koi

I'm just a small fish in a small corner of this big Laguna, and this is how I've been swimming it
Showing posts with label Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church. Show all posts

10 March, 2016

Lent

Candles at St. John Bosco Parish, Santa Rosa

     One of my rituals, not only during Lent, is to stop by the Perpetual Help Candle Sanctuary at the St. John Bosco Parish Church in bgy. Don Jose.

     If I am lucky and the candle drawers are newly replenished, I go for all the colors available, regardless of their symbolism. There is a poster enumerating the colors and what they symbolise.  Red is for birthdays, anniversaries, and white for general intentions.  I do not memorize what the other colors represent, as I light any or all available.  I do know that the one most often out of stock or low in supply, is the one for finances.

     Now that's not really a surprise, is it.

     You can opt to donate cash in the adjoining box, and I do have an amount set per candle.  From 1996 to 2007 I used to stop by to light candles at the St. Andrew parish in Bel-air, Makati, and pray to Our Lady of Czestochowa. Now, it is here, and not regularly.  Lighting a candle and praying while gazing at its flame is meditative and brings me instant peace.

     While being in the parish after the morning mass and when the place is empty makes me wary these days...(the new fences and gates have enhanced my insecurity), I find it is still quite neighborly and comforting enough to see the parishioners leaving or hanging around chatting.   
     
     Options for Bisita Iglesia in the vicinity are St. John Bosco in Bgy. Don Jose, and in through the Inchican Road (which intersects Laguna Blvd), is St. Benedict in Ayala Westgrove.  I do not think the Oratory at Xavier School Nuvali nor the Chapel inside Montecito will be open to the public for this activity.  Farther toward the Santa Rosa SLEX toll, past Greenfield is the Laguna Bel-air chapel.  Another route is to go up towards Tagaytay, where starting in Lumil, Silang is the San Antonio de Padua church, relatively new, but already having seen many weddings.  Indeed it was built for those, in my opinion.  Angel Fields' Holy Family Pavilion is not a church, but the place is a retreat place, with cottages to rent.

    And then of course, up toward Tagaytay for the rest of the churches.

24 April, 2015

To the Hills of Silang I Go

Just in the next province, but still with more of that provincial character, many orchards, farms and hills...is Silang. 

The Alta Veranda de Tibig in bgy. Tibig, is an event (mostly weddings) venue in the middle of fields along the road from bgy. Inchican's Cardiac Trail.  See the wires?  Those are power lines, and to the immediate right stands an electric transmission tower.  Pretty house, ugly power tower.

An aside...it's a good thing this is just an event venue, and not a permanent residence.  There are studies that have linked residing (sleeping, living) next to such transmission towers to cancer cases, and even autism.

The left is a big church being constructed.  Very enterprising, indeed.
Alta Veranda de Tibig

Another road toward the Silang town proper but from bgy. Lumil, has the Saint Anthony de Padua church, which I blogged about when it was new around two or three years ago

I passed that church again and the area around it has come alive. That church has seen many weddings by now.  The idea has caught on...

Still on the Cardiac Trail/Alcalde road

View of Westgrove homes and Santa Rosa from the peak of the trail.







Here is the church of Silang.  It is right next to the Municipal Hall, in what is the town's plaza.  Locals along the road point to the corner Jollibee as the landmark.

Locals, especially tricycle drivers, point to Bgy. Tibig's Alcalde road to Cardiac Trail as "the road to Nuvali". This is mainly because this does lead out to the South Forbes and Westgrove's shared road, which turns right to Nuvali blvd and left to the Laguna blvd.  That road crosses a river, a real border separating Silang from Sta. Rosa.  









  

10 August, 2013

Vesper Service

     I am Catholic.  I am in Laguna.  I attended a worship service at the Philippine International Church of the Seventh Day Adventists in Silang, Cavite.  It was peaceful.  Very meditative, and especially as it was evening, like a long lullaby.  Musical, as many seem to know. They simply..sing...and it was new to me to hear, rather than applause at the end, a somber, low "Amen" by the congregation after each song.  

     The Adventists have what is called a 777 prayer at 7 pm, and we paused for it outside the church before the service.  The voice leading the prayer over the PA system was soothing. It was good meditation.  It was easy to be "in the presence of God" with a background of various creatures sounds. Crickets...unlike the usual cricket noises.  Forest sounds.

     This evening's service was led by their Handbell Choir.  There were also piano, strings and wind instruments.  I have been invited to attend service once in a while, to listen to the music hosts. Some days there is the organ, some a choral group.  

      It was not my plan to be publicizing my personal thoughts especially about my religion.  It's just that this experience comes after some disappointment over my own church's having changed the melodies of standard mass songs again.  I do not like the new melodies at all.  I cannot seem to learn them. Never caught on with the new Ama Namin melodies. I miss the old, original ones.  I mean, Manoling Francisco, SJ's melodies were lovely.  Why fix what to me is not broke.
We can assume why they have to change melodies...an effort to liven things up? To ''make new''?  Sad...because my own young child had just started enjoying what many young church-going children I know enjoy...the "Hossana" with all the sss-es in the song.  

