Not seeing the sun

While in my last semester at university, I lived in Lauan Study Center, which had a residence hall for about 16. One of the residents was a teacher in one of the private schools in Metro Manila. For five days in a week, he would not see the sun from the residence hall. He would leave the center before sunrise to catch the school bus, and he would arrive back at the center after night fall. It wasn't surprising as back then traffic in Metro Manila was bad, as is now. Present day: Probably there are those who also do not see the sunrise, say, from Mactan on weekdays, as they have to bring their sons to school in the "mainland."

On the last day of July, the feast of St. Ignatius -- no connection to this blog really, but just to say that that day would have been, if I were still in university, a school holiday for me and the rest of my schoolmates -- I did not see the sun in and from Cebu.

But instead of the need to take the bus somewhere, I had to take the plane to Manila on the 4am flight and back to Cebu on the last flight out at 1915.

I had to catch the Holy Mass celebrated by the Prelate of Opus Dei at the University of Asia and the Pacific at 630am. I was with four others from Cebu and we made it there, with time to spare. Later in the morning, I also attended a get-together with the Prelate at one of the auditoriums of the University. After lunch with the guys from Cebu, we also had the opportunity to be in a short get-together with the Prelate in the place where he stayed in Quezon City.

The Prelate was in the Philippines on a pastoral visit of about 5 days. Here's a recap of his get-together on July 29.

Bishop Javier Echevarría, the Prelate of Opus Dei, spoke to more than 10,000 members of Opus Dei, their families and friends at an hour-long get-together at the SMX Convention Center on July 29. He had arrived from Sydney on July 27 for a five-day pastoral visit to the Philippines.