the day i shed my consecrated Habit for Heaven's sake!

the date was January 26, 2005. i was still in the middle of my 2005 visit to the Philippines, when i got the chance and an opportunity to contact my brods and sis in a Fraternity that i joined when i was in 2nd year college.
click image to enlarge...


i conferred with the adviser, the president and some Alumni if they could possibly back me up in my plan to go and visit the house inmates of the religious group in Naga City called THe MIssionaries of the Poor that houses numerous inmates who are mentally and physically handicapped, so i could give out some foodstuffs, clothings and footwear to the 500 of them.


its always a thought in my head that whenever i get the chance to be worthy of whatever i can do to alleviate the sufferings of my Kababayans, then by all means, i will have to carry it out...I was thankful to the group, to my brods and sis , that they gladly accepted my offer. so, on that sunny humid day, i shed my Long Black Habit, set aside my being a monk, and went with my brods and sis in plain clothes (denims and shirt) to purchase and load sacks of rice, flour, dry powdered milk, T-shirts, flip-flops (beach walk sandals), coffees, and other basic commodities on a truck for the 500 unfortunate adapted Bikolanos of the house of the Missionaries of the Poor.

with a truckload of stuffs from the market, we proceeded to our target: the house of the inmates of MOP.
Fr Charles, the head of the House gladly introduced himself to me as the one assigned by their Mother House in India to spearhead this house in naga city bikol to adapt and feed unfortunate bikolanos street urchins and stow aways who were abandoned due to their mental and physical dysfunctionalities. Fr Charles' congregation is inspired by the wisdom and ideals of Mother Theresa of Calcutta, hence the wearing of a bright white habit with blue sash around its waist(the novices and postulants simply wear their white habits without any sash while the Simply Professed brothers wear light-pink sash on their waists).


while the program was being presented, i couldn't help but to feel sorry for those inmates infront of me, seated side by side, unmindful of their surroundings, unassumingly quiet from the ongoings of the entertainment numbers that we were giving them. my heart melted with such sight of 'separation from the world' that these unfortunate ones were experiencing.





as we went on with the program, there was a part when the inmates had to line up to receive the flip-flops that we bought for them (mind you, they were in their barefeet all day-long), and the face towels that we got for their daily hygiene, and cups of instant noodles and drinks and cookies for their daily snacks...and i saw from their faces and actions that they were just innocently frantically happy and delighted as they took turns in receiving the 'little gifts' we got for them...

errrrr, this is not one of the inmates,( LOL ) but the president of the current members of our frat brod Joel N.-----, he was just too happy that he couldn't contain it in front of my lens ,( LOL ).

Fr Charles and his young disciples were moved as we presented to him the bags of groceries and sacks of rice and flour.

before we parted ways, a souvenir image with fr Charles and his energetic young followers in their sparkling white habits was just fitting and proper.

the moving moments with the House inmates ended with me having a sustained lump in my throat as i kept holding back my tears of pity and sadness for these people lest i could have created an 'unpleasant' scene that was not really appropriate for them to see...(i've always been so emotional on scenes like such.)

at the end of the day, my brods and sis, brought me to Pasacao Beach Resort for us to take a dip in the sea and unwind the memories of that great day!....

it's fantastic feeling to be of service to God thru His unfortunate ones, and afterwards enjoyed the reminiscense of it with friends and fraternal brothers and sisters over a couple bottles of San Miguel Beer Grande and a swim in the sea with my blue skimpy Speedo swimwear(reserved in my personal files and not for public viewing, remember that i have vowed to the High Heavens from that moment when i Professed my Solemn Monastic Vows, that i shall only be the object of humanity's edification and not of their seduction hah!..( LOL )........