A Monastic Movie: Into Great Silence

Stumbled upon this trailer while scouring for a monastic vocation promotions video at Youtube. It's a movie/documentary about the life of Carthusian monks in their ascetic monastery in the French Alps. I'll update this post and make a review after I've seen it. I can't wait! For now, check out their official review and trailer:

Nestled deep in the postcard-perfect French Alps, the Grande Chartreuse is considered one of the world's most ascetic monasteries. In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Gröning wrote to the Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about them. They said they would get back to him. Sixteen years later, they were ready. Gröning, sans crew or artificial lighting, lived in the monks' quarters for six months—filming their daily prayers, tasks, rituals and rare outdoor excursions. This transcendent, closely observed film seeks to embody a monastery, rather than simply depict one—it has no score, no voiceover and no archival footage. What remains is stunningly elemental: time, space and light. One of the most mesmerizing and poetic chronicles of spirituality ever created, INTO GREAT SILENCE dissolves the border between screen and audience with a total immersion into the hush of monastic life. More meditation than documentary, it's a rare, transformative theatrical experience for all.

Check out more from MongrelMedia. You can download there a pdf file of an interview with Philip Gröning and cool high resolution poster and images :)

A Catholic Convert

"My family was supportive, but my friends were not in the least bit. Most of them doubted that I could ever change or stick with it. They were just waiting for me to fall again. In a way, that doubt from other people pushes you harder. I looked at their doubt in me as an extra source of motivation."

Those words from a Catholic convert in an interview at LifeTeen.com definitely struck a familiar chord. It reminded me of the time when I broke down after hearing discouraging words from someone I considered a friend. Katie Lewis there was right to turn other people's doubt as an extra source of motivation to push yourself even further and go the extra mile in your love for the Lord. As for my  vocation, I am slowly settling down at the thought that obviously not everyone is called to a life of contemplation. There is no doubt in that. But definitely you cannot blame monks and cloistered nuns for giving up their entire lives to pray and be close to God. That is the true meaning of sacrifice.

Creative Juice #040: Saintly Sketch

I skecthed this while inside the convent. Hehe~ 

St. Ezekiel Moreno, patron saint of cancer patients
and Mary, Our Lady of the Beatitudes :)

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Help me to always remember 

for I have all the tendency to forget :(

Updates 04.10.11

Haha. I missed blogging so I'll just pour out whatever goes in my mind in the following bullets:

• My little sister and I has just finished praying the rosary."Ang sarap, sabi ko." (It feels so good, I told myself). We read Scriptures in between the mysteries to enforce our meditation on Jesus' Passion (suddenly it felt like Lent again!) and even spent five minutes of grand silence after. 
• The silence and solemnity of it all reminded me of a very dear and personal spiritual landmark :) 
• The making of my thesis proposal moves on :) I am reading documents regarding the contemplative dimensions of religious life and backgrounds on monasticism under the History of Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition.  
• It's been a really exciting journey for me since the end of my classes last semester.  The places I've been to (convents and retreat houses and old churches) and lessons learned. Somehow I see the hands of God leading me to pursue this one proposal. I am so praying for the approval of that monastery development. 
• Having spent my Holy Week inside the convent for quite some time, a stark contrast was formed in my mind regarding the life 'inside' where I felt the Lord is leading me, and the muck 'out there' where I've been wallowing for years. 
• *sighs* I missed already my Pater and brothers in that humble convent household. I just want to spend the rest of my life in complete and total contemplation :)
• Speaking of bewilderment, ayun, I felt disoriented when I left the convent to come home for the Easter Vigil: (1) The parish activities were hustling and bustling - I felt there was little time for contemplation at all; (2) our beloved adoration chapel was temporarily closed because of termite infestation, and (3) the glamour of evil is so much strong and pervasive than before (read: irreverent blogs, shopping spree and food trips! *sighs*) 

A Portrait

Posing before Luis Ak-ak's wooden carving of St. Ezekiel Moreno
@ the convent of the Missionaries of the Beatitudes :)

Just got back from my indefinite and unofficial hiatus from blogging :) Been spending most of my time for the past weeks inside the simple and humble convent of the Missionaries of the Beatitudes. I think I just found my second home inside this concrete jungle of the metro. I am so looking forward to a journey of perpetual contemplation :) A Happy Easter to all! 

Our God is not dead! He's alive! He's alive!

Christ's Passion: No Handsome Saviour

You can never be crucified and still be handsome. Jesus had neither beauty, nor majesty, nothing to attract our eyes during His Passion. It was an event that was so terrifying and ugly that all whom He considered His friends, His beloved apostles, denied Him and ran away from Him. Let us not soften the impact of the Cross for Jesus did not died in vain.  

He died for us so that we may live.

Christianity is a doctrine of redemption, 

which is intelligible only to the person who is convinced

 that he has erred and that he needs a Saviour.

Creative Juice #039: Logo Making

My first try in logo-making as a potential commission for a baby products company. Could have utilized a set of more vibrant colors don't you think? I dropped the project a week after because of time constraints. Pffft.

