THE first Sunday after Pentecost is the Festival of the Holy Trinity. On this day, Christians rejoice in the mystery that God is triune (threein-one) — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How the Lord can be one God in three distinct persons is beyond the ability of any human to understand.

OUR country abounds with rich natural resources that are not found in other countries including many plants with nutritional and medicinal benefits. One of these plants is the coconut tree known to many as the tree of life. A wonderful gift of God to man.

PEOPLE have become so cynical that their initial reaction to a worthy proposal for a directory of wanted criminals (so that civilians can help track them down) is to wonder how the biddings will be rigged to favor one printer over another.

CHINA’S Great Wall is dazzling enough. Consider the vastness of its land and the number of its people and China is simply stunning.

TWO Sundays ago, in my inaugural column, I spoke of an emergent "PAX ASIA-PACIFICA," a conglomeration of increasingly integrated Asia-Pacific nations encompassing the whole of both continental and archipelagic Asia — including the Philippines — and stretching as far as the western coast of continental North America, and Australia and New Zealand. A "United States of Asia," akin to a "United States of Europe" or European Union (EU), if there is in fact one to be realized in the not-too-distant future, will be dependent on accelerating such unification or integration – geopolitically and more importantly, at this time, economically – at the same dealing with its inherent obstacles. Such a coming together of Asia is manifested by the emergence of both the ten nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and of China – as a free trade area whose combined populations will soon reach nearly two billion people, almost a third of the world’s population.

WESAK Day, which falls on a full-moon day in May every year, is considered the holiest day in the Buddhist calendar and is a major festival in predominantly Buddhist countries.

"And others when the bagpipe sings i’th’ nose cannot contain their urine."

AN important decision of the Arroyo administration which should have elicited wide approval because of its consistency with the desired quality of public service, seemed to have been dismissed generally with devious inattention.

EVERYBODY from Malacañang to know-all king of people in the streets is blaming the deterioration of the Filipinos command of English as one fo the causes of our country’s miseries. Things have gotten mixed up here and there confusing us on identifying where our real concern should lie. Some say Filipinos do not understand instructions and information written in English. This they say could affect their performance in work. There are successful individuals who will argue that a person does not need to master English at such level that he has to know everythig about instructions and information written in English.

IT is only proper and a manifestation of statesmanship that President Arroyo ordered an immediate investigation into the alleged involvement of her spouse and son in illegal operations in the country. Whether such allegation is true to establish a legal finding of probable cause to warrant the Justice Department or Office of the Ombudsman to file the charges in the proper courts. However, if the findings of either these prosecutory agencies will be that such allegation is just "unfair rumors," then not only will the charges against the respondents be dismissed. But not only that, the persons who publicly spread that allegation without any basis of truth, which they personally acquired, can be charged with criminal libel. And, lying in court to say it’s true, is another crime.

AMAN was desperately looking for a job. He noticed there was an opening at the local zoo. Upon inquiry, he discovered the zoo had a very unusual position that they wanted to fill.

JESUS said to Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because He has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."