A journey around the parking lot

The Way of the Cross is a devotion that many Filipino Catholics go through during Lent, especially during Holy Week. So people can do this mini pilgrimage to the scenes of Christ's sufferings and death without disturbing those attending other Holy Week services inside the church, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish closed off its parking lot and set up the stations around it.

In her heart

This is the companion piece to the stained glass window featuring St. Ignatius of Loyola behind the altar of the chapel of the Loyola Retreat House in the town of Angono in Rizal Province. It is a depiction of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a devotion to Mary which focuses on her interior spiritual life. The 19th verse of the 2nd chapter of the Gospel of Luke, after Mary learns from the angel that she will soon be a mother, sums up the concept well: "And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." Quite appropriate for a spiritual retreat center.




Many countries, including the Philippines, are celebrating Mother's Day today. So, to all mothers: may you have a wonderful day filled with love and joy. And to everybody: no matter how flawed or imperfect our mothers are, they dedicated a large part of their lives to us—please tell them how much you appreciate that in any way you can.

Happy Mother's Day!

A staff to lean on

The two saints beside the stairs leading into the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish Church are Saint Anthony Mary Claret and Saint Jude Thaddeus. St. Anthony Claret is the founder of the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which runs this parish in Quezon City. St. Jude is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes, which makes him a very popular saint in the Philippines.

The reason for the season

The simple cross at the top of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish church, set off by bougainvillea which blooms throughout the year in the Philippines.

Happy Easter!

No vendors allowed here!

Vendors outside the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish church selling peanuts, corn, dried fish, suman and kakanin (Filipino delicacies usually made out of sticky rice), and palabok (a rice noodle dish). I guess the church's rule against vendors isn't very strict.

Elevated circle

Aside from Claret School, the Claretian Missionaries also have one parish in Quezon City: the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. The school and the church are beside each other. In fact, before the church was built, Masses for the community were held in the school's small chapel. I can't find any information about the church, but I remember (somewhat vaguely because I was still a kid then) that when it was constructed in the 1970s, the elevated, circular design was considered unique and people who saw it invariably went ooh-ing and ahh-ing. The church is still a work-in-progress after all these years, probably because construction expenses are paid for only by donations. The ground floor has the parish office and several chapels for holding wakes.

Balloon lady

The lady selling balloons just outside the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish church was nice enough to pose for me when she saw me trying to take her photo. Business must be good during Sundays, when entire families attend Masses at the church, but I hope she also does well during weekdays.

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I apologize for my sudden disappearance again. We had internet connection problems the entire week! Everything's okay now, thank goodness.

Life

According to the plaque beside it, this statue of Mary and the child Jesus in front of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish church in Quezon City is dedicated to the Dignity of Life—the unborn, babies and children.

Knowledge and virtue

The coat of arms of Claret School of Quezon City includes the motto of the school, Scientia maxime cum virtute, which means "Knowledge is best with virtue." Their website explains that "This phrase has been adopted by the school as its own motto to embody the search for knowledge and the promotion of intellectual growth, which is made more sublime with the practice of virtue." The school is named after its patron, Saint Anthony Mary Claret, who founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1849 in the city of Vic in Spain.

Claret

Claret School of Quezon City is a private school founded in 1967 and managed by the Claretian Missionaries of the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is named after its patron saint and the founder of the congregation, St. Anthony Mary Claret. It has a preschool, grade school and high school. Except for 3 to 4 year-old girls accepted in the preschool, Claret School is exclusively for boys. Actually, most private elementary and secondary schools in Metro Manila are either for girls only or for boys only. Most of them are run by religious congregations too.

Two hearts

It is not unusual to find religious tiles on the walls of houses in Manila representing the particular devotion of the family living within. This tile shows a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Renewal

Our three-day spiritual retreat this year was held at Bukal ng Tipan (literally, bukal means "spring" and tipan means "meeting" and the sense of the phrase is "wellspring of community"), a retreat house and spirituality center in the town of Taytay in Rizal province run by the Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae (CICM, Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary).




The most striking feature of the building is its glass-enclosed spiral staircase with four story-high posts hung with capiz shell lanterns.




More than the building, however, the true gift of Bukal ng Tipan is its profusion of trees and plants, with this magnificent acacia tree dominating the center of the garden.

Twenty for half

An itinerant fruit vendor on the sidewalk outside the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish church was selling green mangoes, sampaloc (tamarind), and kamote (sweet potato). Green mangoes are sour and those who like them eat them with bagoong (fish or shrimp paste) or sea salt. Tamarind is also sour but it can be candied, and the fruit is also used for the soup base of one of our most popular dishes, sinigang. It was the tamarind that was selling for twenty pesos (less than 50 US cents) for half a kilo.

Slow day

This sidewalk vendor had positioned his stall in front of Claret School and the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish Church. He was selling mostly small, inexpensive plastic toys. He must earn a lot during school days and Sundays, but since it was a weekday holiday when I took this, he must have spent the entire day just 'texting.'