PAGKAMAKA–DIYOS

The Good Citizenship Value

of
Faith in the Almighty God

FAITH IN THE ALMIGHTY GOD

Jesus said to them “Have faith in God. Whoever says to the mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown to the sea’, and
does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him”.
Mark 11:22-23

“For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead”.
James 3:26

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today; let us move forward with strong and active
faith. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Learning Objectives

o To enable the participants to recognize their unique Faith in God as Filipinos;

o To help participants recognize the importance of faith in their body history as a people;
o To allow participants to appreciate their own faith;
o To help participants reflect on the blessings of God in their lives; and
o To affirm the participants’ unique gift of faith, and illustrate to them how they can continue to live
o a life of faith in God.

Faith in God

Faith Alone
Bro. Andrew Maria, MMHC

A devout widow who was known to be a living saint was crossing a bridge with her child when an accident
happened. Her son fell off the bridge and plunged into the deep water below. At this, some men got ready to
jump into the water to save the child. However, the widow forbade them.

“Do not move,” she told the men, “my faith alone can save the child.”

After she had said this, the widow knelt on the bridge and prayed with great faith. In a short while, the
child drowned and died. The widow wept.

Moral: Faith alone, without work, is useless.

Faith in God

The Rescue Boats

By Fr. Bel San Luis, SVD

Mang Juan was a devout Christian but rather bull-headed. When a flood hit their town, he climbed to the
roof of his house. A rescue boat came by but Mang Juan begged off their help. “No, thanks. I have faith in the
Lord. He will save me.”

The waves rose and Mang Juan climbed to the tip of the roof. Another boat came by to save him, but he
waved it off professing his faith for the Lord.

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When the waves began slapping at his feet, he clambered up the chimney. A helicopter swooped down
to save him, but he still begged off, trusting in God’s providence. You can guess what happened afterwards.
Poor Mang Juan drowned.

When he stood the Lord, he complained, “Lord, I had such faith in you. Why did you fail me?” to which
the Lord said reprimanding him, “What more did you want? I sent two boats and a helicopter! But you did not use
them.”

Reflection: Are we using enough our God-given talents, our natural resources to succeed as a nation and as an
individual? “God helps those who help themselves.”

The Good Citizenship Value of

Respect for life

RESPECT FOR LIFE

God created man in His image; in the divine image He created him; male and female he created them.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you
are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

Life is raw material. We are artisans. We can sculpt our existence into something beautiful, or debase it into
ugliness. It’s in our hands. Cathy Better

Learning Objectives

o To rouse participants awareness of social issues that challenge their personal conviction
about the value of life;
o To give participants a renewed sense of appreciation for the gift of life;
o To enable participants to realize the relevance of human dignity in their lives;
o To inspire participants to be stewards of life.

RESPECT FOR LIFE in Action

Participants may choose to integrate the value of Respect for Life in their subject areas/lessons,
in their family life through a deeper personal reflection and consciousness of practices in the home (e.g.
instilling of discipline, recognition of the uniqueness and worth of each member; role modeling of parents so
that their children may grow with dignity and right values; and in stressing the importance of health and
personal development), and in their daily lives and communities by always recognizing the dignity of others
and appreciating the value of the life of every person. Participants may choose to make a personal pledge to
consciously uphold life in every circumstance and shun violence as a means of achieving an end.

Respect of Life

The House of Life

Bro. Andrew Maria, MMHC

The crowd said to the Mystic: We found a big and beautiful house called LIFE. Without giving any
thought to whom the House of Life might belong, we rushed inside it. Yet, to our dismay, the House of Life was
empty and there was nothing in it. Life is empty, Life has no meaning.”

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The Mystic went to the House of Life to see if it really was empty. He knocked on the door before
entering and someone from within opened it. He stayed inside the house for quite sometime while the crowd
waited outside. It was already evening when the Mystic went out.

“Is the House of Life empty as we told you?” the crowd questioned him.

The Mystic answered the crowd, “The House of Life is not empty. When I was inside, I saw the most
beautiful rooms with golden chairs, silver tables, and jeweled walls. Above all these, I dined and conversed with
the Master of Life himself.”

