So nourished by the Holy Spirit, the Lord, Mama Mary, Fr. Rodel’s presence, selflessness and patience, we were blessed as a family, ate heartily and with gusto, enjoyed each other’s presence at @incaglendale and @La Bella Pinseria Romana after! It was my sister’s Rachel 40th day anniversary mass, officiated by @fr.rodel with another mass in San Bernardino some hundred miles away, prior. His homily was practiced for all of us to experience what he preached: patience, selflessness and presence to accompany a family healing from losing a beloved!
Fr. Rodel’s meaningful homily, excerpted here:
There are 23 healing miracles in the Gospel of St. Mark
It spoke of Jesus’ heart full of compassion – a love to those suffering, like the woman who was hemorrhaging for 12 years.
I was hospitalized a week ago, my heart went out to those folks crying, yelling, wailing.
Jesus knew their pain. He uses us to be healers, too: therapists, nurses, scientists, doctors, all are extensions of Jesus’ ministry, you are Jesus’s hands, mouths, we are all called to be Jesus.
Here are the three traits we need to be with those who are suffering:
Patience – be patient, those who are suffering are in pain. Respect their timetable for healing.
Self giving – you give yourself to the person suffering.
Presence – the suffering person craves for attention, to know that they are loved, be around to linger with that person.
Jesus wants all to be healed. My doctor said:” I will take care of you, to which Fr. Rodel responds: “I save souls, You save lives.”
What a blessed evening! Thank you Fr. Rodel G.Balagtas for actualizing all these traits, for practicing what you preach!
So nourished by the Holy Spirit, the Lord, Mama Mary, Fr. Rodel’s presence, selflessness and patience, we were blessed as a family, ate heartily and with gusto, enjoyed each other’s presence at @incaglendale and @La Bella Pinseria Romana after! It was my sister’s Rachel 40th day anniversary mass, officiated by @fr.rodel with another mass in San Bernardino some hundred miles away, prior. His homily was practiced for all of us to experience what he preached: patience, selflessness and presence to accompany a family healing from losing a beloved! What a blessed evening!
Why this site? I surmised many of CSUN’s large donors are Jewish. We got to sit with a couple who had sustained conversations with my hubby, a former Department Chair of Asian American Studies, Enrique de la Cruz, a CSUN scholarship donor as I am, though not an alumni and unrelated to CSUN.
The dinner was a bit upscale, pairing salmon and filet mignon, all in wine reduction sauces. They served wine liberally and Russian River’s Cabernet Sauvignon was aplenty. I had a sip and made me wish I was back in Orewa Beach, NZ where a glass of red Devil’s Staircase was smoothly enjoyed.
Even the dessert was inviting – a chocolate Marnier cake with strawberry sauce. Best of all, ease of parking. Hubby knew how to commute, he drove us through canyons and took us through roads lined by mature trees and bushes and unobstructed landscape in some areas, though disturbingly smoggy, even with more electric vehicles on the roads. Population in LA has become dense.
Speaking of dense, folks came on time to enjoy cocktails at the bar, mine was sparkling water with lime. We had several canapés, one we liked was mini ice cream cones filled with diced cucumber and raw tuna – it was yummy.
We were introduced by Suren Seropian to Filiberto Gonzalez. I knew right away that this man is genuine, truthful and credible. How did I make that assessment? His careful sharing of stories, of community icons that matter and as he kept unraveling them, my husband and I kept saying – oh yah, we know him, we know her. Then, the last kicker, he introduced his organization and I knew right away about the organization.
What a beautiful way of meeting a person who describes memories, beautiful encounters of community leaders, future projects eliciting support of live theater, before himself. I told him that I sensed his solid credibility and alignment of his principles with his stories. He nodded. He even described his job interview and of late, the musical, Larry, where he took all his staff to watch on its last sold-out day.
Plays are getting a robust support amongst our community, of late – Mix-Mix (Halo-Halo) that we attended on its last day, though less than sold out, had an engaged audience on a Sunday afternoon, Father’s Day.
I spotted Dean Jeffrey Reeder with his lovely wife and we exchanged pleasantries. Of all things it turns out that Dean Reeder wanted to meet Filiberto. I looked for him, spotted him, and requested his company, then introduced him to Dean Reeder. Before going inside the hall, Dean Reeder looked back and said:” Thank you for that, Prosy.” Of all the CSUN deans I have met, Dean Reeder is genuine, warm, and sincere. He has been supportive of Philippine Chamber, and in walks in Lois Klavir.
What’s philanthropy? CSUN President Erika Beck defined it as a Greek word meaning love and kindness to humanity. More than that, it is leveling the playing field for students in film, as an example, whose donors provide them with the latest in cameras, ARRI and their short films become competitive portfolios. Beyond function, technical abilities, it is the personhood formed at CSUN that makes the students competitive.
