I'm Entering

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='melporcristo' date='22 March 2010 - 08:19 PM' timestamp='1269299981' post='2077999']
JMJT

^ I LOVED those last 2 pictures!! It reminds me of the taxi's in Honduras & how an image of Our Lord was always somewhere in the taxi
[/quote]

I think it is so neat (and beautiful) to see how various cultures express their Catholicism. When I was in the Philippines, there was "Mama Mary" and "Santo Nino" EVERYWHERE. I think just about all of those tricycles had rosaries hanging in them, too.



I only hope that the same devotion they show in the decorative externals reflect the inner devotion and Catholic faith.

[dakurgie]

I'll be praying for your discernment with the Missionary Benedictines!

Donna

[tnavarro61]

[quote name='laetitia crucis' date='23 March 2010 - 12:38 AM' timestamp='1269272298' post='2077582']
Davao is lovely! And I definitely prefer the weather there over Manila's weather. During the day, the sky is clear and beautiful, while at night there's a cooling rain. It didn't seem to be as humid (or windy) as Manila was.

It seems the main mode of transportation are those motor-tricycles. Like these:

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v124/sadora/Philippines/Philippines%20Part%20II/Image306.jpg[/IMG]
(Notice the PURPLE TAXI! )

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v124/sadora/Philippines/Philippines%20Part%20II/Image307.jpg[/IMG]

And these:

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v124/sadora/Philippines/Philippines%20Part%20II/Image029.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v124/sadora/Philippines/Philippines%20Part%20II/Image054.jpg[/IMG]

Inside most of the bottom pictures, the drivers usually had super-Catholic images. Like these:

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v124/sadora/Philippines/Philippines%20Part%20II/Image317.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v124/sadora/Philippines/Philippines%20Part%20II/Image049.jpg[/IMG]

-----

There were all taken from my cell phone while riding in a tricycle, so I apologise for the quality!

I found the people to be VERY KIND in Davao, especially in Digos. I think everyone knows EVERYONE there, and no matter where I went, people were always very charitable and helpful. I felt very safe. And even though the main language spoken is a dialect (Visaya -- sp?), it seemed most were also fluent in Tagalog, and English. (Blessed be God! )

There are also religious Sisters at the main church in Digos (San Isidro?). (I think they were Franciscans of some sort, but I can't remember their name for the life of me.)

My father and step-family lives there, too, including my step-Lolo and step-cousins. I actually cried when I left. I hope one day to go back again.
[/quote]

thank you very much for the pictures!haha look at the tricycles! now i have proven that the looks of tricycles varies in different places. motor tricycles are found everywhere in the Philippines. usually the tricycles in our place (Batangas) is quite different because they have walls. have you seen rosaries hanging and people making the sign of the Cross (most often THRICE)when passing in front of the Church. Are the nuns you mentioned the CLARISSAS CAPUCHINAS SACRAMENTARIAS (Capuchin Poor Clares Sacramentine).

thank u for assuring me that Davao and Digos are safe places! May father went there 19 years ago and he also said that the air is humid and rains in the afternoon. Manila is super hot because of pollution, and the air is dry there.

So i feel confident that i won't get hurt there. ;-) do you know how much is the taxi's fare? i can't contact the monks right now because of network problems which will be fixed tomorrow. i might take a taxi at the airport and will ask to bring me to Saint Benedict's Monastery.. How far is Digos from the monastery? Thank u very much for your help!

Thomas

(just remembered a nun whose former name is Leticia.)

[tnavarro61]

[quote name='dakurgie' date='23 March 2010 - 08:54 AM' timestamp='1269302057' post='2078014']
I'll be praying for your discernment with the Missionary Benedictines!

Donna
[/quote]

Thank you very much Donna!

[vee]

Prayers for you as you go forward into this stage of your discernment.

I must say can understand how you feel about traveling to a new place, on a plane, for the first time and these are two prayers that I say before I travel. They are both from a prayer book I have so they arent just made up by me.

Blessing of Airline Passengers

God, the salvation of those who trust in you, kindly appoint a good angel from on high as an escort for your servants who make and airplane voyage and who call on you for help. Let him shield the passengers throughout the flight and conduct them safely to their destination; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Blessing of an Airplane

God, who made all things for your glory, yet destined every lower being in this world for man`s service, we beg you to bless this airplane. Let it serve to carry far and wide the fame and glory of your name, and in expediting more speedily the affairs of mankind without loss and accident. And let it foster in the souls of all the faithful who travel in it a longing for the things above: through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='tnavarro61' date='22 March 2010 - 09:48 PM' timestamp='1269305335' post='2078052']
thank you very much for the pictures!haha look at the tricycles! now i have proven that the looks of tricycles varies in different places. motor tricycles are found everywhere in the Philippines. usually the tricycles in our place (Batangas) is quite different because they have walls. have you seen rosaries hanging and people making the sign of the Cross (most often THRICE)when passing in front of the Church. Are the nuns you mentioned the CLARISSAS CAPUCHINAS SACRAMENTARIAS (Capuchin Poor Clares Sacramentine).

thank u for assuring me that Davao and Digos are safe places! May father went there 19 years ago and he also said that the air is humid and rains in the afternoon. Manila is super hot because of pollution, and the air is dry there.

