Monk's Blend premium coffee is made from the finest robusta and arabica coffee beans, nurtured in the cold climate, high altitude and unique volcanic soil of Bukidnon, Mindanao. This premium coffee has no preservatives or additives; just the natural goodness of fresh, mountain-grown coffee, roasted and blended to perfection by the Benedictine monks at the Monastery of the Transfiguration in Malaybalay, Bukidnon. Picture credit: Bunny Gonzalez
i hope it doesn't sound so paternalistic. after i have read all the e-mails of your fund raising - bowling, etc. i am indeed amazed at the cohesion and unity of your group. i know sometimes some few cannot attend, but still in general your group is quite bonded.
i was thinking that one can only be generous towards others because one has experienced what it is to be needy. may pinagdaanan. and because of such an experience, one's heart becomes more compassionate and merciful towards others.
i know that every cent you give to causes is hard-earned. and that is why i am personally careful about the way donations are used. not only strict accounting but also taking care of them as though they came directly from God. and this is true, ultimately, everything comes from HIM and He uses us only as His instruments.
We will always have many needs, esp. if one lives in a very materialistic world. Commercials and advertisements always make you feel you need something. And yet, there are only few essential needs which not all people have. Things that we take for granted like food is something not everybody has. For the fortunate ones, you can choose but for the rest, they just have to make do with what is available. and some don't even have any!!!
when we are generous in all aspects, somehow our hearts do expand and we feel there is meaning in our life. there is contentment. we can have everything we want and yet feel so very empty! then God is calling us to work for others too.
i know you are doing this. but always think also of the spiritual side of everything. one cannot live without a soul, without a heart.
i daily remember all of you in my prayers- i pray also for your needs and well-being. do take care and always be good and caring towards one another and to all who need.
i hope you are fine. how time flies - it is october and soon christmas will be around again.
love and prayers, fr. ed
It is a time when we doubt, we doubt everything including ourselves. Since we are in transit then people are also changing.
At this time it is good to understand and accept what one is going through. And a lot of renewed faith is also necessary. One comes face to face with what is really essential in life. One's life must have a purpose and goal and meaning other than just becoming a millionaire. We have to serve others, our life is for service. It takes meaning only when we become unselfish.
One should not panic - it happens to all even to a priest. We question our commitments. But then we have to hold fast and be strong. If our faith is strong nothing is impossible and it is time to give our lives also serving other people especially our loved ones who are in need.
I think when you people come here for the homecoming we can have a sharing session on this matter as part of your homecoming - hindi lang party, but also the spiritual side.
The spiritual is so important at this stage of one's life. One realizes one does not control one's life - no matter how much one tries - God does guide it and we are completely in his hands.
Seriously, we should all sit informally talk about this when you all come this February.
Midlife is also a time of deeper growth in all aspects of one's life not just a time of trials and problems. We have to see the positive in our negative experiences."
with my prayers, fr. ed
The boys rehearsed everyday and were fully supported by the San Jose Elementary school teachers on their venture. Considering that they were poor - they could sing classical music of Bach, Handel, Mozart etc. plus filipino folk songs.
As quoted from Fr. Ed: "The boys gave a concert in Forest Lawn in 1995 - it was one of the best concert sites the boys sang. The auditorium has excellent acoustics. You should not miss the concert- you have to hear them to believe what I am telling you. It's not an ordinary school choir."
They were invited to sing in Rome in 2000(all expenses paid) and was broadcasted over Vatican Radio and some radio stations in the USA in celebration of the Jubilee year of 2000. The invitation came from the Abbot-Primate, head of all Benedictines all over the world. They gave 2 major performances: one for the diplomatic corps and special guests from the Vatican; the other for the tourists and general public. There was a separate concert for the big Filipino community there.
They were also invited to sing in Germany (Stuttgart) in 2001.
We can be proud of these simple, rural and provinciano boys. From 1991-1996 they gave annual performances at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Manila. But they had to discontinue bec. of the big capital needed at least P 350,000 pesos just to bring the boys to Manila plus, transport, board and lodging etc.
Through the sponsorship of the Sisters of Social Services, the Boys' Choir flew to California for concerts throughout April and May 1999. Most of the boys had their first plane ride from Bukidnon to Manila enroute to USA. Probably through divine intervention, the SBCHS75 alumni in USA got in touch with Fr. Ed a few months before, and so we were able to entertain and host a few gatherings for the boys and Fr. Abbot Ed.
