From A to Z

J

As a devoted Catholic, Adam never misses a Sunday Mass.

When he was still little, his family would always visit their village's chapel on Sunday mornings to listen to the word of God preached by the local priest. Even when they were out of town, in his mother's hometown or somewhere else, they would drive to the nearest church to hear the Mass.

Children are often bored during a Mass. They are not interested in listening to the preaching because of the lame and unenthusiastic manner it is conducted, and more so, because their young minds cannot understand the depths of the words of the Gospel. Children have little to no understanding of the role of religion in the lives of people and the reason of people in subscribing to one. They see the act of waking up early on a Sunday to hear a Mass as a form of punishment imposed by their parents.

But young Adam saw it differently. True, he did not understand the words of the priest because they talk in such a manner incomprehensible to a child; it was also true that he did not understand the concept of religion because Catholicism was chosen by his parents and not by him; and like other children, he was also forced to wake up early to attend a mass. But young Adam liked being in the church with his family. He liked the solemn atmosphere of churches, of the murals, and of the images of the saints and of Jesus in the Cross. It was as if his grumpiness was washed away by the cold holy water pressed by his mother on his forehead and his bad-temperedness was replaced with adoración for the congregation and the structure which encloses all of them.

During the Mass, young Adam would observe his parents closely. He would mimic their actions. Whenever they kneel for a prayer, he would kneel; whenever they hold each other's hands when singing "Ama Namin," he would reach for his mother's and father's hands; whenever they say "peace be with you" to one another and to those around them, young Adam would do the same even if he pronounced "peace" as "fish." His mother would laugh at him and his father would tousle his hair every time he would copy their actions.

It was one of those rare instances when the parents made the right choice of religion for their child.

As he grew up, Adam had a better understanding of religion. He saw its importance in their family. It was their religion that helped them overcome challenges that they thought were impossible to conquer; it was their faith in God that kept them happy and together through the bad times. Adam also realized the role of religion in his personal growth. Religion kept him in check; it kept his mind, body, and soul connected to one another; it kept him sane in a world slowly becoming insane. These reasons made Adam hold tightly onto his Catholic beliefs.

Their fraternity house was still asleep when Adam left. Although he was studying in a Catholic school, none of his fraternity brothers were interested in waking up early to catch the Sunday morning Mass. In fact, none of them were keen on attending any Holy Communion at all. The only ones they go to were those that were required by their school.

Adam decided to hear a Mass in St. Jude's Church for a change. St. Jude is close to the boundary of Calamba and the neighboring city of Santa Rosa, in between the industrial parks and subdivisions of the Canlubang estate. St. Jude's Integrated School, the accompanying educational institution of the church, is also part of the Consortium and it is supervised by the same Ministry managing Adam's school.

Aside from St. Jude, there used to be two other schools in Calamba under the supervision of St. Joseph. These were also named after the children of the saint: one was St. Simeon's Preparatory School, which was close to the city's boundary with the municipality of Los Baños, also in Laguna; and the other was St. James's College, which was near the city's boundary with the town of Santo Tomas in Batangas.

When the Philippines fell into a recession because of the COVID-19 pandemic which affected the country longer than the rest of the world, non-profit organizations like the Consortium suffered severely. Donations diminished as people were reserving their money for their basic needs. Masses were also limited to a maximum of ten people, regardless of the size of the church, in order to prevent the transmission of the virus.