Even When It Hurts

I have been meaning to write about one particular unforgettable experience during my visit to Poland, but have not really sat down to do it. Although I did write a draft of this blog entry while still in Chudow, I never got to finish it there. So after more than four months of having restless sleep because all the words flow in my head while I am lying in bed, I am finally trying to work on this now. And it's the wee hours of the morning on a Friday. I am hoping my caffeine fix will take care of the impending headache later due to lack of sleep.

At the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, Poland
with my foster family

Will Work For Travel
If wanderlust were like pixie dusts that accidentally spilled over my head, I am certain I almost got buried underneath lots of it. 

I love going places. The travel bug bit me deep enough to make my desire for globetrotting ridiculously insatiable. If only I could just pack my bags any time and go somewhere instantly! In every place of course, I have had memorable adventures and misadventures. Poland is stunningly unforgettable no doubt. I was expecting to be gobsmacked, and the country did not disappoint. But a misadventure happened to me there. And I put the blame solely on me.

Believe

This is a long-overdue journal about my trip to Poland last July 2016. There's so much to write about to unload my heart, and to bring to recollection all the lessons of that pilgrimage. 

I begin with Auschwitz.

"Arbeit macht frei"means "work sets you free".
This appears on the entrance of Auschwitz,
and other labour camps. (c. July 2016)

I was able to visit the WWII German Nazi Concentration camps, Auschwitz I, and Auschwitz II-Birkenau, located near the industrial town of Oswiecim in Poland, during the Days in the Diocese prior to the World Youth Days in Krakow. It was a most poignant experience, walking on its grounds, touching the barbed-wire fences, taking a peek inside the gas chambers, and seeing first-hand where millions of innocent lives perished. There was a moment I recall when I passed by the Auschwitz gallows ~ I tried to envision myself present in that period of World War II, and wondered how I would have met death had I been one of the prisoners. I could not fathom the cruelty and brutality of the Nazis. The horrifying atrocities of the Holocaust was too much to bear, let alone imagine.  

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Today is a very special day in my Faith journey. I have been temporarily professed as a Lay Dominican during the Eucharistic celebration earlier presided by Rev. Fr. Roland Mactal, O.P., the spiritual director of the Our Lady of La Naval Lay Dominican Fraternity.

As there are no coincidences in the designs of Providence, I was overwhelmed by an unspeakable joy that of all days, our simple yet solemn vestition ceremony fell on the Solemnity of the Pentecost.

Fr. Roland only uttered one word to me after the Mass: "Persevere." And so I call upon the Holy Spirit, to aid and strengthen me.

Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

A Prayer by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I came across this prayer by Antoine de Saint-Exupery from Bright Side. 

The Little Prince fan that I am, I just had to re-post this in my blog. Thank you Bright Side! 

The prayer: 

Indulgences

Lay Dominican Novitiate/ O.P. Notes
Lecture given by Dr. Bernardita Garcia, O.P.

An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints. (CCC s.1471)

The gaining of indulgences requires certain prescribed conditions, and the performance of certain prescribed works. To gain indulgences, it is necessary that the faithful be in the state of grace, at least at the time the indulgenced work is completed.

An indulgence can either be partial or plenary. A partial indulgence remits only some of the temporal punishment due to sin, while the plenary indulgence remits all temporal punishment.

Partial Indulgence

Saint Dominic's 9 Ways of Prayer

Lay Dominican Novitiate/ O.P. Notes

Saint Dominic praying
by El Greco

The great founder of the Ordo Praedicatorum  (Dominicans) Holy Father Saint Dominic, teaches not only his spiritual children, but also all the faithful nine forms of prayer that include a certain, disciplined physical posture.

The manuscript containing the 9 ways of prayer was discovered in a German monastery basement, and was written by an anonymous author between 1260 and 1288, the source being Sister Cecilia of the Monastery of Saint Agnes at Bologna, Italy. (Sister Cecilia received her Dominican habit from Saint Dominic in Rome, and she witnessed the foundation of the monastery of San Sisto. In 1223 she went to Bologna with three other sisters. Sometime between 1272 and 1288, she dictated her reminiscences of Saint Dominic to Sister Angelica. Sister Cecilia remained a member of the Bolognese monastery until her death.)

The First Way of Prayer: 

The Bow

(Humbling oneself before the altar of God)

The three forms of this gesture, according to the Dominican Tradition are: the simple bow of the head, a bow from the shoulders, and the profound bow from the waist.

In Defense of Judas

I remember as a young girl, I learned a declamation piece called "Despair of Judas", in which Judas did not have hope in the end, that's why he opted to take his own life. But as I grew older, I have come to personally believe that even Judas was redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. I personally believe that I cannot pass judgement on Judas. Only God knows whether his soul is for heaven or hell.

And then, I came across this piece by Kalookan Bishop, His Excellency Most Rev. Pablo Virgilio "Ambo" S. David, D.D. 

What a powerful message of forgiveness and mercy in this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy!

In Defense of Judas
By Bishop Ambo David

O Captain, My Captain!

BY WALT WHITMAN

O captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won.
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;


                But O heart! Heart! Heart!
                O the bleeding drops of red,
                Where on the deck my Captain lies,
                Fallen cold and dead.

The Prophet: On Love

BY KAHLIL GIBRAN

When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you believe in him, though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. 

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, so shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth. 

Icon Writing: A Spiritual Journey

On the very first day of the workshop/6-day recollection, our teacher quoted Vladislav Andrejev; and I will remember the words always whenever I work on a sacred art, and have brush and paint in hand: "As you write the icon, the icon writes you."

The icon of the Holy Trinity in tempera
by Andrei Rublev (ca.1411 or 1425-27)

I have an inclination towards the Arts, but never had any formal education related to it. I attended a 10-day painting class about eight or nine years ago, and that's about it. There is something in painting that relaxes me, clears my mind, and allows me to contemplate the Beauty that God has made in Creation. That's why even on my own, I risk painting, and one day hope to finish an "obra maestra." I am very much aware that I do not have the professional know-how about the discipline of painting, so I risk expressing myself using brushes and tubes of paint. 

Lately however, it had been extremely challenging to finish a painting, especially those of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus. I have started several, but they're all unfinished. I would try my best to find time, but something more urgent would come that would require my immediate attention. At one point I decided, maybe I really just need to put them all on hold for a while. I felt I needed a little bit more inspiration.

The Credenda from The Gift of Acabar

I was not born a bookworm. I got the habit of reading thanks to my SPED English  back in elementary school where I had to do book reports often. (I was part of an "experimental Accelerated class".)  I am thankful that the love of books was instilled on me early on. If there's an indulgence I will not have second thoughts splurging on, then that would be buying books! I will never trade the smell of pages after pages of a trade paperback to E-books and Kindle.

I do not like putting highlights on my books, I find them dirty. So I do take the extra effort of actually writing favorite quotations from all the books I have read in a notebook. The other day, I went through some old journals, and came across some notes I made from the book The Gift of Acabar by Og Mandino. I read it in high school, and it's actually timely to be reading a part of it again.

Here it goes.