Shrine of Jesus, Shrine of St. Therese and Santuario de San Antonio Parish: Visita Iglesia Thirteen and Fourteen

"Jesus' body is removed from the cross."

(Deposition or Lamentation)

Shrine of Jesus, the Way the Truth and the Life
Pope John Paul II Youth Center
Reclamation Area, Pasay City
It was consecrated and dedicated on July 9, 1999 by the late Eminence Jaime L. Cardinal Sin, DD; The land and the church was donated and built by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Sy Sr., of the Shoe Mart Group of Companies. whose love for the Youth is of the same fervor and intensity as the Holy Father.

Jesus on the Facade

Grandiosity

In contrast

"Jesus is laid in the tomb and covered in incense."

SHRINE OF ST. THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS AND COLUMBARIUM
Newport Blvd, Villamor, Pasay City
The primary influence of the design of the Shrine is the Reliquary of St. Thérèse. The building is shaped like a cross, as most Shrines are, with a long nave and two shorter transepts. The Shrine’s architectural style is Classical Contemporary, with a column-less interior and sleek, rounded lines.

The facade

The ceiling and the altar

The stained glass in strong contrast

Santuario de San Antonio Parish
McKinley Road, Forbes Park, Makati City
Canonically erected in 1975, Santuario de San Antonio was built by the Franciscans when their original church in Intramuros of Manila was ruined by the ravages caused by World War II towards its end. As soon as the new santuario or sanctuary was constructed, a statue of Saint Anthony was transferred from the original church in Intramuros, which managed to resist the bombing effect of the war. Posh and rich families of Manila, specially from Forbes Park and Dasmarinas Village, choose this church for observing various events,

The grandiose

25 years!

That was it, seventeen churches in two days, whew!!!

Seeing these churches really does give us the sense of pride over the richness of our culture depicted in churches, old and new. Until the next outing. Ciao!

Credits for Shrine of Jesus info.

Credits for Shrine of St. Therese info.

Credits for Santuario de San Antonio info.

Sta. Clara de Montefalco Church and Church of Gesù: Visita Iglesia Seven

"Jesus falls the second time."

Sta. Clara de Montefalco Parish Church
C. Raymundo Ave, Caniogan, Pasig City
Erected on January 10, 1994 with it's titular saint, St. Claire of Montefalco which celebrates its feast day on August 17.

I love the dome!

The facade

The altar and the aisle

Saint fountain

Church of the Gesù
Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City
Erected on 30th of September 2001, designed by Jose Pedro Recio and Carmelo Casas,  the Church of the Gesù's (Italian: Chiesa del Gesù; Italian pronunciation: [ˈkjɛːza del dʒeˈzu]) edifice’s massive triangular structure symbolizes the Holy Trinity. Its shape and design is also meant to suggest the outstretched arms of the Sacred Heart, and the traditional Filipino bahay kubo.

In darkness there's light

Inside, less is more

IHS

The stone font

The moon in full form

Next day, Barasoain Church of the the Bulacan leg.

Credits for Sta. Clara de Montefalco Church info.
Credits for Church of the Gesu info.

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church and Morong Church: Visita Iglesia Five and Six

"Simon of Cyrene carries the cross."

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish Church
Broadway St., New Manila, Quezon City
In Dec. 30, 1954, the cornerstone for the church was blessed by Archbishop Vagnozzi. This church is favored for weddings, with its large, ornate array of stained glass windows, the church is romantic as it is serene.

The church's grandiosity



In baroque-like fashion



The long aisle you want to walk someday,
if you're the bride.

A station of the cross on a pillar



Beautiful stained glasses, to die for

In contrast

"Veronica wipes the face of Jesus."

Morong Church
St. Jerome Parish Church
Iglesia de San Geronimo
Morong, Rizal
Constructed in 1615 by Chinese craftsmen, this neo-baroque wonder of Rizal province boasts of its octagonal bell tower and it’s intricate baroque facade. The church houses the 1st class relic of St. Jerome.



The grandiosity

the intricate facade



Christ at the cross

The Jesuses



St. Jerome praying

In contrast

Next stop, Sta. Clara de Montefalco Church and Church of Gesu.

