Back to the River

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
- Psalm 23:1,2

We come and go just like ripples in a stream.
- John V. Politis

 

Many a calm river begins as a turbulent waterfall, yet none hurtles and foams all the way to the sea.
- Mikhail Lermontov

Leisure is a form of silence, not noiselessness. It is the silence of contemplation such as occurs when we let our minds rest on a rosebud, a child at play, a Divine mystery, or a waterfall.
- Fulton J. Sheen

Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
- Luke 12:27

Gorgeous flowerets in the sunlight shining,
Blossoms flaunting in the eye of day,
Tremulous leaves, with soft and silver lining,
Buds that open only to decay...
- Flowers, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The artist is the confidant of nature, flowers carry on dialogues with him through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms, every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him.
- Auguste Rodin

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
- All Things Bright and Beautiful, Cecil F. Alexander

Love has its own instinct, finding the way to the heart, as the feeblest insect finds the way to its flower, with a will which nothing can dismay nor turn aside.
- Honore De Balzac

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.
- Henry David Thoreau

Men are like trees: each one must put forth the leaf that is created in him.
- Henry Ward Beecher

However far the stream flows, it never forgets its source.
- Nigerian Proverb



It has been quite some time since we have done some river trekking, thus the title. Featured here are some creatures and scenes from the nooks and crannies of Inghoy (ing-hoy) River in the municipality of Alegria, Cebu... This was a short trek, as this served as an ocular inspection. You'll see more of this river's beauty in a few weeks - we will be exploring it further upstream where three waterfalls await...

 

The Page of Mysteries

Friends, I have added a new page in this site. This is to promote to bring back the Holy Rosary in Catholic homes and in response to the testimony of Fr. Thomas Thekkumthottam, OSB.

Please take time to visit the Page of Mysteries. May the images help you reflect and rediscover the love for the Holy Rosary.

Some Colors of the Night

I like the night. Without the dark, we'd never see the stars.
- Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, 2005

When I ventured back into photography some years ago, night and low-light photography has been my favorite field. I was taken by the majestic colors of dusk and dawn and the unseen colors of night. There was a time when I used to go out very early in the morning before the sun is up and around mid-afternoon to wait for the golden hours.

Night and low-light photography requires patience - you may not always get it in just one shot. A photographer has to contend with the difficulty of achieving focus, the presence of flares, and incorrect exposure settings. Add to that, the reciprocity failure that every film user like me has to put into consideration. This is the challenge that I like about this field of photography...

It has been quite a while since I ventured out into the night to take some photographs. The long artistic drought ended when fellow photographer Al Michael and I decided to visit the Marcelo Fernan Bridge to take some pictures in the night. We also hoped to capture the sunset but we were quite late...

The sun was already dipping when we arrived and add to that, the sun was covered by clouds.



 

When there was little light left in the sky, I set up my tripod underneath the bridge (there is a public park under the Marcelo Fernan Bridge in both Lapulapu and Mandaue sides) and took some shots. This shot turned out to be the most worthy...



 

When we were done in the park, we decided to go up. This is the end of the bridge connected to the main road going to the economic processing zone. The light trails will lead you there...



 

Before we called it a night, the old bridge on the other side of the island became envious, and decided to show off her beauty. She sent sparks towards us, twice!!!

The first one was quite weak...



 

Trying to outdo herself, she exerted all her efforts, and eventually, she succeeded.



I hope you now understand why I love this field of photography...

Where the Hell is Matt?

The author Miriam Beard once said that traveling is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of the living. Meeting other people, experiencing other cultures, and yes, eating food foreign to our tastebuds - these are but few examples of the things that initiate the change in us. There is joy in traveling! It is this joy that penetrates our being.

I would like you to meet Matt Harding. Matt is a 30+ yeard old from Connecticut. He initially traveled within Asia and he danced badly in different places. When his dance videos were posted and seen by people through the web, he was flooded by requests from people all over the world to dance with him. A sponsor showed interest and the rest is history.

See the moving joy of travel in the video below... 14 months in the making, across 42 countries, and a cast of thousands... And yes, he danced in the Philippines.



Matt's site: www.wherethehellismatt.com

For the Coffee Table Book - Issue #8

If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thru' chinks of his cavern.  - William Blake

 

Taken inside a cave in Argao, Cebu, Philippines. The cave has an opening in its ceiling about 200 meters from the cave's mouth. The cave's mouth is literally on the walls of a cliff. When we entered, the cave's floor is slightly flooded in shallow water after some consecutive days of heavy rains. This picture is from our second visit to this cave locally known as "Balay sa Agta".

