Life Lessons Learned | Fr. Stephen Cuyos, MSC

Archive for the ‘Life Lessons Learned’ Category

Waves
Posted by Fr. Stephen, MSC
Apr23
Having therefore such stillness You succumb to solitude A solitude so intense You can hear it budge You quell what is left Of the bustle in your pride You fret swiftly then rapidly Until a deafening hush Necessitates your exit from your past You and I We can row toward Where the sparkling rays Send blushing ripples Together let us disturb The calmness of these waters Extricate deep, deep aches ... more »
A Train Ride & Two Films
Posted by Fr. Stephen, MSC
Apr10
I prefer trains to airplanes. The only advantage of planes over railway cars is speed. What I particularly like about trains is the ample space it affords every passenger. If you want to have a feel about how tight a Guantanamo prison cell is, just take an economy class flight. But if you want to sit back, enjoy the view, move around freely, go to the toilet without disturbing your seatmates, and drink coffee in a real bar, then take a train ride. Ah okay, not all trains are created e... more »
Primavera
Posted by Fr. Stephen, MSC
- Journeys
- Life Lessons Learned
Mar19
You know that spring has officially arrived in Italy when you begin to see girls wearing next to nothing. And that's exactly what I saw in the streets of downtown Rome today. I can only imagine what they'll wear when summer comes. Now that winter is past and primavera is here, it means to me that: 1. I don't have to wear bulky jackets 2. Going to the shower is not a torture anymore 3. I can now open my window (not the operating system ha) 4. The trees will have leaves again 5. Flowers w... more »
99% of My Blood is Cappuccino
Posted by Fr. Stephen, MSC
- Fun & Poetry
- Life Lessons Learned
Mar11
Of course I am exaggerating. But if you drink three cups of cappuccino a day, you’d feel like you can’t live without it anymore. I am a late bloomer when it comes to coffee drinking. It is probably because nobody in my family wontedly drank coffee. Or that I never tasted a good one until I came to Italy. And it did not help that I learned in elementary school that coffee contains caffeine – that awful stuff that was supposed to kill you young. God, did I hate that ink-like beverage. ... more »
Photography as Poetic Statement
Posted by Fr. Stephen, MSC
Mar3
If you show a photo of canine food to a dog, it wouldn't salivate much less eat the picture. However, a mother who sees a snapshot of her dead son would cry. Only humans react emotionally and physiologically to a photograph.Whenever I look at that sunrise photo I took one frigid morning last December in the Netherlands, I re-experience all the emotions associated with that image. Yes, that is a simple shot of the morning sun and the silhouette of some trees, but what else is it? The “what el... more »
Monochrome Tuesday
Posted by Fr. Stephen, MSC
- Life Lessons Learned
Feb22
It's been three days now since I last saw the sun. Everywhere you look you see life in monochrome. The overcast clouds, the wet streets, faces of people, the bare trees, the dust hanging in the polluted air – everything in grayscale.What brought sunshine to my day was a small notebook, a gift from a friend way back. It is as small as a 10 euro bill and it is bound in Levi's denim cloth. When my friend sent it to me she scribbled these words on the first page, “thanks for making me happy” p... more »
The New York I Came To See
Posted by Fr. Stephen, MSC
Aug7
New York, USAImmediately after breakfast, Bro. Richard drove me to South Bend regional airport. The airport was relatively small, almost as small as the Ilo-ilo domestic airport. We arrived one hour early for my flight. When I checked in I asked for a window seat. There were not many passengers. The half-full plane (or half empty, if you are a pessimist) left South Bend on the dot at 10:06 am. The U.S. Airways aircraft was so small I figured that it would only accommodate 30 passengers. It w... more »
News For Sale
Posted by Fr. Stephen, MSC
- Internet
- Life Lessons Learned
Jan21
The Corruption of the Philippine MediaThis essay is based on the monograph entitled News for Sale: The Corruption of the Philippine Media by Chay Florentino-Hofileña. The book shows that the corruption of the Philippine media is pervasive, creative, sophisticated, institutionalized and systematic – thus making it difficult to detect and problematical to straighten out. The findings revealed in the book are shocking, but it ends with some concrete recommendations as to what initiatives need to... more »
A Night With Urban Trad
Posted by Fr. Stephen, MSC
- Journeys
- Life Lessons Learned
Jul29
Banneux, BelgiumImmediately after our evening prayer last night, the school director announced that there would be a concert in a village called Louveigné at 8:30 pm. The village he said was just a kilometer away from our school. He was looking for interested people to go with him and his wife to the concert. I raised my hand to indicate my immense interest. Three more others raised their hands.Long lines had already formed when we reached the concert venue. It seemed that the whole village was... more »
To Say Nothing Except What Can Be Said
Posted by Fr. Stephen, MSC
May26
The Function of Language According to Ludwig Wittgenstein's TRACTATUS LOGICO-PHILOSOPHICUS “The right method of philosophy would be this: To say nothing except what can be said.”Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, proposition 6.53 The brilliant and influential but long and rather technical Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (Logische-Philosophische Abhandlung) is the only book Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) published in his lifetime. In the preface he says that the va... more »

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