LOS BAÑOS in Laguna is already in full bloom in May. This should be a welcome respite for the dying patients of the Madre de Amor Hospice. Known for its old giant trees and flowering shrubs, Los Baños is the perfect place to put up a hospice since it is quiet and peaceful.

Fifteen years ago, columnist Fermin Adriano and friends put up the Madre de Amor Hospice in memory of his daughter, Sarah, l6. The hospice assists the dying in easing their pain and in preparing them to meet the Lord through the Last Anointing. Before death comes, hospice volunteers encourage the dying to reconcile with their families. Volunteers go on home visits in places like Los Baños, Bay, Calamba, Sta. Cruz, and San Pablo.

The hospice center is located in the Umali subdivision in Los Baños. The physician is Dr. Rhodora Ocampo.

Board member Monina Mercado told me that the hospice has helped 550 patients, including five children, make the transition to the other world. Fifty volunteers helped the dying go in peace. Most patients have cancer. Home visits are made to both poor and rich. As Monina explained it, it means so much to a dying person to be able to make the sacrament of Confession, receive Holy Communion, and be anointed by a priest.

Donations needed

The hospice survives solely on donations. The resources committee is composed of Adriano, board chairman; Victoria Basco of the Bases Conversion Development Authority; Javier ?JJ? Calero, formerly of J. Walter Thompson; and Manuel ?Pocholo? Lozano, president of Meridien.

Training of volunteers takes place in May and September.

Men and women who are 50 and above, college graduates and mature, can qualify. They must have compassion. Those interested can text Dr. Ocampo at 0920-9224843.

Madre de Amor Foundation is helping organize hospices in Bel-air, Makati, Naga, Davao, Cebu and Guagua, Pampanga. It is also coordinates with the Asia Hospice Network.

A commemorative book is being prepared. Cancer survivor Teresita Gonzales is editor.

Pinoy bookshop in US

If you remember the Casalinda bookshop of Linda Nietes in the late ?70s at the San Antonio Arcade in Forbes Park, you will be happy to know that Linda has been running the Philippine Expressions Bookshop in Los Angeles for 25 years now. Phil. Expressions is a mail-order bookshop dedicated to Filipino Americans in search of their roots.

Linda was inspired to follow Ralph Waldo Emerson?s ?Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.?

New book authors were honored by Expressions last Friday at the Philippine Consulate General office in Los Angeles.

The authors with their titles are: Carina Mojica Montoya, ?Los Angeles?s Historic Filipinotown;? Angus Lorenzen, ?A Lovely Little War: Life in a Japanese Prison Camp through the Eyes of a Child;? Estrella Besinga Sybinsky, ?Portents and Promises: Echoes of Politics, People and Places? (poems); Penelope V. Flores and Araceli N. Resus, ?The Philippine Jeepney: A Filipino Family Metaphor;? and Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore, ?Cora cooks Pancit,? a children?s book.

To reach Philippine Expressions Bookshop, write to 2114 Trudie Drive, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275-2006, USA. Call (3l0) 5249l39; fax (3l0) 5l43485.

Book on inner peace

Paz D. Flores, PhD, launched yesterday the book ?Pushing the Right Button to Inner Peace,? which features the articles of 34 authors, including Bobby Caballero, Ed Valenciano, Dulce Festin Baybay, Lyne Abanilla, Lei Lopez, Maris Dizon, Olive Castro Lopez and myself, among others.

Published by PD Flores Publishing House and printed by Imprenta de San Jose, the new book has an attachment called ?Pushing the Right Button to Inner Joy and Wisdom.? It features short sentences on every page that express bits of wisdom.

The book is timely as more and more people need to learn how to cope with stress and anxiety.

St. Joseph the Worker

With today?s feast of St. Joseph the Worker, I find myself reading the biography of Blessed Andre who built the Oratory of St. Joseph in Montreal, Canada, in November l904. As I read his struggles to build the shrine to St. Joseph, I found myself wanting to pray more to St. Joseph and ask for his intercession.

One way of praying, which Monsignor Josefino Ramirez taught us, is to write down your prayer and put it under the statue of St. Joseph or tape it on a framed picture of the saint. My prayers are always answered.

Devotees will go to St. Joseph Church in Las Piñas today. The old statue of ?Tata Husep,? as the saint is called, is enshrined there. He is a miraculous intercessor.

Flores de Mayo

The Congregacion del Santissimo Nombre del Niño Jesus will hold its traditional Flores de Mayo today, in cooperation with the Dept. of Tourism and the City of Manila. The event will start on Rajah Sulayman in front of Malate Church, and then will go all the way to the Manila Hotel.

Good Shepherd feast

Today is the feast of the Good Shepherd. In Las Piñas, the Good Shepherd Parish will hold a concelebrated Mass at 5:30 p.m. with Bishop Jesse Mercado officiating. A procession will follow. The parish and its different chapels mark their 23rd anniversary. The proceeds of the two-day bazaar will go to the construction of a formation center.