nakakabagot

Today i was able to celebrate the Mass after two weeks pf not being able to walk. I had a real difficulty in walking still that's why i opted to celebrate it in one of the private chapels here in the seminary. As I was hobbling through the Mass I realized how much effort it took John Paul IIto celebrate his Masses when his body began to gradually fail him. Perhaps that will happen to me too when the time comes. Kung baga, practice na to for my old age (hahaha what a thought). My family and cousins chose to attend the Mass.

I went with my family out to Tacloban after that. that was the first real outing that I had since I suffered the accident, and I also realized how hectic my life was all along. Ang laki ng pagkakaiba ng pananaw ko ngayon kesa una nung nakakalakad ako ng maigi. I'm pretty cooped up in the seminary where I live. But I believe I have to be really productive and patiently wait in the meantime for my foot to mend, because there's practically nothing else to do but wait and assist my foot in recovering...a veritable cross for someone who lived a fast life during the vacations...maybe this is God's way of telling me "whoa...stop and reconsider...settle down and prepare yourself for the school year that lies ahead".

accidents happen

Maybe you've been wondering why i've been silent all throughout this time. I've met an accident at the beach. Nothing too serious, really, having sprained my foot (and not just my ankle). I was skimboarding (sosyal!!!) when I set my foot down at the wrong angle. My foot arch virtually bent over and sprung back again. the shock was unbelievable it sent many thoughts running through my head. Doctor gave me two weeks on crutches and another four weeks until I could resume what I call my active sports life...

I'm having it (at last)

I’ve already decided. I’m buying a car for myself and I’ve initiated it’s purchase. After having lived in the flesh how frustrating it is to meet so many demands for your services and yet be so helpless and immobile for want of a vehicle, I’m buying myself one. It may not be a luxury car nor is it new (it’s a 1995 model, from the same year that I entered high school seminary 14 years ago), but it’s still in reasonably good shape, and it’s certainly more preferable to a motorcycle. This time I’m not talking about it to a lot of people, since listening to a lot of people speak about a certain opinable thing could open before your eyes so many views, most often contradicting. This time I’m listening to a select few. For me the car is as good as sold. As soon as I could take the car after having paid its worth (Php 185K), I hope to be more mobile and take things more under my control..

I'm back!!!!

Hi there! I’m back again after a very looooooong absence. A lot of things have taken place since the last time I posted anything in this blog. Well, at this point everything is silent here in the seminary, except for some weeks wherein the seminary grounds was invaded by scores of athletes and spectators due to the Palarong Pambansa. The seminary was the venue for three sports events: lawn tennis, archery and taekwondo. However during the games I was all the while in Tanauan, which was my first pastoral assignment before I came here to the seminary. These two pics are those of the church belfry and the rectory. I spent two weeks there, enjoying a brief stint in the parish. This was however marred towards the end since I got sick, perhaps due to over fatigue (as if fatigue were not enough). During my last Sunday there I had to take over most of the schedules in the parish since the pastor went someplace else and I was left to celebrating six masses that day (actually it was seven, but one sked was canceled, perhaps due to the Pacquiao-Hatton fight). What made the day was when I came to celebrate Mass for the gay association of that town who were holding their Santacruzan de Mayo Devotions. Not that I have anything against them, but usually you don’t see a bunch of gay guys and transvestites asking a priest to celebrate mass for them…to put it loosely, one could say that their interests belong to another sphere.

I should’ve devoted the next day to more rest and relaxation but I think I overloaded my “day-off” (priestly life doesn’t have such a thing) with so much activity that by evening I was feeling really wrung out. The next morning I was wracked with fever.

Anyway, I’m back here in the seminary and to its relative serenity. I’m taking things more calmly…

my pics

You might be curious about the pics that I display in each of my blogs. Most of what I've posted as of now are pictures of locations here in the Sacred Heart Seminary. The one I posted in the last one before this is actually a shot of the sanctuary lamp that hangs in the sanctuary of the our main chapel, with the image of the Sacred Heart in the background. I believe I've done a good one in taking that photo. That lamp, which indicates the Real Presence of Christ in the chapel, is one of my favorite pieces here in the seminary. It's been with us since when the chapel itself was built, way back in the late 50's. Medyo pambawi na rin 'tong extra post na 'to. Sige dyan na kayo....

De Gustibus...

I wasn't able to attend to this blog for some time since the last days had me immersed in certain things pertaining to my work here in the seminary as Dean of Students. I had to prepare an important document concerning the case of a certain student who was dismissed for certain grounds and it took me practically the whole working day to come up with the whole of its six pages. It was very illustrative of the case and i may say that i never knew that i could be capable of coming up with such a legal document. I;m toying with the possibility that perhaps I may have a legal frame of mind. Anyway, yesterday I was able to relay the said document and the necessary documents that come with it to the recipient, and I guess that quite handles the case (of course I won't be telling what the case is all about in here). In the afternoon I helped some of my colleagues in hearing the confessions of some high school seniors who were having their pre-graduation recollection at the Eastern Visayas Normal University. Need I remind you that we're in the season of Lent, and we priests help each other out in one's ministry, anyway, it's all for the Lord.

Concerning my plan about buying myself a motorcycle, I've heard negative comments concerning the whole idea. Come cited it as being dangerous adn unfitting to my priestly status. I've mentioned in one of my earlier blogs how the Rector discouraged me from having one. This week my Archbishop, who is a father to me, also told me that he was not amenable to the idea of my having one, though he didn't forbid me from having one. He told me that he wasn't sold out to the idea because of what happened to one of his best friends back then, who was also a priest, and who was killed in a vehicular accident involving a motorcycle. Then when I went to have my monthly haircut my barber told me the same thing.

But anyway, at supper with some of the formators at table I broached the subject once again. Fr. Oliver, who is the Academic Dean of Studies, himself a young priest barely seven years in the ministry, told me that it could be ok fo as long as it would be used in the surrounding vicinity (Tacloban-Palo-Tanauan and the nearby barrios) but never to faraway places since it would be really dangerous and even fatal. "Pater" (Latin for Father, a term we usually address ourselves among the young clergy), remember, no one could ever force you to do otherwise if it's your wish and included among your tastes, though of course, four wheels are preferable to two and it's much safer. Just be doubly careful...Remember, de gustibus non disputantur..when it comes to one's tastes, provided that they are legitimate, other's may not hold it against you".

Yep, I think that kinda clears things for me, but I think I'll still let things mature before I make the decision to proceed. Not that this would by first bike (I've had my first when I was still in high school), but you know, it's quite a lot of money to waste on an ephemeral whim...

de gustibus non disputantur....

Sunset

This afternoon, as I was making my way to the chapel to assist at vespers in the main chapel, it suddenly struck me how swiftly the year had flown by and how soon we found ourselves nearing the end of our stay. As I went along with the boys who were heading for the chapel, and as I gazed at the light which the setting sun cast upon the my surroundings, I could just remember how as a seminarian myself, in times not unlike these, when days were already longer, I used to sit by myself at the Sacred Heart Park not far from the entrance to the seminary compound and I would gaze at the sunset, feeling quite melancholic and reflective at the same time, about how life could just be a series of endings which gave way to new beginnings. Things end and start again. things get destroyed and new things are born and created. I ponder upon these things as I prepare to conclude a year here in seminary formation which, as I have expressed to my college sems during the last conference that I had with, was one of grace and continued growth.