Seasonal holiness

(This column appears in today's edition of the Leyte-Samar Daily Express)

Hi there! It’s another weekend. Holy week came and went and what do we have? Let me suggest some answers. Take your pick:

1. Faithful believers with their renewed (or is it re-invigorated?) faith after contemplating on the sufferings of Christ;
2. The weary ones thanks to days of partying, swimming and what have you in various vacation destinations; or
3. The ones from a parish in Calbayog who are weary, thanks to a very nice pastor or priest, the good (?) deeds or words of whom is one for the record books of both the tsimosas and historians (?) of Calbayog. Oops, I’ll keep my mouth shut on this one (for now, anyway). Which leads me to today’s title.

Forgive me but I looked at the recent holy week break as just that – a break. As a time for us to pause and ponder upon the suffering of Christ and in a way put it upon ourselves and in our dealings with our fellowmen being the believers of God (well, for a week at least). And after Easter? Trust me, many among us are into our usual not-so-good selves, myself included (on top of the list, if I may add). Do we call that seasonal holiness? Something akin to the seasonal generosity that many of us are into during the Christmas season? Be that as it may, it’s nice to have these breaks. Human as we are, we can never have things perfect. If our bodies need a break, so do our souls. But then again, a question hangs in the air. What if some of the so-called guardians of our souls need some guidance (or need to be guarded) themselves. Suddenly I’m reminded of that line (better said in latin): “who will guard the guardian themselves”.

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Let’s pan our sights to other events. After the summit that never was, the Thai Prime Minister declared a few days as public holidays due to protests. Now that’s certainly a new way to ask for a holiday. What if one day we get too lazy to report to work, would a protest be a solution? (Smile it’s a weekend)

So Obama has undertaken his first overseas trip. I understand he was there for a NATO summit or something like that. Sorry, I got too busy paying attention on Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni and the Queen of England. Alas, (move over you military-clad septuagenarian North Koreans) not even the threat of a rocket launch could take the attention away from the three ladies. Yup, it seemed like people paid more attention on the Queen getting cozy with Michelle; and Michelle and Carla and their fashion sense over the North Koreans (well, the presence of their leader is a different thing). Can’t blame them. With so much trouble happening and bad images cropping up in this world, it’s nice to watch interesting people once in a while.

And on the local front. They hit the local headlines days ago. Just the same I’m itching to ask, “Are they running?” I mean Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and Senator Richard Gordon. Their squabble over the ICRC hostage made Mar Roxas’ legacy issue pale in comparison. But please don’t mention that PD cab AD.

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The 6-month supplemental feeding program of some folks in Barangay Binaliw will officially end today. It is one of the successful supplemental feeding programs undertaken in Calbayog. Among its prime movers is a good friend Ms. Edil Romano – Alegria. They have invited some city officials and department managers to today’s event. I’ll give you more details about program in my next column.

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The Calbayog Diocesan Synod. The second Synod of the Diocese of Calbayog commenced last Tuesday. The event opened at with an 8:00-a.m. Mass at the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral. The said mass was presided over by Bishop Isabelo Abarquez.

After the Eucharistic celebration, some 140 delegates from all parishes of the diocese proceeded to the St. Vincent De Paul Seminary in Barangay Dagum. They will stay there until tomorrow Saturday, April 18, 2009. The delegates are expected to deliberate on policies of various concerns to the diocese.

The synod is expected to come up with a book or set of documents or policies which will be implemented all over the Diocese of Calbayog a month after its 100th Anniversary Celebration on April 10, 2010.

This year's Diocesan synod would have been the third. The second synod supposedly took place during the term of Bishop Sofronio Hacbang, the second bishop of Calbayog (1923- 1937). But in the absence of official documents, said synod remains in question.

The first Calbayog Diocesan Synod happened sometime in 1912.

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The CKC – Jose Gomez Orchestra opens its 2009 concert season with a concert at the Poor Clare Monastery Chapel tomorrow afternoon.

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A new lawyer for Calbayog. Congratulations to Angiebel Abuela Divinagracia who passed the recent Bar Exam. Atty. Divinagracia is a member of La Milagrosa Academy Class 1999.

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This is it for now. Have a nice weekend everyone! Ciao!