Fight diabetes!

This morning while on the train, there were so many posters pasted everywhere in the train reminding us to fight diabetes...(Fyi, currently there is big campaign organised by the Health Promotion Board [HPB] to heighten diabetes awareness)..

Let me just share with you why diabetes is so damaging to our bodies....diabetes, a condition where our pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin to breakdown the sugar in our blood which led to an increase level of sugar in our blood...under this condition, over prolong period will lead to glaucoma (increase pressure in the eyeball) leading to blindness, kidney failure, heart diseases (e.g. stroke) and lastly amputation as a result of gangrene...so come to think of it just one single condition can lead one to so many health problems and that is why it pays just stay trim and fit and keep diabetes at bay..especially where most of us in LC300 are above 40 years old and that put us in the high risk group especially so if one happens to be obese also.

Many of us thought that diabetes is a result of eating too much sweety stuff...but I have read somewhere this actually is a myth coz the real cause of it is overweight and being obese, as to why people have this wrong perception is that noramlly the overweight people will also have a liking of sweety stuff and this leads on to the perception that eating sweety stuff will incerease the chances of having diabetes..but this is not so.

So, maintain a healthy BMI and at least you can eliminate one single damaging health condition.

A healthy body and mind will enable us to praise and worship our God daily, better.

Have a nice day!

AlbertY

My Miraculous medal and this is just a thought...

I bought a miraculous medal last weekend and am wearing it now....but I wish to clarify here that in wearing this medal it does not mean that miracles will happen or anything magic will spring up...in fact this medal is nothing magic or extraordinary about it. I am not wearing this medal for supertitious reasons or whatsoever...It is just a constant reminder of our faith..

As a matter of fact, in wearing medal one will obtain graces from God and that itself is a miracle...so I decided wear it. Now, I was thinking this morning, looking at the medal, on one side there is a total of 12 stars surrounding the cross (which symbolises Christ Himself)...12 stars symbolises the 12 apostles (which also include of course Judas Iscariot, the one who betrays Jesus)...the design of this medal is given to St Faustina Kowalska of Poland by Mother Mary back 1830...so if, at that time Mary still acknowedges that Judas is still very much part of the 12 apostles, Judas should now be in heaven! If Judas is condemn for all eternity then wouldn't it be only 11 stars instead of 12 stars when the design of the medal is revealed to St Faustina in 1830? right? It is just a thought...

Moving forward, the horizontal bar across signifies the earth, and the letter M signifies Mary...the horizontal bar interleaves the letter M, signifying that Mary is very much part of humanity, constantly in our midst till today...She was in Fatima, she was in Lourdes, she was in Guadalupe, Mexico and she was even in Zeitun, Egypt back in 1933...basically she is everywhere! What a comforting fact this is....We are certainly not alone in our sufferings in this world...

Today is Friday..and would like to leave you with the image of the Miraculous Medal given to us by our Beloved Mother Mary in 1830.....

O MARY, CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN, PRAY FOR US WHO HAVE RECOURSE TO THEE

Have a nice day and a blessed weekend!

The 2 hearts below the letter M, signifies Mary's heart which is pierce with a lance and the other heart signifies Jesus's heart which is crown with thorns.

God Bless!

AlbertY

My Father's Day gift from my 2 girls...

This year I have received quite a number of Father's gift from my 2 girls and from my sweetie as well...among them were 2 books of which I have started reading one of the book:

It strike me a great deal, far different from what all the books that I have read..coz this one, apart from the bible, this one contains the words that came directly from God....yes, it may be hoax..at first, I was sceptical when reading this book (Just to give you a background of this book..it is suppose to contain messages given to one of the parishoner and a priest (Fr Jack Spaulding) in St Maria Goretti of Scottsdale in Arizona in US; btw there are a few parishes having the same in the US) by our Lord Jesus and Mother Mary when they appeared to them back in 1988 to 1989...

As I read thru the few pages, I was skeptical...but then as I reflect and reflect again, my skeptic seem to diminish and here are my reasons:

The book was bought at a cost of $4.90 at St Anne's church in Sengkang; when we visited my mum's resting place there last week...so the contents may be authentic since it was bought in a church, then I think again what if the contents are all but a hoax, but does it really, really matter to my faith? Well, if it is a hoax, it turns out to be one which is really a valuable, and priceless hoax that I have ever encountered coz it has turn me closer to God all the more!

...and then again I think further, all the messages in there has a perculiar way in the manner it is presented, consistently through out (can't really describe it..) so I think it is authentic..so if it is authentic...then the messages in there would have come directly from God....and that is the main difference between this book and the rest of all the books I am reading...there is no translation problem as the messages are given to 2 Americans and presumably in Englich and as I read...I have thought this to myself...to cross over from this life to heaven is really, really tough....no easy feat coz if it is easy then God, would not have to send first the prophets, then His Only Begotten Son, and then His Mother, Mary and then now, both His Son Jesus and Mother Mary just to constantly remind us, human beings, to walk on the straight path.

