What they say about sportsmen and sportswomen

is true.  Ok, at least with many of them.  Fortitude, determination.  ABC News talks of one of them: Lolo Jones

By Sheila Marikar
@SheilaYM
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May 22, 2012 5:13pm

Olympic Athlete Lori ‘Lolo’ Jones Says She’s a Virgin

Credit: Roger Kisby/Getty Images.

The schedule of an Olympic contender doesn’t exactly allow for a lot of dating. That’s why 29-year-old track and field star Lori “Lolo” Jones has yet to find a boyfriend and is still a virgin.
In an interview airing tonight, Jones tells HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” that she has yet to have sex because it’s “a gift I want to give my husband,” and despite her hardest efforts, she hasn’t been able to find any contenders. Jones first announced she was a virgin on Twitter.
“I’ve been tempted,” she tells Gumbel. “I’ve had guys tell me … ‘Hey, you know, if you have sex, it’ll help you run faster.’”
Her response: ”If you marry me, then yeah.”
“This journey has been hard,” she adds. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Harder than training for the Olympics. Harder than studying for college has been staying a virgin before marriage.”

Great man, Saturnino!

He is Saturnino.  A great man indeed.  A big man with the biggest of hearts.  I do not now much about him, and would have wished to know him much better.  But one generous act has me increasing my faith in people.

Last Wednesday, I flew to General Santos City, enroute to Polomolok, to spend a couple of nights with my parents.  Who would have known that that day would start the way it did?

I took a cab from my house to attend Mass at the Carmelite Monastery in Cebu. It was the best schedule for me since I had to be at the airport by 7:20a.  In the cab as we set off for the church, I needed access to my handerkerchief in my right pocket.  To get to it, I had to take off the belt bag where I had placed my phones and pda (so you probably know where this goes).  So I did, and placed the belt bag further to left of my bag that was on the seat next to me.

When we reached the church, I paid my fare and got off taking my bags with me.  I settled at the last pew, as even then, I was still perspiring and that area seemed coolest.  Then the Mass started.

At the sign of the cross, I suddenly realized that my belt bag was not around my waste.  The perspiration started again.  I was pretty much distracted.  I bent to take my bag off the floor and in my mind was deciding to bolt out of the church (anyway I can attend the afternoon Mass in my "hometown", or not really, since I had a talk to give in Koronadal at 6pm, what to do then?).  

But soon enough I realized that there was not much I can do.  I cannot run after the cab, that was 5 minutes ago when I got off.  Put down my bag, still a bit distracted.  I made a simple request from God, through Our Lady and St. Josemaria, that nothing more "tragic" should happen, and that I will continue attending His Mass as best I can.

After the Opening Prayer (and the First Reading was about to commence), I turned around to check my seat and seeing that there was nothing that will make the experience of listening to the Word of God anything but pleasant, I turned back my head and to sit.  But something caught my eye, someone by the door of the church.  I looked at him and just as quickly, he also saw me, and with an expression of relief on his face (I think I probably had the same look on my face), he pointed at me with his right hand, and in his left hand, now raised as well, my belt bag.

We stepped out.  He was gentleman driver Saturnino.  I did not check the contents of the bag, as I knew everything was there.  I thanked him and he said hat it was his obligation to return things left in his cab.  He was not even certain that he could see me there as he could not remember how I looked.  I told him that I will finish the Mass and if he wanted he can also take me to the airport afterwards (decided that I will give him a hefty tip).  But he had to go as he was taking the cab to the garage yet.

Surely there was something else I could do to reward him for that so unselfish act, but he said simply, "I-praise lang ko nimo sa Gino-o, sir".  

How do you really translate that?  

I praised the Lord for Saturnino, and for the many unsung heroes.  I praised Saturnino to God for allowing grace to fill his heart with generosity.  I praised God with Saturnino, even as he had to go his merry way, to fill this world with his kindness in the best way he could.

Back in Cebu now, I can only just now write about it.  Nevertheless, the joy that accompanied me on my visit with my parents and to my hometown, was only a fruit of the joy that Saturnino shared with me.

Put "smiley" face here

Is foregoing a previously carefully-vetted decision only because there seems to be an escalation of opposition to it (even as those opposed give you the benefit of "ultimately, it is up to you") good enough?  

Is that enough sign of humility (or obedience)?

