On May 13 of this year, the Carmelites marked 75 years of presence in Cebu. This is the reason why the general theme for this year’s fiesta is the term “journey.” We have been traveling together for 75 years.
At that time, this street was named San Jose de la Montana. Many still call this street by its old name. (Incidentally, I find it symbolic that the street was named after Saint Joseph of the Mountain and this is where the monastery of our Lady of Mount Carmel is located.)
Later it was renamed Juan Luna Avenue, (after a famous painter who gave pride to our race but who, in a fit of anger, killed his wife) and now is called John Paul II Avenue, most probably because this Pope passed by this street on February 19, 1981, on his way to an abandoned airport in Lahug which is now the IT park.
In 1949, this place was not part of the buzzing metropolis that it is now. In the judgment of the Corominas family which donated the lot where the monastery is now located, this place was ideal for monastic silence: isolated from the noise of urban living.
To use a metaphor from Saint Augustine, this place was the city of God, the rest is the human city. Those living in the city of God can pray for the sinful city of the human being. Even in the 1950s, San Jose de la Montana was not easily accessible.
One priest who was a seminarian during that time said that his family would rent a jeepney to visit him in the seminary near this monastery since no jeepney would regularly ply this route.
But now this place has evolved beyond the wildest imagination of the founding sisters. Towering edifices have transformed this monastery, which used to be the only significant building in this area, into a relative dwarf.
Less than a kilometer from here, what used to be part of the city shoreline is now a reclaimed area where we can find SM, which also used to be the biggest mall in the city but is now just one of the numerous malls.
A kilometer in the opposite direction used to be an airport with few daily flights that could be counted by the fingers. Now, instead of these flights, there is a mall and numerous restaurants and BPO centers, which make the area abuzz with people even on midnights.
What we now call Kasambagan used to be an area where the grass grew uncontrollably because no one took care of it, not even the carabaos. (There was no easy access then from the seminary to Subangdaku.) And we cannot fail to mention Landers and the Ayala complex which is just a stone’s throw from here. In the middle of all these worldly allurements, we find this monastery.
What is my point? In the past, the nuns who were supposedly not living in the world would pray for the rest of us who are in the world. We of course would also pray for them that they keep praying for us. This is still true today but the new environment adds another dimension to our relationship to this monastery.
Indeed, this monastery is the busiest of all Carmelite monasteries all over the world. The present environment necessitates that the theme “journeying together with the faithful in prayer and contemplation” takes on a new meaning.
1. This monastery provides a constant refuge from the razzle-dazzle of daily life. Life in the vicinity of this monastery would be extremely fast-paced. But here, in the middle of the corporate jungle where workers have to outperform each other in order to advance, there is a place that is hospitable to silence. And silence is hospitable to God who wishes to enter into our hearts. When our hearts are full of noise because of our worldly ambitions, it has no more room for God.
2. This monastery serves to remind us that we can be in this world, yet our values are not worldly. In the world, we try to advance our careers, try to earn more money and fame. But in the middle of all these earthly pursuits, we are reminded that there are other values that are of infinite importance. The world may tempt us to make shortcuts to earn some devalued pesos, and enjoy the glitter of fame, but we come to this monastery to be reminded to seek first the reign of God.
I have talked about this place as a haven for silence and prayer. Where do we situate the Blessed Virgin Mary in this discussion? The Blessed Virgin, our Lady of Mount Carmel, always welcomes us in this monastery.
Let me give a personal illustration. When I was a seminarian and even after my ordination and my mother was still alive, I would return home and feel the loving embrace of my mother, even if rarely did we hug each other. It is the feeling of being home and welcomed. (It is a feeling that I miss, now that she is gone.)
But it was not just a nice feeling of being welcomed. My mama also used to remind me never to forget to pray. Somehow this is what the Blessed Virgin does when we visit this monastery. She welcomes us, and she listens to our hopes and frustrations, our consolations and desolations.
But she also reminds us that we have a brother Jesus who challenges us to be the best persons that we can be, to contribute to a just and compassionate world, and to build the reign of God here on earth.
Homily on the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at the Carmelite Monastery, Mabolo, Cebu City
Fr. Ramon D. Echica is the Dean of Studies of the San Carlos Major Seminary. He obtained his doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Catholic University of Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) in 1998.
