"Portraits of Glory and Decay" by Pando

Galeon de Manila (1565-1815)

Fort Santiago

Intramuros, Manila (1590)

Shroud of Turin

Secondo Pia (1898)

Agustinian Emblem (Osa) Retablo

Tigbauan Church Façade, Iloilo (1867)

Santa Monica Church

Minalin, Pampanga (1834) 

Iglesia Catolica Del Sta. Cruz

Maribojoc, Bohol (1852)

Iglesia de San Pedro Apostol

Loboc, Bohol (1734)

Nuestra Senora de la Luz

Loon, Bohol (1855)

Nuestra Senora de Los Remedios

Malate, Manila (1588)

Basilica dela Immaculada Concepcion

Manila Cathedral Intramuros, Manila (1581-1954)

San Juan de Sahagun

Tigbauan, Iloilo (1578)

Pieta

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Cologne Cathedral

Cologne, Germany (1248-1880)

Santo Tomas de Villanueva

Miag-ao Church, Iloilo (1578)

San Agustin Church

Intramuros. Manila (1571-1578) WHS

San Agustin Church

Intramuros. Manila  (1607)

Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion Bell Tower

Santa Maria Church, Ilocos Sur (1660-1820) WHS

Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion

Santa Maria Church, Ilocos Sur (1660-1820) WHS

La Sagrada Familia

Barcelona, Spain (1926-2026)

Notre Dame Cathedral

Paris, France (1163-1345)

North Rose Window

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

Wings of Saint Michael, the Archangel

San Guillermo de Aquitania

Dalaguete Church Façade, Cebu (1802)

La Virgen de Las Perlas de Oriente

La Virgen de Las Perlas de Oriente

The irony of life.

Just when your are leaving

you found a reason to stay.

Feels like I will be going home with my heart staying behind in Manila.

But I'll be okay, leaving everything in God's hands and trusting that He is in full control.

I offer my heart to Him.. And I offer Him this person I am leaving behind.charot!

1st day of board exam.

I was excited and nervous at the same time. My day started beautifully though, given that my crush took a picture of me, we'll okay, he took a class picture with me in it. I came into the examination room and took the exam with the realization that God knows what's best for me, and so whether I pass or fail, or be a top notcher in the board exam, He will be with me whatever happens. And besides, passing the board exam is successful in the world's eyes, but God asks not for our successes nor our excellence but only for our all.. 

I have less than fifty percent sure answers in the board exam.. But i am very, very blessed!

P.S. Quenny and I were able to discover the Shrine of the Holy Face of Jesus. It was a very simple house of worship but it was very serene and the place really feels like home to me.

Sometimes all we need is a ray of sunshine...

This morning, while Quenny and I attended mass at Quiapo church, we saw a guy passionately singing along with the choir. Amidst the commotion all over the church (because it's communion time), he was still and calm holding a fragile child close to him. The child, I have observed, was about six or seven and is suffering from hydrocephalus. The child was gazing nowhere while his father was fixing his eyes towards Jesus carrying a heavy cross. The joy he brings while singing the song shows a love so deep it is oblivious of the scorn people may give him bringing his suffering child. The joy while singing shows his undying hope of the healing that Christ will soon generously give to his son. 

I felt pity for them, more for the father. They don't look so well off and I've thought about the times he cared and nursed the child. It must have been really challenging to maturely deal with his son's needs. But what I've realized was that this challenge for them was actually showing all people a testimony of pure love. And that instead of thinking of ways to help them, I was suddenly grateful for being a witness to this burst of sunshine manifested in the father's love for his son.

Nonetheless, they need our prayers.

God bless you, all!

#25thanniversaryoftheFalloftheBerlinWall

composed by Paolo Alba

#29daystogo
#excitedtotaketheexam
#hopeful
#thankGod!

how high and how wide,
how deep and how long..
how sweet and how strong is Your love, O Lord..

may you fill me with every good intention and a pure love that looks beyond other people's shortcomings... may i have a heart like mama Mary's.. :)

Churches in Laguna, Philippines

San Pablo Church

St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish

In Calamba

Sometimes I ponder about the efforts I have spent in building this blog and writing these posts. I wonder what these posts and reflections and drawings and pictures and quotes and articles are for... There is uncertainty. I am not sure how long blogger.com would last and how long they would save and publish my posts. I am not sure what would happen to my blog when I die. I am not sure if anybody reads and is positively affected by my posts. After all, I am just one among the millions of bloggers in the world. I realize this is not for eternity!

What are all these for? 

The least that we could do for the incomprehensible eternity is to proclaim God's love. Whether my posts last only for one generation, or for a decade or for one day more, I could always choose to be the seed that falls to the ground and dies... the seed that dies to itself to do the work God calls it to do... the seed, who in its dying, loses itself, and upon losing itself, finds its whole identity and life's meaning in the love of God. And dying, the seed grew to bear fruit, some twenty, some a hundred. But no matter how little, it was able to bear fruit. No matter how insignificant, this blog, I believe, was able to do the work required of it. And just like rain that comes down from the sky to water the Earth and make the crops grow, so also will be God's Word - it will not fail to do the what the Lord plans for it; it will do everything God sends it to do. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

God loves you. Bask in His love. Share the love. ;)

A drawing a day is healthy for me (and for you, dear)

"Though there are times when we are sad or lonely, 

there in our hearts is a joy that can never be taken away from us - the joy of knowing and loving Christ."

#Godlovesyou

#kKbbh

#letscountourblessings

#letsshareourblessings