Friday, July 08, 2016

TIDBITS: Remnants of Cebu and My Augustinian Journey

One of my dreams came true last summer, when I and Jason (Sanchez, a former brother at Dominican Laity) visited Cebu. It was not really a planned journey, and there were obstacles especially when we prepared our finances, but the last week of April came and we were able to push through with our summer getaway.

While at Cebu, we had many encounters with the revered image of Santo Niño de Cebu. Since we stayed at Patria de Cebu (the hotel in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral), we managed to wake up early in the morning, to walk towards the Basilica (which is two blocks away) and venerate the image for quite some time. We did this all throughout our stay at Cebu; we saw it as indeed a blessing since not everyone has the opportunity to visit Cebu.

Cebu has an important place in the heart of Catholic Philippines. Here, the faith started to blossom forth from the image of the Child Jesus. The Santo Niño serves as the image of the Filipino faith: young, humble, cheerful. Five hundred years have passed and the trust of the nation in God remains steadfast despite the tests of time, and the challenges of the generations.

Who may have known that after a few weeks, I would enter the Religious Order which promoted the devotion to the image for hundreds of years? From Cebu, the love for Jesus spread throughout our country and to other places through the Augustinians. And we keep it alive until the present through our continuous prayer before the sacred image of Santo Niño every Friday.

Their footsteps, we long to follow now. We don't know what lies ahead, yet we seek his face in greater strides.




Friday, July 01, 2016

ANG GULO MO NAMAN, WEWE!

So what happened to everything I left?

Simple answer: I left them behind. All of them.


I have written somewhere in this blog before that my life has been a roller coaster, being in one place now and moving on later. True enough, life has been a long journey for me so far, and with all the journeys I undertook, decisions made and everything else. But this decision - leaving everything behind for the Seminary - has been one of the biggest decisions I had undertaken, a new YES to God who never left me alone all these time.

But how about everything I had before? Ganun na lang ba lahat?

After five years of life with the Dominicans, I entered the life of the Augustinians. After four years of working as a teacher, I now try to reach my dreams as a Priest of Jesus. And these two were never easy.

It's really painful to let go. But we all know that it's all a part of the process of leaving the things you love for the greatest thing in life. I don't know what lies ahead of me. I mean it. 

You see, entering a seminary is a no-joke. You study things of higher level, you tend to live in a community of people you don't know, some won't be friends with you pa. You wake up at a uncomfortable time just to fulfill seminary schedule. We enter a new reality, far from our ideas before, from our comfort zones. In this reality, you do not depend on what you think might make you happy; you only depend on the greatest good. You search for it, not on material things, but deep inside you, in the spirit. You carefully - and sometimes, painfully - leave your old self to wear the new person.

It certainly takes time and lots of effort, but it will never be without God's help. Everything's impossible without complete trust in his Will. On this thought I depend as I embark on this journey. Yung gulong ito, magiging maayos rin sa awa ng Panginoon. God will take care of this. 

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I plan to revive Ur Dose if time allows me. I don't know how this could be but in any case, this blog would still be regularly updated. Thanks for the continual support and prayers.