Publisher's Note

Publisher’s Note
It was 22 years ago when I arrived in Canada and chose Calgary, Alberta to be my home. Leaving my family and friends behind, it was a new adventure for me to be in a new country without knowing anyone. That was the time I looked for a Filipino community paper and never found any, [...]
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Page added on April 22, 2018

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The Spirit of Spring

By Consuelo (Chit) E. Munar

“Spring has sprung,” is a popular adage which means spring has arrived. We see trees start to sprout, birds around are singing, temperatures are surely at a pleasant range. Everything seems to have new life. After a bleak very cold winter, Spring is a time of great hope.

As spring and hope are part of us, we are just as much a part of spring and hope. Spring is that spirit of HOPE-that time after the dark, bitter cold, raging storms and gloomy months. It comes a little at a time. Sometimes it comes before we even see it. Even when the darkness of winter still looms, Spring is underfoot.

Spring is the plant pushing up through the slowly warming up soil to eventually break the ground and become a flower. Spring is hidden inside the bark of trees preparing to become a bud that will bear fruit. Before we ever see it – spring is there. The spirit of spring is hope.

Where does hope come from? In true honesty, I don’t know. At times, though, I feel it’s like the tiny flicker of a candle in the dark. How it gets there and where it comes from, I leave that to greater minds. But I certainly know this -it comes.

Cicero once said, “ while there is life, there is hope.” Since ancient times, ailing or dying individuals would believe that so long as someone or something ailing is alive, there is hope for recovery. Today, it is also applied to inanimate matters. For example, a company would survive several previous recessions; while there’s life, there’s hope.

In some ways, human beings are “ prisoners of hope, “ going around discouraged and defeated. They live in anger, resentment and bitterness rather than hope. At times we encounter adversities and hardships. None of us enjoy tough times. With faith we fill our hearts with hope. We can stay filled with hope knowing that someone bigger than ourselves will restore good things back to us. While things could change in an instant, we should never give up hope.

Consuelo (Chit) E. Munar is the past president of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAAA) 2012-2015. Currently, she is the Chairperson of the Stewardship Committee at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church. She also chairs the Catholic Women’s League Committee on Legislation and Resolutions at Holy Trinity Parish CWL Council.