Soon it will be Christmas and 2013!

After the crowd-drawer feasts of the saints and the departed souls early November, the next big event that Filipinos will prepare for will be Christmas season next month!

Even this early, lanterns and electric Christmas decors are already out displayed along certain streets. At the onset of the first BER month, September, Christmas carols have also been played and continue to be played. Children have also started to do their early caroling out in the busy streets! Even commercials and ads are now talking, reminding all about Christmas, about Pasko!

Flowers and candles will be replaced by all sorts of decors for the biggest event Filipinos prepare for each year: the birth of our Lord. From a pensive, reflective mood during the early days of November, our people will now shift and prepare for a very festive, joyful celebration and commemoration of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The weather also will shift to cooler days ahead, and hopefully, prayerfully, no more typhoons from now till the end of this year. Autumn is now being experienced in several other countries, the changing of nature’s colors a reminder about the start of another season and the end of another.

Super storm Sandy came and left but New York and other parts of the East Coast are still left without electricity, transport, and other services.

No one expected that super storm to humble New York and America. Just as Hurricane Katrina, however, once devastated the US and then served as a reminder of how serious climate change has to be urgently responded to by all, Superstorm Sandy once again appeared on the scene to serve as Mother Nature’s strong message for all to responsibly live sustainable, eco-friendly ways. Super storm Sandy also left the very strong message that Mother Nature will certainly show its wrath equally, all over this world.

Post-Sandy America will go through a very important election soon. Thanksgiving in November will also have more reflective, grateful individuals, families, and communities kept safe and protected from that destructive super storm. Hopefully, the rest of the world will also join in with grateful prayers for American leaders who will truly, genuinely serve God, people, and nature for today’s generation as well as for those in the future!

Elsewhere in the world, peace remains elusive where war and hatred still continue to reign. Millions of the world’s people, including the vulnerable among the children women, elderly and those with disabilities, are still looking for liberation from poverty, exclusion, and invisibility.

Autumn, November, Thanksgiving, and December are also reminders for all that this year, 2012 , is about to say goodbye and say hello to another new year, 2013! With barely 2 months left for 2012, can life be a little better each day, or even just for a day or two for the needy?

Hope, thankfully, runs eternal in the hearts of those who trust and believe. Grateful hearts take a day at a time to offer thanks and to give glory to God who always takes best care of all.

Providentially, the Gospel reading for the 2nd day of November for this year, taken from John14:1 reminds us about God’s important message for us all: “ Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”

The same message is repeated in the same Chapter 14 of John, verse 27: “ Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

Together with these repeated assurances, in the same chapter and verse, God, through His Son Jesus Christ, leaves us all with the priceless gift: “ Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.”

With God’s peace and love, let us all move on to have happy God-blessed days and years ahead then!!!

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