There was one novitiate lecture that stayed in my reverie through the years.  We were – to use a more secular term – ‘marooned ‘ in the Dominican Novitiate of the Annunciation (the DNA as we fondly called it which, looking back, is the right biological term when you are...

All these years, I never really appreciated Father’s Day for the simple reason that I thought it didn't apply to me for the longest time until about nine months ago when I finally had a son myself.  I never thought of the folly of it until I came about a quotation...

Catherine of Siena and the Covid-19 Pandemic Some thinkers like Slavoj Zizek, in his most recent book, aptly entitled the Pandemic! COVID 19 Shakes The World, compared our present lot to a post-apocalyptic scenario in a doomsday movie. However, some of us are not fortunate enough to be just mere...

It has been a tradition in the Philippines, particularly around the vicinity of the Quiapo Basilica in Metro Manila, that Semana Santa (Holy Week) comes a week after the New Year revelry, or so it seems.  Thousands of the faithful descend to the venue quite popular as plagued by traffic...

Saint Patrick's Day in the United States has been traditionally regarded as "booze day" every particular weekend in March, that the public have been so used to the police and administrators of the metro urging folks to take the trains instead of insisting to drive home; and never to take...

Visita Iglesia is a practice steeped in tradition especially in the Philippines.  This is usually done during the Holy Thursday Vigil when the Holy Sacrament is transferred to the altar of repose. While not essentially part of the liturgy, this however has been widely accepted as popular piety.  The custom...

At the intersection of King and Bay Streets, a big yellow school bus full of kids stopped to unload its passengers.  Right behind the bus, motorists in private cars and Uber cab passengers grew impatiently weary as kids take their time leisurely from getting off the bus, oblivious to the...

This tradition is something unique to “30 Rock”, the moniker that produced a 2006-era sitcom. Where else but at 30 Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The event ushers in the start of the Yuletide season, with a little help from the dazzling sound-and-light display at the adjacent...

Like strangers in the night, the holidays are here creeping at our doorsteps! La Fiesta Dia de Gracia celebration is over now, so what is next? Eat the leftovers? Ouch! How long did you think those leftover dishes had been standing at room temperature, more than 2 hours? From the...

Afternoon overcast sky and isolated showers did not deter the Fuliga family. They’ve been doing this since Juanito, the head of the family, was aged two. Back then Juanito was still too wobbly to walk, getting by narrow pathways in between congested tombs. Accompanied by his parents, he was led...

“Inay, tapos na po ba?” ("Mom, is it done?") anxiously asked a seven-year old Mikay, her voice overwhelmed by the whirring of a sewing machine. “Mag-antay ka naman. Ang kulet kulet mo!” ("Can't you wait? You're so annoying!") shot back her mom, Nisa, irritated from the urging of her daughter....

In Canada, Halloween is observed every year on the night of October 31st. The fete was brought to Canada sometime in 1800s by Irish and Scottish immigrants. It was thought to have originated mainly as a Celtic celebration marking the division of the light and dark halves of the year when the...