Ecumenism

It was during his teenage years when he witnessed one of his grandmother became a fundamentalist. Instead of novenas to various saints, he saw in her hands the Holy Bible.

At school, Chino had a classmate who was a Moslem. He read the Koran, the Holy Bible's counterpart. He also had a Chinese classmate who talked with him about Buddhism.

Chino learned that religious beliefs all aim at attaining spiritual superiority. Whatever name people call their God, their goal is to be free from the bondage of sin and attain redemption.

In one of the masses he attended, a Catholic priest narrated his meeting and admiration for a Fundamentalist preacher abroad. The priest requested the preacher to bless him, and the preacher in turn requested the priest to also bless him too. In his homily, the priest mentioned a few things about ecumenism, which is understanding and respect for other people's religious beliefs.

At school, religious missionaries visited them and gave them free reading materials. Chino enjoyed reading them. He was being enriched intellectually and spiritually.

As a teenager growing fast to become a young man, Chino had his share of problems. Others seemed to big for him to solve. There were many times his cash allowances were not enough. He had several brothers and sisters all studying and their parents' income could not meet all their material needs. Heeding his grandmother's advise to read the Holy Bible because, according to her, "It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you;" advising him at the same time to pray to God for all his needs, because "The Lord is his Shepherd and he shall not want," Chino found himself able to survive whatever difficult situation he was in.

He used to be confused by so many things. A voracious reader, he turned to books for answers. From the many spiritual books and magazines he had read, he found answers which helped a lot in making him a better person.

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