“How can that be? The Crowd insisted. “When we were inside the House of life, it was empty, yet now
you tell us that it is not.”

The Mystic rebuked the crowd, “You found the House of Life empty because you did not knock before you
entered it. You rushed into life without even knocking, as if the house belonged to you. The Master of Life,
seeing that you lacked respect for life and reverence for it, took away its beauty because you would not know how
to use it. You are proud and vain to act as if you are the master of your own life. For this reason, the Master of
Life gave you the house of Life to look at but not to live in. If only you had knocked before you entered, then you
would have seen the beauty I saw and conversed with the Master of Life himself.

“Tell us, please,” the crowd begged the Mystic, “what does it mean to knock on the Door of Life?”

The Mystic solemnly spoke, “To knock on the door of Life is to be humble enough to accept that the house
does not belong to you but to the Master. To knock on the door of life is to seek the Master of the House and not
the treasure in the House. To knock on the Door of Life is to wait with patience for the Master to open it from
within and not force it from outside. To knock on the Door of Life is to follow the statutes and commandments of
the Master of Life.”

“Top knock on the Door of Life is to pray to the Master of Life that you may love him since he not only
owns the house but your very selves as well.”

They left the mystic after they heard this. The crowd returned to the house of Life and they knocked
before entering. The Master of the House of Life opened it from within. Once inside, the crowd saw the beautiful
things the Mystic had seen. But most of all, they were able to dine and converse with the Master of Life himself.

Life, after all, is not empty.

Moral: Treat life with respect and life itself will reveal its beauty to you.

The Good Citizenship Value

of Order

ORDER

Then Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is
written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer, but you made it a den of thieves”.
Luke 19:45-46

God is not the God of disorder but of peace. 1 Corinthians 14:33

Order is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of the city, the security of the state. As the
beams of the house, as the bones of the body, so is order to all things.
Southey

Learning Objectives

o To be able to identify the significance of the value of Order in the lives of the participants and in
nation-building;
o To be able to identify ways by which the participants can establish the value of Order in the
conduct of their personal lives.
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Order in Action

Some examples of how participants may cultivate and encourage the value of Order in their area of
concern:

a) Teachers:

1. Encourage students to pass quality work on time.

2. Prepare your lesson plans and syllabi religiously and earnestly.
3. Teach your students the value of cleanliness and the habit of relying on time and resources
management, budgeting, organization as well as other values that promote the value of order in
the conduct of their daily lives/routines.

b) Barangay Officials:

1. Design an efficient system in the delivery of basic

community services (tanod/security, garbage disposal, youth development, “greening of the
community”, community help desk, health care).
2. Encourage barangay servants to maintain clean and
orderly work areas and manageable daily work routines that will enable them to serve the
community more efficiency.
3. Sort/prioritize community projects and set up an
effective financial system so that the resources of the community are well-accounted for.
4. Set up a system of accountability among barangay
servants and officials.

c) Students:

1. Develop a good set of study habits and zealously follow through everyday.
2. Develop your organization skills and train yourself to always practice good grooming and
gentlemanly/lady-like conduct.
3. Learn to manage your resources, studies and extra-curricular activities well. Learn to identify
your priorities. Remember that your main priority as a student is to study well and work
towards developing and perfecting your talents and gifts.
4. Follow and respect rules and regulations in and outside the school. Know that the rules are
meant to keep things in order so that you may be properly formed into a good citizen and a
person of worth.

2. Personal Resolution

As a good citizen, I understand that the value of order is important in my quest to improve myself as a
person and as a citizen. I shall strive to arrange my life in a certain way that will allow me to be a more
productive citizen. I shall inspire others by my example to live peaceful and more meaningful lives by
living the value of order everyday.

Order
Your Own House First
Bro. Andrew Maria, MMHC

Cassius the Zealot entered the monastery because he wanted to atone for the sins of men. As a monk,
he practiced all sorts of rigorous penances and sacrifices for this single purpose.

“Lord,” he often prayed, “I offer my life for the atonement of the sins of the world.”

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One night, Cassius had a dream. He saw himself in a certain village were all the houses were
dilapidated. Driven by his zeal and kindness, Cassius started rebuilding one house after the other. After he
had rebuilt all the houses, Cassius was approached by the Lord.