Agta or kapre (in our national language) is a mythological monster. Characterized as a tree dwelling elemental with human characteristics, seers of this being describe it as a tall (reaching up to 9 ft), brown and hairy man. Most of the time he is depicted as having a beard. The kapre is always "seen" dwelling in big trees smoking using a big tobacco pipe or just rolled tobacco.

To illustrate why this cave is called as the house of the kapre, the second picture gives scale as to how high its ceiling is. In the picture taken during our first visit is fellow photographer Al Michael with our local guide.

St. Benedict's Monastery

Painting is the grandchild of nature. It is related to God.
- Rembrandt

 

In my previous post (Glimpses Along the Way to the North) I have indicated that our last destination was a monastery in the mountains of the municipality of Carmen, Cebu. I was not able to post pics from that site in my previous post because I only made 8 shots out of my last roll of 36. So I made a decision to go back on the next Sunday to add more pictures.

As I have previously stated, it was already dark when we arrived at the monastery. The sun was already below the horizon and the sky displayed great colors of pink and violet. I decided to do some long exposure shots. Below is a cropped picture of one of the two shots I was able to make.



After finishing the long exposures, an Indian priest approached me and he told me that he can give us a tour of the ground floor of their main monastery building, provided that we keep quiet as the other monks were already praying. I was excited to take this opportunity since their monastery is normally off-limits to visitors.

Paintings Inside the Main Monastery Building

While the rest of the priests and brothers were singing and having Vespers, we were busy shuffling through the beautiful paintings taking pictures. I was always the last one to take the pics: I do not like to include other views aside from the paintings themselves and I don't want any shot ruined by unnecessary flash.

Note: All paintings below were cropped to removed portions of the paintings' frames.

First stop: Madonna and Child flanked by other saints and angels. This is somehow inclined to the Orthodox themes.



 

Second stop: Madonna and Child with saints. Filipino themed (look closely on the Madonna and Child).



 

Third stop: St. Sylvester Guzzolini and his vision of the Madonna and Child with the angels. The building in the painting is modelled after the monastery's main building.



 

Fourth stop:  Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II. This is actually my favorite painting in the monastery's interior. The kind priest told us that this painting is perhaps the most beautiful within the Philippines.



I could almost hear the pride in the priest's voice in saying that the paintings here in their monastery were mostly made by Cebuano painters.

The Return

A blogger friend (Dfish) read my previous post and scoured the web regarding the Sylvestrine Congregation here in Carmen. An interesting story has turned up.

His discovery made strong my resolve to return to this monastery the following Sunday (8 March 2009). This time I was joined by two friends.

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The gates of the monastery.

 

The giant statue of the Santo Niño. The Our Lady of Manaoag Rosary Center can be found adjacent to these steps before going up to the Santo Niño.





 

This is the main monastery building during the day.

 

The Kind Priest

We attended Mass together with the local parishioners. The kind priest who ushered us in their "off-limits" monastery the previous Sunday celebrated Mass in Cebuano and delivered his homily in English.

The priest's name is Fr. Thomas Thekkumthottam, OSB. He is one of the Founding Fathers of St. Benedict's Monastery and its current Prior. The interesting find that Dfish was able to unearth was Father Thomas' personal story regarding the power of the Holy Rosary. DFish made a post in his blog about this. The story that Dfish had found introduces an unknown face. I am giving the face to that story. Below is the portrait of Father Thomas, taken right after he removed his other priestly vestments.



Fr. Thomas was actually very busy after Mass as many people both young and old approached him and asked for his blessing and prayers. He was very accommodating and he was smiling all the time. I didn't have to ask him to smile for this portrait.

I approached him and told him that I was one of his late visitors the other Sunday and that he has ushered us into the ground floor of their main monastery building. I also told him that a friend in the web has actually found his personal account on the power of the rosary. I saw his eyes twinkle and his response was "Mao ba?" which loosely translates to "Really?". I also told him about a friend who wants to be an Oblate. He told me that it is necessary that the Oblate should be in Cebu for him to be physically present during their meetings every third Sunday of the month.

I told him further that I am going to make a post in my site about the monastery and I would like to ask his permission to take his portrait to give his story a face. He smiled and said yes. After the shot, I thanked him and I let him be. He once again became very busy entertaining guests and friends.

Paintings Inside the Chapel

When the monastery's chapel was nearly empty, I took pictures of the paintings inside it.

