Reflections on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8, 2010)

Philippines is home to a numerous religious feast being that it is the largest Christian Nation in Asia. As a Filipino and a Roman Catholic, I grew up celebrating the feast of the Immaculate Conception every December 8 in my hometown. It is a celebration of significance to many devout Catholics as a way of thanking and respecting our parish patron saint. This is a celebration I always eagerly look forward to every year when I was younger. In my innocent mind, this means new clothes, tidy and clean house and plenty of food to die for. But as time goes by, things changes, people get older I mean I am getting older and my excitement fades away. In addition, the global recession is hitting us hard so we became more practical (that means less food preparation) as life becomes more difficult.
I was overseas since 2002 and since then I have not witness nor celebrated this important local event. My excitement somehow built up overtime. I am home so I was keen at celebrating the feast at least to give thanks to the good lord for the blessings and even the challenges. However, my uncle died and so I have to deal with grieving. We laid him to rest on the 7th of December. We did not prepare food for the feast for one I was low with funds.

I was moving around to keenly observe the festive mood of everyone on the street. I was pretty excited. Drunkards kept the streets alive. Loud music and people singing in karaoke’s even way out of tune lifted my spirit. Young people dressed in their own "out of this world" fashion flooded the street. I was trying to assess my feelings and sadly, I can not find that feeling I had when I was younger. People I saw and met were new. The local neighborhoods I used to mingle with were not there anymore. I can not find familiar faces. Indeed, in the last 10 years, the place I call home has changed in terms of its economic development. The population has grown tremendously over the past years.

In retrospect, everything has changed. I am a changed. The feast is no longer the celebration I was looking for. I was maybe looking for some old good ways, yet simple, fun but meaningful. In my heart I know it’s a time for thanksgiving on the Virgin Mother Mary – Mother of Jesus Christ and If I am given the chance next time to celebrate the feast with a bang then I will do it.