      Anyway, I regret not having brought a proper video recorder for this one.  Even the audio does not capture the gentle tinkling of the bells. They come out rather shrill in parts. But here they are, the AUP Handbell choir, composed of Filipinos and students of other nationalities:










25 May, 2013

"Pray, Hope and Don't Worry"--St. Pio of Pietrelcina

    We happened to have something major to thank Padre Pio in particular for this month.  The thought of traveling from Sta. Rosa to the center in Libis was not exactly pleasant. Sure, it would be a part of the ''sacrifice" as in a true pilgrimage but seriously, I have been avoiding going north towards Metro Manila. I have never been to that center in Libis but I know that area enough to know I didn't really want to go, and on a Saturday. My husband has been there, and wanted to go today.  He too, knew what a "sacrifice" that would be.  There had to be an alternative.  For information about this Saint, please look him up.

    St. Pio's profile on Google showed me May 25 was his birthday! While his feast day, with big celebrations in shrines that honor him is on his death anniversary of September 23, I was almost sure May 25 would be a good day to visit anyway. And we did plan on actually visiting today, May 25, a Saturday. A fun coincidence.   An aside---I'd been trying to think about why May 25 seemed so significant, devotion-wise. It was only upon arriving home that I found it is also one of the feast days of the Saint I had been praying through (St. Pio is actually my husband's), St. Philomena. Her relics were found on May 25. 
   

   I also found, via the web, another shrine, more appealing being in our part of Luzon---a church, in barangay San Pedro, Sto. Tomas, Batangas.  

    Now I wanted to go, if only for the "easier" drive by Mt. Makiling and the surrounding hills.  I believe we can pray anywhere, that our devotion does not necessitate visiting such shrines.  Being able to is, for me, a bonus.  My faith also does not require me to stroke or kiss the statues of saints, although it is helpful to have their images in front of me, whether in sculptures or photos. I am content to pray and meditate at home in peace and quiet.  For the child, however, the images of the saint, and the idea of it being his birthday, were treats.  She later admonished us for forgetting to actually greet him a happy birthday!

     Anyway enough talk. Here are a few shots of the salakot -(native hat) roof, the many statues, the relics (they have 4 pieces, which make the crowd flow faster during healing masses).  Apparently this morning's Healing Liturgy saw the most number of attendees.  The Healing Liturgy is usually held on the 23rd of each month, except for May when it is held on the 25th.  The woman who approached us...a volunteer parishioner in charge of the place, told us the mass took long this morning as two recently-healed people passionately testified about their healing...and would not stop.

    She also repeatedly said to us, in Tagalog, "You will be back. You will not realize it you will just come back".  (More shades of "People will come", eh?). I only hope it's to pray in thanksgiving more than to ask for intercession in despair.
























Belfry with a bell from Holland to ring for the first time in July this year.






    So go ahead, visit, "pray, hope and don't worry". It's worth the trip seeing the bamboo lining the altar (I love bamboo).  There are small canteens, a lomi  (noodle soup native to the area and to Lipa City, Batangas) house in bgy. San Miguel and San Vicente close to the shrine, but no big places in San Pedro and at the shrine itself. So even before these barangays, you might need to stop at the RSM Lutong Bahay in Calamba, have some Collette's Buko Pie, or eat at the usual fast food joints. There is a Shakey's at the junction or forks of Sto. Tomas and the highway toward Mabini and Malvar.


     

    


20 February, 2012

San Antonio de Padua, Silang

    Along the national highway there were signs. "San Antonio de Padua".  Finally on the way home from Tagaytay, we turned left to where the sign pointed. It is also the road toward a "Manila Zen Buddhist" place.  The road also leads to Silang town proper, and it's a long way (did not note how far) before the church. 

   It was 2:00pm, but we apparently were in time to see a bride alight from a Studebaker (with a black vintage trunk on the rear). Wedding marches, to my mind usually begin at 3:00pm. 2 was unusual for me.  This was serendipitous, because the kid has been curious and interested about weddings lately, owing to her age and stage.  An aside--she actually wore a formal dress that day, so she could have passed as a wedding guest, except that we the parents were in extremely casual attire.

   We had the sense that this church must have been built (or renovated?) specifically for weddings. It is built with bricks, the interior is charming, and it's exterior design I am sure, attractive to many brides looking for a Tagaytay venue. I would advise couples to wait until its parking area is completed though.  Not very pretty seeing steel bars poking out of hollow blocks and cement in the center of it all.  The site is presumably a pillar for a statue.




Sunday afternoon mass?

     As it has happened twice that relatives call me hurriedly on a Sunday afternoon to inquire about time and location for the next mass nearby, I am sharing this link to the Don bosco parish in Sta. Rosa.    

http://sjbparishsantarosa.org/

   On both occasions, my cousins found themselves too "alanganin" for mass in Manila, yet to late for mass in Tagaytay or Batangas from where they came.  I remember when ten years ago this parish first opened, we had also stopped by after a trip to the beach. I remember seeing a few other families presumably having done the same. You can tell by the sunburnt faces and beach shorts attire. (Our churches have a dress code, though).

   The 4:30pm service seems just right for those heading home to Manila. My cousins were unaware of this parish, found along the Laguna blvd, right at the entrance of San Jose Village.

   Laguna Bel-air further down also has a new parish church, if you are exiting Sta. Rosa and not Eton or Greenfield (with sticker).  I don't know the schedule.

   Laguna blvd by the way is across Paseo de Sta. Rosa's signage "tower", it's the entrance to the technopark, alongside Caltex, and with the huge billboard at the corner.  The billboard has changed to advertise St. Scholastica's Westgrove.  There is the St. Benedict church next to St. Scholastica's, turning left before Don Bosco (toward the bgy Inchican, Silang, and toward Westgrove). I don't have the schedule as well. If you have mass schedules, you may want to post them on my blog, just send them to me.