The God of Surprises

Episode 1:  I was sent again by the God of Surprises

Peter shares how his faith has been shaped by growing up in a Catholic family, serving the church from a young age, starting a new chapter in another country, and using his skills and experience to build community and to advocate for climate change.

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Transcript

You're listening to All Kinds of Catholic with me, Theresa Alessandro. My conversations with different Catholics will give you glimpses into some of the ways we're living our faith today. Pope Francis has used the image of a caravan. A diverse group of people travelling together; on a sometimes chaotic journey together. That's an image that has helped shape this podcast. I hope you'll feel encouraged and affirmed and maybe challenged at times. I am too in these conversations. 

Thank you very much for joining me today, Peter. I'm looking forward to our conversation.

Thank you. Thank you for inviting me here. 

I just want to be honest with the listeners and say that this is actually the second time we're making this recording because I pressed the wrong button last week because I'm still learning, and so we've had to do it again. So I'm really grateful that you've given up your time a second time to have this conversation. 

Yeah. It's okay. 

So Peter, can you, maybe set us in a time and place, if we look back to your childhood and and, you know, where your faith began, and what that looked like for you when you were child growing up in the Philippines? 

I should say I credit it to my parents because, they're very religious parents and, they raised us up 4 boys, very close to the church. The earliest I can remember was perhaps I was 4 or 5 years old. We wouldn't miss a Sunday Mass, a 7 AM Sunday Mass. Early in the morning, they will wake us up, to get ready for for for the Mass, and we go together for that Mass. It left a really deep impression on me and, on the love for the Holy Mass. 

Okay. 7 am. That's an early start. Was there a reason why it was 7 am, or did your mom and dad just like to crack on and get to Mass? 

For some reason, the 7 AM Mass was kind of the the most popular Mass in the parish. So, most people go for that, 7 AM Mass, to to be honest. 

Okay. So, you you were brought up going to Mass from the very beginning as a family. Okay. And then what what about school and friends? 

Yeah. Statistically, Filipinos are predominantly, Catholic nation. Forgot the figure now, say over 80%. So most of my friends, my classmates are also Catholics. Growing up as a primary student as well, our school year starts from June and ends in, March or early April. So we have our summer holidays from, Apri/May. We have this May devotion where we have the Flores de Mayo, that's, Spanish influenced, Flowers of May, where as kids, we would, it kind of, makes us, fill in our time, you know, for that school break -and the catechism, going for the catechism in the morning and the, and the Flores de Mayo in the afternoon. 

Okay. And what is the Flores de Mayo? Is it a procession? 

It's a non-liturgical devotional prayer where we bring flowers to Mary. There are sets of prayers and songs there. Central to the  devotional prayer is the offering of the flowers. And that's also some kind of fun to us because, before Flores de Mayo, we would be hunting, flowers. Where/what flowers to bring. 

Okay. So this was a devotion that brought together all the children in the holidays, bringing flowers to Mary and praying together and singing together. Oh, it sounds great. Okay. And I know you made some good friendships at school. 

Yes. Yeah. I did mention to you about, I will describe him as a best friend in those days because we started, from the age of 7 going 8. We started together to become altar boys. We were always paired together. Some people would actually ask, are you twins or are you brothers? I said, no, we're just friends because we will always be paired together when serving at Mass or, carrying the candles during a procession.

So you were serving at Mass too from a young age? 

That's right. Yeah. 

And then what about when you got a little older? What what were your interests at school? What kind of things did you do well at or enjoy? 

At a young age, I was already into into music, to be honest, because, from 6 years old, I should say, I started learning the ukulele from my mom.

Oh. 

Yeah. In the school, we had the,  we call it the Rondalia, it's again Spanish influence. And, we have this, the Rondalia, we will describe it some kind of Filipino orchestra for us. I learned the bandura, and later on in high school, I learned the guitar, the piano. I joined the brass band. I mean, I was using my music to serve at Mass as well, because I started, accompanying Masses, you know, singing in the Masses, especially in my college days. 

Now I don't want to jump ahead, but we'll perhaps come back to the music again, because I know that's something that even today is something that helps you express your faith. 

That's right. 

So let's stick with the your earlier life first, Peter.  And so what what did you do? Is it now what do you call it? Do you call it high school, elementary school? I'm not sure of your situation. 

Yes. That's right. We have a very American way of of calling our school stages. That friend of mine, my, partner as Altar Boys, he introduced me to this, to a seminary by the Salesians of Don Bosco. We took the entrance test together. We passed. And then I decided, oh, I'll go with you. So we actually went to that, high school seminary together. 

Okay. It's a Salesian school. Interesting!