The committed members of our class handed Fr. Abbot the funds we have collected, which we hope would be a continuous process. We are raising these funds as a scholarship fund for the members of the Boys' Choir. We also had a goods drive, wherein donations in kind were collected so that the entourage of 36 could bring home 2 balikbayan boxes each for their hometown.
This report is from Wally Buhay, who visited the Monastery in March, 1999.
the purpose of this email is to let you know what the Monastery Boys' Choir is all about, who they are in their everyday lives and what a real blessing it will be for you in Manila, and in the west coast, to be visited by these children. i just want to let you in on what i saw in my brief visit to the Monastery Of The Transfiguration.
needless to say, my visit was very, very short. but i was fortunate to see these children practice and feverishly rehearse. i say this because they had 3 practice sessions that day plus a performance at the local school's graduation ceremony.
as i write this email, i am playing their CD. they truely have heavenly voices. yet, more touching is knowing where they are from. from atop the hill where the monks' refectory was, i heard their voices, as Fr. Ed and Fr. Columbano pointed out the rolling hills full of fruit trees which the monks planted not only for the fruits they bear but to protect the water shed that supplies the daily drinking water of the baranggay.
a little less than two decades ago, those hills were barren and dry. on the first year of the monastery, and for almost a year, Fr. Ed, Fr. Columbano and their prayerful monks lived in an impoverished state with no drinking water, no electricity nor roads but with plenty of government discontent from the locals. now, they have power for everyone, sufficient and manageable water supply and ample roadwork to reach even part of the hinterlands. they now have a coffee plantation, which they tend to everyday and a very small and humble but efficient coffee roasting and processing factory. Lately, they had put together a cottage industry that processes their no-salt, no additive peanuts. wherever they can, they employ the locals, to give them livelihood, a decent means of supporting their families.
and the Monastery Boys' Choir are local children. i could not believe what they told me that these children walk anywhere from 3 to 7 kms everyday just to practice. all for the joy of singing. yes, they put in their share of sweat and hardship so we can enjoy their God-given talents.
and these boys, do not know the luxuries we grew up with. almost all of them are so tiny for their age, a sure sign of extremely poor nutrition. with my hands, i counted the number of boys who were wearing old and beat-up rubber shoes, and i did not go past my left hand. all the rest wore old and beat up rubber sandals, most of them were even strung and repaired many times with wires. and believe me, they try to come in their very best, because this is the high light of their day, because this is when they can enjoy a hot meal, prepared by the monks, with our very own Fr. Ed and Fr. Columbano, joining them for lunch, as they always enjoy doing.
i stayed a while, watching them sing, to stop, to correct and rehash their lines, and to me their voices were enchanting. yet there was one thing missing...their smiles...
as we drove up 1 1/2 hrs from the airport, Fr. Ed told me that these children are from the poorest of the poor. these are children who know nothing but poverty, who can't afford to smile even at the promise of a better life. poverty has taken away that joy from them. to them a life could be better if they are able to afford a cheap plastic watch, which one of them had, and which everyone kept of looking at despite the fact that they all knew that time it was.
on their faces, you will see hardship. you will see it in their hands and the soles of their feet. believe me, part of their rehearsal was to "smile." but to them, being with the monks and finishing a hymn were more than enough reasons to smile.
i wanted to stay longer to listen to them, but i could not separate the sweet music in my ears and the sadness of seeing these children forced to be content, with their lives outside the monastery. if not for the monks, these children would be out in the fields with nothing but sadness in their hearts. surely, though, sooner or later, they will have to join their families, but most definitely, they will be singing loudly the hymns they know by heart.
if the Monastery is called the Monastery of The Transfiguration, these children exemplifies a similar word...transformation... from the deprived farm children that they are to the wonderful voices that you will hear.
to our batchmate in manila, let us give these children the joy of performing for us. the concert is free, it is a gift of love from them. please be there and clap for them. let us show them how to smile, once again, to let them know that it was worth all the steps they walked to rehearse. to our batchmates in the US, with all the concert dates they have in the west coast, let us find a date to be with them. it really means so much for these children to see us.
Manila, it is now the 6th of April, they will be very busy preparing for their trip. there is no time to organize fund raiser, but there is still time, if from the kindness of your hearts you took it upon yourselves to "pass-the-hat." any amount will go a long way. you may do this at the concert site itself on April 10, Saturday at 6pm, at the Greenbelt Chapel in Makati. remember anything you raise before the west coast tour will go a hundred percent to the Boys' Choir. let us put aside the y2k celebration for a while, this has nothing to do with feb 2000, this is all about these children and giving them back their smiles.
for the Monastery Boys' Choir, let us all whisper a prayer.
wally
Below are pictures of the Monastery's chapel:
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