The Road Report
Sacred Heart Novitiate: Novaliches
October 18, 1998
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Here is where I will be spending my next 30 days in retreat!! The place is like the "old style" novitiates still to be found in Wernersville, PA. Like Wernersville, this place is also used for retreats (it remains the active novitiate for the Philippines province). I arrived here yesterday and the retreat does not begin until after dinner tonight (I plan on several helpings!!) so I took time yesterday to take these images and today to post them to the internet. I ask you to keep me in your prayers and good thoughts during this time!!! I will do the same for you my relatives, friends, and random surfers (since I have this page linked to my main home page as well as my signature on e-mail).
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The original novitiate building built in 1932. It was occupied by the Japanese during World War II and reoccupied by the Jesuits shortly thereafter. It's done in the "Spanish Baroque" style (at least here and there....). Note the television antenna-- very Jesuit!
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Detail of the decoration over the door. Note the angels-- thanks to the antenna they get good receptions!!
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Detail of Spanish style pillars (a strange twist of fate). One father keeps birds! Since we are out in the country there are wonderful bird melodies in the morning (beats the sound of the jeepney-- and the black smoke which generally accompany them!).
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The main chapel-- the ceiling is really quite attractive which is why the picture tilts up!
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A view out the back of the novitiate-- the novitiate used to be a very large estate, most of which was sold to a developer. The site has not developed too quickly so there is still lots of green!! The development is called "Sacred Heart Village"-- again, very Catholic!
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This is Marigold, my kind benefactress who is the one who really runs the retreat house and Novitiate. She has been very kind to me in getting me hooked to the internet (I'm in her office now). She also has a daughter who aspires to become an anthropologist!
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This is the corridor which I use to access my room-- my room is in the "new" section built during the vocation glut-- notice how many doors there are!!! This is God's answer to Navotas-- sacred squatters!!
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My room... it's very tiny BUT sufficient and in fact conducive to prayer (like a monestery cell)-- it is not conducive to photographs as I don't have a very wide wide angel lens! There is not quite enough room to swing a cat (one of my favorite images used by Mark Twain in his "Innocsence Abroad").
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My desk with icons and a cross for prayer-- each reminds me of both the spiritual world and the world of my friends and family of whom I'm also reminded by these images (many of them were gifts from friends and family). It's a good place to pray!!!
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This is what I will look like at the end of the retreat!!! Actually, it's a statue of St. Stanislaw Kostka, the Polish Jesuit Novice who died in the novitiate (I think he ate some bad kilbasa). He must be my cousin somehow since all Poles are related. In this picture he is plastered!!
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The bathroom on my floor which is definitely designed for Mass production!!!! This is in case we all have to wash our faces at the same time!!!
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This is my "art shot"-- it's the laundry room off of the bathroom. The effect is supposed to be bats hanging off the wires-- in fact it's a collection of black garments (male of course-- the female wing is one below us).
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General Index of Travel Photographs
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