I have moved on and God walked me through.

To recap and to really just want to refresh your memory, just for the heck of it yeah, (at least to those who may have found me online and those who have been following me all this time) that I joined the Benedictine Monastery of Christ in the Desert in Abiquiu NM, USA so I became monk in year 2002, took my Simple Vows in year 2003, and then completed my monastic formation in Simple Vows three years later.

In year 2006, I received monastic blessings from my Abbot Superior when I professed my Solemn-Perpetual monastic Vows. But I just want to remind you before I skip and totally forget it that prior to that, I have started blogging in year 2004 which is why my published posts were dated back in that particular year. In year 2008, my superior sent me to the Catholic Seminary of Saint Meinrad Theological Seminary in Indiana, USA to undergo Seminary studies and burn midnight candles to be able to get through  with my Priestly Formation Program.

I'm back on tracks and is up and running

remembering my community in Tohatchi

It is good to look back to where I came from as this allows me to keep moving with my life.... A group of friends from my previous community gathered  in a house enthronement with the Blessed Virgin Mary gracing the occasion. In the picture are all educators and mentors from different school districts of Gallup and Zuni, NM.

Good Friday graces

it was one of the challenging jobs ...

One of the challenging jobs that I was assigned to do in the monastery was to do the breakfast setup at night when everybody was already in their cells and were already asleep.

It was challenging because I needed to stay late at night in order to do the setup at the kitchen and refectory of the monastery.

The time i spent in setting for breakfast ate up my  sleeping time and therefore shortened my hours of sleep. This gave me a real trouble waking up at 3:30Am to prepare for the first prayers of the  day which was at 4:00AM.

in year 2006, I professed my Solemn monastic vows

The first stage for a prospective candidate is to live in our Guesthouse for a week to ten days; we might ask him to do this a few times before inviting him into the Cloister. Once in the monastery he will be expected to participate fully in the life of the community.

This stage is referred to as the Observership, and it usually lasts for a month or two depending on each individual case. Next comes the

cooking for the Religious

My experience as cook for four years inside the monastery has taught me the virtues of hope and charity. Everytime I was the cook, I would greatly pray and hope that the food which I will serve to the monks and guests of the community may taste appropriately acceptable if not good.
Before I came to the monastery in year 2002, I never knew how to cook. I relied my food from my housemaids in all those years that I lived with my mother in a  townhouse at the city.

It was only after I joined the monastery that I gradually learned how to cook. I acquired the virtue of being charitable because everytime I cook, I would greatly shed all my efforts in order to be able to satisfy their desire for a delicious food.

In my present life, I am able to use these virtues in dealing with the residents at the retirement home where I work. Thus, makes my work a little bit easier.