The Road to 40 Day 157/365: A New Experience in Faith

It was a pretty uneventful Monday, so let me tell a story about attending a Christian service on Sunday.

We’ve brought Vino to church on Sundays no matter where we are, but this one was going to be a different experience for him. For one, it was in a cinema, so at the onset, it was already a new vibe for him. eee

People were very warm as they greeted everyone coming in. Before heading in, we were introduced to someone who turned out to be one of the pastors who would share his faith in the service later.

The service started with a song, which immediately got Che emotional. She has a lot of silent battles lately, and the words of the song hit different for her. Meanwhile, Vino looked like he was paying attention to what was going on.

As we sat and listened to the pastor’s preaching, it was a bit more interactive than the usual homilies that Vino is used to. The pastor would often ask the people to say a word or turn to your seatmate and give words of affirmation. Each time, Vino complied and responded, which meant he was actually listening to what was being said. He even laughed at a subtle joke about Levi, so he wasn’t just sitting there staring blankly at the people in front.

It wasn’t my first time attending a Christian service. For the past couple of times I did, there were always goosebumps at some point, which I feel are because of the energy of the people there.

I remember during the height of Uncle Jun’s ordeal in the NBN-ZTE controversy, a pastor from Victory Ortigas reached out to me via direct messaging. He asked me to attend service and maybe talk in person afterwards. I didn’t get to talk to him, but while I went by myself, I never truly felt alone. It was an enlightening experience, to say the least.

I recalled this because I heard a stretch of bad homilies recently. We have a church that is close to our home, but we choose to go to a farther one because of the homilies of the priests in the former. I don’t have a word for it – maybe political, maybe too preachy, but the feeling was everyone else but them was living lives wrong.

The church we go to now was fine, but there are a couple of priests whose homilies I also didn’t appreciate because they exude a feeling that’s close to our other church. I told Che about it, which is maybe why she suggested we take up Steph’s invitation to attend their service.

Growing up, I believe my faith was saved by attending Don Bosco in Mandaluyong. Our priests offered guidance both in their homilies and outside the chapels. We sang our hearts out because we had bands play the songs instead of choirs. I’m talking about rock bands here, not brass bands.

Hearing mass then strengthened my faith because it was a celebration of faith, and not an avenue to push the ideologies and agendas of priests.

This was always the feeling of a Christian service, which is why I appreciate it. There are things happening in the world, and they acknowledge it, but they don’t shove their opinions about it during service. Maybe I just got lucky with the services that I’ve attended, but from my experience, I love that the preaching was always about faith, hope, and love, at least. No politics, no obnoxious personal opinions, just collective prayers for a better tomorrow.

The music is also inspiring, which to me is reminiscent to the feeling I got from Don Bosco mass celebrations.

I feel that the Catholic church is not growing precisely because it is stuck in its ways, and the changes they implemented are not exactly lighting the world up. Growing up, I remember the penitential act being recited near the start of the mass, but I don’t remember being taught to beat my chest in one part of it. And I honestly don’t know how that helps me in prayer.

After the homily, I was taught to recite the Apostle’s Creed, now it’s the Nicene Creed – similar, but not exactly said the same way. When singing Our Father, practically the only time you’d feel you’re a part of the community in a mass, we saw one of our churches have an advisory saying you shouldn’t hold hands anymore.

The closing song for the mass service at the church we go to is the Latin version of Hail, Holy Queen. No one speaks Latin anymore, and the only time I get to hear it is if we go to church.

Personally, I feel fine letting Vino experience this kind of service so that he won’t be too closed off to what he’s used to. I believe faith touches people differently, and if faith is something you don’t believe in, then what is it, really?

I want him to go to church for his reasons, not because I “force” him to. I hope that he will have a concept of a higher power that he can firmly believe in, no matter which ideology it is, as long as he chooses it. It may seem so un-Catholic of me, but I believe it will make his Sacrament of Confirmation all the more meaningful when that time comes.

At home, we asked Vino which church he prefers to go to more, and he said the church we usually go to would still be his choice. He said it felt more religious. He couldn’t explain it, and it’s probably he doesn’t have the vocabulary to describe it.

We’ll try to find catechism classes for him to get ready for communion, so we’ll see how that shapes his faith more.

Anyway, for the record, this Monday was uneventful because it was pretty much a waiting game for our trip to the Philippines. Che went to work but came home early for some last-minute preparations.

One memorable thing that happened was that she almost lost her phone after she left it in the toilet at Changi. Luckily, we were still in Singapore, so the staff helped her, and the phone was still exactly where she thought she left it. If it happened in the PH, we probably wouldn’t even hear it ring anymore.

We arrived at midnight in the Philippines, with Vino faling asleep on our way to the hotel. We’re looking forward to meeting some folks here during this short trip.