Bike for Life and the Environment around Laguna de Bay

My muscles are still sore two days after biking 194 km around Laguna de Bay. Last Saturday, August 4, I left Baclaran at 4:15 am in spite of the heavy rain and the howling wind and biked towards Laguna. Afte 64 km of solo riding, I was met by a group of bikers from Los Banos and Tiaong who accompanied for over 30 km. Most went as far as Pangsangjan while two biked with me as far as Pakil. After an early lunch, they went back on their way and I continued ascending the mountain overlooking Laguna de Bay and connecting with the province of Rizal. The rain continued to pour intermittently. I finally reached Baclaran at 8 pm. The time spent on the bike, without the breaks and rest stop, was 13 hours 14 minutes. I slowed down due to the ascents and descents on wet road.

I dubbed this as Bike for Life (an expression of my solidarity with those who were rallying against the RH bill at EDSA shrine and different parts of the country) and for the Environment (as an expression of my support for the efforts to save Laguna de Bay).

Seminar on BEC as Paradigm for Community Living

Several days ago (August 2-3), I gave a seminar on "Basic Ecclesial Communities: Paradigm for Community Living" to 14 priests and religious of the ARFI batch 35 (Asian Religious Formators' Institute) at the SAIDI in Antipolo. The participants wh are preparing for their task a formators came from various Asian countries (India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Fiji and the Philippines). This is the outline of my presentation:

August 2
8:30 - 10:00 am BECs: Phenomenological Perspective
10:30 -12:00      BECs as Locus of Communion (Koinonia)
2:30 -4:00 pm    BECs as Prophetic/Witnessing Communities (Kerygma)

August 3
8:30- 10:00 am  BECs as Priestly/Worshipping Communities (Litourgia)
10:30 12:00        BECs as Serving Communities (Diakonia)
2:30 - 4:00 pm    The Clergy and Religious vis-a-vis BECs