Credits for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church info.
Credits for Morong Church info: Habagat Central and Wikipedia

Sto. Domingo Church and Santissimo Rosario Church: Visita Iglesia One and Two

Happy Easter everybody! Last month, my and my friends planned to have a holy week vacation in Puerto Galera, or probably to the more proximal Batangas beaches to relax and unwind. It was a much needed getaway since we seldom see each other these past few weeks due to busy work schedule. But how can one relax in a crowded beach where everybody wants to have fun and party at night. As traditional and conservative as it may seem, a Visita Iglesia (latin for Church Visit) is more apt. For those who doesn't know how that works, it is simply visiting one, seven or fourteen churches and praying the 14 stations of the cross, spread among the visited churches if 7 or 14.  Our original plan is to visit the Bulacan churches first thing in the morning on a Maundy Thursday, but we barely left northern Manila because the traffic is already thick. We headed back to Quezon City and had our first church.

"Jesus is condemned to death."

Sto. Domingo Parish Church
National Shrine of the Queen of the Holy Rosary
Quezon Ave., Quezon City
Founded in 1941 in Manila and 1951 in Quezon City. Houses the Marian image of La Naval.

The church's facade

An angel font

The alter and the aisle.

Stained glass depicting Christ's crucifiction.

"Jesus accepts the cross."

Santissimo Rosario Parish Church
University of Santo Tomas Chapel
University of Santo Thomas, Espana, Manila
Manila Archbishop Michael O’Doherty canonically inaugurated the UST Chapel into the Santisimo Rosario Church on April 26, 1942.

The church's facade.

Church bells in modern mounting.

Truly pontifical, Sancti Thomae Aquinatis.

Simple and solemn.

Sun marble pavement.

Next stop, San Sebastian Church, St. Jude Church and the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat.

Credits for Sto. Domingo Parish Church info.
Credits for Santissimo Rosario Parish Church info.

Summer Addict Mode (An Overload)

I was in my addict mode this past weekend. I went to two night swimmings with four hours sleep in between, and take note we went to the same resort. Funny, right?

My college friends planned to have a reunion a month ago and we are gonna do it at the same resort we went two years ago which is Nine Waves in Ampid-1, San Mateo. Nine waves is quite memorable to us since before the public knew about the resort we tried it out first. It was after the Nursing Board Exam. We wanted to relax before we receive the results, just to relieve the tension. But anyways, during our stay there in 2006 it's just the ten of us. Yeah, we had the whole resort for ourselves. It was like a soft opening, they are acctually cementing the pavements at that time. Going back, 9-10 is the set date, the call tine is 4PM but I had to be late 'coz my shift's until 5PM. After shift I ate at Chowking Eastwood City with my BFF's then left immediately. I arrived at around 6:30Pm at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Araneta Center, our meeting place. We left for San Mateo at around 8PM taking the Commonwealth Road to dodge the heavy traffic of Friday night. While on the way I dozed off the woke up realizing that I'm the only one who wont have any partner later, on this night getaway. Imagine, four pairs and me. How sad, right? But nothing to worry, I'm going to be the star anyways. haha. At around 9PM we arrived hungry for food and a dip in the wave pool. Our resident mother Bevs took charge of the rentals. She rented a hotel-like cottage an umbrella near the wave pool. We settled first in our room before heading to the resort. There we're many people that night, I don't know if it's always like this, there we're even Korean boys and girls. We went to our umbrella to have our dinner but befire that we had to grill our food. First oof, the FRESH TILAPIA. Yes, it's so fresh that it was not yet scaled and the intestines and the gills were still there! Ew! Me and Jun don't have any choice but to do it but there's another problem, knife! Good thing the nearby elderly neighbors pitied our gloomy situation, they let us borrow their super dull knife. Well what can do? During our "Palenke" moment, Jonas started setting up the griller. Chester is in-charge of the grilling of the fish and hotdogs. Our other foods? Pork BBQ, Pork and Chicken Sisig, Roast Chicken and chicha. While still grilling I can't help but trying out he sisig, there are two varieties and there's chicharon toppings. It was heavenly HOT and SPICY! Then something dreadful happened!!!! See my last post then you'll know what. Well anyways after that incident we dipped ourselves. There were three pools there, a Kiddie pool, Slide pool and the Wave pool. In the wave pool the 'wave engines' starts to 'make waves' every hour for fifteen minutes and as claimed, there were 9 waves, I think. Me, Ras and Jun swam towards the deep part of the wave pool while it was making waves, we thought we could make it but I think we almost died. We went back scared and laughing. Next stop is the Slide pool, we spent most of our time there talking about what to drink later that eve. The girls, Ana, Bevs, Mica and Ina were there as well with their traditional open forum and we are hoping that during the drinking session that will happen later there would be the traditional 'iyakan'. Cheezy, but it's a barkada thing. We bought Red Horse and San Mig Light at a nearby sari-sari store outside the resort premises, good thing we had a room so it's just ok to bring liquor. Upstairs in our room we started the drinking spree. Ina had to pass 'coz she came from a shift. Mica had to pass as well for some unknown reason. We started off with Generoso brandy. Woah! Where did that came from, apparently Ras bought a surprise party starter. After we, the guys, gulped up the whole bottle contents of the brandy we zoomed to the resort and swam just for fun. A bit tipsy, halfway down the resort premises I forgot I that I am wearing my last short pants. Well, nothing could stop me from having fun, I removed my army cargo shorts and revealed my black boxer briefs no one's there anyways. Whatever. haha. We went back to our room 'coz the operating hours of the resort is up until 4AM only. We continued drinking RH then finished it off with SML. You can tell I drank too many 'coz I'm stealing 'tagay' from other people. Drunk and wasted I rested my head and next thing you know, I'm asleep. By the way, that was almost six in the morning.

