherish for eternity.
Problems are inevitable and sometimes could lead to permanent damage like physically,
emotionally, and mentally. We all have these problems that we felt like giving up, when you are
trying to reach someone for help, but you are having a hard time reaching them especially
when it comes to your family.
Things went smoothly to our family. My siblings were exerting up some efforts just to
keep our intact and is doing their absolute best to be home on every occasion. My family is not
perfect due to a huge age gap that would lead to some misunderstanding, but nonetheless it
makes me happy when we are complete and that is my only wish. Life can be unfair to the point
where I could say that it has put me in the situation where I am just starting to build a
connection to other part of our family, and it was easily smashed into pieces by some rumors.
Family is your weak point even though your bond as a family is not that strong. It is
when you and your siblings are the last one to know something that is related to your family
and you knew about it through gossip. Not even one of our relatives; my cousins, my aunts, my
uncles, told us about it even my nanny knew about the issue. My siblings and I were left at the
dark that time. We felt betrayed by it because we were open to everything to them and in
return we just received lies and retributions by them. We were wronged that time by the
people around us. They started commenting about the issue of our family without hearing our
side of the story. We did not know that the issue has been going on for a year now, no one told
us and at that point I lost my trust to my family members. I think it is my right also to hate them
because not only I was affected by the issue but also my siblings and it pains me to see my
siblings crying. How I wish I could cry on behalf of them. How I wish I could take all the pain that
they were experiencing that time. If I could do anything just to not let them suffer, I would do it
without having second thoughts because they are the only one that I have, the reason why I
keep holding on and my inspiration to keep moving forward.
I would still cry because of that and at some point, my condition got worse. I would
engage myself to self harm just to divert the pain that I am feeling. I cried every night and every
after class because the pain still lingers. One night a friend of mine called me, he was my
confidant, I share everything to him. I cried for hours on the phone and he listens without
saying a word, he just listens to me.“I know pagod ka na, kapag nag-uusap tayo, umiiyak ka
nalang palagi. Di ko alam kung ano ginagawa mo after natin maglaro, but you need to pray.
Seek guidance. Naiistress ka na nga sa kurso mo, stress ka na sa pamilya mo, dami mo ng
nasayang na oras pero di mo magawa magdasal. Tapos alam mob a kung ano magandang
basahin bago matulog? Bible, kaya ka nabibigatan sa mga problemang dinadala mo kase you
never learn how to unpack it.” he told me. What he said was true. I do not have this habit of
praying. So, I tried it after the call.

“What I wish for always is to keep my family safe, was my prayers wasted oh Lord?”
“All I want is to make my family complete, was I asking for too much?”
“Am I not deserving to be happy?”
“Was asking for my happiness oh Lord a bit too much for you?”
“Why?”
I started crying again. After that I just sat down and reflect. I feel relieved and refreshed. I feel
His presence that time. I could say that someone really understood me that time. “If the world
hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as
its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is
why the world hates you.” - John 15:18-25 I receive this bible quote from one of my friends and
I feel so loved that time that I suddenly forgot what was weighing me down before. I was
happy for a moment.
The next day I received a message from our eldest sister. “Dat stay strong, muagi ra ni, naa ra si
manang og kuya para ninyo ni dodot, amping mo permi dira.” Tears started crawling down my
eyes. The moment when I am at the bottom is when I feel the love of my siblings. That problem
made the bond of us siblings stronger.
Problems is what made us sometimes remember God. But God never forgets us. When you feel
so down, God will be there for you to listen. God will always be there. God will also find a way
to make you closer to him. God always has a plan for us. His grace helped me forgive and forget
my problems. We should be open for possibilities in life and never lose hope. Not all the times
your family would give you the happiness that you’ve looking for, sometimes you just need to
close your eyes and embrace what you have right now and let it all out.