Reflection

Paper

UAYAN, Justine G.

BSBA Financial Management 2-1

Life and Works of Rizal 0009-9

Prof. John Ray Rivera

Reflection #1: To Virgin Mary

In the first four lines, I read it first like I am praising and

worshiping Virgin Mary. With her grace, all people are wealthy and
productive. She deserved to be praised and be grateful for her existence.
The next four lines were Rizal asking for guidance from Virgin Mary’s
throne above. In that time of sorrow and suffering, he is praying to Virgin
Mary to hear his prayer and request made in an urgent and emotional
manner. The last lines were all about Rizal’s faith in Virgin Mary and he
is praying for his safety and protection from the catastrophe he will be
facing.
Life requires a large amount of physical and mental effort. Some
are lucky enough to have everything in their life. Such as, born with a
golden spoon in their mouth; some need to suffer first to get satisfaction
in life. It all just depends on how you were brought into this world. But
for Dr. Jose Rizal, life is full of misery and hardships. He had it difficult
from the start since he was young. Life gave Rizal lemons and he made it
lemonade. He already knows he will suffer someday so he asked for
guidance and protection from Virgin Mary in his journey and cast out all
his enemies. He chose not to let life get him down.
With the experience he had gained in life, he was confident and
positive to overcome his obstacles because of his faith. As far as I can
tell, He inspires me to not hide my face and moves away from my
struggles in life. Have faith in what you believe and let them handle it
with your works. The struggle in life will be worth suffering if it is to
become a better and a successful person.
Reflection #2: To Josephine
Jose Rizal inscribed the poem “To Josephine” to Josephine
Bracken, who is the love of his life. For me, when I reading this poem, it
was so heartfelt. I feel like he was about to leave and he was saying
goodbye to Josephine for the last moment. He wanted Josephine to live
freely as he leaves the world. Because on the first four lines, he described
Josephine. From what I understand, Josephine who came into his life,
wanted emotional support from Jose Rizal, because she was lonely and
unwanted. Then the next lines were about, wherever Josephine goes
around the world, always remember that Jose Rizal’s heart holds
Josephine when his arms cannot. 
At this time he wrote this poem on the eve of his execution in
Dapitan and he could not leave the place. He showed in his poem how
much Josephine meant to him. Even in his last breathe, he showed how
devoted he was to her.
After Rizal’s execution in 1896, they found pieces of rotting paper
inside his shoes. And there they discovered a letter to Josephine. At that
time, Josephine was dragged into a fight between Rizal’s family. She
insisted that as a widow of Rizal, she has the right to some money
provided by Rizal in his will. But the family of Rizal did not approve
since there was no proof they were married.
As far as I can tell, when I read his poem, I have come to the
realization of what love is. Even on the day you will die, your love for
someone will remain. You have loved her/him with an everlasting love,
like how much God loves us. As in 1 John 4:9-10 indicated in the bible,
“In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his
only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love,
not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.”

Reflection #3: To the Flowers of Heidelberg

In this poem, I find it so poetic as pretty as the flowers of

Heidelberg. I searched for it how it looks like, it was so astonishing. I
wonder how it looks like in person. He described this place in a clear,
graphic, and very detailed manner.
Rizal dedicated “To the Flowers of Heidelberg” to his country, the
Philippines. He wrote this when he was in Germany. His homesickness
and sadness made him compose a poem. Based on the first four lines,
from what I understand, we all know, flowers from foreign countries can
be ship out to other countries to be sell. He asked the flowers to go to his
homeland which is the Philippines and look over his loved ones. Flowers
of Heidelberg can be symbolized as the message of peace, prosperity,
virtue to women, and courage to men to his motherland.
In the next three lines, I think he was saying that, on the journey he
had wandered, his goal is only for his fellow Filipino who needs peace
and prosperity. He wants the flowers to tell his country that a brighter
future is about to come. That’s how he certainly knows his desired goal
will be achieved.
And the last lines were beautifully made by him. He was giving
hope for his country that someday you will see the sunshine, symbolizing
peace. He will do what he can in order to help his fellow Filipinos, even
his life is in jeopardy.
I am so amazed at how Rizal loves his country. He showed
patriotism, nationalism, love for his land and his loved ones. The beauty
of the flower is on a par with the way he looks at our country. We should
see that also the way he saw our country. For us to live with peace and
prosperity.

Reflection #4: Imno sa Paggawa

Rizal wrote this poem to narrate the hard work of the people in
Lipa, Batangas. He wrote this at the time we are under Spanish rule,
fighting for our freedom from the cruelty of the Spaniards. He
characterized the role of the people played in Lipa City, from women to
mothers, fathers and those who wanted to become fathers, and from
children and those dependents on life.
From what I understand in the first four lines, up to the present
time, most Filipinos still facing utmost poverty. Behind those hardships,
we can still see the smile on their faces. We are eager to taste the
prosperous life and ready to overcome all the adversities will come to our
life. Then the lines for men, as I understand, before the sun will rise, they
were ready to work hard every day for the livelihood and the future of
their family. This can inspire the people to work hard for their families
because this is their responsibility as a man or a father. Next is the line for
those married women, as I see it, wives should payback for the
perseverance of their husband by being faithful and truly in love with
them. Also, these lines say that the mother shares the hardship that the
father cannot handle. But when they together facing the challenges, they
can get through it all. The life of the town does not stop the couple and
the children. That’s why the next lines were for the maiden and young
man, in that time, many fought against Spaniards at an early age. It says
also the young men is the one who courts the young women. And the last
lines were about children. It says that children are the future of the
country. Eventually, all of our deeds today will be passed on to the
children of the next generation.
As far as I can tell, It showed patriotism. Rizal wants Filipino to
become responsible and diligent with all their works. It is another
educative challenge for us now.
Reflection #5: To the Philippine Youth

If I were to base my judgment, the poem “To the Philippine Youth”

by Dr. Jose Rizal is telling the youth of today in our country can change
the future of the society with their well-being, fearless and courageous
behavior. He is telling us that we, the youth should love our country and
show them that we have the intelligence, knowledge, abilities, and skills
as well. We can use it to help those who are in need. Also, Dr. Jose Rizal
composed this poem to gave us another educative challenge that is
relevant at this moment. The message that Dr. Jose Rizal wants to convey
to the Philippine Youth is to love fully our own, our language, let us
enrich and fight for our freedom from foreigners who want to rule our
country we live in. According to him, if people will sincerely love their
national language is also sincerely want to fight for their freedom. It is
said to be like a bird flying free from the air. And the one who does not
love his/her country is more awful than the animal and smelly fish.
Unfortunately, some of the youth today are choosing their path
with drugs, alcohols, play video games all day instead of being
productive, wasting their time, spending their nights partying and living it
up, and worst involving their young playful mind into a thing called
“premarital sex” engaging them to have a chance of being a parent at a
very young age. These are the saddest thing we have now. The backbone
of the nation is now stubborn to the backbone of our nation.
 As part of the youth in our society, I will prove and show what they
were saying were wrongs and misjudgments about the youth that we have
the abilities and knowledge that we can use to help our motherland. I will
encourage all my fellow youths that it is indeed hard and pressure for us
but if we think and make it a stepping stone for us to become a better
person, we can prove that we are the existing hopes of our country.