32 national teams qualified and were invited to the Soccer World Cup in South Africa. 32 teams were arranged in eight groups of four. The FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) placed a front runner in every group from A to H and then drew other nations to the groups via lottery, considering in the procedure that nations of all continents are well mixed up and yet also fairly arranged according to their ranking.

Some forces never fade but accompany us any day, anywhere, anytime, through all our life.

We experience anxiety and arrogance, despondency and distraction, we know disappointment and despair. Doubts and faint enter our thinking as do uncertainty and helplessness. Fear and failure, quarrel and resignation are not strange to us, neither are envy and pride. All of these we know, all of these are with us, in our life, in our being. And all of these are normal, are common and ordinary.

Last Thursday I attended the second Taizé evening service in St. Anna Parish in Bamberg. Fr. Johannes Trai chose Edith Stein as the saint for the service and the meditation on her delivered by Andrea Borneis struck me as something long known, yet long taken for granted:

Edith Stein was indeed a seeker. What she sought in her life was truth. But what, so we ask, what is truth?

Oh, we know our place. We know almost every corner, every tree and wall, every neighbor and dog in the place we live. We know every move and sound; we even know the smell of mornings and evenings. We know our place so well that we no longer see what all is so special about it, as it has already become something regular, something granted.

In December 2009 the Act on Economic Growth Acceleration passed the German Parliament. This act is a response to the world economic crisis and the intention is to reduce taxes so that people keep more money to spend on consuming. This - so the idea - should well promote the re-growth of German economy.

Unpack your sack, St. Nikolaus

I've been well-behaved, as everyone knows.

I am an honest child - you know this for sure -

listening to my Mom, not annoying her.

I never teased my sister all year,

never took her toys nor put her to fear.

Unpack your sack, St. Nikolaus

I've been well-behaved, as everyone knows

I'm nice and kind and early to bed

close my eyes right away. I am a good lad.

November 9, 2009. Paris is singing for freedom. Thousands have gathered on the Palace de la Concorde to celebrate Germany and Europe. In Los Angeles a wall is being torn down. In Warsaw people are dancing on a wall and another wall is bricked up on the Spanish Stairs in Rome. In London a wall of ice bricks is gradually fading, melting till disappear. November 9 is a day the world celebrates with Germany.

It is the day the Berlin Wall fell.

It is true, swine flu has spread across the world rapidly and the WHO has long warned of that global pandemic. Worldwide there were an estimated 28000 infections and more than 1000 kills in August '09 already, so the WHO. This had its effect on the entire world. They all got prepared for the pandemic, like the States and Australia, which immediately ordered pure vaccines.

Look around these days, and see all the people roaming the place. How different they all are, what various places and backgrounds they all come from; Nagueños and Bikolanos, but also Filipinos from other regions, young ones and elderly ones, kids and adults, men and women, priests, laymen, famous and ordinary people, ones are excited, others are cool, still others are serious or contemplative and again others are loud and shouting.