Official Seal of JPII Minor Seminary

The John Paul II Minor Seminary of the Diocese of Antipolo opened 3 years ago to promote more vocations to the priesthood among the young people.  It was also in response to the growing number of boys wanting to experience God's call to them, even at a young age.

This is the official seal of the said seminary which I designed - integrating the papal seal (to represent Pope John Paul II) and a stylized image of Our Lady of Antipolo on top of 'tipolo' leaves (coming from the design of the official coat-of-arms of the Diocese of Antipolo).  The wheat and grapes symbolizes the Eucharist and the priestly ministry.  Imposed on the seal is the motto of St. John Paul II, "Totus Tuus" (All Yours).  It is highlighted as it gives challenge to the seminarians to ready themselves to surrender everything to God.  The cross symbolizes Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd and the Lord of the Harvest.

Two Logos for the Silver Jubilee

For the 25th Anniversary of the foundation of the Diocese of Antipolo, I was asked by the Diocesan Jubilee Commission to create 2 designs of logos that would represent the celebration  -- our story, yearnings and vision of our diocese when we celebrated the silver jubilee last 25 June 2008.  With its 25 years of good voyage, we were challenged to venture into "deeper seas" with Mary...

Vocation Cards for the Diocese of Antipolo

The Antipolo Diocesan Vocations Office (ADVoc), for the past 4 years, have asked the help of OP Communications, 
(a Makati-based advertising firm) to conceptualize and design its new promotional materials for vocation campaigns among the young people.   This card is an attempt to revolutionize the vocation campaign methods in the Diocese of Antipolo.

ITLOG, MA-LING, SINANGAG, ATBP. (Reflections on my birthday)

Some of my friends made my day! I don't usually take breakfast at our refectory. I just have crackers and a glass of juice in my room. So, after morning prayers. I started to go through this usual routine. As I was preparing to eat, I heard some knocks at my door. Lo and behold - and to my surprise - I saw them standing at my door, singing a "happy birthday" song, and with one of them (a Korean priest) holding a tray of food...Wow! Pritong itlog, apat na pirasong Ma-Ling (o Spam?) at mainit-init na sinangag (fried eggs, some pieces of meat and fried garlic rice). Truly, it is my birthday! And they did that to celebrate with me!

The rest of the day was equally an experience of many blessings. I was greeted with wide smiles and endless greetings of "tanti auguri" left and right (mind you, it was not that my companions never smiled before, but there was the feeling that all the more were they making me feel loved and cared for!). At the mass which I celebrated with two other Filipino priests and three seminarians (1 Filipino and 2 Polish), I felt a big joy of having reached another year. I could only utter simple words of thanks to God whose love has been wonderfully and concretely manifested to me in so many ways!

Then I began to receive more -- greeting cards from my mother, the rest of my family and friends. Checking on my email, I was overwhelmed by the countless messages sent to me, both simple greetings and words of deep affection...

I told myself that this special day of mine would also be celebrated through efforts of giving myself to others. As I worked in the cleaning of our house, I remembered to thank God for the gift of life that was shared to me through my parents. I also began to remember the people who journeyed with me. Yes, each one of them are manifestations of the blessing of life given to me. I could not thank God enough for their presence in my life. I just hope I have become a gift to each one!

If my "birthday breakfast" started with one of those "Jollibee-like" menu, I tried to end it in a style any Filipino would like (especially if this Filipino misses his country deeply). Together with my Filipino companions, we prepared "pansit bihon" (chinese pasta) and "sinigang na isda" (fish-tamarind broth). This was surely a hit among my companions, especially those from Korea, Brazil and Portugal! The food trip had a "sossy" (high class) touch on it! As we had difficulty finding the equivalent ingredients in it, we had to replace it with what we had here. Imagine, for our "pansit" we put in turkey as its meat content, and for the "sinigang" we had baby shark meat! Beat that!

What went on during the meal was a complete surprise for me! Other Filipinos dropped by to greet me (they also brought along with them gifts of stuff toys, wine, cake and ice cream). The other Filipinos who could not come surprised me with a phone call from their house and greeted me with exhilarating songs. A short but family-like program of songs, dances and games were experienced by all! Included also was the thrill of being serenaded the "Happy Birthday" song in around 10 languages!

At the end of the day, in the stillness of my room, I could only say simple words of "thank you, Jesus, for You have given me so much!" God truly made Himself present...yes, and I was very happy -- I am in joy!

"Pritong itlog, Ma-Ling at sinangag" to start my birthday celebration with! Ah, it was not simply about that Filipino breakfast food that made my day. The food perhaps became a symbol (an excuse, even!) of what God wants me to have a fill of -- it was that gift of people, time and experiences coming as a donation from Him as I celebrated LIFE!

Grazie a Dio! Salamat sa Diyos! Thanks to God!

(This was a blog published last 2 April 2009 in my Multiply site as a personal reflecton on my past birthday celebration.)