So ... As Sarah says,

Funny how just moving my lips into the shape of a smile can change my outlook…

Two days

Had a great two days, waking up, to the news of Champions League wins (well, the good news of two losses!).  Yesterday, Barca got kicked out of another CL finals appearance by Chelsea.  Not really a team am rooting for, but a loss by Barca, who beat AC Milan in the quarters, was a "karma's-a-bitch" moment.  Yeah!  Today, although, a little belated because of internet connection issues, I found out my second team, Bayern Munich, won their semifinal match against Real Madrid, in Madrid, on a 3-1 win on penalties (after a 3-3 aggregate).  Another KAB moment, especially as they poached Kaka' from ACM some years back.  Yeah!  Double yeah!

Give me the luxury just this time to celebrate the losses.  Forza!

Parenting is funny

Shout-out for this blog: parentingisfunny.wordpress.com

It always ends happily

 Always. 

Although this article about NBA player JaVale McGee was not a pro-life write-up, but an NBA profile, it turns out happily a pro-life story.

On a Saturday morning in the spring of 1987, Pamela McGee sat on the shore at Dockweiler State Beach in Los Angeles, 72 hours from a scheduled abortion. "Do you want to be pregnant?" the counselor at the clinic had asked her. "No," McGee replied. She was a single, 24-year-old professional basketball player, and she could not take maternity leave. And even if she could, she couldn't imagine hauling an infant to Italy and parking the stroller next to the bench. But as McGee looked out over the Pacific, she began to reconsider. "I prayed and prayed and prayed and felt like I heard a voice from God," McGee says. "He was telling me, 'This is your gift.' " The next day she went to Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, and the pastor delivered a sermon about not aborting one's blessings. O.K., God, McGee thought. You don't have to beat it into my head. She called the clinic to cancel, and on Jan. 19, 1988, gave birth to a boy with physical abilities that would border on the supernatural. ...

The day after last year's dunk contest in L.A., JaVale called his mother at 8 a.m. and told her he wanted to go to church. Pamela was exhausted, with only five hours sleep, and surprised. But she knew just the place. During the sermon at Faithful Central Bible, JaVale looked over at his mom, tears streaking her cheeks. "Why are you crying?" he asked. There, for the first time, Pamela told him about the clinic and the beach and the reason she cannot get all that upset about alley-oops gone awry. "For me," she told her son, "you've been such a blessing."

Today is the anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict XVI.  Here is an article by Elizabeth.  

Read.

Later that night, an exhausted Nicholas, who is four, snuggled next to me as we watched a replay of the announcement on the balcony.

"I see Benedict," he said.

"Yes," I encouraged my tender-hearted boy, "What does he look like to you?"

"He has very white hair, Nicholas observed. "And his cassock is white, too. That?s for celebration. He wears white for celebration."

I waited a moment, watching with him.

"I wonder," Nicholas said quietly, "what color his hair will be in ordinary time."

Fighting laughter, I let him wonder and watched him fall asleep. I was so grateful for our beautiful day. My children will always remember the day as one of celebration and they will always have a sense of having participated in a momentous event as members of the Universal Church. A beautiful, holy day, indeed.

Justice must be restored first

The injustice that is human IVF (injustice to the person formed) has far-reaching repercussions.  The problems that result from this injustice will only continue to increase for as long as the practice is not stopped.  And even if this "reproductive technology" is halted, there is also the question of what is to be done with the frozen embryos.  The Church and governments (and even the courts) are still at a loss as to how to resolve this, and even then, we hear almost everyday about all the problems that have arisen.

Case in point is that recent case just "resolved" by the court in Pennsylvania on the fate of 13 frozen embryos whose parents divorced:  the court says the mother can have the IVF despite the father's protest.  This is different from another case in Tennessee, where the court ordered the destruction of the frozen embryos in another case of divorced parents.  See how complicated the matter of IVF is.

Then there are also cases of surrogacy and same-sex couples who want to have children of "their own.

From lifenews.com:

Actually, this and other cases could be totally avoided if we did not allow mass manufacturing and freezing of human lives in a laboratory. These couples are already parents. The question is not whether parenthood is forced on them (they freely chose to become parents in undergoing IVF), but whether these embryos deserve a chance to finish their lives.


Step back and realize how surreal this situation is. These offspring have had their fates decided by a court where one parent wants to give at least some of them a chance to finish the lives that IVF started and the other parent just wants them destroyed. How far have we come in this world of “reproductive rights” for the parents that this scenario, where children’s lives are at the mercy of a court, is becoming more common place?

....


This is an untenable situation that we should never have allowed to happen. Until we regulate the fertility industry and realize that embryos are not “potential human life”, but instead “human life with potential”, our courts will continue to be charged with deciding the fate of these littlest of human lives. A decision they should never be charged to make.