The San Antonio Abad Parish is a simple and “down-to-earth”
church that is regularly visited by parishioners every Sunday. The English
mass, which is at 10:30 A.M. is normally filled by people from all walks of
life, but who has got one thing in common – the desire to be spiritually
nourished and to be blessed by the presence of the Lord Jesus in the Holy Mass.
Every Sunday, you can see parishioners coming through the
gates, families walking hand in hand, the elderly being towed by their sons,
daughters, or grandchildren, the crippled, and the lowly individuals who happen
to arrive 30 minutes before the mass starts.
Everyone waits in anticipation for the lector to call the
attention of those in the church, to kneel down and utter the Prayer to the
Holy Spirit.
When the time comes for the mass to start, everyone looks
towards the altar and start singing the entrance hymn, which, is led by the
ever energetic choir, and sung by the parish priest – Rev. Fr. Farley Ray
Santillan. One thing that will come to your mind upon hearing Fr. Farley sing
is that, “Hey, he should be in The Voice.” Fr. Farley is gifted with music and
he offers every song to God. You can simply feel it.
And of course, when the time for the homily comes, you can
see and feel the eagerness of each individual to listen, to learn, and to once
more be refreshed by God’s Word, providing them the strength to face another
week of their lowly existence on earth.
It is not every day that you will find a church that can
make you look forward to the next Sunday mass. Perhaps, San Antonio Abad Parish
is one of those churches. And with the way the church is filled with
parishioners every Sunday, then many individuals surely have had felt this way.
No comments:
Post a Comment