Dolly de los Reyes

DOLLY: I keep pushing, but nothing happens. I keep pulling, but I most often quit. Two opposing fields tearing me apart. Two conflicting poles breaking into my sanity. Life is complex, I admit, clearly in stark contrast to what I used to believe in. That life is pretty simple? Nah. You haven’t truly lived if you have chosen to stay in that hypocritical illusion. Tell me when and how did life become that easy. Not at all, with all its dark secrets and silent wishes. With the mournful laments and soul-breaking wailings. The excitement of growing up gets stained with bursts of melancholy. That element of life called wisdom gets busted with dilemmas. Prayer itself gets knocked down by doubts. Tell me when and how did life become easy, so I could put an end to this Calvary. Tell me how children learned to forgive almost instantly so I could stop my heart from bleeding. Tell me of tales from battles won, of chivalric sacrifices, of cunning lies and troubling truths, and of shatter...

With their plainly false accusations, you can't be Jesus to these people at work, can you? A river of tears – My eyes were tired and swollen from weeping. I was in deep agony. I was cursing them in my mind. “Those craps...” that was how I reacted. I suffered a lot in the workplace. Several colleagues despised me as much as my students showered me with love. I was stabbed, labeled, ridiculed, and was the victim of rumors being spread around like virus. And the oddest thing there was, everything was plainly false accusation. I was simply the “lucky” recipient of their vile mouths. Hold grudges? Been there. Take revenge? I had thought of that. What about forgive? Accept? Love? “ Come to me and I will give you rest.” I waited. God did it for me. Gradually, He healed my wounds. I obliged and clung to His promise of victory. LOVE – He would constantly remind me to look at my bashers with affection. Moments of doubt would sometimes creep in, but He remained faithful to His promise t...

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But...the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”   ― Martin Luther King Jr. Being able to reverse the situation and letting go of the “I” mentality has paved the way to the attainment of peace for many of us. It is in this sense that we unconsciously practice selfless love, the outcome creating a thousand ripples of constructive changes. A man in tattered clothes, shivering in the cold, with palms raised to the heavens for mercy’s sake, is in need of help, something tangible that would satisfy his worldly hunger. Praying alone wouldn’t be of much help, the moment calling one of us to do some concrete action. A family member, struck by illness, needs special care and attention. Giving the prescribed medication, taking care of his personal needs, and simply encouraging him with a love one’s pres...

“I see You, Lord in sorrow and in happiness. I see You in the glory of sweet success. I see You, Lord every hour every day. I can see You, Lord whenever I pray.” I first heard this song three years ago, sweetly sung by a student in the school where I am currently working. I fell in love with the song right away and found myself hastily landing on the world of LSS (Last Song Syndrome). Two years after, it became my favorite song for the Lord. It was when I was struggling to breathe, holding on to dear life for the devastation that those unprecedented circumstances had placed me into.   It has been God’s lullaby to me since then. Apparently, it taught me one thing – to see God in every chapter of my life. Gone were the feel good days when I was safely tucked into my mother’s bosom. Living independently means facing things squarely and bearing the breastplate of courage and willpower. A single tear would prove useless if it means giving up. To whom do I cling to? To God, to my Fath...

“My heart begs for consolation. Papa Lord, please take away this nagging feeling of depression in me.” With a downcast aura, I bent down and cried. Our life’s tribulations come and go, and like ripples of waves on water’s surface, how we react to each situation will most likely determine the outcome of such. I never would have known how emotionally immature I was if not for those trials that used to veer me away from my comfort zone. And as always the case, I got to keep in touch with myself. First impression – I would often receive the feedback of me being cheerful . True, I am. But little do they know that I am pretty normal, someone who isn’t exempted from the pangs of negativities surrounding me. How, then, do I handle toxic emotions? EXPERIENCE – I got everything from here. God sent instruments who had played their roles well during the “trial-and-error” stage. It was never easy, but it was worth the pain. Feel your emotion – This was my life string when I was extremely tried. I...

In one of his teachings, Bro. Arun Gogna, the senior Feast builder of Feast Alabang   (Light of Jesus Family founded by Bo Sanchez), defined success as a means of achieving your dreams while “significance” is helping others achieve their dreams. He shared the secret of all teachers through this quote:  The secret of teaching is to appear that you have learned all your life what you have just learned today. So a teacher teaches with enthusiasm and learns with the students at the same time. The example given was their own marriage. He was a concert director and a very good one at that. That was the reason why their marriage that took place several years ago is still being talked about now. It was perfect; every moment was carefully planned, and everybody felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and the solemnity of their marriage. They were both very happy. A few months after their marriage, several would-be couples approached them and asked for help to make their wedding as go...

When the good do nothing, evil prevails. Talk about harmony. It isn’t much of a big word at present. Murder. Suicide. Corruption. Treason. What else do we have here? Poverty. Destruction. Death. At certain points, we each had come to a halt to ponder on the surrounding chaos. We must have felt a strong urge to act on, to partake of, and to care for our doomed nation. But the harsh reality has always sucked us into the dark vacuum of indifference. “What the heart has conceived, the mind gives birth.” Does this also apply to our supposed active involvement in propagating the change that our country desperately needs? Yes, and it is only in doing so that true change will finally kick in. When the good do small things in every possible way, big results are on their way; the Law of Compounding will surely take effect. We need not belong to the authorities to effect change. We can start right now, regardless of our race, age, gender preference, and status in life. No act is too small if it ...