LAMENTATION FOR A NATION

"My eyes are red from crying,
my stomach is in knots,
and I feel sick all over.
My people are being wiped out,
and children lie helpless
in the streets of the city.




A child begs its mother
for food and drink,
then blacks out
like a wounded soldier
lying in the street.
the child slowly dies
in its mothers arms.




Zion,how can I comfort you?
How great is your pain?
Lovely city of Jerusalem,
How can I heal your wounds,
gaping as wide as the sea?



Your prophets deceived you
with false visions
and lying messages--
they should have warned you
to leave your sins
and be saved from disaster."

Lamentations 2:12-14


My heart bleeds for my country and my people. Barely recovering from the aftermath of tropical Typhoon Ondoy, millions of terrified and grief-stricken Filipinos braced on another typhoon heading towards the country. Can we cope up with this series of natural and man-made disasters? Honestly, neither by our might nor by our strength.

It is my earnest prayer that the Filipino people, specially our national leaders, will do what the people of Nineveh did at the time of Jonah. The people of Nineveh gathered to fast in order to show their sorrow for their sins. They stood and began to confess the sins that they and their ancestors had committed. The King of Nineveh proclaimed a national day of prayer and fasting. Everyone from the greatest to the least prayed fervently to God and gave up their wicked behavior and their evil actions. The great God of Israel changed His mind and stopped from being angry. God saw what they did and the nation of Nineveh was spared from further destruction.


*** (photo 1:AP/Aaron Avila)
(photo 2:REUTERS/Erik de Castro-Philippines Environment Disaster)
(photo 3:AFP/Jay Directo)
(photo 4:REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo-Philippines Environment Disaster)