Spiritual Life

Turning points in my life

A friend came for a business call but we spent the first half hour talking about the turning points in our lives. I shared with him my personal experiences when I was still in the Philippines, that of “falling from the favor of men and being caught by the hands of God”.

I was 45 years old with ambitions to fulfill. I’ve worked hard and accomplished so much. I thought I deserved a promotion. So I went to the Secretary of Health to request that I be considered for appointment to the just vacated position of Executive Director of the Dangerous Drugs Board. He said, “Hija, you are already occupying a very good position. I have been sending you abroad to represent me in international conferences. Why do you have to apply for a management position?”

I would like to try my hand in management, I replied. Then he started saying negative things about me. I pushed a little bit harder knowing that what he was saying was hearsay and I was qualified for the position. Then he said with a tint of sarcasm, “I can’t appoint you because you are a woman.” I blew my top. I stood up, banged my fist on his table and pointed my fingers to him. In anger I said, “when did you ever think that I do all the things I am doing for you because I am a woman. If you can’t promote me, then retire me!” His answer was curt, “file your papers.” I left the room, too proud to even look back. I fell from the favor of an influential bureaucrat.

When you have nothing to hold on to, in times of despair and disappointment, the only thing you can do is to hold on to the hands of God. I felt so distraught. When I came home that evening I

Aurora S. Cudal-Rivera My Personal Testimony

got my dusty and long-forgotten Bible, opened it and started to pray. After praying for discernment and forgiveness, I opened the Bible and my eyes fell on these verses, “But, seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) So I started seeking His Kingdom by reading and studying His Words, by going back to church and serving Him with all my heart. One Saturday morning I attended the Women’s Society of Christian Service Prayer rally where women were so happy sharing their personal testimony on the power of God in their lives. After listening and being inspired by what I heard, I stood up to acknowledge the speakers, but what came out of my lips, was a profound confession. “I am a sinner and I’ve fallen short in the glory of God.” Then came a strange feeling within me, a very warm sensation engulfed my whole being. Then and there, I felt that God has touched me and made me whole. My life was transformed and since then, I claimed the words of Micah: “What does the Lord expect of you, to love mercy, to do justice and to walk humbly with God.”

God opened new doors for me.

God allowed me to be elected to various positions in the church and to one of the highest position in an international women’s organization, that of World Secretary of the World Federation of Methodist Women (1991-96). I traveled to East Asia, South Pacific, South America, North America and Europe, speaking before women’s groups. When I think of the many wonderful experiences I’ve had, I am reminded of what a friend shared with me from, Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to me and I’ll answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” I called to Him and He answered me, and showed me great and mighty things I never knew.

There has been a season in my life when I was wounded and crucified, but I clung to the Lord in prayer. I’ve uttered to my detractors, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do” Figuratively speaking, I carried my cross. I was whip-lashed by a cruel pen and would have given up, but the message of the Resurrection – Hope and New Life were my constant source of inspiration. Hallelujah, Christ has risen. Christ has risen, indeed. Happy Easter!

Situational ethics

Lord, who may dwell in Your sanctuary? Who may live on Your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart. (Psalm 15:1-2)

"I cannot believe they are not going to honor my bonus agreement," said the executive who was about to take another position in a new city. Her understanding of her present work agreement called for a bonus at the end of the year. Management saw the situation differently. "It's not right. I am entitled to that bonus," she complained.

It was time to leave. The company had given her a laptop to use. However, when she left, she decided that because the company was not going to pay her the bonus she was entitled to, she would simply keep the laptop as compensation due her. "And they would never miss it," she reasoned. She was now in the employment of the new company. As each day passed, she grew uneasier about her decision. She could not get it off her mind. Finally, she concluded that the Holy Spirit was telling her this decision was wrong and that she needed to call her former boss to confess her action. She called him and confessed what she had done and why she had done it. Her boss accepted her confession and forgave her. Strangely enough, he allowed her to keep the laptop computer.