That's right. 

And where did that lead you in your faith? 

Well, it I should say that's the most, deepening, part of my life as a Catholic Christian, actually, because that's where I learned more, well, because of the schedule, the rigors of the seminary life. You know, there are times for prayers, times for study, and the rhythm was was really formative. 

Right. So there was a rhythm through the school day, through all of your time at that school, that kind of helped you. Who was going to lead those times of prayer then in the kind of rhythm of the school day? Would the young people lead some of that or were the Salesian brothers leading that? 

Start of the day, we have the Mass, of course. There there's the priests there. We take turns just in accompanying the Mass, the music and the servers for the Mass. So we were very much involved in the prayers. In the evening, we have the rosary. It is, we take turns in leading the rosary, the leading of the grace before meals and after meals. A very special set of prayers, we do the Compline part of the liturgy, Liturgy of the Hours. So we we already familiarised with the Compline at such young age, chanting all the Psalms.

 Okay. And so that practice and repetition and rhythm is something that has felt like a very strong foundation for you. 

Yeah. Yeah. That's very right.

Okay. And then, take us forward a little more in this, in this story of your life and your faith, Peter. 

Yes. So after high school, I proceeded to the college seminary. I should say, I was more focused now in the college seminary on becoming a religious. At the start, well, from high school until the start of college, I was aiming to become a priest. But then some, the Salesian vocation was introduced to me, like the idea of the Salesian brother. I took up, an education degree majoring in electronics, and I thought that as a lay brother, I would be more helpful teaching technology as a lay brother than as a priest. From that time, I actually shifted to say, oh, I'd better be a lay brother. 

I'm guessing there was some sort of prayer and discernment around all of that for all of you in the school at that time, Peter.

Yes. Yeah. That idea just been introduced to me at the start of college, and, I had 3 years to think about it. 4 years because the 4th year was the novitiate. That's when I I finally decided, oh, yeah. I'll definitely go for the lay brotherhood instead of the priesthood. 

So you began that novitiate. You were going to be a religious brother. Okay. 

That's right.

I'm sitting here knowing that you're not a religious brother, so I know that trajectory has changed over time. So tell us a bit about what happened next in the life of your faith. 

Yeah. So after our our novitiate, we were sent back together to the college where we came from. And those for the priesthood took philosophy studies, and we lay brothers, there were 3 of us, would join with them in, we call it Salesianity. It's the study of the charism of Don Bosco. Salesianity, youth ministry, liturgy and catechesis responsibilities because I was the official organist of the community. I was the audiovisual in charge and the electronics laboratory in charge. After that year, they finally decided what to do with me; they sent me to the industrial technicians course. After that, I was sent back to the school and and started teaching.

So you were teaching at the school. You seem to have, by that age, already acquired so much training and and a rich variety of skills, really. I'm amazed how much you packed into your education already. I'm not surprised to find you were then able to teach effectively in the schools. That's amazing. So you were teaching on the electronic side?

Of course. I was teaching electronics, but the surprise was, as the need of the school - of course, I was a lay brother - they also asked me to teach religion. And because I was into liturgical music, so I had to teach also music. 

So they used all those skills that they had trained you up in then? 

That's right.

Okay. So, so what happened then? Because somewhere along the line, you haven't become a religious brother with the Salesians? 

Yeah. So at the end of that 3 year teaching as a lay brother, looking back, looking back at it, I was just burnt out with so much, work, I should say perhaps I didn't learn to manage well my time...... when I was just burnt out with work. 

I think listeners will appreciate that, Peter. I think there's something about doing work that you, you know, working hard, but also coming from a kind of vocation, a place of vocation, because you really believe in what you're doing and why you're doing it. And actually, you know, your your own health can get away from you a little bit, and your kind of, space to be yourself in all of that. So I think people will recognize some of that, I'm sure, who are listening, you know.

Yeah. So God works in His mysterious ways. Actually on, that 6th year of my temporary vows, my father, had a major stroke and my mother has to resign from her job to take care full-time for my father. I became, I helped my mother to care for my father. 

Mhmm.

And, another shift of faith, as I told you before, the God of Surprises. So I started taking care of my father with my mother. As I was trying to find, well, part of helping is to is to find work. The mysterious ways of God. So I was again teaching, music and religion in that school. But this time, not as a religious brother, but as a lay person. And then,  in those 3 years, I met my wife. I met my wife in a church setting, actually, because I was a regular Flores de Mayo goer, and she was also regular goer for the Flores de Mayo and the Mass, and that's how we came to know more of one another. 

So you, having been on a path to become a religious brother, actually, that path shifted under your feet and you found yourself getting married. 