It is term break this week at the poly,....and today, I am on half day leave in the afternoon and I have decided to drop by Nov church on my way back because of what this messge I read here in this book...

Whether or not it is a hoax, does not not matter much to me coz it has make me straightens my path and also change some of my own thinking...I have been wrong in the way I practice my faith...

There many more messages available online thru' this url...I think the way to go is try not to focus on the authenticity issue of the messages but rather on the contents of the messages...then you will remain focus...so what if it is a hoax and all a made up story? It has changed you for the better and that is what really matters ......

http://www.apparitions.org/Scot_msg96.html

Have a nice day!

AlbertY

....on why we decided not to be a presenting couple..

After reading the Loveline newsletter today, I think to myself why we did not respond to the call of being a presenting couple...2 years ago though yes we went thru' the Team Formation Weekend some months back and yes we started somewhere but eventually ended up nowhere......I have search my thoughts thru and thru and probably my sweetie will agree with me...first and foremost I must come clean and upfront... we are indeed a very private couple by nature, who would like to be always in the back of the background....(notice here I am referring to "back of the background"...) not even in the background...we are simply not comfortable being in the limelight or in the focus of human attention...coz that is simply not the natural state of our being...so being a presenting couple where here you are seated right in front of so many pairs of eyes, concentrating all their energies on you and here you are trying to tell them your very own personal aspect of your lives. wow! just too much for me to take! It is the content of the talk that is the issue...having to tell so many people out there about your own private married live is simply just not me...just far too much for me take and swallow...we have been constantly bug my quite a handful of ME couples there to take up this task of being a presenting couple, I think D&J has given up on this (Initially they were quite persistent on this..but now they have realise, I think, this is just simply not our cup of tea ...but then..yes! yes! we know that ME is short handed, presenting couples is next to extinction...but then, I can only share freely with you all at LC300 but beyond LC300 is big, big question...so that is why we chose to remain status quo...

But having said all these, I am perfectly comfortable with sharing, telling you all on this blog...and also in my upcoming web ( have some plans for my web)...there are a lot of secrets about us which cannot be told, whcih sometimes can be revealed here in the cyberspace...but for now I leave you with the score "Secret" (A secret that cannot be told)...Bu Neng Shuo De Mi Mi

Have a nice day!
AlbertY

I have another spiritual friend..

This morning, when I reached office I open up my email, I received a mail from one of my old friend and he sent me something on Padre Pio...so it got me interested and went to the net to search all about him...he is a beautiful saint...his body like St Bernadette is not rotted despite of the fact that he has died some 50 years ago...but what marvel me is something beyond the physical aspect of the events...you can read all about him on the net...
I love this quote of his...

He said, "Don't allow any sadness to dwell in your soul, for sadness prevents the Holy Spirit from acting freely."

Life in this world is tough, it is of no wonder that the Almigthy God throughout the history of mankind has sent us saints like St John of the Cross, St Pio, St Therese, St Bernadette and all the saints to cheer us on in life, to motivate us, to show us the right path, to have hope in this life of the world....

Here is short biography about St Pio...

St. Padre Pio (Francesco Forgione) was born to Giuseppa and Grazio Forgione, in the small farming town of Pietrelcina, Italy on May 25, 1887. Although the Forgiones were poor in material goods, they were certainly rich in their faith life and in the love of God.
Even as a young boy, Francesco had already shown signs of extraordinary gifts of grace. At the age of five, he dedicated his life to God. From his early childhood he showed a kind of recollection of spirit and a love for the religious life. His mother described him as a quiet child who, from his earliest years loved to go to church and to pray. Because he was able to see and communicate with, not only his guardian angel but also with Jesus and the Virgin Mary, as a young boy, Francesco assumed everyone had the same experiences. Once a woman who noticed his spiritual demeanor asked him, "When did you consecrate your life to God? Was it at your first Holy Communion?" and he answered, "Always, daughter, always."
When he was fifteen years old, he was admitted to the novitiate of the Capuchin Order of the Friars Minor in Morcone, Italy and was admired by his Superiors and his fellow students for his exemplary behavior and his piety. One of the novices stated, "There was something which distinguished him from the other students. Whenever I saw him, he was always humble, recollected, and silent. What struck me most about Brother Pio was his love of prayer."
On August 10, 1910, at the age of twenty-three, Padre Pio was ordained to the priesthood. The celebration of the Holy Mass was for Padre Pio, the center of his spirituality. Due to the long pauses of contemplative silence into which he entered at various parts of the Holy Sacrifice, his Mass could sometimes last several hours. Everything about him spoke of how intensely he was living the Passion of Christ. The parish priest in Pietrelcina called Padre Pio's Mass, "an incomprehensible mystery." When asked to shorten his Mass, Padre Pio replied, "God knows that I want to say Mass just like any other priest, but I cannot do it."
His parishioners were deeply impressed by his piety and one by one they began to come to him, seeking his counsel. For many, even a few moments in his presence, proved to be a life changing experience. As the years passed, pilgrims began to come to him by the thousands from every corner of the world, drawn by the spiritual riches which flowed so freely from his extraordinary ministry. To his spiritual children he would say, "It seems to me as if Jesus has no other concern but the sanctification of your soul."