Truth never changes. It is absolute. When we make decisions based on other actions that are taken, we move into making decisions based on the situation, not truth and righteousness. The executive may indeed have been wronged, but she had to address the wrong in the appropriate way. Trying to compensate for the wrong by doing something that violates another scriptural principle is called situational ethics. If the employer had never wronged the executive, do you think she would have felt justified in taking the computer? Probably not. When you isolate

We are back to the liturgy of the Ordinary Season of the liturgical year. I always presume that we have been enriched by the past two seasons, namely, Lent and Easter as well as the very important feasts that were celebrated in both seasons. The first Sunday after those feasts brings us to the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary time that presents us the message of the Sunday gospel reading taken from the Gospel written by St. Matthew, chapter ten verses 26 to 33. The central message of this gospel is the reality that every Christian has been “saved by the grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ.” Hence, we should be confident in his ever reassuring presence in our lives so that we have nothing to be afraid in this mortal life, “for the Lord defend us unto life everlasting.” In a world that is filled with anxieties, apprehension, fears and unpredictable and unforeseeable incidents, one may be enveloped with fear and despair. However, a staunch believer and faithful follower of Jesus who is both loving and merciful has really nothing to fear. We only have to fully entrust ourselves to Him assuring words when he mentioned in the gospel today “do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” ( Mt. 10, 31.) ways. the two situations, you see that one action was taken in response to the other action. Have you had any experiences in which you have used situational ethics? The Lord desires His people to have a higher standard, even at the cost of being wronged. Ask the Lord to reveal any business practices that may indicate situational ethics. You might be surprised what will happen when you do the right thing.

Oftentimes we would discover that our fears and anxieties are consequences of the realization that we are helpless and insecure, hopeless and in despair once we realize that we cannot do everything by our own strength and power. Our overconfidence in ourselves that may lead us to know that there are many external forces that are more powerful than us make us miserably hopeless and many of us turn to other powers such as, alcohol, drugs, bad company and other evil influences and eventually bring us more problems and make our lives in complete disaster.

The message of the gospel this Sunday reaffirms the goodness and loving mercy of God, especially in concretized in His presence in the Blessed Sacrament. We only to open ourselves to His loving presence so that we would be able to feel in merciful and saving existence in our lives. On Friday, June 16, the whole Catholic world celebrated the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is one of the most widely practiced and well known devotion of the Roman Catholic Church. The origin of this devotion is derived from the mystical experiences of St. Marguerite Marie Alocoque, a French saint, who shared her mystical experiences with Jesus, especially the wonders of his love and mercy, and his asking her to diffuse the treasure of his goodness. During the celebration of the feast I mentioned that we will promote the love for the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in our parish. In fact we will pray the prayer of Padre Pio every Friday for this purpose. In this way we can truly respond to his love by loving Him in turn, especially to our brothers and sisters who are in material and spiritual needs.

What could perhaps be among the most pleasant words our Lord would hear from us is when we say “Here I am Lord. Make use of me according to Thy will.” It is a complete surrender acknowledging that God is in control and we are but His foot soldiers helping build His Kingdom here on earth. God doesn’t want to do violence to our freewill. Service to God and our fellowmen is volitional. It is not something imposed by God for us to do. We take the initiative to Love. For us to serve God, God does not look into our Ability. He requires only our Availability. We recall that when our Lord started His ministry, He did not look for scholars and philosophers to help Him spread His message. Instead He chose simple fishermen who made themselves available. When we offer ourselves to God He will infuse in our whole being, the Holy Spirit. When this happens, we will be capable to accomplish things which will truly amaze us. This is exactly what happened to Sally and me.

The disciples thought they suffered their greatest defeat when Jesus died on the cross. However, this defeat became the greatest victory on earth. Christ's death gave liberty. Forgiveness came to all men. New life came forth - new strength for the disciples. Resurrection and new life came as a result of a "defeat."

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When we left the Philippines for the US in 1987, we left our stable jobs and dared to face an uncertain future in a foreign land to start anew. We were no longer young then so the challenge was even much greater. What we had with us was our complete Trust in the Lord and a firm belief that He will not forsake us. I wrote a letter to Sally telling her among others” We do not know what the future holds for us, but we know Who holds the future”. All we need to do is to make ourselves available to Him and allow Him to direct our

Continued from page 1 and interests and developing connections among the players. As players travel across the globe to San Diego to play in the championships, Garcia commends this opportunity for the team.

“I think it is a unique opportunity for us to come together, compete, and show the world that we can compete in the viable sport,” Garcia said. “We really feel like the game of lacrosse lends to Filipino people. You don’t have to be 6 foot tall and you don’t have to weigh a certain amount.”

As he waits for the rivalry rematch against Israel, Garcia hopes for a lot of support within the Filipino community of San Diego.