The God of Surprises. And then, my wife has this desire to work abroad, to find a greener pasture, and she ended up getting a job in University Hospitals of Leicester. And so as a husband, I have to follow her here in the UK. And that's where my story here in the UK starts. 

And yet, back when you were younger, you maybe weren't thinking of leaving the Philippines?

I never really had any thoughts of going abroad personally. But of course, because I had to follow my wife, then I followed my wife. And then actually, it's like being sent again by the God of Surprises. So whatever comes, comes to life. It was another, it's a kind of another chapter and searching again and finding out, You brought me here, so what do You want me to do? So I came here in the UK, and then I was introduced to this, every 1st Friday devotion at Blessed Sacrament Church, which is a devotion to the, we call it Santo Nino or it's  the Divine Infant Jesus. With all my experience and what I can bring, so I started serving for that community. And that's how Santo Nino Leicester was, became. Thanks to Father John Maloney really for encouraging us to pray together. And Father John said, Let's create the devotion. And the devotion grew, and then we started organizing it, you know, with set of officers and with the constitutions. 

And are there some fruits of that devotion? You know, can you look back and think, well, these are things that happened because we gathered together to pray? 

The devotion, to the regular goers, it has created a community. At the start, we would only gather every 1st Friday and with the Mass and the Benediction and the rosary and, of course, the Divina prayers. And then it grew. We started singing in the Mass every first Saturday. Actually, right now, the prayers has become every Friday now, which is actually like what we do in the Philippines. It's through Zoom. That's something we learned during the pandemic. 

Okay. You've adapted.

From then on until now, we've been regularly praying every Friday by Zoom. The every 1st Friday devotion is still there, although in a different format now. We started to be going to each other's houses now. So it's like a home to home visitation. So that's how the First Friday devotion is going.

Well, that's amazing, Peter. That's really lovely to hear how, you know, over time you've changed the way you do things, but kept the spirit and prayers going all this time. That's beautiful. 

Well, the Feast of the Santo Nino in the Philippines is every 3rd Sunday of January. Here in Leicester, we celebrate it the Saturday before that 3rd Sunday. We have always been making that celebration, and it draws more Filipinos to go for the devotion because, the devotion to the Santo Nino is embedded in the Filipino Catholic way of life. Because the Santa Nino was there from from the beginning of our Christianity. It was, the Santa Nino was the gift of the Filipino missionaries to the first Filipino Christians. That's how the Santo Nino devotion is very dear to the Filipinos. 

It's very moving to hear you speak about it, Peter. It really is. I also think we need to talk about climate change because I know that's something just changing the subject a bit, but climate change is something that I know has inspired your faith more recently. And so can you tell us a bit about how how that came about? How did you become interested in climate change? 

Yeah. That's a very good connection because starting from Santo Nino and the Filipinos. Yeah. So we so we have the community. Every time in the Philippines, when there are climate disasters, we here in Leicester would fundraise to help out our sisters and brothers there, relief aids and, and long term rehabilitation, projects. And so almost every year, we would be fundraising when something really big happens in the Philippines, then we gather together, we fundraise, and we send help to the Philippines. And then that experience of, of fundraising given me focus on the issue of climate disasters. Whereas before when I was in school, I was not really paying attention to the global warming lessons, and I realized that these these disasters are not just natural disasters. These are climate change related. Again, God of Surprises: at that time also, I was doing this course on innovation, innovation saving for the environment, which actually really taught me a lot about the issues of climate change. So it informed me, and so with information and experience, you know, the fundraising that moulded my concern for the Filipinos in climate related disaster. Yeah. And that's how my advocacy began to grow. Of course, it began concern for my fellow Filipinos, but I came to learn that, many, should say, Third World countries are actually affected by climate change. The concern became global. When Pope Francis released Laudato Si', the Laudato Si' encyclical, it even, my concern even grow some more, and it became stronger because it's faith-based and it's more integrated now because the Pope just does not just speak of climate change in that encyclical. It's actually about the the whole ecological crisis, which climate change is part of. So my concern has now widened and even integrated. Climate change is so connected to problems of biodiversity. Most importantly, it is a social issue, not just an environmental issue. It's a social issue because of the the ones who are really affected are are poor brothers and sisters. 

How do you act on what you feel about climate change and what you know about it and and what your faith calls you to do. 

