Before kissing Fiyero, Elphaba hesitates for a moment and declares with a smile, “It’s just for the first time, I feel … wicked”. Although at first she appears to be a menacing witch (well, she is called the wicked witch of the west) in the stage musical “Wicked”, Elphaba is anything but wicked. On [...]

This morning, Fr. Lucho, the formator of the MSC seminarians in Colombia, brought me to the Catedral de Sal de Zipaquirá (Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá). Just the name itself already makes you think it’s a place like no other.

Zipaquirá is about 48 kilometers north of Bogotá. I was so excited to see the sanctuary [...]

The flight from Manila to Bogotá via Los Angeles took 20 hours (13 hours from Manila to L.A., and 7 hours from L.A. to Bogotá). This is not just my first time to be in Colombia but also my very first to be in the South American continent. I am in Bogotá to facilitate [...]

Four afternoons ago I went to the Vatican to take a picture of St. Peter´s Basilica with the setting sun in the background. It was windy and chilly - the temperature was between four and six degrees Celsius above zero. Some of my confreres thought it was crazy for me to stand for more than [...]

I am now in Cebu to start a 19-day (11-29 Nov 2007) trip to the Visayas and Mindanao. My other stops are Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Marawi, and Cotabato.

I am traveling with a team from the Communication Foundation for Asia (CFA) and our job is to do a traveling exhibit called “Dear Peace”. The exhibit [...]

Three summers ago I went on a pilgrimage to Fatima in central Portugal. The city is famous for the Marian apparations that took place there in 1917. I celebrated masses in the Basilica and in the Sanctuary with a group of Dutch-Filipino pilgrims. Aside from checking out Fatima’s shrines, museums and bookstores, I also visited nearby towns and communities.

One place that is worth mentioning is Cova da Iria. For it was there where I met an old woman sitting at a well. She claimed to be a relative of Lucia, one of the three peasant children who witnessed the apparition of the Virgin Mary. The other two were Francisco and Jacinta. The old woman explained to me that Cova da Iria was the place where the Virgin Mary first appeared to the three seers. She added that the first thing the Virgin said to the children was “Be not afraid, I will not harm you.”

She related to me many other things – the miracle of the sun, the visions of hell, the deaths of the seers, and the number of times she had to repeat all these information to a curious tourist. But the most curious thing of all is that she was talking to me in Portuguese and I understood everything she said. To think that I have not studied Portuguese at all.

I spoke to her in Italian and she seemed to have understood everything I said as well. To think that she did not know any other language except Portuguese. We were speaking in entirely different languages yet we understood each other perfectly.

The experience taught me something about understanding and being understood - that the most important thing in any communication process is not grammar, nor syntax, nor spelling, nor the language itself, but the will to understand and be understood.

Finally I’m back in the Philippines.

Backpacks on their shoulders, mobile phones in their pockets, the Bible and tourist maps in their hands. Most of them will join World Youth Day for the first time. They look eager, open and full of hope. And for one full week in Cologne, Germany their faith will be strengthened and renewed. Well, at least that is my hope for them.

Together with 35 other Filipinos, I am going to Cologne, Germany this Sunday to encounter Jesus Christ in the young people who will take part in the 20th World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations. The 36 of us represent the Filipino Community of the Diocese of Rome.

The world-renowned Lourdes Grotto in France used to be a pigsty. Why in the world would the Virgin Mary choose to appear in such a filthy place? And of all people, to an illiterate, poor teenage girl?

More than the miraculous bathing pools and the hundreds of burning candles at the Grotto, what makes Lourdes a place of healing is the presence of people who express their faith by helping other people.