“We partnered up with World Lacrosse and House of Philippines and The Filipino Press to get the word out,” Garcia said. “We have posters with QR codes for tickets. I believe there will be a Filipino food cart there and a parol booth to buy a T-shirt. I think them just buying tickets to come out and cheer us on would be wonderful. During these nerve-wracking games, the athletes need to hear their crowd’s roars and cheers to boost their spirits. Share this article and invite friends,

Before we came to the US we were not even sure if we could go back to teaching and so what happened next to us was totally unexpected and amazing. Teaching the Filipino Language in the US was beyond our wildest dreams. Through God’s grace however, we became pioneers in the highly successful Filipino Language Program in San Diego County. Currently, there are close to 2,000 students enrolled in Filipino classes directly impacting the lives of thousands of Filipinos. Filipino is second only to Spanish in terms of student enrollment. Prior to the teaching of Filipino, only the major languages were taught, Spanish, French, Japanese and some European Languages. After the introduction of Filipino in the City Schools, nineteen other languages followed us, Vietnamese, Somali, Lao, Arabic etc. In the words of Sacramento, Filipino has become the model for the less commonly taught languages of California. Sally was the chief author of the CSET Filipino a written test which is a requirement before one could teach Filipino in California. When Sally was the President of the Filipino Teachers group, San Diego hosted an International Conference on Filipino as a Global Language. The conference attracted Filipinos the world over because language has become a major issue in the Filipino diaspora. When Sally and I retired from San Diego City Schools, we were invited to help start The Filipino School. In cooperation with the Council for Teaching Filipino Language and Culture (CTFLC) family, and loved ones to watch our immaculate Filipino athletes play in the championship games.

With your support, our Filipino athletes can win the championship for the Philippines and the men, women, and youth back home who are unable to make it to San Diego themselves. For Kapamilya in San Diego, please purchase tickets to support our fellow Filipino Lacrosse athletes. Single day passes for SDSU will be available to purchase the day of the games at the SDSU Sports Deck box office. For future playoff games (once qualified), fans can purchase tickets online at worldlax2023.com.

Alongside our men’s national team, the Philippines brings three teams-men’s open team, women’s open team and youth team-- to compete in the Adrenaline World Lacrosse Festival beginning June 29 to July 2. Please come support our men, women, and youth Filipino athletes in this lively and thrilling event, as they showcase their skills in the tournament surrounding the World Lacrosse Men’s Championship.

To get updates on the team, please follow their Instagram (@ philippineslacrosse), Facebook (@ Philippines Lacrosse Association), and Twitter (@PhilippinesLAX).

Arriving on June 18, the men will collectively practice and await we initiated the FLASP (Filipino Language After School Program) in the Elementary Schools. About ten years ago, with the grace of God, we helped organized a Charity Organization which operates mainly in the Philippines. It is still operational. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I started writing Poems in Filipino at the latter stage in my life. This came as a big surprise to me considering the fact that my native tongue is not Filipino but Pangasinan. For all of these life transforming achievements we are claiming nothing. All we did was to allow God to use us to accomplish His will. If we are to help build God’s Kingdom here on earth, we need to be a part not of the Ego drama but the Theo drama where God is the Script Writer, Producer and Director. We are merely the Actors acting out according to His Script. If we seek Him out and make ourselves available to Him, He will continue to surprise us with the things we can do. their battle against Israel and their future goals they will shoot for. The men will be playing four scheduled games consecutively from June 23 to June 26. Following the day after, the playoff tournament begins for the World Lacrosse Men’s Championship.

The Philippines will play in future playoff games depending on their success in winning the first four scheduled matches.- June 23: Philippines vs. Israel at 1:00 pm on the SDSU Sports Deck- June 24: Philippines vs. Puerto Rico at 4:00 pm on the SDSU Rady FieldJune 25: Philippines vs. Czech Republic at 1:00 pm on the SDSU Rady Field- June 26: Philippines vs. Sweden at 7:00 pm on the SDSU Wolf/Epoch Field. Lead by team captain Justin Rodis and head coach Kirk Ventiquattro, the men shoot to inspire future generations back home, as they victoriously wave the Filipino flag and pump red, blue, white, and gold in their veins. Laban para sa bayan!

