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.

breakfast at 4:45am

Waking up at 3:30am is just a normal and usual time that the monks in my community(including me) wake up for the first prayers at 4:00Am. Immediately after Vigils, I had to go to the dining room (called the refectory) to assist the monks in their early morning breakfast.
This experience was a tough one and taught me the virtues of patience and perseverance. Today, I would say, I have the right amount of patience and perseverance in dealing with the rudiments of my work as director of activities in a retirement home in North Hollywood.

the crossroad of life

The day was quiet. There were no clouds up the sky. The temperature was neither hot nor cold. It was a very fine day. It was a weekend. I was taking a walk to the 24-Hour fitness gym nearby my apartment and happened to meet an old friend way way back in the Philippines when I was still teaching in San Beda College Grade School. She was on her way to Wal-mart for a weekend shopping.

We had a nice conversation. In the course of our exchanging of updates, she would address me as Dom Lawrence, and she was all excited from her stories reminiscing our days as co-workers in San Beda College. 

Ditas is her first name and we became friends in the course of time because in my frequent visits to the library, she was the one who  would gladly assist me in the reference books that I could borrow for the day. It was one day  in year 2001 when she suddenly did not report  at  the schools' library anymore and from then on, I never heard from her until this day at the crossroad. 

Who would have thought that we will cross our paths at the crossroad of Van Nuys and Roscoe after so long a time. Ditas lives nearby St Genevieve parish Church and is very active in the Church as choir member.

living the life

One of the many teachings that I learned from my superior when I was still in the monastery, was to learn how to adapt and empathize with those who were experiencing difficult moments in their life. One resident in the facility where I work, was having difficulty accepting the outcomes in his present life. By the way, he is Mexican and a ninety-three year old guy. His past glories in his life included a champ in the lightweight boxing in Mexico (years and years ago). At times, he would tell me that he wanted to go to the gym and spend time in practicing his boxing skills. One time, he was up earlier than the usual and went to the lobby looking for the boxing stage. I had to redirect him and invited him instead to go to the activity center and sit for a tv-watch.

ramblings

It is just one trivial day today. There were no rains. The temperatures are becoming more unbearable now. Here in the Valleys California, we had temperatures of up to 99° in the afternoons before the slow cooling down began at nightfall. Now the temperatures are between 85° and 95° and that is a lot easier to live with.

Life is often a series of challenges outside a monastery and particularly when a former monk has to get something done working hard for his own living and his family's! That is how these rambling writings come to you. Outside the monastery, life is not that easy and is indeed complicated and not many of the brothers inside a monastery realize that until they themselves try to live it outside the Cloister. An ex monk must pass through all these challenges and know how to make life work. The virtue of patience and the virtue of perseverance kick in.

blue sea

I have always loved going to the beach for a swim in the sea or walk at the seashore. In summer of year 2001, I went to Mindoro island for a day of beach walking, swimming and seafood delight. This was the last time I went to the beach because in February of the next year, I flew to the USA and joined the monastery.

fireworks

Fireworks in SM Mall of Asia. Very memorable to me. Very romantic to me. Very dear to me was with me this night to watch the fireworks at the baywalk back of the complex. Whenever I see fireworks, I remember this night with my one and only woman in my life.

starting over

This was the day when  I left the Philippines after staying with my mother for nearly  six months beginning January. This was the day when I considered starting my life over after deciding not to continue with my seminary studies and not come back to Saint Vincent  anymore. This was the day when I decided to plan to settle in California upon arriving in the US.
The rest of what happened to me was a history and a story of  test on faith, hope and love of God.

trip to Albuquerque City

It is good to remember the good old days. I remember the day I drove myself to Albuquerque City. My superior assigned me to pick up a monk-brother at Albuquerque airport whose arrival from Vietnam was at 9:00Pm mountain Time. So I got myself ready early morning after the Mass and then left the community for Albuquerque.
The monastery was a four-hour drive to Albuquerque and so anyone who has any appointment to this city needed to leave the monastery at 7:00Am or so.
I enjoyed driving because the roads to the city from the monastery don't get heavily trafficked all day long.

chicken and rice

A combination of fried chicken and plain steamed rice has been my favorite food ever. When I was still in the Philippines, my week would never be completed without me eating fried chicken and steamed rice from the fast food chain that made this combination popular all over the country. 