“Cassius,” said the Lord, “I mean to stay in your house.”

Cassius pointed to his house while he walked with the Lord. “Master,” he said, “That is my house.”

The Lord stopped when he saw how dilapidated Cassius’ house was. “I cannot stay in such a house,”
the Lord told him. “Your house is ready to fall down.”

“But, my Lord,” Cassius defended himself, “I was not able to fix my house because I spent all my time
rebuilding other people’s house.”

“The Lord said to Cassius, “Before you build my dwelling place in other men’s hearts, be sure that I have
one in yours.”

With that, the Lord disappeared.

Moral: Charity begins at home.

The Good citizenship Value

for Work

WORK
Six days you shall labor and do all your works; on the seventh day you shall rest.
Exodus 20:9-10

If a man will not work, he shall not eat. 2Thessallonians 3:10

Give fish to a man and he will have food to eat for a day; teach him how to fish and he shall have food to eat
throughout his lifetime. Confucius

1. Learning Objectives

To highlight the significance of work and labor in one’s life;

o
To enable the participants to appreciate the value of work;
o
To inspire participants to have a more positive outlook towards work;
o
To stress the importance of setting one’s priorities, identifying one’s work motivation and
o
living within one’s means;
o To provide participants with an outline of core work values that will help them become more
responsible and productive citizens.
2. WORK in Action

Participants may go into a period of personal reflection as to how they value work each day.
They may begin to make a sincere personal commitment to strive to work hard and have the right values
and attitudes towards their work and dealings. Participants may also opt to evaluate their actual work
attitudes, motivation and priorities. This will allow them to direct themselves towards performing their work
with a sounder disposition, clearer understanding of their priorities and more meaningful motivations.
Teachers may inculcate the value of work—hard work, honest work and quality work in their students by
being more affirming, inspiring and appreciative of their students’ efforts toward achieving quality results in
their schoolwork. Community leaders may develop a more positive outlook and attitude towards the value
of work among their peers and subordinates by highlighting the importance of each other’s unique
community function or assignments as well as the integral role each plays in the success of community
undertakings.

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3. Personal Resolution

I am a person that has been endowed with gifts that allow me to continually work for a better life.
I shall continually strive to develop my talents and gifts and learn to be self-reliant. I am a productive
member of society and I do my share in improving the quality of life of the people I serve and those whom I
indirectly affect. I believe in the value and benefit of hard work, quality work, and honest work. Hence, I
shall strive to always use sound moral principles in my dealings and apply my God-given gifts in my work
and settle for nothing less than excellent results. I am a discerning individual where my priorities are
concerned and my work-related actions are steadfastly governed by an unwavering faith and conviction in
doing what is moral, honest and just.
o Every person has the inherent ability to work;
o Hard work, Quality work, and Honest work are what make a citizen a good, productive, and self-
reliant member of society.
o Work is a key to national progress.

Work
Anecdotes of the Great
That Help Build a Better Life
Compiled by J. Maurus

Norman Vincent Peale was to see Herbert Hoover. He asked the secretary how Hoover was
getting on. “Well,” she answered, “he’s in there working hard. He works about seven or eight hours a day.”

“But he’s 85,” protested Peale.

“Yes,” the secretary agreed, “but he doesn’t know that.”

Moral: Work is a timeless occupation. It is both for the young and old.

-oOo-

Seventy-five drafts of Thomas Gray’s poem “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” may be
seen in the British Museum. The Poet did not like the way he wrote it the first time nor the second nor the
third. He was satisfied only when he had written the poem over and over 75 times.

Moral: Don’t settle for mediocre work. Instead, aim for excellence in everything you do.

-oOo-

When someone was lauding his intellectual brilliance and ability in dealing with the most complex
problems, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, explained: “The truth is I am a very ordinary
person, and if I have any success it is only due to hard work.”

Moral: Great men are ordinary persons who work extraordinarily well.

