New Moon Adventures: Part 1

Hi there! So this is all about the Moon Sisters’ Adventure last October 05 which coincidentally happened to be the day of the New Moon. This was how we celebrated that special day.

On top of our list are the churches we were supposed to visit before anything else. Because honestly, is there a better way to start your adventure than saying thank you for your blessings first? :)

In our adventure, we rode almost all of the basic transportation available here in the city. First, there’s the inevitable ride on the TRICYCLE on the way to the jeepney terminal, where we rode a JEEPNEY to the MRT station, where we transferred to a TRAIN and alighted at the Araneta Center – Cubao Station, and walked through a couple of buildings to another train station, the LRT 2 (you tired yet?), where we rode (again) ANOTHER TRAIN that brings us closer to our first destination. And voila! Here we are at the Katipunan Station, the closest thing that we could ever get into a subway as of the present. ;) Since the opportunity presented itself, we took our first shots there acting like we’re tourists running around the subways of New York, London or Paris. Never minding the fact that people are staring at us from the opposite side of the railway, probably wondering what the two silly girls find exciting being in a supposedly "ordinary train station".

the ticket machines

jhun and rhio with the maps ;P

the empty "subway"

oh the sweet escape! 

here we come! :)

And off we went to our first stop, the Monastery of St. Clare  where we wrote our petitions and we each offered a tray of eggs and our prayers to St. Clare. A lot of people were also writing their petitions there, some of those are the sick, hoping to get better through the intercession of St. Clare, while some are asking for guidance for those who’re about to take examinations (ex. CPA, Bar Exam, etc.), while some are there just to say thank you for all the blessings they received. It’s a good feeling watching these people intently writing on their petitions and saying their prayers because it somehow makes you feel like the place is bursting of hope and gratitude and all of the positive energy kind of rubs on you too. :)

The Church of St Clare

Our petitions and offerings :)

(On a side note, this monastery is special for me because this is the place where I dream of becoming a member, that is once I hear my calling to become a nun. Don’t laugh, I’m serious.  – Jhun)

Next stop was the Church of St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Newport City. Now since the place is in the “high end” area of the city, we had no other choice but to take a cab. It’s about an hour’s travel, so we just chatted away the whole cab ride going to the church. Now this one’s quite different than the first church we went to. Since this place is quite inaccessible by other means of transportation other than a cab, there were only a few people inside when we got there. This somehow lent the place an air of solemnity.  Talking in hushed tones, we walked quietly to the altar on the front, where we offered candles to St. Therese and again said our prayers. After taking a rest on one of the pews, we prepared to go on our way to our next stop, but not before we took a couple of shots of the interiors of this beautiful church.

The altar of St. Therese

the main altar

the beautiful stained glass windows

  

the garden on the outside of the church

(Ever since I stepped onto this church, I knew I wanted to  get married here. I don't know why, but I just knew - Rhio ) 

Here are some of the shots we took while walking back to the taxi terminal:

i'm just fascinated with this picture - jhun

rapunzel's tower in the city :P

The last church on our list is the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help or simply known as the Baclaran Church. And again, we hailed another cab and took a short ride to our next destination.  Now, this one is a lot more different than the other churches we went to. Before you can get inside, you’d have to pass through a lot of vendors selling clothes, balloons, food and anything else that you could think of. Once you get inside the church premises, there’s a long walk before you can get inside the church itself.  On the sidewalks, people were sitting on some of the benches, while others preferred sitting on the grass instead, just enjoying the warm afternoon sunshine beneath the trees. 

And so we went in and unsurprisingly, there were also a lot of people inside. If we’d describe this place, it’s like a “church for the masses”.  You could find people there who were dressed formally in polo shirts, pants or dresses, while some are dressed in a more casual manner like in shorts, sandos and slippers. It’s like a melting pot for every  gender, race or social class. And yet, there’s the one thing that for sure we all had in common, the reason why we're inside the church. And that is Faith. Taking our seats on one of the pews, we again said our prayers before taking a couple of minutes to rest. Then again, we took this opportunity to take pictures of the interiors and of random people.

The view of the altar...
...and the woman in front who's possibly praying for someone to love
...just like the sweet couple praying together, a couple of pews away from us. 
*^_^*

The view of the altar and the high ceiling

There goes the first part of our New Moon Adventures. Watch out for the exciting second part of this crazy-roller-coaster ride of ours. ;)