FAMILY MATTERS Archives - Page 2 of 73

The Easter Triduum: Holy-days, Not Just Holidays

March 29, 2018 by Tina

Image source: pixabay.com

Today, Holy Thursday, marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum. We Catholics consider these days the “center” of our Christian faith. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops actually has a short but sweet video that gives some information about the different days of the Triduum below:

Personally, I love the Easter Triduum and everything that it means. But I didn’t always feel this way. Read the rest on PinayVoices.com. I pray that you and your loved ones will have a truly rich—spiritually and emotionally—and blessed Easter Triduum. Happy Easter in advance!

The Blessings and Challenges of a Work at Home Mom: My Veritas 846 Interview

February 27, 2018 by Tina

The first quarter of this year has been a bit busy for me, not just because of family life and the kids, but also because of the opportunities that God has been giving to me and Truly Rich and Blessed.

By God’s grace, I was invited to be on one of CBCP News’ online shows, and then, not long after that, I was invited to an interview by another Catholic media outlet which I highly respect, namely Veritas 846 Radio Totoo. It is THE number one faith-based radio station in the country! What an honor; praise the Lord!

Anyway, I was invited as a resource person by a couple who is dear to me and my family, Tito George and Tita Cynthia Campos, who happened to be two of the hosts for the show “Katok Tahanan.” The topic to be discussed was “Stay at Home Wife or Corporate Life?” I was asked to share about my journey as a work at home mom.

There were other interviewees—newlyweds Nico and Laika Ordoñez, two inspiring young people who also happen to have a blog. Nico works in the corporate world, while Laika is an entrepreneur.

I must say that I have never been interviewed for a radio show before, so it was really a great learning experience for me, and, just like my CBCP News interview, I was surprised that I actually had lots of fun doing it! Looking back, I can only thank Jesus and Mama Mary again for guiding me (and everyone else!) all throughout the interview, and I hope and pray that everything I said was inspired by the Holy Spirit.

You can watch the whole show below, thanks to :

As I mentioned in the interview, my work-at-home journey has been full of blessings and challenges, but I praise and thank God for leading me to where I am now.

Having said that, let me emphasize again that I honor every mom out there—whether you stay at home, work at home, run a business from home or from the office, work at an office—whatever your state of life is, please know that you are the best mom for your kid/s.

God called you and chose you to be the mother of your kid/s. He will equip you and give you what you need to raise them. I know that may be hard to believe sometimes, especially when you face challenges, but please know that you are not alone. God is with you!

Are you a mom who works in the corporate world? Or do you work at home like me? Or maybe you’re a fulltime stay-at-home mom (my “dream job” actually)? Please feel free to share your experiences in the comments!

3 Ways to Make Meaningful Family Memories

February 22, 2018 by Tina

As you probably know by now, I love to encourage people—married and otherwise—”to discover and grow the ‘riches’ we already have”… and I truly believe that our relationships are among the most beautiful, treasured riches we could ever have.

I mean, if you really think about it, at the end of our lives, it is the relationships that we have built and strengthened that will matter most; it is the bonds of love and friendship formed throughout our lives that will become our legacy when we pass on.

This applies to anyone, no matter what your background and beliefs are. Relationships matter. Especially the ones within the family. Life is too short to just let every day pass without making meaningful family memories. Here are three simple ways to do so, no matter how busy you might be:

1. Pray together as a family.

Whether you’re single, married with kids, married and still waiting to have your own kids, or anything in between (I know every family is different), this is one of the best ways (if not the best way) to make meaningful family memories—by spending time with the Lord and with one another.

I know it may sound cliché to many but it’s true. Establishing a regular family prayer time is a wonderful way to build memories with our loved ones. If you’re a Catholic, this is a great way for kids in the family to learn basic prayers, too. Of course, it is also a way for us to learn to pray “spontaneously,” i.e. by not using memorized prayers but using our own words.

In our family, we do both—we use the beautiful Catholic prayers we grew up with (while adding to them from the rich treasury of prayers that the Church gives us), and we also practice praying using our own words, even the kids. Personally, this is truly a beautiful way to make memories with our family members.

**2. Remember that the quality and quantity of time spent with family both matter.**

Some people argue that the quantity of time we spend with our loved ones is more important while others say that it’s the quality of time that matters most. In my humble opinion, it’s both.

If we are intentional about how we spend time with our family, even “simple” things like checking out beds at a furniture store can become moments to remember, right? This video from BLIMS reminded me so much of how ordinary moments can make for meaningful memories as long as we’re with those we love. 🙂

As a sidenote, don’t those beds at BLIMS look oh-so-comfy?! 🙂 Check out what else BLIMS has to offer here.

3. Maximize the use of technology.

Like most things on this earth, technology can be used for either good or bad. My suggestion is that we use it for good, of course, and one of the things we can do is to use it to make memories with our family. How? Here are a few ways:

When you’re physically not with your family members, send messages of love, support and encouragement to one another. Even simple greetings like, “Good morning, have a blessed day! Love you all!” will go a long way.
Set limits on your gadget use as a family and as individuals. When you do choose to use gadgets, look for ways to do it together, like watch a funny video clip together, or play educational games together.
Use your gadgets to remind one another of important times/schedules. For example, in our family, we set alarms on our gadgets to go off daily at 3 p.m., to remind us to pray the . Even our younger kids know what to do when the alarms go off! Praise God! 🙂

I hope these will help you make meaningful memories with your family—let me know in the comments if you have any other suggestions! God bless you!

This post is brought to you by BLIMS.

What Is True Love?

