It has been one super busy month for our family, especially for my eldest child, Yanthy!

Aside from working on his singles for his Christmas album titled Christmas Hymns for Him, he was also taking advanced coding classes for Scratch with his new mentor who is the President of the Robotics and Programming Guild of the Philippines. He is taking coding classes under DevCon Kids.

His advanced coding classes for Scratch Level 2 are every Saturday afternoon. His coding classes by DevCon Kids are every other Saturday.

But every Saturday evening, Yanthy serves as the pianist of the anticipated Masses in our parish, Mary, Mother of Good Counsel.

Then, after his afternoon coding class, he practices the songs for the anticipated Mass. By 5:30 PM, he is off to the church to set up and check the sound system in preparation for his service. At 6 PM, he serves as the pianist in the anticipated Mass.

One Saturday this month, he had both DevCon coding class for VexVR the whole morning and his Level 2 Scratch class after lunch. In between these classes, he also worked on finishing his assignment for his afternoon coding class.

After that, he practiced for the Mass and served in it.

He did this with eagerness and excitement even though he was the only one who will go to Mass that evening! My husband and I were both busy that evening and needed to attend meetings.

I knew very well that he was already tired the whole day. But he still chose to serve in the Mass in the evening. And he chose to go there on his own. No family member was with him.

But last Saturday, he still did the same thing that he has been doing in the past weeks and months that he has been serving again since kids are allowed to go church again.

Some people like to serve or do things because their friends or family members are doing the same thing. They are motivated because of the company. But when the people that they want to do these things with are not with them, they stop doing that thing or they no longer attend.

That is not true with Yanthy. His service is not dependent on the people who go to Mass with him or who serve with him. It is not dependent on his mood or availability.

In truth, when he was much younger and still in early elementary, he would still want and choose to serve in the Mass even when he is sick.

Last Saturday, he did almost the same thing.

He didn’t have morning coding classes but he worked on his assignments in his coding classes. In the afternoon, he attended his coding class again for Scratch. Then, he served in the Mass again.

His days during the whole week in the past weeks of November were spent mostly practicing and recording many versions of his singles for his upcoming album. Sometimes, he would record at least 3 or 4 versions in one day. In some singles or songs, he has recorded 7-10 versions before we get to choose the best version. Once we have chosen the best version, he will work on that song again to polish it and sound engineer it so it would be good enough for release on major music platforms globally. That is A LOT OF WORK for anyone, especially a child! As of Friday this week, he has already finished and released 9 singles! What a feat! What an accomplishment for this boy!

He did this because he is passionate for his music.

However, that is not the only thing that he is passionate about.

He is also passionate about serving the Lord with his time and talent!

I cannot help but be grateful to God for the graces that He has showered on my eldest son and I can’t help but thank Him for them! I know in my heart that the eagerness and desire to serve is a grace from God. The perseverance and faithfulness that my eldest son displays or manifests not just this month or this year or in the past 7 years that he has been serving as a pianist in our parish are a grace from God! He would not be able to do all that he is doing if not for the grace of God!

On those Saturdays that I witnessed my eldest son Yanthy make all those choices and sacrifices for God, I could not help but be filled with thanksgiving for God for allowing me to see one of the fruits of my labors as a Catholic mother.

I must have done something right to raise such a child who chose to give so much of his time and his life to God and to His Church!

As parents, I believe that we are also responsible for helping our kids discover their gifts, teaching and guiding them to use their gifts in proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth and in the service of His Kingdom.

I praise and thank God that despite my many mistakes as a parent, my eldest child is turning out to be good Catholic, a good Christian!

I know that I only planted the seed of faith in his life. It was the Lord who made it grow, flourish and bear good fruit.

My prayer is that he will continue to persevere and bear good fruit for the Kingdom. May he continue to bring honor and glory to God for the rest of his life!