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“Jesus waits for us, especially in this time of Lent, to speak with us. 

Let us pause for a moment in silence in our room, or in a church or in a secluded place. 

Through our Lenten observance may all of us be renewed in the grace of our baptism and prepare with hearts renewed to celebrate the gift of new life at Easter” 

+ Pope Benedict XVI on 27 March 2011

Image credit here

On Religious Freedom

Let's all pray for America. The video says it all. For the information of the readers, America's right to religious freedom and the corporate conscience of the people's faith is now under attack with a new mandate proposed by their current administration. It is a door that once opened will put every religion (not just Catholics) and creed at stake. 

"We Hold These Truths" is a video that we felt needed to be produced in order to clearly state the main issue in regards to the (HHS) Health and Human Services Mandate. The main issue is Religious Liberty. The mandate, as it stands right now, violates the Constitution and specifically the 1st Amendment. We have a right to the free exercise of our religion without violating our consciences. Every American should see this as an important issue. It is not a Catholic issue. It is an American issue. Join the movement here. 

Visit the video website here: Spirit Juice Studios 

Check out this another cool video here.

Shorts: Japanese Catholics and Vocation

• Been snooping around the history of Japanese Catholicism online and found this cool site about the Daughters of St. Paul religious congregation in Japan. It's nice and refreshing to read their humble and simple albeit brief vocation stories here. It made me think as well if I am rather called to a monastic contemplative way of life (in the Contemplative Disciples of the Beatitudes) in contrast with the active missionary pursuit (of the Missionaries of the Beatitudes) I've always been looking forward to. 
• I am having second thoughts whether to include Kenzo Tange's famous St. Mary's Cathedral (Tokyo) for my list of foreign case studies. It is one of those Catholic churches that exhibits a rather radical approach in form and materials used. Though modern and minimalistic at a first glance, something's telling me to have a second look. Perhaps there are elements in this development that needs to be dissected properly in order to be understood fully. 

 

Images borrowed here

• Check out this cool site: My Architectural Moleskin which is chock full of case studies on varied architectural developments :) What I love in this site is how he includes the background of the project itself and the keen commentaries and images included :)

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I wish to die to all other loves, and to live only for your love.

Saint Ezekiel Moreno

Highlight: Ilocos Empanada

For foodies and travelers out there, a trip to Ilocos Norte will never be complete without having one of their famous Ilocos Empanada (there is a similar variety from Vigan, Ilocos Sur but this was the kind you'll usually find in Batac or Laoag, Ilocos Norte). Above are pictures of this yummy merienda I bought along the kiosks just outside the development premise of Malacanang of the North. 

Basic ingredients: rice flour for the crust with or without achuete; filling of egg and mongo sprout or parboiled mongo or grated green papaya for ordinary orders, and additional Ilocos longanisa for special orders. This is eaten partnered with a yummy condiment:  Ilocos [black] vinegar (exhibiting a taste of wine rather than a vinegar) with out without sili.

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Those feisty photographs were taken by Yours Truly :) See more of this Ilocos Norte trip with my case studies of Plaza del Norte here and Malacanang of the North here :)

Book Feature: The Confessions of St. Augustine

"It could be said that all roads of Christian Latin literature lead to [Augustine]," 

+Pope Benedict XVI

Here's a book I've been clamoring to have since I first read of it in our Introduction to Philosophy subject course - The Confessions of Saint Augustine! Under the topic of medieval philosophy, I was actually reading back then another translation of one of his most important output The City of God, which is a general apologetic writing that answers to the pagans of his time. A leisurely-spent hour at Powerbooks - Gateway led me to find this treasure :) Very insightful indeed, reading this modern translation felt like snooping at someone else's diary - and not just any ordinary diary, but that of a holy man's struggle and journey to sanctity. Below is a brief which can be found at the backflap of the book:

Signet Classics

The Confessions of Saint Augustine: 

The Classic Autobiography of the Man who Journeyed from Sin to Sainthood

A vivid contemporary translation by Rex Warner

"Every vain hope," recounts Saint Augustine of his introduction to philosophy, "became empty to me, and I longed for the immortality of wisdom." With the emergence of his Confessions more than fifteen hundred years ago, immortality would soon be his. "All of antiquity's philosophy converges in his work," noted Pope Paul VI. 

Hailed by Pope Benedict XVI as "the greatest Father of the Latin Church... a man of passion and faith, of high intelligence and untiring pastoral zeal," Augustine tells the story of his remarkable life. From his days of devil-may-care debauchery to saintliness, from traveling the ancient world to taking the vows of an ascetic life, his gripping biography intertwines with his insights of endless wisdom.

Rex Warner, who was born in England and studied at Oxford, established an international reputation with his translations, which include Three Great Plays of Euripides, The Greek Philosophers and Thucydides's The Persian Wars.

For more of St. Augustine's life and works, click here and here.

