Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings from Sacramento, CA! We are now enjoying the nice spring weather with cool air, mid-day sunshine, occasional rains in the evenings, and flowers coming to bloom, and looking forward to Easter Sunday!

This month had been sprinkled with activities in preparation for the most glorious feast of our Catholic faith. After my regular Friday hour at the Adoration chapel, our church has the Stations of the Cross at 11:00a, attended by the students of St. Mel’s. On our Catholic Lunch Club for the month, held last Friday March 20, at the Radisson Hotel Sacramento, our guest speaker was Ms. Katrina Zeno, who talked on St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians: Christ the Bridegroom. Ms. Zeno, foundress of Women of the 3d Millennium, also co-hosted EWTN’s series on Pope John Paul II’s ‘Theology of the Body’, author of Every Woman’s Journey: Answering Who am I?, For the Feminine Heart, and The Body Reveals God. She has spoken across the U.S. and throughout the world, especially in this year devoted to St. Paul. She took us through Paul’s journey from merit to mercy to marriage and its application for all of us; she was truly an inspiring and engaging speaker. As usual, I got autographed copies of her books.

Then last week-end, I attended the 3-day live-in Opus Dei retreat in Novato, CA. As my 1st U.S. retreat, I am not familiar with the venue so I needed to carpool. Ms. Libby was so kind to share me a ride on her SUV to and from the venue, which allowed bonding to develop. At the venue, of the 12 attendees, 4 were Filipinas or 30%, so I am really proud of our faith and culture. While I always had my OD retreat in Pinas before Holy Week since 2000 for 5 years, they were not live-in, so this time - it was more wonderful and meaningful – as it afforded more focus and reflective ambience. Fr. Jim Kelly was our leader. Jobs were farmed out to participants so I led in various activities like Spiritual reading, Stations of the Cross, Rosaries, reading at Masses. The meditations, talks, reflections were so inspiring, the amenities, food, venue were all so great – overall, it was like experiencing heaven on earth!

Sean celebrated his 22nd birthday on March 25. During mass (also the feast of the Annunciation), Fr. George offered ‘special intentions for Sean’s birthday’. We had dinner (spaghetti, lumpia, dinuguan, shrimps, humba, salads, cake, ice cream, etc.) at home with guests, including my sister and hubby, Gene and Lik, Eve, Russel and Tess, Fr. George (he just returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land so he gave Sean a beautiful souvenir from his trip) and 10 of Sean’s friends from school. Our guests left before midnight, but his friends stayed on, enjoying the food, drinks (vodka, margarita, etc.), playing Rockband, poker, tongits, and other card games. Sean said they left past 3:00 am because some had to go to work. Best wishes for good health, wisdom, success in your studies and career, and may you achieve all your goals – keep up the good work!!!

By the way, through our bonding on our way to the retreat, I learned that Ms. Libby (who used to work in the Philippines and Thailand) was with the F.B.I. so she worked closely with our NBI and knew details about our country Pinas. She is an amazing, multi-tasking high-energy type of person, which I imagined myself partly, 20 years ago. From our retreat, we went straight to Libby’s home where she hosted our monthly Faith enhancement studies, so Sean fetched me from there. Since working with the FBI is the target job of my Sean, he is glad to be connected to this cool, tough FBI lady who is giving him tips on how to get there. Libby’s husband, whom she met while they were on FBI training, is with the State Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA – the Mexican problem/issue). With Sean’s connection as parallel to Jamal’s destiny, how wonderful God puts pieces on the puzzle of His creations!

Attached are 2 more photos of: family gathering during Sean’s birthday celebrations, Sean's group of friends. Let us continue to pray for our country and people. Peace and Joy to You and God Bless Us All!

Much love and Best Regards!!!

SUSAN BG