Finally last Sunday afternoon in Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI elevated Blessed Pedro Calungsod to sainthood together with six others before an awesome crowd filled with Filipinos. It was a proud moment for them especially the Cebuanos. Now the boy martyr can be called San Pedro Calungsod.
There were suggestions that he be now called San Pedro de Cebu or San Pedro Calungsod de Cebu but the suggestion did not get much support because there is no concrete proof that he was really from Cebu.
For me whatever you may call him what is important is that we have a new Filipino saint that we can always pray to and be proud of. Indeed as I watched the live telecast of the canonization of San Pedro I felt so proud with the canonization especially when we saw the thousands of Filipinos in attendance making the mood in Vatican very festive just like when we celebrate our town fiestas.
As reported the Filipinos composed the biggest crowd during the canonization rites. Now we look forward to the Nov. 30 thanksgiving Mass here at the South Road Properties in Cebu City where we expect thousands if not millions of devotees to attend.
The thanksgiving Mass would pose a new challenge to us Cebuanos to work together as we welcome millions of San Pedro Calungsod’s devotees. It behooves the Catholic Church to introduce San Pedro to its faithful for them to know him closely and for the Catholics especially the youth to pray to him.
If I remember correctly the late Pope John Paul II urged the youth to follow the example of San Pedro Calungsod in their daily lives. And as I stated before this is one of the challenges of the Catholic Church: to spread the teachings and the life of San Pedro for the Filipino youth to emulate and live.
Personally I would like to plead with the Filipino youth to make San Pedro your saint in your homes and continuously pray for his guidance so that we could follow his example.
Remember San Pedro sacrificed his life for his belief in the Catholic faith at a very young age. How many of us today are willing to do that? Many of our youth are enjoying the material wealth of the world forgetting about spirituality that is very important.
In today’s world it seems that evil is lording it over the good. Politicians are doing what is evil and have forgotten the good examples of governance and politics. I think this should challenge us to pray harder as we are challenged more by the Devil. Let us do more good, not bad, which would harm our relationship with God our Father and our fellow beings. San Pedro Calungsod, pray for us your people especially our politicians.
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There is a new drug that is going around the red light district called Ashtec-10 but apparently our officials are not aware of the substance.
Our drug dependents have become very innovative in sourcing the new drug that would make them high or stoned so much so that they beat our law enforcement agencies to it.
Ashtec-10 I was informed is just like the prohibited drug Nubain and has the same effect on users who use it as a substitute. I wish our law enforcement agencies would now crack down on the use of these kind of drugs because it is practically destroying the lives of many youths not to mention their bright future.
I know for a fact that Ashtec-10 is a new drug. There is no need for a doctor’s prescription to buy the drugs but I hope and wish that the drugstores would be very careful in dispensing it just to anyone considering its harmful effects.
Our community should take a proactive action towards this new menace because ultimately we would suffer the effects of the illegal use of the drugs just like what we have experienced before.
So how do we control the use of the Ashtec-10 that is available in our drugstores? It is important for our government agencies to immediately regulate its distribution.