A professor at CCNY for a physiological psych class told his class about
bananas. He said the expression “going bananas” is from the effects of
bananas on the brain. Read on:

Never, put your banana in the refrigerator! !!

This is interesting.  After reading this, you’ll never look at a banana
in the same way again.

Bananas contain three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose
combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial
boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a
strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit
with the world’s leading athletes.

But energy isn’t the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also
help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and
conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst
people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a
banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein
that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve
your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills – eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains
regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin
in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium
yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so,
the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry
to make official claims for the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of
blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school ( England )
were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast,
break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown
that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more
alert.

Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help
restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without
resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a
banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and,
with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while
the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you
suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood
sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing
the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it
amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria
found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate
and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most
obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded
that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood
sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to
keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal
disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw
fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It
also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the
lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a “cooling” fruit
that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant
mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure
their baby is born with a cool temperature.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because
they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking &Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up
smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium
found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine
withdrawal..

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the
heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body’s water
balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing
our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a
high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine,
eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by
strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill
off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with
the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or
surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare
it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate,
three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice
the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one
of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that
well-known phrase so that we say, “A banana a day keeps the doctor away!”

Mom was laid to rest today. She was seventy-two years old. We said Mass for her at St. John Marie-Vianney Parish Church before bringing her to Heaven’s Gate. Several families came together that day to send her off: the Esmeralda’s, Miranda’s and Romano’s of Guimba, the Lopezes of Kamuning, Tambulig and Mangatarem, the Cuaresma’s of Tarlac, the Sanchez’s of San Juan, the Climaco’s of Quezon City, the Lunar’s of Cuenca, the Augustinian family …

Mama, you were like a candle that in shining was also consumed. Thank you for having been “Inang” to us.

For those who have been asking:

Interment: October 20, 2011
Funeral Mass: 9AM at the St. John Marie-Vianney Parish Church (Marcos Highway, in front of Cherry Foodarama). After the Mass we will proceed to Heaven’s Gate Memorial Park (just some meters away from the Church) where Mom’s remains will be laid to rest.

From Marian Chapels, Go to the Direction of Cogeo

After Passing SM-Masinag, Look for Cherry Foodarama to your Left.

Click the picture below for a bigger look

Or Check the below links for directions:

• St. John Marie-Vianney Parish Church
• Heaven’s Gate Memorial Park

For a bigger view of the map, go to Google Map

At our Basic Ecclesial Community training today, we learned how to listen. More pictures here.

Veni, gustavi, satisfactus sum.

Today is the memorial of St. Francis of Assissi. I studied for two years in Lourdes School Mandaluyong, a Franciscan-run school and it was there that I first knew about St. Francis of Assissi. Well, actually, it was during my stay at Lourdes School that I saw the movie “Brother Sun, Sister Moon”. Later, after High School, I read the Image Book “The Little Flowers of St. Francis”. He still remains one of my favorite saints. He exemplifies the “hermit spirituality” that emerged in Italy in the 1200′s. The original core of the Hermits of St. Augustine (1244) emerged from that spirituality and so it does not come as a surprise that one Augustinian document identifies St. Francis as a member of the Hermits.

If the Augustinian friars wish to know how the original hermits lived, they should compare St. Nicholas Tolentino and St. Francis of Assisi.

Benedict XVI on St. Francis of Assissi

“A sun was born into the world”. With these words, in the Divine Comedy (Paradiso, Canto XI), the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri alludes to Francis’ birth, which took place in Assisi either at the end of 1181 or the beginning of 1182. As part of a rich family his father was a cloth merchant Francis lived a carefree adolescence and youth, cultivating the chivalrous ideals of the time. At age 20, he took part in a military campaign and was taken prisoner. He became ill and was freed. After his return to Assisi, a slow process of spiritual conversion began within him, which brought him to gradually abandon the worldly lifestyle that he had adopted thus far. The famous episodes of Francis’ meeting with the leper to whom, dismounting from his horse, he gave the kiss of peace and of the message from the Crucifix in the small Church of St Damian, date pack to this period. Three times Christ on the Cross came to life, and told him: “Go, Francis, and repair my Church in ruins”. This simple occurrence of the word of God heard in the Church of St Damian contains a profound symbolism. At that moment St Francis was called to repair the small church, but the ruinous state of the building was a symbol of the dramatic and disquieting situation of the Church herself. At that time the Church had a superficial faith which did not shape or transform life, a scarcely zealous clergy, and a chilling of love. It was an interior destruction of the Church which also brought a decomposition of unity, with the birth of heretical movements. Yet, there at the centre of the Church in ruins was the Crucified Lord, and he spoke: he called for renewal, he called Francis to the manual labour of repairing the small Church of St Damian, the symbol of a much deeper call to renew Christ’s own Church, with her radicality of faith and her loving enthusiasm for Christ. This event, which probably happened in 1205, calls to mind another similar occurrence which took place in 1207: Pope Innocent III’s dream. In it, he saw the Basilica of St John Lateran, the mother of all churches, collapsing and one small and insignificant religious brother supporting the church on his shoulders to prevent it from falling. On the one hand, it is interesting to note that it is not the Pope who was helping to prevent the church from collapsing but rather a small and insignificant brother, whom the Pope recognized in Francis when he later came to visit. Innocent III was a powerful Pope who had a great theological formation and great political influence; nevertheless he was not the one to renew the Church but the small, insignificant religious. It was St Francis, called by God. On the other hand, however, it is important to note that St Francis does not renew the Church without or in opposition to the Pope, but only in communion with him. The two realities go together: the Successor of Peter, the Bishops, the Church founded on the succession of the Apostles and the new charism that the Holy Spirit brought to life at that time for the Church’s renewal. Authentic renewal grew from these together.

More from Pope Benedict XVI on St. Francis

More about St. Francis of Assissi at Your Daily Inspiration

The Workshop articles for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time are now available. Matthew 22:34-40 will be read on that day, the question about the greatest commandment. Below are the links.

• Workshop: Loving God and Neighbor
• Mag-aral Tayo: Ang Pag-ibig sa Diyos at sa Kapwa
• Bibliya Tagala: Ang Pinakadakilang Kautusan

There were 613 laws in the Law of Moses. 611 is the numerical equivalent of “Torah”. Add to this the command to Adam (Be fruitful and multiply) and the law of circumcision (to Abraham), and the whole make up 613. Rabbinic schools researched on the greatest commandment, that is, the commandment that includes all others. Jesus’ answer is derived from two texts, one from Deuteronomy and the other from Leviticus. He says the whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.

If you were Jonah, and you find yourself in the belly of a whale, what would you do? What would you think about?