So i feel confident that i won't get hurt there. ;-) do you know how much is the taxi's fare? i can't contact the monks right now because of network problems which will be fixed tomorrow. i might take a taxi at the airport and will ask to bring me to Saint Benedict's Monastery.. How far is Digos from the monastery? Thank u very much for your help!

Thomas

(just remembered a nun whose former name is Leticia.)
[/quote]


I definitely saw rosaries hanging EVERYWHERE! -- and the making of multiple Signs of the Cross! Also, I particularly liked how whenever there was a holy image or statue, people would kiss their fingers and touch the statue with their fingers, then Cross themselves. I really liked seeing that. My step-mother would also reverence her little Santo Nino in the same way right before leaving the house each time.

Unfortunately, I cannot remember how much the taxi fair was. In Digos we always rode the tricycles (and only twice did I venture out to ride the Jeepneys while in Davao -- they go SO fast ) However, I think if I were traveling by myself for the first time, I would want to take a taxi from the airport to the monastery -- and hopefully, the monks will be able to give you a good estimate on prices. I did not know about your monastery while I was there, otherwise I am sure I would have asked to visit there!

The Sisters at the church in Digos... ... they were not cloistered (though I did visit the Pink Sisters! The Mother Superior of that community is named Sr. M. Alegria! (Latin: Leticia; English: Joy) and I thought that was quite lovely!). These Sisters were active Sisters that wore a modified grey habit with shoulder-length veil. Very lovely Sisters -- so kind and friendly! They did a lot of parish work with catechesis, sacristy, liturgy, and prayer groups. For some reason, I think their name had something to do with either Mary or the Holy Family.

Anyhoo -- I will continue to keep you in my prayers, Thomas! God will get you to your monastery!

[tnavarro61]

[quote name='laetitia crucis' date='23 March 2010 - 11:03 AM' timestamp='1269309838' post='2078088']
I definitely saw rosaries hanging EVERYWHERE! -- and the making of multiple Signs of the Cross! Also, I particularly liked how whenever there was a holy image or statue, people would kiss their fingers and touch the statue with their fingers, then Cross themselves. I really liked seeing that. My step-mother would also reverence her little Santo Nino in the same way right before leaving the house each time.

Unfortunately, I cannot remember how much the taxi fair was. In Digos we always rode the tricycles (and only twice did I venture out to ride the Jeepneys while in Davao -- they go SO fast ) However, I think if I were traveling by myself for the first time, I would want to take a taxi from the airport to the monastery -- and hopefully, the monks will be able to give you a good estimate on prices. I did not know about your monastery while I was there, otherwise I am sure I would have asked to visit there!

The Sisters at the church in Digos... ... they were not cloistered (though I did visit the Pink Sisters! The Mother Superior of that community is named Sr. M. Alegria! (Latin: Leticia; English: Joy) and I thought that was quite lovely!). These Sisters were active Sisters that wore a modified grey habit with shoulder-length veil. Very lovely Sisters -- so kind and friendly! They did a lot of parish work with catechesis, sacristy, liturgy, and prayer groups. For some reason, I think their name had something to do with either Mary or the Holy Family.

Anyhoo -- I will continue to keep you in my prayers, Thomas! God will get you to your monastery!
[/quote]

probably the franciscan sisters of the immaculate?

and i bet everybody was looking at you! because Filipinos are always fascinated with foreigners. :-)
thank you for your prayers. thank you thank you! i will keep you updated!

---

and sorry for the misleading title! :-)

Edited March 23, 2010 by tnavarro61

[Starets]

[quote name='tnavarro61' date='22 March 2010 - 01:24 AM' timestamp='1269239043' post='2077418']
It's my first time to put up a thread like this online.

So as the topic title says, I am entering... the grounds of the Benedictine monastery. But I'm not yet entering as a postulant. I am going to make an observership with the Benedctine monks of St. Ottilien hopefully by the end of April. I have made phone calls already. Last Friday I called, and the monk who answered said he's going to give my number to the Vocation director who is not in the monastery that time. It's monday now. Do you think I should check if he got my number or shall I wait for the phone call?

I am going to ride a plane to go there.. so pls pray for me.. I have terrible fear of heights and riding a plane. When I am thinking of riding a plane, I can't sleep. what if the plane crashes, what will I do? what if they ask me to jump to the sea, i cannot swim!

This will be my first time to make a live-in search-in (how do you call it). I have attended seminars on vocation. I know my twin brother whom i know is also discerning, will be very surprised. My family doesn't know that i am considering religious life.. So I do not know how to tell them that I am going to ride a plane to make an observership there.

