Evolution of Faith

Dr Abe V Rotor

                                         Neo-Gothic church, Parañaque

Move over Baroque, once bastion of the ancient
world, evolved from the underground and grassy hut,
into mighty fort for war and worship - a kingdom,
until Gothic took its place - ah, freedom!

Soaring into Heaven, scaled not by walls or stairs
but by spires rising like swords piercing the blue sky -
until smog hid its view, and took away its purity,
no longer a rod to fear, pointing at eternity.

High rise buried Baroque and Gothic, with billboards
around; Gregorian chant turned to rock and pop,
in time passing, not by the clock but by the car,
and space a catacomb of concrete and steel bar.

Make way for the Messiah, make haste, we are told;
but who would he or she be? Of what race and tongue?
manger we no longer find, find the star by the Google chart;
does faith make any difference in science and art?

The world did not really change, but we - we did.
Creation, we're but a part - never the Creator, forbid. ~

Homemade guava jelly and calamansi juice

Homemade guava jelly and calamansi juice

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Making jelly from native bayabas (guava) at home.  Use ripe native guava  newly picked from the tree.  Be sure all fruits are healthy.  Discard green, over ripe, and damaged fruits. You made need a kilo of fruits. 

• Slice the fruits thinly, place in a saucepan, add water twice the volume and mash. 
• Cover and cook slowly until the mash is soft, allow to cool.
• Cover with muslim or linen, invert mash and collect the filtrate.
• Take the four ends of the cloth, squeeze gently, and collect drippings into the bowl.
• Discard pulp or use it as feed ingredient for poultry and livestock.  
• For every cup of the  filtrate add one cup of white or washed sugar, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice. If you harvested 4 cups, add 4 cups of sugar, and 4 tbsp lemon or lime juice. 
• Put the mixture back on low fire and bring to a slow boil, while continuously stirring, until the mixture starts to turn into jelly.  Let it stand for half an hour
• Pour jelly into sterilized while still warm, cover and seal.  Label. 

Extracting the juice of calamans. Add sugar equal to the volume of the extract to make the mother stock.  Place in the ref, do not freeze.  It will remain fresh up to one month.  All that the children need is to add two to four tbsp to a glass of water, and pronto! Calamansi juice, more nutritious and economical than commercial softdrinks and juices. And there's one thing you are sure of - no preservatives, clean and safe.  ~