White wafers

The decorations hanging from the cupola of the Ateneo Church of the Gesù this Christmas season are called Neules de Mallorca, a traditional craft from the island of Mallorca or Majorca in Spain. They are cut-out paper disks with delicate designs which originally were edible wafers made of the same unleavened bread that Roman Catholic communion wafers are made of.

Today

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, 

which is Christ the Lord.

~Luke 2:11

  The Nativity scene at the Ateneo Church of the Gesù

Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed 

and grace-filled Christmas.

Exie & Hilda

A symphony in blue

The Ateneo de Manila University officially opened its celebrations and events for the Advent and Christmas season last night, and we were treated to a lovely performance by the Blue Symphony at the Sacred Heart Plaza of the Church of the Gesù.

The student symphony orchestra is the youngest performing arts organization in the university, and they still need a lot of support from the community. None of the students are music majors (since the Ateneo does not have a music program) and there are too many instruments that are not represented; the organization does not have production or marketing teams yet; they are trained by a conductor gratis; and the kids need a formation program set up to help them deal with the challenges of combining their love of music with the demands of their academics, not to mention the emotional drama that is inevitable in any group of artists. Despite all these, however, the young and youthful orchestra has garnered much praise from those who have heard them perform, and I really hope that the university and its benefactors can give Blue Symphony the assistance that it needs to become a full orchestra that everyone can be proud of.

The sacred and the profane

A sight that we see at the Ateneo de Manila University at least four times a year. One of our trustees comes to attend the quarterly board meetings in his blue helicopter, landing it in the field in front of the Church of the Gesù.

Shower

THEME DAY: PHOTO OF THE YEAR 2011 • Since I stopped blogging and taking photos for much of the past year, this choice was easy. I love it when I manage challenging shots like this—the light, the distance, the symmetry, having to look straight up, no tripod—with my itsy-bitsy camera. The original post is here.

See the best of City Daily Photo bloggers around the world. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

May you be showered with blessings today and throughout the new year.

For your white and blue

Blue and white parol hanging from the cupola of the Ateneo Church of the Gesù. The title is a line from the alma mater song of the Ateneo de Manila University, whose school color is blue.

Arbor

The belen, or nativity scene, in the Ateneo Church of the Gesù. It looks like Jesus will be born in the woods this year.

The carol of the winds

Simbang Gabi (night mass) or Misa de Gallo (Spanish, which literally translates to rooster's mass and means dawn mass), is a traditional novena of masses before Christmas that many Filipino Catholics practice. Among Catholics, a novena is a nine-day devotion to obtain special graces. Simbang Gabi at the Ateneo Church of the Gesù started on December 15 with a performance of Filipino and foreign Christmas carols by the Banda Zabat brass band a few hours before the evening mass. Banda Zapat comes from Gapan City in the province of Nueva Ecija, 92 kilometers away.

My favorite model

The geometric lines and shapes of the Ateneo Church of the Gesù make for some interesting and fun photos. This is the exterior corridor with skylights running the entire length of its facade.

Carillon

The bells of the Ateneo Church of the Gesù, housed in a tower separate from the church, were a gift to the university from the alumni class of High School 1960 / College 1964. Six years after the bell tower was constructed, the class has raised funds to add more bells, which I think have already been cast because the discussion now is which saints will have their names inscribed on the bells. It would be interesting to see where and how the new bells will be added to the tower.

Beacon

When the sun has completely set, the Church of the Gesù is a beacon of light in the Ateneo de Manila University campus. Especially for the students who live in the dormitories beside it.

Heavenly sky-watching

The corridor in front of the Ateneo Church of the Gesù is also roofed with glass, like its cupola and much of its pyramidal roof.

No mass

Good Friday is a holiday observed by most Christians, commemorating the passion and crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. Unlike during other holy days, there will be no masses in Roman Catholic churches anywhere (nor tomorrow, Holy Saturday). Services will still gather people together in churches; however, the focus will be on mourning Jesus' death and contemplating his sacrifice. Here in the Philippines, quite a few people still recite the Pasyon, a poetic narrative of Jesus' passion, death and resurrection, in a custom which dates back to the 18th century; and many more will go through the Stations of the Cross. Though it is a school church and not a parish church, the Ateneo Church of the Gesù will also have its own Good Friday service. This is my view of the church everyday when I leave work in the early evening—though the color of the sky isn't always this odd but pretty shade.

White and blue

THEME DAY: THE TENIN TECHNIQUE • I've posted quite a lot of photos of the Ateneo Church of the Gesù but, until today, never of its side—with air vents rather than regular windows. The angled passageway leads to the corridor just outside the front of the church. Kneeling on a tree root under a large acacia tree to take this photo, you also get a bonus: seeing how dry and brown the crabgrass of our campus gets during the summer months.



Today, the City Daily Photo blogging community pays tribute to Eric Tenin of Paris Daily Photo. Five years ago today, Eric started his one-a-day photo blog of Paris. He has never missed a single day and he has inspired many people from all over the world to create daily photo blogs of their own cities, fostering friendship and understanding along the way. Eric has become known in the community for his low angles and skewed compositions, and our imitation of his style today is our way of celebrating and thanking a wonderful person and a great blog. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Seeing stars

One of the events counting down to the Ateneo de Manila's sesquicentennial was a Festival of Ateneo Music last weekend. Like last year, all the music groups of the university gathered together for a concert in the Church of the Gesù. The star-shaped lights inside the church were cycling through all the colors of the rainbow, though I only caught a few.

Sacred Heart

The crucifix and monstrance which I featured yesterday belongs to one of the side chapels of the Church of the Gesù. It is called the Sacred Heart Chapel, and a stylized image of Jesus showing his pierced heart and hands is displayed prominently near the front entrance of the chapel though lit artificially because there is a small room behind it. This is a very modern representation of the traditional image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for which there is a strong religious devotion in the Philippines. The text on the image is from the Gospel of Saint John, chapter 19 verse 37: They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced.

Monstrance

The Ateneo Church of the Gesù has two side chapels. One chapel is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and the other is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This Sacred Heart Chapel is also known as the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament because it is the one used for the exposition of the consecrated Eucharistic Host—note the monstrance built into the base of the crucifix.

Two mathematicians

As part of the countdown to the Ateneo de Manila University's 150th anniversary, Philippine pianist Raul M. Sunico performed at the Church of the Gesù on Tuesday evening. Trained at the University of the Philippines, Juilliard School and New York University, Dr. Sunico's wonderfully eclectic program included pieces from Frederic Chopin, Isaac Albeniz, Claude Debussy, Franz Liszt and George Gershwin. The list of Dr. Sunico's many accomplishments as a concert pianist, orchestral soloist and musical arranger—both internationally and locally—is too long to include here, but beyond his brilliant piano playing, there are two things that endear him most to me: he arranged Filipino folk songs and kundiman (traditional love songs) for classical piano and recorded them in fifteen volumes—a legacy that will forever enrich Philippine culture; and his many projects on music education, especially for grade school children.



I do not have a photo of Raul Sunico at the piano, unfortunately. The conditions during the concert—dim ambient light, strong spotlights, a pianist that performs with his entire body—were just too tough for my little camera. But I did get one during the photo-op before the concert. So, without further ado, let me introduce to you the president of the Ateneo de Manila University, Fr. Bienvenido F. Nebres, SJ and Dr. Raul M. Sunico, Artistic Director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Dean of the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music and pianist extraordinaire.