Thou Shall Not Steal or something like that.

The big time thieves drive Porsche, Lamborghini's and Aston Martins. They had been sensationalized in movies like Godfathers as Mafiosi, or they are rotting in jails or Scot- free as drug lords, money launderers, money market or stock manipulators, pyramid scammers, illegal pork barrel and illegal numbers games operators, and gun for hires or modern-day sea pirates.

The low class thieves pilfer other people's hard-earned money by short changing services or products.

Two weeks ago, we called a refrigerator repair company to fix an almost four-year old refrigerator; the service guy had been recommended by someone known in the community.

The owner/repairman came, diagnosed the problem and offered his service: the motor was gone, he said and  he would replace it with a brand new one. He took the unit to his shop.

The following day, he brought it back and it worked. The next day, it went dead.

After calling him and giving him a piece of our angry mind, he brought a service unit and said that our unit went on defrost mode. He took our unit for further work. Then he called and offered that we keep the service model if we liked it. The service unit was much bigger and had plenty of shelves. But after two days, the lower portion became warm and only the freezer worked.

We had enough of him and demanded our money and motor back. He agreed after much convoluted explanation.

After two weeks' surviving on an old refrigerator and a small bar refrigerator, we decided to call the brand's service department to order a new motor/compressor. That's how we found out that there's a five year warranty on the compressor.

On the very same day, two crewmen arrived and announced that the motor of our refrigerator had been replaced and it was not the original anymore, and sorry, the warranty could not be honored.

We called the old repairman and told him point blank that he conned us; that the refrigerator's after sales service discovered the original motor missing and replaced with another brand's dead motor. We told him we'll take the matter to the police if he didn't bring the original to our house.

In an earlier conversation with the service crew, they said the compressor might not have been the problem; it could just be the overload relay.

The old repairman came in a huff with a motor in hand but the bona fide service guys said the motor he brought in was not our refrigerator's. We told the man that a new motor would cost us this much, and nothing, if we had the original one because it was covered by the original warranty.

He didn't stop lying. He offered to give a brand new motor by another brand. The service crew said it wouldn't work as another brand had different sensors and that they wouldn't install it.

After asking him to produce our original motor, he confessed to having it installed in another refrigerator he sold which he could no longer remember and so forth and so on, weaving a tale of  lies.

Having been cornered and as he ran out of plausible excuses, he then agreed to pay for the cost of a new motor, a price quotation given by the company's service crew.

Lesson of the day: Have appliances serviced by the brand's official repair service centers. And keep original or photocopies of receipts and read the fine prints of the warranty.

House Blessing.

When we were young and living in a rented house, we constantly bugged our father to build us our own house. My aunt and uncle with whom I  lived during my elementary years at school had their own house set amidst fruit trees of varying kinds, clean and tranquil river at the backyard,  "cascos" (small rigs) plying the river in the afternoons and huge space where we played hide and seek, "tumbang preso," and even "teks" or card game. 

My father finally bought a house in the capital city of the Philippines, Quezon City, far from the town of my childhood.

So, last Saturday when I attended a house blessing, I never thought much about it, because in my entire life, I'd probably just gone to a couple of house blessings.

When I was still writing for a magazine in my younger professional life, I used to do advertising supplements and one popular feature was  "Building Your Dream House," in which I discussed financing, constructing, and decorating a house.

I wrote based on what I read and researched because I have not gone through the process of building nor owning my own home.

Blessing a new or a renovated house, condo unit, or building is a built-in activity to the whole construction process.

"In Christianity, house blessing is an ancient tradition, that can be found in Protestantism, Orthodox, Christianity and Roman Catholicism. They are usually performed by a parish priest who sprinkles holy water as he walks through every room of the house, accompanied by the occupants of the house, whilst praying for the occupants.

House blessings date back to the early days of  Christianity and in Catholicism, the ritual takes the form of a prayer. Matthew 2:11 says:

"On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh."

Consequently, Catholics often have their homes blessed at Epiphany, on January 6. This commemorates the visitation of the Magi to the child Jesus."


In the Philippines, house blessing or house warming,  is usually  a grand occasion much like a town fiesta in which the new owners choose "sponsors," -  friends or relatives who'd lead the festive day, throwing coins into each room or nook that has been blessed by the priest, in order to bring luck.

September Rain, Oh!

September Rain, Oh! from Gene Pagkanlungan

SA GITNA NG DESIERTO.

Sa gitna ng disierto from mrgene

Let's drink to that, Father.

I remember one parish priest who held a series of talks and one talk took place in a pub near the U of T. in Toronto. Yes, an Irish pub.

The priest was not even Irish; he was a Filipino-Canadian.  But yes, there are many Irish priests in Canada and the U.S.A.  In fact, a second cousin's daughter is married to an Irish-Canadian who has a priest for an uncle. And for an Irish, going to a pub (bar) is like going for a walk - it is the most natural thing to do.

I figured, that priest must have many Irish priest friends and that he was attending the University for post graduate studies and that the pub was the best place to hold a talk because it was populated by students from the nearby university whose attendance he probably wanted.

And then I read about "pub talks."  One Australian priest  in an article says,  "It is one thing to discuss key questions among ourselves as Catholics, it is another to go into the public forum and raise the issues that are current and important," says Bishop Julian. "Holding these talks in pubs in the city provides young people with an informal relaxed environment in which they can engage with the important questions that are currently being debated in newspapers, on talk back radio and on many television programs."

