sretna nova godina!

what i just said is a fervent wish for a happy new year!

30 more minutes if my computation is right, that in the philippines, my home country, a new year will soon arrive and the old one will become just history. i will celebrate my new year 8 hours late, as such that i am now in a foreign land, thousands of miles away.

what was 2006 for me? and what awaits me this 2007?

i will have to be honest that up to this minute i still feel some goosebumps and disbelief that i am actually here, being present amidst 36,540 young people of Europe and a mixture of other continents (though i say 90% is European).

where the heck am i? is one question you might ponder and what am i doing here so far away from my home? especially when it is new year's eve? am i not supposed to be celebrating it with friends and families?

i am in ćhrnomerećh, a town in the city of zagreb, the capital of croatia. a country broken by war, a country on the road to reconciliation. in this once broken city shone a light so bright it could set fire an entire world. what is that light? what am i saying?

friends, i assure you that i am not under the influence of any drugs, whatsoever, but i am definite that these past few weeks and events, had left me, so mesmerized, so overwhelmed, and so amazed, that i had these feeling of walking in the clouds, in euphoric joy and spiritual ecstasy... but why? what are these events that i am speaking of?

i will try my best to give justice in explaining in brief, simple and understandable terms these phenomenon of events.

a pilgrimage of trust and peace, came to stop by at zagreb, and the people of croatia, made their homes and their arms open wide, to be a home, to this pilgrims. thousands of young people, 15 - 30 years old, from 40 countries, the entire Europe, is well represented, and a minority of Asian, Latin Americans, and other neighboring continents came to join this pilgrims. four days of common prayer, shared by young people from the Orthodox, Protestant, Roman Catholic and Greek Catholics. four days of workshops and learning experiences, to find God, meet God, and speak with God. four days of creating links, friendships, hope and love.

we live in a broken world. not just in our country, the philippines, but all throughout the world, Asia, and even rich Europe! the church is truly a broken body of christ. and we are parts of this broken body and we ourselves are broken.

we fear the future. as 2007 comes, i know we have been asking ourselves, what will be in store for us in this year? or what again the next year? or the next 5 to 10 years? material insecurity is very evident in our country, as much as it is also evident in prosperous Europe. unemployment, poverty, violence, flagrant injustice, ecological imbalances, all of which undermines our confidence in life. immense inequalities foster a fear of the future.

and yet there are many signs of hope.

as such that voice of the youth network has been doing in the past five years... creating positive social change in the midst of obstacles and odds in the political, socio-cultural and economic scene of our country...

now i see another hope.

in the words of Brother Alois, the Prior of the Taize Community...
''so many young people in the world are ready to make the unity of the human family more visible, they are prepared not to remain passive, but to set out in confidence that a future of peace is possible.''

in the midst of distress and miseries, in our lives, in our families, other relations, and our nation, we always casts our blame on God. we find ourselves asking, where have you been God? why dont you just flick a finger and command all these to be gone? why do you allow division, suffering and incomprehension?

but the answer in all of these, requires a commitment on our part.

choose to hope. choose to love.

christ came for no particular religion. christ came for the entire humanity. we should be united in this humanity.