THE GAMES THAT I PLAY...

I'm still a kid at heart! And I like to play games. In fact, I enjoy a good game whenever I am invited to one, no matter how simple it is. I think it's in the fun and excitement that a game brings that make me embrace it...and that makes me want to be a kid forever. However, my experiences of recent weeks (months, even) made me doubt as to whether I can really enjoy well a game or two.

Life can be seen as a game - one that is highlighted by different sets of rules, the matter of winning or losing at the end of each experience, the people who becomes part of the game of life... This game called life challenges me to do many things. At many moments, it pushes me to the limits. And it hurts...it brings a lot of pain, at times...like when a guy playing basketball who accidentally gets punched at by a player of the other team; like a long-distance runner who, running towards the finish line, suddenly shouts in pain because of cramps; like a swimmer who could not just cope with other faster swimmers; like a kid who could not always have the ball to himself, but continues to long for one.

As I said, I enjoy playing games. But the game of life did not appeal to me so much these days. What am I feeling right now? It is all those examples that I have given, perhaps even more. Where am I right now? How do I describe these moments? It is like being in a "spiritual roller-coaster" ride. But roller coasters are supposed to bring out the fun and joy in people!?! The excitement of the many various ups and downs, the circles and turns, the motion and velocity...are these not a thrill to enjoy?

My roller coaster ride has not been all fun. Certainly, I desire for the thrill and enjoyment of the play. But I am in pain. There have been moments marked by serenity, tranquility, and a constant discovery of all that is good. But I live now a bumpy ride. I feel like either I'd be thrown off my roller coaster car or that it would be derailed. I keep on wondering why, when during this year of grace in Italy - when I am supposed to be more spiritually enriched and in deep touch with the presence of God - I feel so spiritually poor. I have felt so much this poverty when I could not grasp God working in my life in all its concreteness. I am even not so sure whether I am living well my life to the full. And I do have a lot of questions!

I am not in a habit of spiritualizing things. Thus, I don't entertain much thoughts about having to see all my experiences in a spiritual perspective. But I also, and surely,m do not want to lose touch of any experiences of the Divine. Perhaps I am in a process - but one which has not been so clear, yet.

This is the game that I play now. I don't want to think that I am losing. And I do not want to lose. What am I to do? Perhaps I simply have to make a step...small ones even...one moment at a time. Winning a game comes from an experience of pain because of a point not being counted in one's favor; of not being able to understand sometimes its rules; of not being able to win all the competition I have entered into.

I am still living difficult moments. But I don't want to quit. Not now, not ever. I think I can still enjoy a game or two. Perhaps all the ones that will come...still. There is the child in me... Did I not believe in this?

(This was originally published as a blog in my multiply site on 17 April 2009.)

COMING HOME...

     It is just a matter of thirty-five days (as I write this) before I return to the Philippines. There are a lot of mixed emotions within me -- an air of both sadness and joy hovers in my midst. And I think this is quite understandable, especially when the feeling comes from a Filipino.

     I become sadder by the day as I count the number of days left of my stay here in Italy. I know I will miss this country so much. I have considered this as my home for the past ten months. And mind you, I have really grown into the life of this wonderful place!

     I am now starting to remember, and count the days...

. . . of the first day I had here (August 5, 2008, to be exact), and how hot it was (not warm, but boiling hot!) when I stepped outside Rome's Fiumicino Aeroporto. The idea of living in Italy did not help at all in easing the impatience I had. It was a disillusionment right on the first day. It was as if a great Italian experience was being negated by bad realities -- with one of the rollers of my heavy luggage-bag having gone to God-knows-wherever, my confused state at the airport because I was being pointed at wrong directions, the priest who was to pick me up being late (only because he also was given wrong directions), and, of both of us communicating as if we were two mute guys speaking in sign language since I spoke perfectly my English while he proudly displayed his proficiency in the Italian language! What an adventure it was for me!

. . . of the first persons I met with in Italy -- an Argentinian, a Korean, a German, a Colombian, a Slovenian and another from Uganda. Why? Where were the Italians? I was in Italy, right? Yes, I saw them in the streets driving lazily along the many roads leading to nowhere... But where are the ones whom I am supposed to stay with to know their country -- their language, their food, their life and culture? Little did I realized that I came in the middle of the summer season when all Italians were on vacation somewhere in the north to cool off, or are hiding inside their own homes not bothering so much to come out (so that others would not find out that they don't have enough to spend for their vacation). Ah, so that was why I came to Italy at a moment when it was "invaded" by foreigners!