One story shared was a parent needed help on the last day of moving out in campus. Only one student stopped to help this parent. This student subsequently got an internship at this parent’s organization and today, this former student is now Vice President of Production Operations.
What a rise, all because of best selves!
Tonight, I went home, more determined to sustain my philanthropy at CSUN, for in this community of over 400 folks, the collective humanity is at its best, donating to students, and enabling them time to focus on their studies and to do their research.
Because of robust philanthropy, CSUN is building so many structures to house places of innovation, collaboration, engineering, research and future development I just wish CSUN develops a robust philanthropy more focused on improving the soulful lives and Doubling the economic wellbeing of teachers, professors, staffers, and even helping out the students in writing, more study abroad programs, and their fullest creative expressions.
More writing seminars perhaps such that students write without constraints of grammar, imagination, and even inviting retired professors to teach short term courses in poetry, literature appreciation, critical thinking, digital cartooning from animators?
What a beautiful, dynamic, living CSUN we are part of, as donors. Thank you for a great experience of collective humanity at its best! Thank you too Teresa Williams León for joining us at our table and where I learned she raised a daughter, now in her first year of college, comfortable to navigate her freshman years as she was raised with love and nurtured abilities with natural fluency in English, Spanish, Japanese and French. Can you imagine her future possibilities much like CSUN students nurtured by a caring administration and development folks? -@Prosy Delacruz
With my brother-in-law’s permission, I am able to post this story on social media.
Maria Kaufman approached me, after a hi and introducing myself as Rachel’s sister, now I am the eldest, the Ate in the family of 7, now just 3 sisters left.
My sister cared for the mom of Dr. Rachel Kaufman, Maria, who was 4 months pregnant when she was hospitalized at Presbyterian. She stayed for 5 months in this hospital, attended to by my sweet, patient, kind, smart sister Kay.
My Sister Kay kept telling the other nurses, “Miracles can happen,” while others said “Maria will not have a baby.”
Miracle did happen. Maria gave birth to a baby, her baby grew up, and graduated as a physician, named after my sister Kay, whom they stayed in communication with, via FaceTime for 32 years.
Dr. Rachel is now an attending physician at a regional hospital in Corona, CA. Sister Kay I believe is an angel, caring, guiding us with her wisdom. She had a beautiful burial yesterday, inurnnment of her ashes in a box, while butterflies were released.
One butterfly adhered for a very long time, minutes in Kay’s husband, Sonny’s hand. It was so endearing to see how this butterfly conveyed my sister Kay’s gratitude. It turns out she also taps the table to affirm her wishes.
She did that to me after I sent the photos to her daughter and spouse only, of the memorial and burial.
Kay, permit me this post, as I want to give a shout-out to your beautiful, fiercely loving, God-faithful, patient heart. I will never forget the lectures you gave me about the miracles God has manifested in your life, being a fighter against cancer for 21 years.
Thank you for showing us your grace, service with integrity and elegance, high sense of self-worth, and design aesthetics. I love you so much, Kay. We all did!
Please forgive me for this one and only post. I want to say: let it be, be in God’s embrace now, welcomed by Dad, Mom, and Ate Rose. Till we meet again, though not too soon as yet.
Happy Father’s Day to the love of my life, my fiercest critic, my supporter, my writing prompt, our healthy example/guru who exercises everyday, makes power green juices for the family since 2008, sixteen years now, enabling us to keep moving, as his brothers, CJ and Bert.
You have formed great relationships with me tandem biking, now you are passing on biking to our beautiful children, Corina and Carlo and to our grandchildren, #princess2015la and #maharlika2023la.
Thank you for leading us and driving us to faraway places for camping, walking the trails, and watching plays, concerts, and movies that I initiate buying tickets for.
We love you very much @enriquedlz and in some occasions, we roll our eyes, disbelieving your atrocious opinions, your way of baiting us into a ferocious discussion, earning the moniker of CNN vs. MSNBC. Still, we prefer you fully present in our family lives, as imperfect as it is, yet fully and truly blessed by #graceupongrace.
Happy Father’s Day to a man in motion!
We watched Mix-Mix after and then had dinner at our favorite sashimi place.
#princess2015la likes #lumpiangshanghai, it is her all-time favorite. I tried handing one to #maharlika2023la and he loved it. He kept dipping it into the sauce. Down to last three and I said, “Ever the last pieces.” Guess what happened?
Her brother, barely 15 months old immediately understood the conversation and took two lumpias, enough for his little hand to hold.
Okay, last lumpia left. I was about to close the container and give to #princess2015la. He started whining, he wanted the last lumpia. Oh my gulay. They are Filipino-American-Mexicans and they both love #lumpiangshanghai.
