Icon in the Church of the Transfiguation

The Right Place

I couldn’t turn my mind off. I lay in bed, exhausted from another day of work as I was alone since my parents died. Have to attend all chores at home before going to office. Life was too hectic! I’m always busy with my work. I barely had time for myself. And even less for God. In fact I hadn’t attend church mass regularly for a long time. That’s what I need, I decided. A church. But where? I said a prayer for guidance.

Suddenly a face came to mind of a happy elderly lady. I knew her for a long time. She couldn’t have weighed more than 100 pounds, but she had a giant spirit. We’d share a cup of coffee or she gave me a chicken soup as she is having her food store when I wasn’t well. She was always telling me about the church where she attended. At the slip of my mind I can’t remember her name. But I remember the church—Sta. Mesa Catholic Church. I’ll look it up. I got out of bed and padded downstairs. The church was only 15 minute walk from my home. But was it the right one for me?

The next Sunday I attended for the ten o’clock service. The church was huge! There seems to be more than 500 hundred people there. I hurried in so that I can sit in the front but it was already taken. So I got a sit from the corner center of the church. Things were a little more flashy than I was used to. Then the priest got up and asked us to greet our neighbors. I sat there nervously, not sure what should I do. all of a sudden this church idea didn’t seem like such a god thing. A man sitting in front of me turned around and smiled. The man asked, “What brings you here today?” I told him about the person I knew. “You probably don’t know her,” I said. She was quite older than me and a little fat. But I couldn’t remember her name.

“Was it Lourdes Esguerra?” he asked.

I looked at him, surprised. “Yes,” I said.

“You know,” he said, “she’s the reason why I’m here too. She encouraged me to follow my passion for ministry. I’m one of the priest at this church now.”

Yes, I was in the right place after all.