Well, thanks to social media and the Internet. Yeah. I got into this, it's Laudato Si' movement, and it was formerly Global Catholic Climate Movement. And that's where I I learned of the of the advocacy. It's a global, Catholic advocacy, and, and thankfully, it's actually, endorsed by the Vatican Dicastery on Promoting Human Integral Development. Because I was following that movement, making well use of its resources, of its information. They eventually invited me to become a Laudato Si Animator. That's one of the of their strategies in, in spreading the movement. I mean, at the very start, I already had the invitation but I did not have the courage to consider myself one. After 2 years, I actually enrolled, no, 3 years to train to be a Laudato Si Animator. 

And it took you a while to pluck up the courage, did it? When you have such a sound experience and training and skills that we've spoken about, and yet still you felt like... 

Yeah. The thing is really, the kind of hesitation was about, can I do this? Can I rally people behind me? Can I do the things that, what a lot of this Animator should do? But the courage came from the Blessed Sacrament Justice and Peace group. I just tried to propose to the, to the Justice and Peace group, the idea of a Laudato Si Circle. And to my surprise, yeah, we, at the height of the pandemic, we actually formed one, although in an adapted way because we cannot congregate again. So we had to share reflections, share prayers and reflections through email. But then, there you go. The circle was started and that gave me the courage to make it an official circle. 

Okay. And Peter, if I may, we said we'd come back to music. Just fill us in a little bit with how music is shaping your faith today. We've covered a lot of ground now, but I I think this is something that is still, even from those earliest times, where your relationship with climate change has changed over time. Actually, music maybe has been a a continuous part of your, the way you express your faith and the way you serve the faith community. Would that be right? 

Yes. Yeah. How would they connect it? Pope Francis' Laudato Si actually ends up with singing praise, You know, singing praise to God through, because of, creation. So I I think that's the way I should connect it. Laudato Si, the title of the encyclical itself is a song prayer by by St. Francis of Assisi. It's singing praise to God. So kind of, if you, praise God through creation, your heart sings. 

Yes. I think that's right.

Well, liturgical music has been part of me since my younger days until here in the UK. I mentioned about the Santo Nino of before pandemic was singing every 1st Saturday at Blessed Sacrament. Because of the pandemic, yeah, of course, obviously, we stopped singing in church, the group, but then in the parish nearest me, there was a vacancy for church organist. So I stepped in, and started accompanying the the Mass. I eventually became the organist now in the parish.

I've also played the organ in the parish, less well than you, I'm sure, Peter. But I find the music ministry, I'm just saying this for people listening who might be involved in the music ministry, I find it's really helpful in supporting my faith because in order to choose the hymns for the coming Sunday... 

That's right. 

You know, I have to look at what the readings are in advance and prepare them, think about them and and think about the liturgical season. And so when it gets to Mass on the Sunday, you know, I'm hearing those readings again, announced at Mass in a way that I've already been thinking about them. And I just find that has really helped my faith when I've been involved in music ministry in the past. I don't know whether that's something that resonates with you. 

That's very right because you become more focused on the liturgical celebration. Because you don't just choose any songs. Your first consideration would be to choose songs that that is according to the theme of the of the readings. You have to, search first for those song for those hymns that would enhance the the theme of the of the liturgy. Yeah. So you you become very focused of of the liturgy. Every liturgy, you go to become even more meaningful because you have  praying as well because, the hymns are also our prayers. We know of the of the ancient proverb, singing is praying twice. And so it enables us to pray twice when doing the music.

Mhmm. Exactly. Exactly.

Oh, should I mention the, the Santo Nino in Leicester? Because, we're very much into Facebook, the Filipinos. So we, of course, have this Santo Nino page. And, I thought also that this can be a page that can preach. So I, actually, I use that platform to do weekly reflections for the coming Sunday. So every Friday, to coincide with our Friday prayers, I would release a link to the readings of the coming Sunday, and then followed by Reflections, which are actually extracts from the Irish Jesuits, Sacred Space. And, it's a way for us to participate in social media evangelisation, really. The readings, the Friday release, helps us in our Friday prayers. We read the readings and the reflections, helps us to prepare for the coming Sunday celebration. 

That's really impressive, Peter. I think I can I feel, speaking to you today, for what has actually been the second time, I can really see how your early formation by the Salesians, you know, all of that training and experience and practice of your faith and and, you know, the devotions with your family and your friends have have continued to bear so much fruit in your life. You know, it's amazing to see the breadth of contribution that you are making to the community and, you know, the the gifts that you're bringing. I I feel very moved speaking to you today, to be honest with you. And I hope, I hope listeners will too. I think it's been a great privilege to hear from you. So thank you for joining me today. 

Thank you very much for inviting me again.

Thank you. Thanks so much for joining me today on All Kinds of Catholic. A new episode of this podcast is released each week on Wednesdays. I do hope you'll tune in again.