PRAY, HOPE AND DON'T WORRY.

Last week, as my cousin's birthday celebration, we decided to visit the National Shrine of Saint Padre Pio (also known as Saint Pio of Pietrelcina) in Batangas, Philippines. Padre Pio was a priest that is now considered as a saint in the Catholic Church. My cousin is a catholic, by the way.

We visited the place so my cousin could say her prayers to the saint personally. It was also her way of being thankful for all the good things, or blessings as they call it, that have ever happened throughout her journey. The shrine is a very big and peaceful place.

>>> BRIEF BACKGROUND ABOUT ME <<<

My family and I was born a Catholic. After several years, all of them were converted to Born-Again Christian. They are active in the church. Except me. Because...

I am not a believer.

And until now, they do not know. This may seem judgmental but I know for sure that some (if not few) of you would judge me. But just because I don't believe in something that others devote their whole lives believing in does not mean that I am against the idea. In fact, every time I encounter believers, I do my best to encourage them to continue believing. Because that's what gives them hope. And for me, hope is what drives us to continue living. It is what motivates us to keep fighting. Hope is what pulls us up when we are in the midst of giving up, or when we already gave up.

We all hope. We all hold on to the things that give us hope.

In my cousin's case, praying and believing are what make her hopeful... and I was perfectly okay with that. I support her, I encourage her, and most importantly, I respect her beliefs. I respect all the other people's beliefs. If it's what provides them hope, so be it. As what I learned from H. Jackson Brown, Jr. in our high school literature class:

"Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have."

That's why I encourage you all to become hopeful, or do things that make you hope, that motivate you — be it through prayers, lighting candles, or tossing a coin into a wishing well. Do whatever strengthens your inner self.

The left photo shows handkerchiefs placed on the the Fountain of Hope while the right photo shows the candles lit for prayers. Each color represents different prayer requests.

I challenge everyone to be hopeful always, to be a channel of hope to everyone else, and to respect other people's beliefs. What a wonderful world it might be.

>>> DEDICATION <<<

I've been encouraging people to be hopeful but there is one person right now that I need to be more hopeful than she has ever been. This is for my close friend and blockmate in college. Her name is Yvonne. She lives in Gumaca, Quezon in the Philippines. Back in college, she was silent but smart. We became partners in some of the laboratory exercises. We belong in a small circle of friends allowing us to get close enough to each other. I admire her for her brilliance and intelligence. I bet she still knows the color of the shirts that we wore during our pre-college tour almost seven years ago. However, right now, she is battling against Acute Myeloid Leukemia. It's been weeks since her sister reached out to us to seek help but until now, Yvonne has not yet fully recovered and still in need of blood donations and platelet supply and support for daily medical expenses.

I may not be a believer of some higher being but I believe that with our collective support and your prayers, we can help Yvonne on this fight. SBD payout for this post will all be dedicated to helping Yvonne in whatever help she needs. For more information and other ways to help my friend, you can visit this post. I am hopeful that she will recover soon. As what Saint Padre Pio would say,

PRAY, HOPE AND DON'T WORRY.