When I left the Philippines in  year 2002 and joined a Religious community of Benedictines in New Mexico USA, this food combination was one in the list of  those that "I MISSED THE FOLLOWING SO TERRIBLY..." My yearnings for fried chicken and steamed rice grew stronger especially after discovering that not one branch of this fast food chain was operating in Sta Fe or any city for that matter in New Mexico. So, everytime I would go back home to my country for my 26-day family visit, I would never miss going to the nearest branch of this  fast food chain for a fried chicken and cup of  plain rice.

Now that I am settled at Panorama in California, chicken and rice is just a mile away from my place of residence and it is not that expensive because a plate of two-piece fried chicken with plain rice costs me $6.75 inclusive of tax. I feel like I am just home.

face the wall

 I took eighteen credits in MA in Theology at the seminary of St. Vincent in Pennsylvania.
It was in year 2009, middle of the Fall semester. The courses I was taking were tough especially Latin. I found out that studying foreign language in the later (I was 53 years old then) years of one's life  was indeed a challenging one. My seminary-life was a test of resilience and perseverance.

There was one unique practice,though it may be strange to others, that I learned before I began studying. I learned such practice while I was still  at own community in New Mexico.

This practice was taught to me by the counselor who helped me in preparation for my entry to the seminary in year 2008 for my priesthood formation.

It was the practice of facing the wall and staring at the wall every time I would get overwhelmed by the turnabout of events for the day and the thoughts of  forthcoming events that I had to deal with in the next days to come.

So, I spent the whole semester  facing the wall, staring at it and then leaning against it every time I would reflect on the outcome of the day's event and planning what to do next in the next days to come in my seminary-life.

never too old...

Helping seniors make their leisure time amazingly spent is making them do amazing things.

In the retirement home where  I work as director of activities, I never get tired of  encouraging the residents to do things, amazing things that make sense in their life in their senior years.

One activity that I introduced to them just this recently was the creation of hobbies and interest clubs. These clubs cater to their hobbies and interests and anything they would want to do in their leisure time.

Drawing and painting was one of their favorite ones. Also, there were some who loved to do knitting and crocheting, so, I grouped them into their kind of skill shown.

With me moderating their skills and activities, it was just amazing that they were really good at their craft. Other activities where they're very good at  were cross stitching, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, sewing, pastel painting, water color drawing, story writing, dancing and singing, photography, and social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) and computer softwares.

I just want to clarify that I am referring to seniors  in their  90's.

I must say, it is really never too old for them to do such amazing things in their life.

the most challenging monastic job throughout my entire monastic life

To top it all, being bellringer assigned for the whole week was the most difficult and challenging monastic job ever assigned to me when I was Junior monk of the community of Benedictine monks of the monastery Abbey of Christ in the desert of New Mexico.

I considered it the worst and most challenging one because as bellringer assigned for the week, one must wake up much earlier than the usual waking of the community brothers which was at 3:50Am for the first prayers scheduled at 4:00AM.

The bellringer of the week must wake up at least 3:30Am to do the first wake ringing of the Cloister bell at 3:40Am and then at 3:50Am for the follow up wake-up bell. Then immediately after the ringing of the follow-up wake up bell, he must run fast to the belfry to ring it for 30 times and then followed by the lighting of the candles inside the Church.

During winter and cold season, the bellringer must light the fireplace first (firewood set in fire with gas) before anything else as the firewood burning takes time. So this means to say that he must wake up earlier than 3:30Am to set the Church fire.

My experience as bellringer taught me so much about this virtue called
P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E   and being humble in my disposition towards life.

Well, it paid off so much because now that I am with the world of people- I just really have to pull such virtue and such disposition that calls me to apply humility to every situation that I encounter in relation with my work as  Activity Director of a retirement home facility in North Hollywood.

gym workout

Doing workout at the gym has been my personal way of life since I was in the Philippines many years ago. I was still in my late thirties when I began going to the gym. I still remember the gym facility which was located near the vicinity of San Juan De letran in Intramuros, Manila.

 I was, then, renting a small room in Flores Building at the back of Manila Cathedral and that made sense why I chose that gym facility nearby.

When I joined the monastery, my body system was painfully craving for the workouts that I used to do and so I requested my superior to provide me a set of gym equipment. I was glad he allowed me to buy some equipment. I got benchpress, a set of barbels and dumbbells.

When I left the monastery in 2010, my body still craved for the regular workouts. I tried to do alternative physical exercises but it didn't suffice the body aches and physical lethargy that I was experiencing. My energy level went down. I became prone to colds virus and experienced  muscular degeneration. 

Because of this experience, I made a decision. It was in year 2010 when I decided to enroll in a gym facility near the apartment where I lived. 

Now, this year is my 4th year of membership in the 24-Hour Fitness Gym in Panorama City.