Good out of something evil.

The recent bombing attacks of the Abu Sayyaf against our Filipino brothers and sisters who were merely coming from their 10 hour work schedule to earn their keep for their family can either jolt us or numb us.

People already start complaining about how the government tries to secure the country against these acts of terrorism, but we can never absolutely blame the government for failing. Can I blame you for failing to go to work on time? We all fail and the government is no exception. The government will never please everyone under her care for there are many stakeholders that the government has to please and all of them are not pleased by only one and the same decision.

Then who we can ultimately blame for all these? Sin. Sin is the cause of all the unhappiness in this world. Our pride that bogs us down when we fail. Our pride that bogs us down when we can instead at humbly before rejections. Our envy for other's apparent and true happiness. Our anger against people who contradict us. Our lustful tendencies that lead us to feed two families. Our greed for money, for food, always just concerned about pleasing oneself when there is infinite joy in giving. It is not the fighting that causes divorce. It is one man's or woman's lust, greed, or anger.

Let's end the talk on sin.

One thing that spurs us to hope is this: that God will draw out something good from the evil that is happening. All we have to do is to raise our minds to the same level as God's and we will start seeing the good from all this. In every failure, there is something good that we can draw out: learning. In every rejection is humility. In every bombing, we learn to trust in God and renew our piety. In every tsunami, in every accident, a good. Build this spirit of optimism in all of us and the devil will scorn us for still smiling at his effort to turn our eyes away from God.

Remember, the devil celebrates at every sin we commit. Let's resolve to go to confession soon, prepare ourselves for our indefinite deaths, and start smiling more often with God's grace.