A Prayer

Prayer of Saint Ezekiel Moreno

My Lord Jesus, I am resolved to follow You wherever You wish to go. O my Jesus, I am waiting for You, confident that You shall take care of me, that You shall attend to me with care, that You shall fill me with Your divine love which is all I desire. 

I want to start a holy life, O Jesus, for the sacrifice that You ask me of now. I cast doubts away. I am willing to do everything. Accept, my Jesus, my resolve and bless it. Ah, my Jesus! You have come to awaken me from my lukewarmness… I thank You, my Jesus. Accept me for I hear Your call. My soul searches for You and chooses  You alone. Let us go, my Jesus, I want to be alone in Your company. I wish to die to all other loves, to live only for your love. O my Jesus! You alone suffice me! Blessed are You for You seek me in so many ways! Long live Jesus whom I love! I want to live for You alone, my Jesus, and for You alone I want to die! Amen.

(Cartas II, 147-149; Carta 942, Obras completes III, 223)

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I recently purchased a booklet on the life and spirituality of St. Ezekiel Moreno at the parish office of San Sebastian in Manila.  I was hyped and lost no second in buying the thin booklet for only P75. The parish was the last stop of a mini-photowalk we had on the last Saturday of February, organized by Sir Axl and was joined by Bro. Theofratus and Sir Joey Velunta. (More of that story on a later post). The above lines were one of those beautiful prayers he himself composed which became my instant favorite - a beautiful prayer of vocation and surrender :)

Case Study: Malacanang of the North, Ilocos Norte

This is the part 2 of my recent trip to Ilocos Norte. If you haven't read the other case study regarding Plaza del Norte Hotel, click here. 

Neighboring the hotel development that we stayed for three days was this mansion-turned-museum that cradled another strand of history serving as a reminder of the Philippines' not-so-distant past - the reign of the infamous Former President Ferdinand Marcos that wielded power during Martial Law, ending with his ouster with the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986 - the Malacanang of the North. 

"Malacanang ti Amianan" is the other term used by Ilocanos to describe Malacañang of the North. This is the official residence of the former President Ferdinand Marcos in Ilocos Norte, built on a high point of land projecting into the sea right beyond the coastline of the legendary Paoay Lake, this enduring structure is now a museum. It was designed to resemble a 19th Century “bahay na bato” with a mixture of Spanish and Ilocano interior designs. Complete with 9 spacious rooms which was used to accommodate upper class guests during Marcos’ term, 2 living and dining areas, a spacious ballroom on the second floor, and verandas for both the ground and second floor facing the Paoay lake. They even had an olympic size swimming pool but is now left unused. 

Despite the lapse of time, there is still a lot of impressive beauty one can find in this structure worn-out throughout the years - an aesthetic that maybe not even as close resembling the beauty and purpose it served and inspired back when it was still used as originally intended. It is only with an eye for detail that one one can see through this perspective of beauty. Photos take by Yours Truly :)

 

A Message to the Youth

Yeah. It's that time of the semester again. Final exams on several subjects held on consecutive days that feels like coming at you all at once. Anxiety strikes when you have no idea how to set aside a piece of your brain for a particular lesson caused by cramming. *Tsk-tsk* Anyways, here are beautiful words I found in the novel El Filibusterismo, while reviewing for our final exams in a Rizalian subject course. Haha. I can't believe I'm still conscious enough to find, let alone notice treasures hidden in between the lines:

Where are the youth who will consecrate their golden hours, their illusions, and their enthusiasm to the welfare of their native land? Where are the youth who will generously pour out their blood to wash away so much shame, so much crime, so much abomination? Pure and spotless must the victim be that the sacrifice may be acceptable! Where are you, youth, who will embody in yourselves the vigor of life that has left our veins, the purity of ideas that has been contaminated in our brains, the fire of enthusiasm that has been quenched in our hearts! We await you, O youth! Come, for we await you!

x Dr. Jose Rizal, El Filibusterismo

The Fallacy of Modernity

From the Facebook updates of Fr. Ferdinand T. Hernando, MB

"In the mad rush to material security, economic development and social progress, most men and women have set aside the sense of God thereby reducing faith to the level of myth and superstition and therefore considering it unfit to be a rudiment for economic and political advancement. All that our modern society has produced so far is massive poverty and inequality, spawned by greed and injustice. Restoring society's sense of God will restore the rightful place of charity and justice, the bedrock of an alternative social order. Without faith, we can only veer from one form of greed or injustice to another without any end in sight."

"In a culture that sets aside the things of God, men and women look for satisfaction, happiness and fulfillment in things that are by themselves finite and temporal, which, by reason of their finiteness and temporality, cannot and can never give satisfaction, happiness and fulfillment."

"To forget God and the things of God leaves the soul empty and the soul, in its emptiness, deceives itself by substituting the transcendental aspirations of the spirit with the superficiality and shallowness of passing satisfaction, happiness and fulfillment. There goes the tragedy of modernity and with it the fallacy of ultimate satisfaction, happiness and fulfillment in a finite and temporal world."