February 7, 2018 by Tina

February is popularly known as the “love month” because of Valentine’s Day falling on February 14. It’s the time when many people celebrate love and being loved, so businesses take the opportunity to market their products and services all in the name of “love.”

But really, let’s think about it for a moment: What is love? True love? Is it what the secular world says it is? Is it all about feelings and emotions, and falling head over heels? Or is it something more than that—beyond the fairy tale and telenovela type of love that is portrayed on TV and movies?

As Catholic Christians, we are called to believe that yes, love is indeed so much more. It is not just about feelings and emotions. Let’s take a look at God’s Word to learn what true love really is. One of the more well-known Scripture passages about love can be found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8:

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.

True love is patient and kind.

If we truly love someone—and I don’t mean just our spouses or boyfriends or girlfriends, but anyone whom we claim to love, like our other family members and friends—we must learn to be patient with them. We must show kindness even if it is difficult to do so at times. God even calls us to extend this patience and kindness to strangers, especially those in need.

True love is not jealous, not pompous, not inflated, not rude, does not seek its own interests, is not quick-tempered, does not brood over injury, does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.

True love is all about being confident in one’s relationships—there is no room for jealousy when you truly love someone. It’s about being humble and respectful, always looking out for the well-being of the other. When we truly love others, according to Jesus’ teachings, we also don’t bear grudges against them but learn to forgive them. We do not rejoice when our loved ones do bad things or fall into sin; instead we try to help them to do what is right.

True love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

True love can withstand the test of suffering—we do not just abandon our loved ones when they face trials and difficulties, but stand by them and support them all the way. We endure all challenges together, believing and hoping in the beautiful plan of the Lord for each of us (Jeremiah 29:11). We endure everything that comes our way, because we know that our God—who is the Source of true love—will sustain us and help us.

True love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.

True love–love that is based on God’s love for us—will never fail. “Prophecies,” “tongues,” and “knowledge” mentioned in 1 Corinthians are actually gifts of the Holy Spirit—but without love, these are useless. Indeed, to answer God’s call to serve others, we must first allow Him to fill us with His love.

To end, let’s look at the following quotes about love from different saints, and try to live out these quotes—plus 1 Corinthians 13—not just during Febibig, but every day:

“Pure love… knows that only one thing is needed to please God: to do even the smallest things out of great love – love, and always love.” — Divine Mercy in My Soul, St. Faustina

“Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor… Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.” — Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

“What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.” — St. Augustine of Hippo

“There is no place for selfishness—and no place for fear! Do not be afraid, then, when love makes demands. Do not be afraid when love requires sacrifice.” — Saint John Paul II

As Ash Wednesday falls on February 14 this year, let’s make the effort to show God how much we truly love Him by observing the Church’s teachings on fasting and abstinence, and keeping the day solemn and holy in observance of the beginning of Lent. If we want to celebrate Valentine’s Day with our loved ones, we can do it earlier. This is one way we can show our true love for the Lord. If you’re looking for more resources that tell us why observing Ash Wednesday / Lent is more important than celebrating Valentine’s Day, go here, here and here.

*This article also appears in the February 11, 2018 issue of the Bulletin.

3 Ways to Increase Your Family’s Focus on Faith

January 25, 2018 by Tina

Our family doesn’t really “do” New Year’s resolutions. Instead, we have an annual family visioning and goal-setting activity, during which we look at the previous year’s goals and accomplishments, list down our past blessings, and write down our goals and plans for the year ahead. It’s something we started two years ago, and I thank God that the kids look forward to it every year now.

We did our family visioning and goal-setting activity during the first weekend of January, and one of our family’s goals was to increase our focus on our faith. Here are a few things we plan to do, that will hopefully help us achieve that goal:

1. Commit to individual prayer time.

We usually pray together as a family in the evening, and since the kids are homeschooled, I also pray with them in the morning and at three o’clock, the Hour of Divine Mercy. Now that our first two kids are older, we are also trying to teach them the value of having your own prayer time. So that is one of our goals: To develop our individual prayer time. (Because, to be perfectly honest with you, there are days when I neglect to have this personal time with the Lord! 🙁 #KeepingItReal here.)

2. Commit to reading Scripture every day.

This is something all of us need to work on, including me and my husband. We bought our son his own Bible for this purpose, too, though he also has different Scripture-based devotionals that he can use. Our daughter also uses a Scripture-based devotional, and we do our best to read and reflect on the daily Mass readings together as part of our “Together Time” (a term which we use for our homeschool “Morning Basket,” since we rarely do it in the morning!).

Some of the books we used for “Together Time” last year. Didache is a Scripture-based devotional.

“Do our best” is the operative phrase here, and some days we fail to do this, so this year, we hope to improve in this department!

3. Go to Confession and Adoration more often.

As Catholics, the Sacraments are very important to us. We hope to be able to go to Confession more regularly (my husband, me, and our eldest), and we also hope to go to Eucharistic Adoration at least once a month. This year, we are also preparing our second child for her First Holy Communion, so being a witness to her (and the other kids) when it comes to fostering a love for the Sacraments is really important.

In addition to the above, we also plan to continue practicing Liturgical Living, reading faith-focused books together, and serving the Lord in our community and in other ways.

So, in case you want your family to be more focused on faith this year, I hope you find these tips helpful somehow. Remember, even the simplest things matter—as long as they help draw us nearer to Jesus! Oh, and if you’re looking for more resources, I recently discovered Pure Flix, which offers educational movies that are faith-based!

Please feel free to share this post with others if it has inspired or helped you in any way. God bless you!