A typical pub talk.

My mind flashed back to this scenario because at a recent church group meeting I attended, someone admonished the members to avoid posting photos in their social networking sites which show them drinking in the presence of a priest.

According to the individual, others may misconstrue it and think that the priest was drinking.

What's wrong with a priest drinking beer during a ministry fellowship, anyway?

The warning by the group member was  a classic case of 'beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," or more like "sin is in the eyes of the sinner."

Vatican II changed the way the Catholic church treated the laity; the laity was made more involved with the Church through the various ministries and apostolates; it became a partner of the Church in spreading the kingdom of God. Corollary to this, the priests became more in touch with their parishioners.

As a Knight of Columbus, I became aware of how the laity should defend its priests. Instead of  worrying how others may perceive an ordinary photograph, I would take the positive action of  explaining (if need be) what's probably behind the image.

I won't take the high road of snobbery.

Here's another piece on  pub talks.  " Archbishop Donald Wuerl stepped onto the stage at the archdiocesan sponsored Theology on Tap on Oct. 17 to cheers and applause from the young crowd. "That's the warmest welcome I've ever received in a pub," he said. And then added, "That's the first welcome I've ever received in a pub." - from Catholic online (http://www.catholic.org/diocese/diocese_story.php?id=21800).

Is it a concert?

I remember a friend in high school telling me that he was a junior cursillista. My father, a sister and auncle were also cursillistas.

What is a cursillista? A cursillista is a member of the Cursillo Movement, or Cursillos in Christianity (in Spanish: Cursillos de Cristiandad, short course of Christianity), an apostolic movement of the Roman Catholic Church. 

" It was founded in Majorca, Spain by a group of laymen in 1944, while they were refining a technique to train pilgrimage Christian leaders.

Cursillo is the original three day movement, and has since been licensed for use by several mainline Christian denominations, some of which have retained the trademarked "Cursillo" name while others have modified its talks/methods and given it a different name.

The cursillo focuses on showing Christian lay people how to become effective Christian leaders over the course of a three-day weekend. The weekend includes fifteen talks, some given by priests and some by lay people, those talks are called "rollos". The major emphasis of the weekend is to ask participants to take what they have learned back into the world, on what they call the "fourth day". The method stresses personal spiritual development, as accelerated by weekly group reunion (after the weekend)."

It was in the mananita or dawn serenade that I first heard of the cursillo songs -  sweet and touching songs of praise to God. And then these spread like wild fire, and were incorporated in mass songs during the late 60's. In the early 80's, the Charistmatic movement whose prayer meetings were punctuated by the Holy Spirit slayings started to flourish in the Philippines and their stirring song-invocations drew more and more people into their groups and events.

Yesterday, we were at the Eucharistic Chapel of the Lord for the nine a.m. Healing mass and before the final blessing, Fr. Mario Sobrejuanite called on the sax player of the choir, Joshua Espinosa, to play a jazz number, while a second collection for the formation of young priests was being done.

I thought for a second that I was in a concert of Josh Groban until I heard the final blessing. 

Click here to view the complete mass.

Loving Latin.

When I was new in Canada I got to hear mass one Sunday in an old Catholic Church in the west side of Toronto, where the priest celebrated mass facing the altar, not the congregation. And then during communion the parishioners knelt in front of the altar to receive the Eucharist.

This also happened at a special mass which was celebrated for our group of pilgrims in the chapel underneath the Basilica of the Poor Clares of  Perpetual Adoration- the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, a mass in pre- Vatican II style.

Latin Mass

As kids, we used to attend Catholic mass at the Sta. Ana Church near Panaderos. The mass was still in Latin and women wore veils and had missalettes. From time to time, the parish priest scaled the steps leading to the pulpit from where he gave his Sunday homily.

Sta. Ana Church is an old church having been established in 1578 and its architecture and history added magnificence to the masses celebrated there. But today, all masses are celebrated facing the parishioners.

As a converted Catholic, I thought that the mass orientation of today has something to do with Vatican II and that all masses should be celebrated facing the congregation. But further research told otherwise.

Priest celebrates mass "ad orientem," facing the altar

A mass celebrated facing the altar is called "ad orientem," or facing east, and a mass celebrated facing the congregation is called "versus populum" orientation.

The present-day Roman Missal does not forbid the ad orientem position for the priest when saying Mass and only requires that in new or renovated churches the facing-the-people orientation be made possible: "The altar should be built apart from the wall, in such a way that it is possible to walk around it easily and that Mass can be celebrated at it facing the people, which is desirable wherever possible."

I find the "versus populum" orientation very welcoming and inclusive but I also remember the Latin masses of my childhood very appealing and holier.

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated mass "ad orientem" at the Sistine Chapel

At the Cathedral in Seattle, Washington, the priest celebrates mass at the centre of the church, so he faces basically everyone in the church, in a circular way.

St. James Cathedral in Seattle, Washington.

 At the end of the day, whether "ad orientem or versus populum" orientation, the appeal of going to mass rests heavily on the priest celebrating it and the one giving the homily.

While Jesus Christ is the Host of the Mass, the priest is the celebrant whose great task is to make the people feel the love of Christ through him.