I usually leave the house no earlier than 7:30 each morning, and I walk a good five minutes to the bus stop that will take me to the subway to work. I begin praying my morning prayers as I step out of the house and usually end the rosary on the bus. Perhaps it’s the praying bit that has made me reflective of my surroundings as I venture out into the world each day. It’s like a solo procession or a quiet walk in prayer that I try to get into each hectic day I begin.
I find it sad that this is the only time I get to pray. I remember when I was in high school, the chapel over at St. Paul College of Quezon City was two levels, so through my first to fourth year, no matter where my classroom was, I had the chance to say hello to Jesus each morning before I went to class.
I studied with the Paulinian nuns from Nursery til fourth year high school and my days began and ended with a prayer. (I remember how we used to sing the prayer from beginning to end as if we were vocalizing.) When I landed in UP for my college degree, we no longer prayed. Then years later, for some strange reason, I relished having to stand up to say our prayers before and sometimes after each class at the Ateneo School of Law.
I don’t really go to mass religiously but I try to pray and when I do, I try my best not to do it in rote fashion. It’s a conversation I keep going not only in my lips but more so in my heart. So each day I walk this path to the bus stop, I find myself walking with Him in my head and in my heart. Whereas in my younger days, I used to ask for how the day should go, I now say I leave it up to Him to help me get through the day.
No matter how busy or how harried my day could be, I still try to say hello in my own way.
Pinay New Yorker 