Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Saint Mark Chapel in UP Los Baños


The next two to three posts are connected with the youth-related activity which I joined sometime in late December 2011. Being youth-organized and youth-oriented, tours were necessary to ‘distract’ those young minds (am I still included here?) and gather thoughts in a different environment. In no particular order I’ll start with the Saint Mark Chapel along the slopes of Mount Maquiling in U.P. Los Baños.

    * first view of Saint Mark Chapel
 
St. Mark Chapel is different: 1) first, because of its architecture, having no walls with just a central tower-like structure serving as the chapel roof and as base of the huge cross erected for this place of peace and worship, and 2) it is situated within the greeneries of Mount Maquiling; a simple visit to the place may prove a devotion already.

* the chapel’s feature cross

 * Saint Mark   

* our activity speaker; too bad I forgot his name

* one of the many huge trees decking the chapel area

We went there not to take picture actually (although we were able to do so briefly after our activity) but to do reflection of and on God (emphasis on the capital G is given here). Without covering the fact that I have now my own religion discontent, I nevertheless tried to recall my times as a neophyte in my religious denomination, its ups and downs, and a few personal recollections. An interpretative dance was also presented which aided in setting up the mood of the activity. Aside from that, the activity organizers brought in a speaker / minister who gave us a short message. If I ever experienced any calm periods in my recent (and tumultuous) life, that would be one of them. I remember discussing my thoughts but I saw them as incoherent.

Some said during our visit that Saint Mark Chapel has been used as set for film shootings. I say the place looks good too for a private wedding.

No comments:

Post a Comment