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A priest celebrating Mass.

 

St. Sylvester receiving Holy Communion at the hands of the Virgin Mary.

 

St. Juan Diego presenting roses to Bishop Juan de Zumárraga when the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared imprinted on the cloth of his tilma.

 

The face of Jesus. This can be found in the prayer room at the back of the chapel's main altar.

Contemplative Arts

In the slow shoeless strolls that I have done (yes, you have to remove your shoes when entering the 3 buildings: the chapel, the main building and the Rosary Center), I realized that the many paintings in the monastery are a great aid in contemplative prayer.

The bulk of the paintings can be found in the Our Lady of Manaog Rosary Center. Every mystery of the Holy Rosary, from Luminous to Glorious, has a corresponding painting. The faithful is invited to approach,  examine and contemplate the mysteries through the large paintings before them.

So as not to saturate this post with the paintings of the mysteries,they will be shown in the succeeding posts.

For the Coffee Table Book - Issue #7

Francis Magalona, a Filipino rapper, actor, host, producer, writer and photographer, diagnosed with leukemia last year, died Friday at 12:20 pm at the Medical City hospital in Pasig City. He was 44 years old.

I am not into rap music. I am not a friend of Francis M. I am one of those who admire this guy for his love of the Philippines and for his pride as a Filipino. This is evident in the songs he composed and recorded. I admire him for his optimism and courage amidst hist trials.

Francis M, you will be missed! Thank you for sharing your well-lived life.

Glimpses Along the Way to the North

Heaven gives its glimpses only to those
Not in position to look too close.
- Robert Frost, A Passing Glimpse

March has begun, and summer has officially opened. Hot days are here to come. Alongside summer’s return is the first Sunday of Lent. Although the long-held tradition of Visita Iglesia is done on Holy Thursday, our Singles for Christ chapter decided to do a Visita Iglesia long before the Holy Week.

I coined the activity as our “Northern Churchcapade”. “Northern” because we have done the same activity some years ago in the south. We started our churchcapade in St. Joseph Church in Mandaue City. The farthest we have reached up north is Bogo City.



Since it was a Sunday, the churches are mostly filled-up. It was inappropriate to open that shutter inside the churches disregarding the holy celebrations. And so, here are the glimpses I was able to have along the way in between Masses and meditations.

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 Two angels guard the entrance of St. Augustine Parish Church in the municipality of Carmen.  These two angels have broken arms and wings. The blurred figure at the end of the railing is the other angel.

Behind the cracked, flaking paints and scaffolds a majestic church dome is emerging. The St. Augustine Church is slowly rising out the damage of old age.

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The Santo Tomas de Villanueva Church of Danao City is one of the oldest churches in the province having been constructed in 1755.



While inside the church, I noticed one of the stained glass windows. Being reminded of Brother Utoy's affinity to these works of art, I decided to take a shot. I had to stand tiptoe on top of one of the church's benches to avoid the vanishing points of perspective due to my lower position. The result is the cropped image of my namesake: St. Mark.

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We had our lunch in the front lawn of the San Guillermo Church in Sogod. I was not able to get inside this church and take pictures. They were preparing the church for a funeral mass that afternoon.

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The farthest church we have reached up north is the Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Vincent Ferrer in Bogo City. It was about mid-afternoon when we got there and there was a mass going on inside the church.



In my travels to Malapascua Island, I was intrigued by the visible giant statue of the Virgin Mary on top of a hill along the highways of Bogo. I did not know that it was part of our itinerary, so I was delighted when I knew right there and then that we would visit this shrine.

To reach the site, one could pass through the road that winds in the back of the hill or one could decide to tackle this 100+ steps stairway from the highway. We decided for the long and winding road.



The site is the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal.



This is a close-up of the statue of the Virgin Mary.



Our activity did not end in Bogo. We also passed by the Benedictine Monastery in the mountains of the Municipality of Carmen. This monastery is also popular for its giant Sto. Niño statue. It was already dark when we arrived there. A kind priest invited and ushered us in the ground floor of the monks' chambers. He showed us the paintings that adorned its walls. While the rest of the priests and brothers were singing and having Vespers, we were busy shuffling through the beautiful paintings taking pictures. They will be featured in my upcoming posts... :)

For the Coffee Table Book - Issue #6

When you build bridges you can keep crossing them.
- Rick Pitino, Lead to Success


The Marcelo Fernan Bridge during late dusk... This is one of two bridges connecting the island of Mactan to Mainland Cebu...