A famous old Eastern philosopher named Hillel had a young clever and pleasant disciple called Maimon. The master was gratified with his student’s progress. But later on, he was sadly surprised to see that the young man started to trust too much in his own philosophy and increasingly less in prayer.
“Why should I pray,” he asked. “God is all-knowing; He does not require our words to know our needs. And God is kind: of His own accord He will give us what is good for us. Moreover, God is eternal; can we change the Eternal by prayer?”
Thus, he reasoned and ceased to pray.
His wise master sat with a serious face in the shade of a palm tree. “Master, why are you sad?” asked the young disciple.
“Why?” the master replied. “Because I have a friend who till now has carefully cultivated his fields and lived well from them, but now he has cast aside plow and scythe, and intends to leave the fields to themselves, saying that he can live from them without work.”
“Has he lost his senses?” the young man wondered.
“By no means,” the master said. “On the contrary, he is otherwise quite a clever man. But now he says: ‘God is almighty, there, He can easily give me bread without my having a plow with my eyes fixed on the earth. And God is good. He will furnish a table for me.’”
“But, master, this is tempting God,” the young man exclaimed.
“It is, indeed, my son. But I am speaking of you. Are you not tempting God in a like manner? Is prayer less than work? This man in his sloth does not fix his eyes on the earth in order to receive material good, and you, in your conceit, do not want to turn your eyes to heaven in order to receive spiritual good.”
“Prayer is more than verbally filling in some requisition blank,” Billy Graham states. “It’s fellowship with God! It’s communion with the Lord through praising Him, rehearsing His promises, and then sharing our needs.”
I have encountered a lot of people who pray. But there’s one guy who really believes in prayer. In fact, his life seems to revolve around prayer. I am talking about Atty. Nicolas “Nick” M. Caraquel, a friend who grew up in San Isidro, Davao Oriental. He came from a poor family and there were seven siblings.
When he was in third grade, his parents asked him to stop going to school and wanted him to help make ends meet. He did this by selling banana cue at the nearby bus terminal. He was saddened of course as he wanted to continue his studies. “I prayed that someday I will understand God’s reason why He allowed it,” he said.
But Nick, who believes in education, was able to finish elementary school. And it came to pass that when he was graduating from high school, the government offered for the first time a State Scholarship Program (SSP) to poor but deserving students to private schools. He took the qualifying exams and was awarded as one of the 13 SSP scholars in the country, representing Davao region.
The scholarship was his ticket to enroll at the Ateneo de Davao University, where he took BS Industrial Engineering. After graduation, he worked in one of the world’s top food manufacturing companies and was assigned to Cagayan de Oro City. However, his childhood dream of becoming a lawyer beckoned. With the money he saved, he decided to fulfill his dream. He pursued law at Xavier University (Ateneo de Cagayan) and passed the bar in 2003.
In 2007, Nick visited the United States to look for better opportunities. Three weeks after his arrival, he asked his friends to pray for him with a specific request. He recalled: “If God has better plans for me in America, Nestle USA will call my friends’ landline the following Monday at 9 am.” True enough, at 9 in the morning that Monday, the phone rang and the company called. He was hired.
In 2012, Nick decided to work as a full-fledged lawyer in New York City. With only three weeks approved vacation from his work, he concentrated on 13 out of 21 subjects for the 2-day New York bar examinations. The first day was the toughest; it had the NY Bar five essay questions.
Before he left the hotel, he asked God to give him at least one topic he could focus on. Should that selected topic be one of those that will come out, he assumed that with God’s guidance, he would pass the bar exam. Out of nowhere, someone whispered in his ears to concentrate on libel and defamation.
The 100-multiple choice federal law portion and the first 2 essay questions were covered in the morning session. The afternoon session started with the 3rd essay question and lo and behold the topic was – hold your breath! – about libel and defamation. It was then that he knew he would pass the bar exam. And he did.
A few months later, Nick was in a quandary whether he would stay in the US or be back in the Philippines, although deep inside him, he wanted to stay. Again, he prayed asking that if his plans aligned with His plan for him, he would receive his American citizenship notification on or before April 2 (Thursday). And, yes, it happened as he had requested.
Today, Atty. Caraquel is one of the top immigration lawyers in New York City. In 2018, then President Rodrigo R. Duterte named Atty. Caraquel as one of the recipients of the Pamana ng Pilipino. “A sought-after immigration lawyer based in New York who broke out of poverty through his determination and hard work. He assists in facilitating the family reunification process among Filipinos in the United States,” said the press statement.
“All my life,” he says now, “I am guided by prayers in every major decision I make. It’s a trait I learned from my mother. I always ask for God’s sign to give me confidence that the decisions I make are aligned with His.”
