Cloud talks

There's a million things you can realize in any moment -- and that in that single moment you are fist-pounded by clarity

Yesterday I was at the historical Imus Cathedral, the seat of the diocese of Imus, which is also known by its original name of the Our Lady of the Pillar Parish Church. If you've heard about the famous papal candidate going by the name of Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle then you must have heard about this place being his first home as a young priest and, eventually, Bishop.

The parish was founded in 1795 by the Augustinian Recollects, who also managed the religious and economic affairs of their then-Hacienda de Imus, and put it under the patronage of Our lady of Pillar and St. John the Baptist. The parish was then put under the administration of Father Franciso de Santiago, OAR. 

From the former site of the parish in barrio Toclong, it was moved to Sitio Balangon, which is now known as the city proper of Imus, in 1823. The present structure, a magnificent edifice of stone and brick interior, was erected under the then-parish priest, Father Nicolas Becerra, OAR who served from 1821 to 1840.

In 1897 was administered by secular priests. Interestingly, a masonic temple was built beside the church, the Pillar lodge, a member of which is the General Emilio Aguinaldo who would later on lead the forces of the revolution down the fields of Imus. 

During the Japanese Occupation the city was under constant terror. According to the memoirs of a friend of mine, they would arrest anyone they find, torture them and kill them. On December 17, 1944, Japanese forces actually took down thirteen in the city plaza fronting the cathedral. The fourteenth man escaped and hid, so they say, in the nearby cemetery. 

The diocese was formed in November 25, 1961, separated from the Archdiocese of Manila and the Diocese of Lipa following an order of Pope John XXIII, Christi Fidelium which gave birth also to the Diocese of Bulacan. 

***

Beyond that I met an old friend of mine, a fellow choirster, and we talked about a million of things. During a sunset after choir practice we discussed the heavens and its beauty leading to Psalm 19:1, the heavens declare the glory of God, where we talked about how we are all just specks of reality drifting in a sea of possibility, guided by eternity. 

I had to expound over those things. It was a recent enlightenment and I was amazed by how profound it was. To think that we are, by chance or by luck, exist as a form in reality and that we are just part of a million possible futures that we could change in any instant. It was actually wonderful. That reality that beyond all these things we can change something beyond us and yet we are part of a grand plan by a divine being that guide us. It was beyond majesty.

That Psalm was a kind of revelation, it meant in every way that the universe -- endless as it was and beautiful and mysterious, was just a glimpse of the glory that is God Himself -- that all those grandiose realities exist because of Him for us to know Him and have a glimpse of what He is like. No matter how grand we think everything is, it offers nothing more than a fraction of a look at how God really works and how glorious He is.

Fist pound.