Dusk

I always love taking shots of sunrise  and sunsets and when I am lucky enough, I also love taking shots of  the dawn. This is really the first time that I caught this perfectly  quiet scene of Manila Bay at  dusk.  This was taken from an eight-floor window of our hotel room the  day before my daughter’s wedding last November 13, 2011.  I particularly remember taking this shot on a zoom lens ( the bay is quite far from Pearl Garden Hotel) and thinking, “this time tomorrow, my daughter would be married and will assume a new name”.

Seeing those tiny sailing ships from afar, I wondered, “are they just passing through and going to another destination?”  Life is like that sometimes, you can’t really change the direction of the wind but you can adjust your sails to determine which way to go. William Arthur Ward couldn’t have put it better when he said, ” The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjust the sails.”

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

Immaculata Mater Dei

Immaculate Mother of God,
Queen of heaven,
Mother of mercy,
Advocate and Refuge of sinners,
behold, I,
enlightened and inspired
by the graces obtained for me
abundantly from the divine treasury
through thy maternal affection,
resolve this day and always
to place my heart into thy hands
to be consecrated to Jesus.

To thee, therefore, most Blessed Virgin,
in the presence of nine choirs of Angels
and all the Saints, I now give it.
Do thou, in my name, consecrate it to Jesus;
and out of the filial confidence
which I hereby make profession of,
I am certain that now and always
thou wilt do all thou canst to bring it
to pass that my heart may ever wholly belong to Jesus,
and may imitate perfectly the example of the Saints,
and in particular that of Saint Joseph,
thy most pure Spouse. Amen.
St. Vincent Pallotti (1798-1850)

Read Full Post »