The Good Citizenship Value

of Concern for the Family and
Future Generations

CONCERN FOR THE FAMILY AND FUTURE GENERATIONS

From the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said ‘for this reason a man shall leave his
father and mother and be joined with his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’. So they are no longer

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two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.
Matthem 19:4-7

When His parents saw Him, they were astonished, and his mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have you done this
to us? Your father and I have been looking for your with great anxiety…’ He went down with them to
Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and His mother kept all these things in her heart.
Luke 3:48-49, 51-52

Pilipino na sino man ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan.
Francisco Balagtas

1. Learning Objectives

o To enable the participants to have a deeper appreciation of the value of family;

o To allow participants to assess their own family values;
o To highlight the important role of the family in a person’s life and his personal development;
o To able to illustrate prevalent social realities affecting the Filipino family today.

2. CONCERN FOR THE FAMILY AND FUTURE GENERATIONS in Action

Participants may choose to evaluate their own family life more deeply. They can
specifically look into how their own family cultivates love, understanding and mutual respect.
They can also assess and appraise their role in the family (e.g. as a spouse, parent, or child)
and devise ways to be a better member.

Teachers may conduct classroom practices that stress the value of respect for elders,
parents and siblings. They can also encourage parents to assume more active roles in their children’s
development by formulating activities (e.g. projects and assignments, father and son camp-out, etc.) that
promote direct parents’ involvement and participation. Teachers may also encourage their students to
form peer groups and arrange for the school to have regular family counseling wherein students can
obtain good advices and maintain a channel where they can exchange views on how to become good
and responsible children and/or siblings.

Community leaders may encourage projects and programs that encourage the development
of unity, harmony, sharing, love and work in the family. They can also establish a channel where family
members of the community can express their family concerns and obtain quality advice.

Concern for the Family and Future Generations

Father’s Mistake – No Time

Fr.Bel San Luis, SVD

One night, a father came to a parent-teacher conference in a city high school. During a talk with one
of his son’s teachers, the father broke down and began to cry.

After he regained his composure, the father apologized, saying, “My son no longer lives with me. But
I still love him, and I want to know how he’s doing in school.”

The father then told the teacher how his wife and four children had left him that afternoon.

He was a building contractor and sometimes worked 16 hours a day. Naturally, he saw little of his
family, and then slowly grew farther and farther apart.

Then the father said something sad. He said: “I wanted to buy my wife and kids all those things I had
dreamed of giving them. But in the process, I got so involved in working that I forgot about what they needed
most: a father who was around at nights to give them love and support”.

Lesson: We can get so involved in what we are doing that we forget why we are doing it. We get so involved in
living that we forget the purpose of living. We can get so involved in pursuing the things money can buy that we
forget about the things that money can’t buy.

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Concern for the Family and Future Generations

The Love of a Mother

Fr. Benigno P. Beltran, SVD

Once there lived a poor mother and her son. When he grew up, the son fell in love with a woman
who was not serious with him. He told her he would do anything he asked if only she would marry him. Half in
jest, she told him: “I will marry you only if you cut out you’re mother’s heart and bring it to me. Only in this way
can you prove your love.” In the dark of the night, he went into the mother’s room, took from his belt a knife from
his mother’s kitchen, and plunged it into her breast. He cut out her heart and ran with bloodstained hands
towards the home of his loved one. As he ran with the heart of his mother in his hands, he stumbled and fell.
His mother’s heart said to him, “Be careful, my son. You might hurt yourself.”

Reflection: The love of God is expressed through the love of a mother.

The love of our parents cannot be measured by any conceivable means. They love us in ways only they can; in
ways only they know how. Love them, take care of them, and honor them.

Concern for the Family and Future Generations

Mother’s Heroic Love

Fr.Bel San Luis, SVD

It happened in South Wales, United Kingdom. A young mother was making her way across the hills
carrying her tiny baby in her arms.

On the way she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard (snow storm); she never reached her
destination alive. When her body was found beneath the snow, the rescuers discovered that before her death,
she had taken off all her outer clothing and wrapped it around her baby.

And when they un-wrapped the child, to their great surprise and joy, they found he was alive and well.
She had given her life for her child.

Years later, that child had grown to manhood, became Prime Minister of Great Britain and, without
doubt, one of England’s greatest statesmen. His name: David Lloyd George.

It was the heroic, sacrificial love of the mother that saved him and made him soar to greatness.

Moral: “One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters.”