. . . of my first attempts to converse. This is the episode of my life here that can be compared to a modern-day "telenovela" with its share of madnesss and sadness, of jeers and tears, and of shame, again and again! After all of these months of formal language school and otherwise, what have I learned of the language? Practically, nothing! What have I spoken? Save for some words and phrases, here and there, you can bestow on me the title, "a shame for Filipinos in Italy." What have I understood? If we were to base it on our grading system in the Philippines, is 70% good enough? In front of my companions, I unburdened myself. I cried to my hearts' content. And I could only wonder, why in my deep desire to speak and understand Italian, I will be coming home with practically a five-year old child's vocabulary and grammar of Italian! Many times, I envy a lot the children who play in our garden here shouting "che gioia!" or "bellissima!" As for me, I think I will forever be contented with these memorized words of "Io non parlo bene l'italiano!" Did I say that right? I don't even know if I did!

. . . of the many trips we did for our monthly "passeggiata" -- Pisa, Florence, Rome, Bologna, Siena, La Verna, Padova, Assisi, Trent, and a "million" other places to die for! I can't just imagine that I'd be in places an ordinary Filipino would simply enjoy in travel books and postcards. I felt the immensity and grandeur of these places...which sometimes brought me to near-tears! Oh, if only I could bring those monumental churches, paintings, sculptures and cobbled roads back to the Philippines! The richness of those sights only led me to say, "thank God, I am here!" What a life! Don't worry, I will not see you in a bad light if you "salivate" over my experence of touring all over the vast Italian landscape!

. . . of being overwhelmed by the vast selection of pizza and pasta that comes before my eyes and mouth day after day! This never fails to fill-up my hungry stomach to the max! This does not include still the daily selection of various meat products, vegetables and fruits that truly satisfy all my senses. Olive oil is so common here that this will put to shame the possible "scandal" in our country of spending too much to buy such kind of oil! Too good is the food here that I think I have totally converted myself to eating pasta for the rest of my life! But come to think of it, I still miss my mother's sinigang and nilaga...

. . . of all the great people, places and experiences of Italy that will be totally embedded in my heart and soul. All of these brought new insights into my life. They made me understood things in ways I never thought I would havehad. I saw things in better perspectives, especially in terms of cultures and ways of living. I would have been more impoverished without this experience!

     But as the old adage goes, "all tings must come to an end." I am beginning the movement of detachment. Hard as it may be, I am readying myself to lose the immensity of Italy . . . and I am sad. Thank God it is not a sadness that is in a negatative form. It is a sadness that says I need to detach myself from what has become the norm of life for these past months, and move on to newer, and perhaps beter things in store for me.

     This is life! Wasn't it that just about a year ago, I moved away from what has been fondly remembered experiences in the Philippines? I also lost those wonderful moments to come here in Italy. I was also sad then and uncertain of what lay ahead. But I was able to conquer a lot -- more so, my very own self!

From sadness to joy!

     I will be back . . . I am going back home . . . soon! And for all I know, this might be the greatest experience of transition in my life. I have always said in front of my companions here that since I have gotten used to the Italian life, going back to the Philippines will be another jump -- from the "known to the unkown," from "certainty to uncertainty," from "white to gray," from "security to insecurity."

What lies ahead? I don't know! I am not even sure of many things. Will I have a new parish? Will I be able to get back to what I have been used to doing? What new realities will I be facing? How will I be able to cope with the changes that I will be confronted with? Sadness. Confusion. Nervousness. Fear. Ah! What strange thoughts!!!

     I am going back and new things are "up ahead" on me! And this is really all that matters.

     Now, I can count the days . . .

. . . when I will see again my family (especially my mom and my cute niece, Isa)! How much I have missed them and would have wanted to embrace them when I got to speak with them even for a short moment (if only we were not prevented by the fact that I was talking to them over the telephone).

. . . when I can get back and see again my friends, parishioners and brother priests. They never failed to remind me that I am coming back still. With their constant updates (with sometimes shocking ones), funny and sarcastic greetings (that made me wonder at times why I ever met them in the first place), stories of all sorts (even those I am not supposed to hear or know), I know I will really be back home with them!
. . . when I can see and enjoy once more the beauty of my country. I have never failed to be proud of our country inspite of the many things that we don't have or lack as compared to the modernity of Europe. The Philippines will forever be my country -- with all its greatness and immensity! How I wish to be back soon to Baguio, Cebu, Boracay, Davao and all the rest of the country which I have learned to love and admire. By the way, whenever one of my companions here would start talking about or show a promotional video of his country, I would immediately counter it with the video of "WOW, Philippines!" That would then silence everyone!

. . . when I can assume again the experiences I left behind in the Philippines -- even with the difficulties and problems that is part of life back home. I don't think I will be able to survive without all these seemingly "ugly" things surrounding my life. But they certainly color my existence! Whatever will come, life already comes in all colors of the rainbow.

. . . when I will come back home. With that reality, I know I can return to the normalcy of life, and with a readiness to face everything -- perhaps even those which I have come to be afraid of.

     This is now what gives me joy! Thanks to a fondly remembered experience of Italy, I will now be able to move ahead to the great frontiers (ah, such a big word!) that awaits me. With all the treasures that I carry in my soul and with much gratitude in my heart, I will be returning home.

     Yes, at home where my heart is!