The Philippines LaCrosse Team wants to thank San Diego local sponsors i.e. Susn Ladrido, Glass Box's Executive Chef Ethan Yang, Luna's Lunpia, Kimberly King Media, Filipino American Chamber of Commerce Greater San Diego. House of the Philippines, Filipino Press outreach team and

“There is a mistaken notion among some that to own a paper is to have a license to clobber one’s enemies and attack people we don’t like. A newspaper is an information tool to reach a large number of people at a given time. A newspaper should inform, educate, entertain and provide viewpoints that could give us the means to make intelligent decisions for ourselves and others.” — Ernie Flores Jr., founding editor and publisher

He said a long-term solution should still be implemented involves increasing the salaries of nurses to compete with international markets and encourage them to remain in the country with their families.

"Addressing nurse retention and creating a conducive environment for their professional growth should be our priority," he said.

Philippine College of Physicians president Dr. Rontgene Solante earlier said board eligibles are already competent enough to do nursing work after graduation.

“It’s just a matter, that when they will be incorporated or isama na natin sila doon sa mga (include them in the) hospital, they have to undergo training, also the trainers, they will look at how they are competent enough to be working in the hospital,” Solante said in a televised public briefing on Tuesday.

Once immersed in the hospitals, Solante said they have to be monitored by the staff and be taught of the processes.

“Because for me, even if they have not taken the board yet, they already possess the skills of a nurse, it’s just a matter that they still have to take the board,” he said. “Napakaimportante nitong hakbang dahil, we can encourage those na nagna-nursing pero hindi pa nag-take ng board, pumupunta ng ibang work kagaya ng mga call centers (This is an important plan because we can encourage those who took nursing but have not taken the board and are taking other work like in call centers).”

The PRC reported that there are 951,105 registered nurses in the country but only 509,297 or 53.55 percent are practitioners as of March 24, 2023.

The PRC said the country does not meet the ratio of practicing nurses set by the World Health Organization which is 27.4 for nurses for every 10,000 individuals.

Temporary license for nursing board flunkers not allowed by law

There is no provision in the Philippine Nursing Act that allows the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) or any government agencies to issue temporary licenses to nursing graduates who failed the licensure examination.

In a televised public briefing on Thursday, PRC commissioner Dr. Jose Cueto Jr. said that practice through special or temporary permit applies only for licensed nurses for foreign countries as stated in Section 21 of Republic Act 9173 or the nursing law.

“Naiimbita sila na maging faculty ng mga College of Nursing or involved sila sa mga medical missions or humanitarian missions (They are invited to be a faculty [member] of Colleges of Nursing or they are involved in medical missions or humanitarian missions),” he said.

“O kaya naman nai-invite sila para maging eksperto sa mga diskusiyon ng mga issues involved dito sa (Or they are invited to be experts in the discussion of issues involved in the) nursing profession.”

Cueto noted that nursing board examinees must obtain an average of 75 percent without any subjects lower than 60 percent to get a professional license.

“Kapag hindi po napapalitan ang provision sa batas eh hindi po pwede gamitin ‘yung percentage na (Unless the provision in the law is amended, we cannot consider the average that is) lower than 75,” he said.

Earlier, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said among the plans to solve the shortage of nurses in hospitals nationwide was by providing temporary license to nursing graduates with 70 to 74 percent grade in the board exam.

They would be allowed to work in hospitals under the direct supervision of registered nurses but unlike board passers, they do not have the privilege to independently practice their profession, Cueto said.

“Hindi sila covered doon sa strikto na provision ng batas (They are not covered in the strict provision of the law.) They will be supervised all the way,” Cueto said. All their tasks should be monitored by their supervisors as part of a quality assurance mechanism to ensure patient safety and welfare.

They will be assigned in areas in the hospitals with easy load and not in the intensive care units and recovery rooms immediately.

In May 2023, the PRC reported about 14,000 examinees took the licensure test for nurses. Of the tally, about 10,764 or 74.94 percent have passed.

Cueto noted that the figure is one of the highest passing percentages in the nursing licensure examination history in recent years, including the 74 percent rate in November 2022 where almost 70,000 or 60 percent out of the 113,000 nursing graduates passed the licensure examination. (MNS)

Permanent disabled person parking placard holders who have had their placards for six or more years must provide a signature to the DMV to renew this year. Placards expire on June 30, 2023.

A new law has changed the renewal process, so longtime placard holders will no longer automatically receive new placards. Placards must be renewed every six years. The process can be completed easily and entirely online at dmv.ca.gov/DPP.