Please help me.. I really need your help. I have other questions... what shall I bring?! When I asked this to the monk I've talked with, he said, "Just bring your clothes, everything will be provided for free". What clothes and how many clothes am I going to bring. And shoes, what shoes will I bring..

Im just so excited that I can't think properly. But I need my father's permission first and everything will be okay. Please pray for God's will to be done.. He might be hesitant because there's money involved ($100 will be needed for the roundtrip airplane ticket and it's expensive for us. Anyway I have $20 in my shelf but it's not enough.)

pray for me please.

Yours in Christ,
Thomas

http://www.digosmonks.org
[/quote]

First of all, congratulations on your upcoming Observership. We have two Philipino monks in our community, which is part of the Subiaco Congregation of Benedictines.

All you will really need is a Bible, some changes of clothes, and some shoes. ARound here, shoes are to be black. I have sandals, hiking boots, and dress shoes. You won't need so much for an observership. Since the Vocation Director cannot make it, I suspect that someone else in the community will meet you at the airport. They ewon't leave you to your own resources. When i visited Christ in the Desert the first time, I was met by the Abbot, since he was arriving on a later flight.

Br Bruno

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='tnavarro61' date='22 March 2010 - 11:20 PM' timestamp='1269310837' post='2078098']
probably the franciscan sisters of the immaculate?

and i bet everybody was looking at you! because Filipinos are always fascinated with foreigners. :-)
thank you for your prayers. thank you thank you! i will keep you updated!

---

and sorry for the misleading title! :-)
[/quote]


Nope, definitely not the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate. They are my absolute favorite Franciscan Order of Sisters. And so far, they are only in Manila and Cebu. I love them.

I don't know if everyone could tell if I was foreign just by looking at me -- everyone asked me "Are you Filippina??? You LOOK Filippina!!" I was surprised, to say the least! My step-mother told me, "You have a very common face here." That made me laugh a little. But once you hear me speak, you would know without a doubt that I am American. Or maybe Canadian. Hahaha!

Prayers!

[tnavarro61]

[quote name='Staretz' date='23 March 2010 - 11:27 AM' timestamp='1269311243' post='2078102']
First of all, congratulations on your upcoming Observership. We have two Philipino monks in our community, which is part of the Subiaco Congregation of Benedictines.

All you will really need is a Bible, some changes of clothes, and some shoes. ARound here, shoes are to be black. I have sandals, hiking boots, and dress shoes. You won't need so much for an observership. Since the Vocation Director cannot make it, I suspect that someone else in the community will meet you at the airport. They ewon't leave you to your own resources. When i visited Christ in the Desert the first time, I was met by the Abbot, since he was arriving on a later flight.

Br Bruno
[/quote]

I'm sure you know Dom Lawrence!
I do think that I'll be doing the travel all by myself from airport. The vocation director (yes he sent me a message yesterday) gave me instructions on how to go to the monastery. He said, I got to ride a taxi, then a bus. I am hoping that they could fetch me from the airport since I am a stranger in that place. But I can't ask them, out of shame. Who am I to ask them?
Thank you very much staretz! God bless you! thomas

[tnavarro61]

[quote name='laetitia crucis' date='23 March 2010 - 11:28 AM' timestamp='1269311306' post='2078103']
Nope, definitely not the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate. They are my absolute favorite Franciscan Order of Sisters. And so far, they are only in Manila and Cebu. I love them.

I don't know if everyone could tell if I was foreign just by looking at me -- everyone asked me "Are you Filippina??? You LOOK Filippina!!" I was surprised, to say the least! My step-mother told me, "You have a very common face here." That made me laugh a little. But once you hear me speak, you would know without a doubt that I am American. Or maybe Canadian. Hahaha!

Prayers!
[/quote]

No, I was refering to the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Concepcion (SFIC not the FSI).. almost the same names!
Maybe you have a spanish blood.. or filipino? if that's the case, i am happy to be your kababayan!

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='tnavarro61' date='22 March 2010 - 11:48 PM' timestamp='1269312529' post='2078118']
No, I was refering to the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Concepcion (SFIC not the FSI).. almost the same names!
Maybe you have a spanish blood.. or filipino? if that's the case, i am happy to be your kababayan!
[/quote]


Ooooh -- maybe they were the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Concepcion! You know... that seems right to me!

I have mostly Korean blood. And also English, German, and Native American. -- I guess I am quite the "melting pot" of being a quintessential "American", right? Although, I think I have had more people ask me if I am Filippina than any other ethnicity. Hahaha!

Maybe I could be an honorary kababayan?

[AccountDeleted]

Prayers for your observership.

[tnavarro61]

[quote name='nunsense' date='23 March 2010 - 08:49 PM' timestamp='1269344972' post='2078256']
Prayers for your observership.
[/quote]

thank u very much nun sense!

[AccountDeleted]

[quote name='tnavarro61' date='23 March 2010 - 11:03 PM' timestamp='1269345820' post='2078265']
thank u very much nun sense!
[/quote]


I wish it were me... of course it would have to be Carmelite first

Seriously, I am very happy for you.