Blessed Mother focuses on 'Paradise'
Distance learning
It has always been my desire to acquire a master’s degree. With my work schedule however, I cannot attend week days or Saturday classes. Finally in 2012, I thank the Lord that I accomplished my dream of finishing a graduate course. Thanks to distance learning at the University of the Philippines Open University ( UPOU) .
The UPOU is the fifth campus of the University of the Philippines system. It was established on February 23, 1995 to answer the challenge of providing quality higher education to a growing population distributed in over 7,000 islands through open and distance learni n g.
Instead of a Masters in Business Administration degree which was my initial preference, I chose to take up the Master of Development Communication program because it is in line with my work and environmental advocacy. I also want to acquire formal training in communications. I have no background in this
field though I have been in radio broadcasting and newspaper writing for many years.
At UPOU, learning is by way of textbooks, assignments and projects which are submitted online or through couriers. Topics for discussion are posted online and a time frame is given for answers and reactions. For our exams, we go to the nearest U.P. campus or testing centers established all over the Philippines. Abroad, students go to Philippine embassies for their written exams. Sometimes, exams are done live, complete with videocam so that the professor can monitor the examinee.
Learning through distance education depends on the student. It takes a lot of discipline and honesty. You can actually cheat. Professors have no way of knowing whether it was you or someone else who did the projects, assignments and discussion comments. It all boils down to the student’s objective or motivation. Whether they are just after the degree, or really want to l ear n .
I am sharing my experience in online education because this will the norm for the next few months, or until after a vaccine against the COVID-19 is available. Unlike in UPOU however, the distance or online learning to be implemented by DepEd and CHED was not carefully planned and prepared for. It was forced upon by the pandemic.
There are many challenges to hurdle. Not everyone have computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. Fast and reliable internet access is also a must. With all the complaints that I see in social media about slow or no connection at all, this will be a problem. Without connectivity, gadgets are useless.
Next question is whether teachers can effectively teach online. Can students absorb virtual instructions? Are parents or guardians capable and available to guide their children? If both parents are working, who will guide the student?
Classes will start in less than a month. these issues were addressed.
I hope all
No surprise that some are resentful of the dire prophecies I have been sharing in print over many years. The prophecies revolve around chastisements, punishments arising from mankind’s sins and some of them sound definitely terrifying. Why allow bad news to smear a bright, sunny day? Who wants to spoil the road to a future that looks exciting, surely prosperous?
But the messenger is but a messenger and, in the case of those passing on messages from Heaven, it's not a mere case of religious journalism of some sort, because they are messages cut out precisely for all, for mankind and, especially in these times, with such urgent tone as to impose obligation.
Let me share, too, the views of Catholic evangelist and author Mark Mallett on this:
“But you might say, Why begin building a house today if the economy is going to collapse tomorrow? But why does the Lord pour out rain upon the land ‘today’if He is going to send a purifying fire to cleanse it all ‘tomorrow’? The answer is because, today, not only the trees need the rain but we need to know that God is always present, always active, always caring, always providing. Maybe tomorrow His hand will send fire because that’s what we need. So be it…
“Whatever we do in the Divine Will endures forever. Hence, it is not so much what we do but how we do it that has lasting and eternal consequences. “In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone,” said St. John of the Cross. This is not a matter of throwing prudence and reason to the wind. But prudence and reason
also tell us that we do not know the mind of God, His timing, His purposes. None of us knows how long any of the prophesied events will take to unfold and how the works we begin today may bear unforeseen fruits tomorrow. And what if we did know? There is a legendary story worth repeating:
“A brother approached Saint Francis who was busy working in the garden and asked, ‘What would you do if you knew for certain that Christ is going to return tomorrow’?
“‘I would keep hoeing the garden,’he said. “And so, today, I am going to begin cutting hay in my pastures in imitation of my Lord who is also busy in the garden of His creat i on.
I am going to continue to encourage my sons to use their gifts, to dream of a better future and plan for their vocations. If anything, the fact that this era is ending (and not the world) means that we should already be thinking about how to be prophets of truth, beauty and goodness right now.”
MEANWHILE, WAY BACK in 1846 during the Church-approved apparitions of the Blessed Mother in LaSalette, France, reference to plagues such as Covid 19 was made.
The words of our Blessed Mother in LaSalette:
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay… .Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases. It will rain with a fearful hail of animals. There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries. Voices will be heard in the air. Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Blood will flow on all sides.
“Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test? All the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent. Enoch and Eli will be put to death. Pagan Rome will disappear. The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities. All the universe will be struck with terror and many will let themselves be lead astray because they have not worshipped the true Christ who lives among them. It is time; the sun is darkening; only faith will survive.”
TO THOSE OVERLY BOTHERED by the dire prophecies, I share the following words from our Blessed Mother asking us to contemplate on our final destination: Heaven.
Here is what the Blessed Virgin told mystic Fr. Stefano Gobbi (1930-2011): “Today, beloved sons, I want you to be spiritually here in paradise, so that you may be filled with trust and hope, looking at your Heavenly Mother, assumed into the glory of Heaven with her body too. With your heart and soul behold the paradise that awaits you. Paradise is your true goal. You have not been made for this earthly life that now so greatly absorbs, wearies and consumes you. Life on this earth is like a long and sorrowful antechamber through which one must pass before entering the kingdom prepared for you by the Heavenly Father. In this kingdom, my Son Jesus has already prepared a place for each one of you. The Angels are joyfully awaiting your arrival, and all the saints pray and burn with love in expectation that all of these places will one day be forever occupied, and occupied by you… .
“In the light of the paradise awaiting you, above all you will know how to fulfill to perfection the design I have for each one of you, in these times of the great struggle between the Woman clothed with the Sun and her Adversary, the Red Dragon.
In profound detachment from the world and from creatures, you will become truly little, trustful, humble and good; you will travel along the road of contempt for the world and for yourselves; you will be capable of mortifying your senses, and once again you will offer me the gift of your penitence. It is my desire that you also return to the practice of fasting, recommended so much by Jesus in the Gospel.
Thus you will become true disciples of Jesus, and in this pervasive darkness, you will shed the light around about you. For these reasons, I invite you today to look up to paradise, which exults in the mystery of the bodily Assumption of your heavenly Mother, who encourages all and blesses all.”