Day 28: What's cooking?

I think my life currently revolves around what I will eat next. My Sunday project was making cheese muffins:



I wanted to make something savoury instead of the usual sweet pastries. The problem was I only had one egg! So I needed to look for a recipe that called for one egg and ingredients I already had in my pantry. This recipe calls for baking powder, salt, sugar, egg, cheese and milk. I think it was a success!

Day 14: Start of Holy Week

I'm trying my best to keep up with the daily blogging. I do miss a few days where I don't write anything down for more than 24 hours. But I ensure to write something about the day post-hoc.

Day 14 -- Palm Sunday. It's strange to start the Holy Week knowing that I will not be attending any church activities. This is the holiest of all weeks in the church calendar, and not being able to participate with physical presence is just weird.

But the recent events has shown that we adapt and make meaning in different ways. This Palm Sunday was the third Sunday that I 'attended mass' with my sister in the Phillippines. The priest mentioned that maybe there is good out of this COVID19 situation. Oftentimes, we may get too busy with the externalities of the Holy Week, we are busy preparing and making sure that we attend this event or practice that custom. This 2020 Holy Week will be a quiet one, but it's in this stillness that we can reflect more deeply. Why do we do what we do? What's the meaning behind our customs and practices? We can follow Christ's passion, death, and resurrection with solemn contemplation without the distraction of externalities.

I pray for a blessed Holy Week for everyone.

Day Seven: Pananagutan

A recessional hymn during a mass celebrated in the Philippines:

Walang sinuman ang nabubuhay para sa sarili lamang
Walang sinuman and namamatay para sa sarili lamang
Tayong lahat ay may pananagutan sa isa't isa
Tayong lahat ay tinipon ng Diyos na kapiling nya

Translation (thanks Google Translate!):

No one lives for himself alone
No one is dying for himself
We are all responsible for one another
We are all gathered by God in his company

I usually start my Sundays by going to mass at St. Mary of the Angels. But as with the lockdown, I can't attend mass. I started a new Sunday routine: I celebrate with Martha, my sister, as we listen to a live mass broadcast from a church in the Philippines. I can watch a live stream by myself, but it feels a lot more whole knowing that someone else is celebrating with me. I pray for courage and protection for the frontliners, wisdom for our leaders, and health and safety for family and friends.