Padre Pio is understood above all else as a man of prayer. Before he was thirty years old he had already reached the summit of the spiritual life known as the "unitive way" of transforming union with God. He prayed almost continuously. His prayers were usually very simple. He loved the Rosary and recommended it to others. To someone who asked him what legacy he wished to leave to his spiritual children, his brief reply was, "My child, the Rosary." He had a special mission to the souls in Purgatory and encouraged everyone to pray for them. He used to say, "We must empty Purgatory with our prayers." Padre Agostino Daniele, his confessor, director, and beloved friend said, "One admires in Padre Pio, his habitual union with God. When he speaks or is spoken to, we are aware that his heart and mind are not distracted from the thought and sentiment of God."
Padre Pio suffered from poor health his entire life, once saying that his health had been declining from the time he was nine years old. After his ordination to the priesthood, he remained in his hometown of Pietrelcina and separated from his religious community for more than five years due to his precarious health. Although the cause of his prolonged and debilitating illnesses remained a mystery to his doctors, Padre Pio did not become discouraged. He offered all of his bodily sufferings to God as a sacrifice, for the conversion of souls. He experienced many spiritual sufferings as well. "I am fully convinced that my illness is due to a special permission of God," he said.
Shortly after his ordination he wrote a letter to his spiritual director, Padre Benedetto Nardella, in which he asked permission to offer his life as a victim for sinners. He wrote, "For a long time I have felt in myself a need to offer myself to the Lord as a victim for poor sinners and for the souls in Purgatory. This desire has been growing continually in my heart so that it has now become what I would call a strong passion. . .It seems to me that Jesus wants this." The marks of the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, appeared on Padre Pio's body, on Friday, September 20, 1918, while he was praying before a crucifix and making his thanksgiving after Mass. He was thirty-one years old and became the first stigmatized priest in the history of the Church. With resignation and serenity, he bore the painful wounds for fifty years.
In addition, God endowed Padre Pio with many extraordinary spiritual gifts and charisms including the gift of healing, bilocation, prophecy, miracles, discernment of spirits, the ability to abstain beyond man's natural powers from both sleep and nourishment, the ability to read hearts, the gift of tongues (the ability to speak and understand languages that he had never studied), the gift of conversions, levitation, multiplication of food, the grace to see his guardian angel and other angelic beings in form, and the fragrance which emanated from his wounds and which frequently announced his invisible presence. When a friend once questioned him about these charisms, Padre Pio said, "You know, they are a mystery to me, too." Although he received more than his share of spiritual gifts, he never sought them, never felt worthy of them. He never put the gifts before the Giver. He always remained humble, constantly at the disposal of Almighty God.
His day began at 2:30 a.m. when he would rise to begin his prayers and to make his preparation for Mass. He was able to carry on a busy aposotlate with only a few hours of sleep each night and an amount of food that was so small (300-400 calories a day) that his fellow priests stated that it was not enough food even to keep a small child alive. Between Mass and confessions, his workday lasted 19 hours. He very rarely left the monastery and never took even a day's vacation from his grueling schedule in 51 years. He never read a newspaper or listened to the radio. He cautioned his spiritual children against watching television.
In his monastery in San Giovanni Rotondo, he lived the Franciscan spirit of poverty with detachment from self, from possessions, and from comforts. He always had a great love for the virtue of chastity, and his behavior was modest in all situations and with all people. In his lifetime, Padre Pio reconciled thousands of men and women back to their faith.
The prayer groups that Padre Pio established have now spread throughout the world. He gave a new spirit to hospitals by founding one which he called "The Home for the Relief of Suffering." He saw the image of Christ in the poor, the suffering, and the sick and gave himself particularly to them. He once said, "Bring God to all those who are sick. This will help them more than any other remedy."
Serene and well prepared, he surrendered to Sister Death on September 23, 1968 at the age of eighty-one. He died as he had lived, with his Rosary in his hands. His last words were Gesú, Maria – Jesus, Mary - which he repeated over and over until he breathed his last. He had often declared, "After my death I will do more. My real mission will begin after my death."
In 1971, Pope Paul VI, speaking to the superiors of the Capuchin order, said of Padre Pio, "What fame he had. How many followers from around the world. Why? Was it because he was a philosopher, a scholar, or because he had means at his disposal? No, it was because he said Mass humbly, heard confessions from morning until night and was a marked representative of the stigmata of Our Lord. He was truly a man of prayer and suffering."
In one of the largest liturgies in the Vatican's history, Pope John Paul II canonized Padre Pio on June 16, 2002. During his homily John Paul recalled, how, in 1947, as a young priest he journeyed from Poland to make his confession to Padre Pio. "Prayer and charity–this is the most concrete synthesis of Padre Pio's teaching," the Pope said.
Drawing approximately 8 million pilgrims each year, San Giovanni Rotondo, where St. Padre Pio lived and is now buried, is second only to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico in its number of annual visitors.
St. Padre Pio's whole life might be summed up in the words of St. Paul to the Colossians, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church."


