This could be the start of something new...

I finally made it!

For the longest time that I had not been attending masses, I finally made it yesterday, September 8, 2008. I was dragged along by my officemate to go to Church wherein I was still having second thoughts whether to go or not. I was not prepared to go to that place as far as my faith is concerned. I know you have already an idea why. I don’t know what inspired me but I said yes.

Coincidentally, it was the birthday of Mary and the mass was solely dedicated to her being the mother of God and the mother of us all. I prayed that I would have that sense of focus to the celebration but the presiding priest seemed to block my mind from concentrating. He was rushing when he came in the altar and stopped the woman who was reading all the intentions for that mass. I don’t know if he was just suffering from extreme diarrhea or he was just too excited to watch Betty La Fea.

However in his homily, he made it up for me at least. He had a prepared speech as priests usually have. Although still chanting like an old politician making promises to his constituents in megaphone, his discourse was all meaty, in all fairness. He talked about motherhood in relation to Mary and he related his own experiences as a child about her mother. He stressed that our mothers are the source of love, inspiration, mercy and most of the times, comfort. He also pointed out something that really struck me and I quote “Man loves his woman the best. His wife the most. His mother the longest.”

As a Mama’s boy myself, I agree with him. She may not always be vocal about it, but her actions definitely say it all. She is my source of love, comfort, joy and inspiration. I feel that nothing and no one can harm me while she is around.

Anyway, that mass did make me realize a couple of things. First, I realized that I still feel at home inside the Church. By that I mean, I still feel the sense of belongingness. I still know the responses ( thank God!) and the songs as well. Second, it is not too hard to find time to visit the Church. It only takes an hour or so for the entire duration. And with all the time I have, it would only be so selfish of me not share an hour.

I hope this is it! I hope this is the start of a new life. I hope that the fire of desire for goodness which has long been extinguished by my sinfulness would now start to spark and light my way back to God. I made a promise that day and I fervently hope I would be able to accomplish it.

And as for the priest, he was not having diarrhea. He was just a die-hard Kapamilya who was, like the rest of us, too excited to be Bettyful!