I opened my eye with headache and body pains at around 10AM. First thing that came to my mind is that I have another night swimming to attend and the call time is 4PM in Marikina. WTF! huhu. I'm still tired but I have to go home and take some rest to re-fuel my energy reserves. I quickly took a shower and left with some of my college friends who have work that day. The room can be occupied until 6PM so my other friends who were not leaving yet we're joking that I could go back and stay there for a while. I left San Mateo by myself, head home and slept at around 12PM

After 4 hours I woke up not feeling well, still light-headed. I don't even know how I managed going to Marikina with this feeling. Our meeting place is supposed to be at Ellaine's pad in Vista Valley but we still had to buy our food so we went to Robinson's and have a Chicken Inasal resevered for us. It was raining hard at that time, we, I, Ellaine, Sarah, Juvie and Jay, had to stay inside the supermarket and goof around. The feeling of acid in my stomach is ranting. I thought eating something could stop the this but no, I think I made it worse. I was nauseous and I feel I had to go. I pooped in a public restroom, this sucks. I have diarrhea, could it be the sisig. That sisig hit me hard twice, damn you sisig Hooray, damn you. Well it could be indigestion from the variety of liquors we drank. When the rain subsided we immediately head to Nine Waves. Yup, the same resort. Same routine, we rented an umbrella and paid our tickets. I really can't contain the feeling that I had at that time. I vomitted thrice, I think. I lost appetite, tried to eat some but I vomitted again. Oh God, I'm bulemic. hehe. Well after vomitting all liquids my stomach can't absorb, miraculously I suddenly felt well. Now I know what Ash is talking about, the relief of puking. I drank my bestfriend - coffee. Damn, in no time I'm back i'm business! I ate, swam, smoked, dipped, hunted...... hunting? No, I mean fishing. There were many fises there to bait. Milkfishes, Tilapias and Lapu-lapu. Mudfishes were there as well but they won't interest me. haha. Before fixing ourselves and go home we had our pictorial with the whole resort as the audience, we posed as if no one's looking. I suddenly felt tired, as if my energy surge were lowered. We left the vicinity at around 4AM. I'm offically sick while on the way home. I'm feverish, hot and lovely..... um, lonely and reddened. I immediately slept when I arrived. I could not think of anything but rest my head, back and legs on my bed. I dozed off...

Conclusion: It was fun, but unhealthy, but I can't just choose between a group of friends. I'll just have to make the most of it while abusing myself. hehe. Take each moment with your friends 'Like You'll Never See Them Again'.

Lesson Learned: Don't let an upset stomach get in the way, use it to enslave your friends.

Post Script: I forgot to post my post-Subic escapade. I replied to the Clark invitation. I stayed there for four days and three nights. I never really did anything there but I was HAPPY... on those days.......