St. Pio of Pietrelcina, pray for us.

Have a nice day!
AlbertY

06.13.08....Mummy's birthday

This day 13 June, if mum is still alive today, we will be celebrating her birthday of 73 years old. Well, she is now in heaven, I am sure and I have called for a special mass for her on 13 June at the Holy Trinity. It has been 5 months since mum passed on and it has not been a single day that passes by me without me thinking about mum...whether it is on the train or whether it be in a church or whether it be in Jurong house...or whether is it in BPR..

My grief of mum has something good that comes with it..my perspective of life has somewhat change and it has change for the better...it has thought me the meaning the love of God, a mother's love, to love without asking anything in return..

It has also thought me things in this world are really not that important (it use to be very important to me once...but now it has somewhat diminished)...it is important so long as you need them to perform/carry out certain functions or purpose for the ones that you treasured most in your lives and the ones around you e.g. your friends, your colleagues etc...

Today as I took a half day leave this morning to collect a book prize which Felicia has won, I have passed by some old low rise HDB blocks in Redhill, fond memories of my humble beginning here in Singapore came back to me when I was staying at Queenstown during my childhood and then in a Marsiling one-room rental flat about 20 years ago... today the estate which I passed today looks very clean but you know that it has been around for many years there from the design..it is still very much like in the late 60s to early 70s..life was such simplicity then...

After collecting the book, I went on to AA at River Valley to collect a complimentary umbrella and over there I passed by so many condominiums projects under construction (some which have been tear down and rebuild) due to the recent enbloc fever....a far cry from what I saw at Redhill..and I guess it cost at least 1.5 mil each for these apartments... which is in District 9....I ask myself this question: All these houses...here at the district 9, do they really worth so much as they are? I passed by one condo unit there which have exactly the same window as our current house in MP...but then the value could be double and also could be triple due to location...for me it was just a thought does it really have to cost so much?..not for me to pursue this things in life....walk on!

I will be on leave tomorrow and on mum's birthday....which is a Friday. 13 June

AlbertY

I am really thankful to God for all the blessings

God has showered so many things and blessings on us that sometimes I felt that I have not thank HIM enough...15 years being married to Theresa is indeed a gift from the Lord...yesterday we celebrate 15 years exactly having been together in Holy Matrimony. How time flies and in all these 15 years God has indeed bless us abundantly throughout and Theresa has been a really a wonderful spouse and there is nothing more to ask for from God except to thank Him for everything...we just spent time together yesterday with no fanciful dinners nor big celebration; just walk around and went to the gym together...I remember last sunday, Fr Joachim Tan mentioned that God did not call all married couples to the altar and stand before Him proclaiming repeatedly "I Do, I Do" in marriage and then to let the marriage fail some years down the road..it is definitely not God's intention...and if a marriage failed it is due to our own human doing. It is never on God's plan to let a marriage fail.....how wonderful and comforting to know this...hence we as frail, weak human beings (realising our weakness) should therefore ask the Lord for strength and courage to make a marriage work no matter what...

While we continue to write our own "Tong Hua" (Fairy Tale), I leave you with the prayer "Prayer for a good ending" hoping that your "Tong Hua" will have a good and peaceful ending:

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we give you our hearts and our souls.
Jesus, Mary and Jospeh, assist us in our last moments.

Jesus, Mary and Jospeh, may we sleep and rest in peace with you.

..and here is the music score of "Tong Hua" (Fairy Tale)

Have a nice and blessed weekend! May the Almighty God Bless each and everyone of you!

AlbertY