Portfolio .. Articles
War on Self-Interest
Padre Pio commented once that “only a general knows how and when to use one of his soldiers” There is as wide a variety of men and strategies as there are battles to fight.
I suspect the Celtic part of my ancestry led me to embrace the idea that you can get a lot further in battle with an axe and a kind word than you can with just a kind word but I am also inspired by the diplomacy and patience of an Englishman, William Wilberforce who stood valiantly against slavery for most of his life, completing the task of its abolition across the whole British Empire just three days before he died.
The key to success for this great man of God was that he not only had a clear vision of what was right and wrong in the sight of God but also he knew why his opponents (almost everyone at the time) could not see it. As he put it in one of his speeches “...how self interest can draw a film across the eyes, so thick, that total blindness could do no more; and how it is our duty therefore to trust not to the reasonings of interested men, or to their way of colouring a transaction...”
He knew and made allowance for the weaknesses of man. Self-interest can justify absolutely anything in the mind of the one who wants it badly enough. Anyone can produce a litany of reasons for pursuing whatever he desires; he justifies what he wants so he can have it regardless of whether or not it is right.
Wilberforce knew it and patiently made the blind to see, lifting the film off gradually through prayer, words and deeds until the nation understood, through a gift of grace, the horror of slavery and the ugliness of their own selfish hearts.
The same is true in the smaller details of life and this is where it becomes personal. What are the motives behind our daily decisions, choices, and speech? Do we give reasons for our actions to justify them or are they pure enough that there is no need to qualify them?
Every human heart is the battlefield and it’s only the amazing grace of God that can win the day as it enlightens individual hearts, heals the blindness of self-interest.
Whatever kind of Christian soldiers we are, whether savages or diplomats, we must hold our place in the line and with the weapon of prayer we will overcome.
Padre Pio commented once that “only a general knows how and when to use one of his soldiers” There is as wide a variety of men and strategies as there are battles to fight.
I suspect the Celtic part of my ancestry led me to embrace the idea that you can get a lot further in battle with an axe and a kind word than you can with just a kind word but I am also inspired by the diplomacy and patience of an Englishman, William Wilberforce who stood valiantly against slavery for most of his life, completing the task of its abolition across the whole British Empire just three days before he died.
The key to success for this great man of God was that he not only had a clear vision of what was right and wrong in the sight of God but also he knew why his opponents (almost everyone at the time) could not see it. As he put it in one of his speeches “...how self interest can draw a film across the eyes, so thick, that total blindness could do no more; and how it is our duty therefore to trust not to the reasonings of interested men, or to their way of colouring a transaction...”
He knew and made allowance for the weaknesses of man. Self-interest can justify absolutely anything in the mind of the one who wants it badly enough. Anyone can produce a litany of reasons for pursuing whatever he desires; he justifies what he wants so he can have it regardless of whether or not it is right.
Wilberforce knew it and patiently made the blind to see, lifting the film off gradually through prayer, words and deeds until the nation understood, through a gift of grace, the horror of slavery and the ugliness of their own selfish hearts.
The same is true in the smaller details of life and this is where it becomes personal. What are the motives behind our daily decisions, choices, and speech? Do we give reasons for our actions to justify them or are they pure enough that there is no need to qualify them?
Every human heart is the battlefield and it’s only the amazing grace of God that can win the day as it enlightens individual hearts, heals the blindness of self-interest.
Whatever kind of Christian soldiers we are, whether savages or diplomats, we must hold our place in the line and with the weapon of prayer we will overcome.
Lech Walesa (former President of Poland)
Authentic Revolutionary
(Published in Letters section of The Catholic Times Newspaper in UK)
I had the great privilege last year of attending a lecture by Lech Walesa in one of the Universities in Manila. An electrician who became a union leader; a union leader who became a prisoner; a prisoner who brought down an evil empire and became President of Poland.
Usually, here in the Philippines, the presidents become prisoners only after their term of office when their dodgy dealings are uncovered, so it was a breath of fresh air to hear from a man who understands authentic leadership and what it costs. Its essence being service; sacrifice; suffering and faith in God. The very things that none of the listening students could possibly learn in their courses or with their background as the country’s elite.
We heard about those turbulent times in Poland first hand, how when the trade union Solidarity only had a handful of members, the new Pope John Paul II visited and overnight it had a million new members, the strikes, imprisonment, struggles and eventual victory and the aftermath and rebuilding of a nation. His leadership was earned, tested; proven.
