Andrew and Zek

September 14, 2009

me        :           Papa Jesus and his disciples rode a boat and

went to a deserted place but a multitude of

people followed them. Jesus taught them a

lot of things until it  was late and it was time

to eat. But the people did not bring along

food and neither did the disciples. Papa Jesus

instructed Andrew and the other disciples to

feed the people but they can not find any

food in the crowd except for one small boy

named Zek.

(I paused for a while but before I can tell how Andrew called Zek to come near to Papa Jesus, Zek interjected)

Zek       :          Papa Jesus, here!. I have 5 breads and 2 fishes!

           (while motioning his man-shaped hand, index

          and middle fingers as legs, rushing towards me)

me        :           “Thank you, Zek”, said Papa Jesus. He took

                        the breads and fishes and prayed over them

before giving them to His disciples to be given

to the people. Afterwards, the disciples

gather all the left over and prepared to leave.

Zek       :           Papa Jesus, wait po! (as his small hand-man

                        rushes towards me again). Here o, which

one you like? choco or juice?

me        :           “Wow, thank you Zek for the drinks”,

                        as Papa Jesus smiled.

 

My wife and I smiled, too.

 

For the past days, we have been re-telling Jesus’ miracle of feeding about 5,000 hungry followers (read Mark 6: 31-44, Matthew 14: 13-21). We replaced the traditional character of the boy who offered his 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes with our Zek to make him more attentive to our story-telling. But recently, Zek has added his cute yet thought-provoking twist to this inspiring miracle-story.

Cheerful Givers Need Not to Be Reminded

After hearing the story a few times, Zek knew already what is expected of him – to give his breads and fishes to Papa Jesus so He can multiply it to feed the people. In a short time, he knew that he did not need to wait for Andrew to call him to start offering his food. That is his role and duty so he was simply excited to do it without cue.

Am I cheerful giver who gives without prodding or do I wait for someone to ask me before I give help?

Do I look for people to help or simply wait for them to find me?

Cheerful Givers Gives More

How many times have we heard this story but didn’t really ask how and where did the people get their drink after their meal. It is as if that it was a given that all people including mothers and children can eat their solid foods without drinking anything, even water. Maybe, it was part of the traditions then so it was simply deleted from the parable.

Zek knew, from his own personal experiences, that a drink is always necessary after a meal. His mommy would always prepare his choco or juice drink after his every meal. And so he knows there was something sounded wrong in the story we were telling him and decided by himself to add up that scene to complete the story. He offered the choco and juice to Papa Jesus, maybe half-consciously knowing, that with Him, the drinks would also be miraculously multiplied to be given to all. Or maybe he just wanted to give it to Papa Jesus in particular since he saw that He was tired and in really need of a drink. It does not really mattered what his yound mind is thinking. The bottomline remains – he gave more that what is expected of him.

How many of us can claim to give 10 pesos when a beggar child asks for 2 pesos?

Better yet, how many of us will pause and offer the child food instead of money, which may or may not be used for basic needs at all?

The Lord has spoken to us through Zek’s slight revision of this parable.

We hope to learn it well and live it.

We also hope our dear readers learn something from this.

Let us all be cheerful givers.

God bless po.

By Daddy

Summer Fun Time in GuangZhou, China

September 5, 2009

Raffi- More We Get Together

At first, I was hesitant to have Zek take a long trip for a get-together. He was just recovering from flu and asthma attacks but we still decided for us to proceed to have fun times and activities with other kids. After the 5day stay at Tita Sally’s home, it was all worth our efforts.

He did a lot of activities that helped him with his mastery of skills like,

  Boat rowing with Ate Mimi and Alvine. They had great time and went swimming after.

Cooking lesson with Tita Lalet and Tita Lynnah who patiently assisted them every step.

 

Music lesson with Tito Sani and some skills assessment too. He also joined Kuya Jojo’s guitar lesson and Ate Mimi’s piano lesson then he asked me if he can do violin lesson too. He’s discovering his own interest.

Arts by doing figure paper-cutting with Kuya Jojo and Ate Mimi then, afterwards, they sang a song together titled “THE MORE WE GET TOGETHER THE HAPPIER WE’LL BE”.

Color marathon with Kuya Jojo and they did “Name that tune” game after.

 

 The most important thing they did the entire vacation was they were able to learn to pray together.

 It was a very productive vacation for Zek. We were blessed with good friends around us. Even when we are away from our family back home, we got them some bonding moments to remember.

 I’ve read in child development that from age 0-7 years old, kids cannot differentiate between right and wrong. They will simply imitate adults or older kids in everything they observed so it best to surround them with good people showing good examples so when they are exposed to uncertainty or something bad, they know how to respond righteously to the situation.

Posted on Sept.HomeRun monthly CFA ENewsletter at this link http://groups.google.com/group/catholic-filipino-academy/browse_thread/thread/b0a3904e39878ed9#