Reconciling with God

In 2011,  popular lawyer Frank Chavez   wrote an article, “Between the Gates of Earth and the Portals of Eternity,” in preparation for another book, perhaps his autobiography.

But Frank passed away September 11, 2013, despite his undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplant (bone marrow transplant) at the Medical City’s Institute of Personalized Molecular Medicine (IMM). According to his wife Jean, Frank wrote the article after his autologous stem cell transplant at the Singapore General Hospital. He  had  been “battling diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in 2009, when it was first diagnosed at the Cardinal Santos General Hospital.”

The article, written two years ago, when he was well and in his usual high spirits, shows his renewed relationship with God, and his love for people and life.      

For Jean, and as this  columnist’s tribute to my lawyer, I am printing Frank”s article. You will be invigorated and moved to live a good life, by this article written from Frank’s heart.

Between the Gates of Earth and the Portals of Eternity

The exceedingly lingering days and nights that followed my autologous stem cell transplant transported me almost interminably between the gates of earth and the portals of eternity. My basic blood counts were dangerously low, it was like my  condition was deliberately provoking the hand of death. I had no sense of time. I lost track of days as they merged with night. My body was riveted in bed but my mind shuttled me in split seconds to places both familiar and unknown to me.

I didn’t know whether I was staying or leaving, awake or asleep, quietly praying or loudly but inaudibly bemoaning my blighted state, tucked in bed in absolute boredom or wishing a simple stroll along the corridor.

It was during these moments that I was captured by the power of stillness. I began to absorb and embrace the captivating warmth of silence. In silence, I found peace and the chance to revisit my inner self. In silence I felt God — His power, His mercy, His love — frozen, unmoving in time and space, activated only by the earnestness and fervency of prayers. God is always here, with us, now. He is not far away and transcendental. He is immanent. We are the ones who stray as we are obfuscated by the wiles and guiles of earthly pursuits.

I felt the essence of my soul weighed down and emaciated by burdens and bondages. They have been with me all these years and have impaired the integrity of my spiritual being. They obstructed my clear thinking, obfuscated reasoning and logic, sponsored the dominance of emotional reactions, bred and nurtured arrogance, courted megalomania, raised and guarded misplaced pride and ferried me to a region away from God. I looked in on myself and saw that most of me have been colonized and captured by hatred, vengefulness, impatience,  intolerance, anger, overweening  pride, selfishness, impulsiveness, intemperance, obstinacy and insensitivity. They have taken their toll on me. It is now imperative that I unshackle myself from the bondage.

I have to be free again. I have to be a new man — corporally and spiritually. Since God has re-created me upon  the infusion of new stem cells  into my body, I have to emerge an entirely new being — body, mind and spirit. As I shifted from strength to weakness during those uncertain moments, I made a strong resolve to discard all the negative  residents  in  my corporal and spiritual  systems. I prayed and willed that  these  new  stem cells be guided by the Holy Spirit to all the minute parts  of  my body  to  take control of my immune  system and restore it to what  it   was upon my first birth, fortify it  and  protect  it  from  recurrence.

My mind was with it every step of the way, through my veinal network from head to toes — devastating, dissolving and destroying whatever residual cells there were that threaten me. And it was done. For spiritual cleaning, I  discarded all the negative feelings and attitudes that weighed me down all these years. And I did it — feeling the lightness of my being  thenceforth.

Now I have to rebuild my body and empower it like my mind. For 100 days following my stem cells infusion, I have to take extra precaution against any infection or complication. I have to be really careful in the food I can and shouldn’t eat, the people near me, sleeping hours and rest periods, stress and strain. Thees proscriptions constrain me to live easy and take each day as it comes. I used to lead a life in the fast lane. Now, I have to slow down: anticipate dawn for the sun to fulfill its promise of a new day; watch the birds cavort in tree branches; savor the smell of newly-cut grass; feel the breeze caress the blades of grass; listen to the euphonious symphony of birds chirping as they herald the dawning of new life; become a child again in the company of grandchildren; watch buds blossom to full flowers; write a book; plant trees; fix busted light bulbs; share quality time with the family; savor the love and care poured my way by family members… In the process, I learn the virtue of patience — for which I admittedly have a short supply of. It made me realize the uselessness of meeting deadlines and coping with the demands of time constraints. In the end, they mean nothing except to serve oneself. But that is not our raison d’etre in this life. It is to honor and love God and to serve others.

There are of course limits to what the human mind and body can do. With this realization, where else do we go for strength? To prayer, to God – whose power is infinite, limitless and unfathomable to the human mind. I adore and love God, l praise and  thank Him, believe and trust Him, glorify and sanctify Him.

God has no beginning, no end. He is not subject to time and space. He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent.  He is pure power, pure energy, pure strength. He is pure will, pure wisdom, pure intelliegence. He is pure love, pure mercy, pure perfection.   He is pure healing power!  And He has healed and cured me completely and irrevocably.

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A Seminar on “Designing Your Life” for beginning career and up and coming performing and other artists will be held on Thursday, October 3, at 9 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Cultural Center of the Philippines MKP Multi-Purpose Hall. The seminar will be given by Bethel Schnitzlein, Ph.D., Austria-based Filipino educator, social worker, musician, counselor and life-coach. 

The seminar is designed  to help people intentionally craft their personal and professional life by directing life’s controllable aspects, making the right choices, and not allowing to let things happen by chance.

Dr. Bethel Diokno Schnitzlein has a Ph.D. in Education (Educational History and Philosophy), a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree in Social Work from the University of the Philippines. She also has a master’s degree in Church Music from Western Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon.

As an educator, social worker and musician, Dr. Schnitzlein has a unique background that enables her to have a special sensitivity to people and real-life situations, as well as the artistic and creative skill to effectively teach and communicate to her audience. She is a licensed professional counselor in Austria. Participation fee is P100. â€¨â€¨For more information, contact the CCP Artist Training Division at 8321125 loc. 1604/1605 or email [email protected]

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