What is also unusual in a world leader is his humility and simplicity; he gives all credit to God for the miracle of their liberation from communism, through the hand of his friend the late Pope. His many awards and honouree degrees he drops off at the shrine of Our Lady in Czestochowa acknowledging her part too.
Now grey haired he travels the world as a mentor to many with a deadly sense of humour (the translator took a full minute to compose himself before he could deliver some of his jokes).
On meeting him I felt like I was on holy ground, a true man of faith, an authentic revolutionary leader on the one hand and a benevolent Grandfather on the other. An inspiration to us all.
(Published in Letters section of The Catholic Times Newspaper in UK)
I had the great privilege last year of attending a lecture by Lech Walesa in one of the Universities in Manila. An electrician who became a union leader; a union leader who became a prisoner; a prisoner who brought down an evil empire and became President of Poland.
Usually, here in the Philippines, the presidents become prisoners only after their term of office when their dodgy dealings are uncovered, so it was a breath of fresh air to hear from a man who understands authentic leadership and what it costs. Its essence being service; sacrifice; suffering and faith in God. The very things that none of the listening students could possibly learn in their courses or with their background as the country’s elite.
We heard about those turbulent times in Poland first hand, how when the trade union Solidarity only had a handful of members, the new Pope John Paul II visited and overnight it had a million new members, the strikes, imprisonment, struggles and eventual victory and the aftermath and rebuilding of a nation. His leadership was earned, tested; proven.
What is also unusual in a world leader is his humility and simplicity; he gives all credit to God for the miracle of their liberation from communism, through the hand of his friend the late Pope. His many awards and honouree degrees he drops off at the shrine of Our Lady in Czestochowa acknowledging her part too.
Now grey haired he travels the world as a mentor to many with a deadly sense of humour (the translator took a full minute to compose himself before he could deliver some of his jokes).
On meeting him I felt like I was on holy ground, a true man of faith, an authentic revolutionary leader on the one hand and a benevolent Grandfather on the other. An inspiration to us all.
A Saint is a Recycled Sinner
(Published in the Franciscan Crusader Magazine UK)
With our charity appeal we do recycling of aluminium drinks cans to raise money. So sometimes to be useful, I used to go out with a bag and collect the cans that were thrown in the street so we could sell them later; the proceeds went to school fees in India , 150 kilos of cans = 60 pounds=1 years school fee. One day as I was doing this and also praying at the same time I had this insight.
Sometimes the cans I found were whole, just left in the street or pavement, sometimes they were dented or crushed, sometimes flattened under the wheels of vehicles, sometimes clean and sometimes covered in mud or dirty. Where ever they were and whatever state they were in didn’t bother me at all, I picked them all up because they are sold by weight and each has exactly the same value, so each was equally important to me. My first insight was that, what I was doing with my cans was what God was doing with souls, with His children. Seeking them out, many discarded, many dented or flattened by life, some clean, some muddy but each with exactly the same value in His sight.
The other thing is that I enjoyed picking up cans, because I knew that the result was that my objective (money for school fees) was getting closer and closer to being met with each can. In fact I was delighted at each one I found even if it was squashed or muddy, it gave me joy to find each one. And similarly, it was also that way for God when he could re-gain a soul of one of His creatures. So me & God were having the same kind of day !
The next stage for me is to take them to the recycling centre. This is where the old cans are smelted. I also had an insight about this too.
They put all the cans into a smelter, where they are heated up and melted (very hot) and after a while all the molten metal is on the bottom of the container and all the impurities like paint or dirt etc floats on the top and this is skimmed off. Then the molten metal is poured into ingots and solidifies. So it is the pure metal (looks like silver). This can then be used to make anything, like new cans or an engine , even airplanes. So then I had the next insight..that after God collects souls he does the same thing, purifies them so as to re-form or re-shape them in the way he wants. An entirely new life or purpose. Instead of a furnace though He uses trials and suffering in order to purge and transform and He knows how to do it, like the man who operates the aluminium smelter. Somehow it works !
I suppose some of the process is on earth, some might be in purgatory depending on how we respond and learn from these trials here. Gradually we are transformed then, sanctified through this process back into His image and likeness.
I think our hardships are our sanctification and the souls we help will be our glory in the next life, the ones we bring with us to God and those we help with our charity too.(we can never do too much in that department).
A saint is a recycled sinner ..
