Holy week observance: past and present; compare and contrast...

in the past, when i was not yet a monk, i had to plan out ahead of time, on where to spend the observance of Holy Week--in whom to spend it, and what activities to be done on such days.....but now, spending these days inside the Monastery is much much more different than spending it in the past years of my life....
i still think about those years with my colleagues and buddies..i still think about what if i remained to be in the world, and did not become a monk? then will i surely, keep doing the same ways of observing these days of the Passion of our Lord?


in the mid 90's at puerto galera White beach resort with my buddies spending the holy week of my life.
images of a happy, innocent, youthful days....
...from left standing: henry paul, constantine, elvis, me, the ones seated from left: raffy, marvin and hhhmmm, pardon me but his name slipped from my memory LOL...


from left standing: a frend who's now a teacher whose name slipped from my memory, too; constantine, elvis, me, marvin, and raffy who's seated in front.



my way to spend the silence of a Holy week observance:


i somehow miss the sea and the wind and the seashore...





henry, marvin and me, just silently observing and contemplating and listening to the mystery of rushing waves of the sea.

now, after i become one of the monks in the Order of St Benedict... the utmost and fitting way to observe the silence of the holy season of lent and the observance of holy week inside the monastery is most likely doing like this:
praying, reflecting and contemplating in silence at the Cloister.


or like this:
reading the Scripture and doing Lectio (sacred reading and contemplating) inside my cell.


or like this:
reciting the five decades of the holy Rosary repeatedly.


....it's because a monk's life is a continuous struggle for holiness inside the monastery in his attempt to be always in communion with God at all times of his life , in his search for the real meaning of his existence and his relationship with God, and in his continuing search for God in a very strict monastic ambience....

have a blessed Palm Sunday to all of you my friends!.....