By the Jal-o River

Silence and solitude. Those are the things I wish to have for the long "idle" Holy Week ahead. But I need a fulcrum to leapfrog into that difficult encounter, having accustomed myself to the busyness and voices in my day-to-day quest for relevance. The Desert Fathers' device for this is the Jesus Prayer while their oriental counterpart referred to it as either a koan or a mantra. I think, in my contemporary setting, I can make use of the current technology as my device to come into the quiet. What I have in mind is that as I begin my Holy Week retreat, I will indulge myself into watching a movie to set an ambiance of reflection. What particular movie then I am to watch? Methinks it appropriate for the time being to watch a 1991 film entitled, "The Doctor" starred by William Hurt. I have watched it during my seminary years when Megamall was still safe and less crowded. Considering that YouTube has an embedded stream of it, it would be easy for me to refer to

A batch of local officials from the constituent barangays of the municipality went to Subic for a three-day seminar on risk reduction management. A day before the culmination of the seminar, the wife of one of the barangay officials sent her husband a text message: " Ga, bak-ie ko't Tobleron ha. " (My dear, buy me some Tobleron, please.)  The husband replied in the affirmative--that he did even if he was on a quandary what on earth a Tobleron is all about. He leaned forward to ask a colleague in front of him: " Pare, anu do Tobleron ngara, brand it sapatos? " (Friend, is Tobleron some kind of brand name for a shoes?)  "No." replied the colleague. "Methinks, it is a local delicacy sold here in Subic."  "I see. Much like a pinipig , eh."

My sleep was restless. Something at the back of my tired mind is the thought, no, a proclamation: "Habemus Papam!" At daybreak (Philippine time) my lovely wife woke me up gladly announcing: " Gang, may Santo Papa eon kita! Taga-Argentina! " That was the news I was expecting to hear. It sent me scurrying for a seat in our family room and watched the progressing news on TV even as I was removing those specks in my eyelids. Somebody from Argentina. Was he a Liberation Theologian? He is to be called Pope Francis. After St. Francis of Assisi? Are we to journey together as Church of the Poor then? There are lots of questions playing in my mind. The coffee came in late but even then, I was already wide awake. As I surfed the net later in the day, most of my questions where answered. As I heard him addressed the crowd in genial Italian seeking for the faithful's prayer before giving off his blessings, I knew in my heart that the Church is graced again with a good