Sometimes when I was collecting cans, I would bend down and pick one up, only to discover that it was not made of aluminium but steel. This was bitterly disappointing because whilst the aluminium ones have a cash value and were useful to me; the steel ones were worthless and even though I had expended the same amount of effort in gathering them up, all I could do was throw them away again. Then I had another insight..
This was the same for God too. Sometimes, despite His efforts in reaching out to souls, there will always be those who would reject Him, fail to open their hearts, remain in their ‘old ways’ and remain separated from Him by their own choice. He feels the same disappointment and grief for their loss, for them His sacrifice is wasted…
(Published in the Franciscan Crusader Magazine UK)
With our charity appeal we do recycling of aluminium drinks cans to raise money. So sometimes to be useful, I used to go out with a bag and collect the cans that were thrown in the street so we could sell them later; the proceeds went to school fees in India , 150 kilos of cans = 60 pounds=1 years school fee. One day as I was doing this and also praying at the same time I had this insight.
Sometimes the cans I found were whole, just left in the street or pavement, sometimes they were dented or crushed, sometimes flattened under the wheels of vehicles, sometimes clean and sometimes covered in mud or dirty. Where ever they were and whatever state they were in didn’t bother me at all, I picked them all up because they are sold by weight and each has exactly the same value, so each was equally important to me. My first insight was that, what I was doing with my cans was what God was doing with souls, with His children. Seeking them out, many discarded, many dented or flattened by life, some clean, some muddy but each with exactly the same value in His sight.
The other thing is that I enjoyed picking up cans, because I knew that the result was that my objective (money for school fees) was getting closer and closer to being met with each can. In fact I was delighted at each one I found even if it was squashed or muddy, it gave me joy to find each one. And similarly, it was also that way for God when he could re-gain a soul of one of His creatures. So me & God were having the same kind of day !
The next stage for me is to take them to the recycling centre. This is where the old cans are smelted. I also had an insight about this too.
They put all the cans into a smelter, where they are heated up and melted (very hot) and after a while all the molten metal is on the bottom of the container and all the impurities like paint or dirt etc floats on the top and this is skimmed off. Then the molten metal is poured into ingots and solidifies. So it is the pure metal (looks like silver). This can then be used to make anything, like new cans or an engine , even airplanes. So then I had the next insight..that after God collects souls he does the same thing, purifies them so as to re-form or re-shape them in the way he wants. An entirely new life or purpose. Instead of a furnace though He uses trials and suffering in order to purge and transform and He knows how to do it, like the man who operates the aluminium smelter. Somehow it works !
I suppose some of the process is on earth, some might be in purgatory depending on how we respond and learn from these trials here. Gradually we are transformed then, sanctified through this process back into His image and likeness.
I think our hardships are our sanctification and the souls we help will be our glory in the next life, the ones we bring with us to God and those we help with our charity too.(we can never do too much in that department).
A saint is a recycled sinner ..
Sometimes when I was collecting cans, I would bend down and pick one up, only to discover that it was not made of aluminium but steel. This was bitterly disappointing because whilst the aluminium ones have a cash value and were useful to me; the steel ones were worthless and even though I had expended the same amount of effort in gathering them up, all I could do was throw them away again. Then I had another insight..
This was the same for God too. Sometimes, despite His efforts in reaching out to souls, there will always be those who would reject Him, fail to open their hearts, remain in their ‘old ways’ and remain separated from Him by their own choice. He feels the same disappointment and grief for their loss, for them His sacrifice is wasted…
Drag and Drop Websites/Blogs
This is an example of a word press blog/website for a small international UK based charity. Features include photo galleries, video embedded and links to documents from external sites. Free hosting and domain name . They may post occassional adverts on your blog or home page. Upgrades available to enhance performance.
Built on the weebly platform this site was made for a Philippine based foundation for children. Active blog page and project pages and large photo galleries, hidden pages for documents linked through buttons on the site so quite compact but with a large archive of data.
Newsletters/e-newsletters
An example of an e-newsletter which can be sent within an ordinary e-mail but with links to other sites, photos, etc as well your message. The e-newsletter platform can hold your mailing list or lists and track the effectiveness of any campaign by reporting number of e-mails opened, number of clicks to your links etc
Photo Journals/ Tourism Promotion
An example of a photo journal on a visit to Kalinga province and a very special place in the Pasil municipality called 'The Hidden Valley'. The photo blog and trip report has been viewed around the world attracting interest from potential visitors to the region which seeks to develop tourism
Scientific Writing/Editing
As a scientist I am capable of edits on research documents and papers and also help with research in the areas of chemistry and environmental science particularly.
