Thank God it's Saturday, but for me and the group of volunteers and parents it's thank God it's another Teen Catechism day. Since Ramo Adrian went to Pontianak to attend Romo Edmund's 30th Presbyteral Anniversary and wont be back sampai sore, the team had to work double time specially in preparing the talks. But before starting the whole afternoon affair, Yudi and I went for lunch at a nearby Mc Do branch. Curious as always, I asked my companion what is unique about Mc Do in Indonesia, what I mean is the food which can only be found at a Mc Do store in Indonesia. To my dismay there was none, so we had chicken meal which was called Panas komplit, Pa for Packet which is the combo itself and Nas for Nasi, so its Paket Nasi dengan ayam goreng dan sup. Probably what was unique about Mc Do here is not the selection of food but rather the sambal and the way people eat the paket, with their tanggan or hands. Yup, I tried to look for spoon and fork but Yudi told me that it is usually ate with hand, and it was only then I saw people actualy washing hands and eating with their hands. Not that we don't do it in the Philippines, we actually do in Kamayan restaurants, but not in Mc Do. Hehe and the rice was really RICE because it was packed like is can be shared by two people.
The whole session's main theme focuses on the importance of relationships and how the Church can be considered part of our social community or network. But ofcourse more than just being a temporal or earthly organization of group, the Church is first and foremost spiritual, it is the mystical body of Jesus Christ of which all baptized are members and Christ is the head. Although I think most of those who attended the talk liked the videos very much specially the video about Mari and her three puppies, I just hope and pray that the main meat, the goal and purpose of the whole Catechism class was understood and put to mind, if not put to heart.
After a day's work, I think the laborers deserved their wage, so I told the volunteers that maybe its good to go out and have dinner together. Fortunately Romo Adrian came and Ibu Wiewiek one of the grandmothers of the participants invited us to Lenmarc to eat dinner. Although we planned just to eat es puter, God provided us bread from heaven, not literally though. So Yudi drove the exceptionaly besar mobil paroki with me, Verena and Christine. We were welcomed by Romo Adrian and Ibu Wiewiek at the food channel, a modern day, hightech food court with all sorts of food items ranging from western like Italian to eastern food like Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean and of course traditional Indonesian food. I initialy ordered sushi and seaweed salad at the Japanese resto but Ibu Wiewiek asked me to try nasi padang at Saru Ratu, it's traditional rice meal with choice of dish such as rendang, sayur, gadu gadu with the ever famous green and red sambal. I tried beef rendang, crispy lung meat, sayur in saus kacang with bean and kamansi and green sambal with cucumber. To top it all up I got coke zero for my beverage, just to quench my thirst and counter the spicy taste. I think a ordered banyak so much so that Ibu Wiewiek's grandson remarked, how come I look so thin when in fact a ordered a lot, hehe.
We went off to our original plan to eat es puter so we left Ibu Wiewiek and family and went to the Loop to eat es puter, Well for those who do not know, it is traditional ice cream made fromfruits or other flavors such as avocado, durian, chocolate but using coconut milk. For Filipinos its like dirty ice cream but this one can be served on a coconut shell with kelapa mudah or young coconut meat. It look simple but I assure you, the taste is heavenly, hehe. What a way to end a stressful day, with my vocal cords all strained and here I am eating dengin sekali, es puter hehe, I feel that I won't have suaraku besok.
Lastly I would like to share a short reflection I had with today's Gospel about the prodigal son. While I was trying to look for an inspirational story from the Bible about people who wanted to live by themselves and be independent, the face of the young son came to my mind. Clearly, the young son made a belief that he can make it on his own, that with his father's wealth, he can live an independent and free existence. But the more he continued with thisself defeating illusion, the more he was proven wrong, that he actually needed people to exist, he particularly needed his family. In the end, he went back, planning to show remorse by giving way his rights as son and serving at his father's house as a slave. Butwe know the ending of the story right? The father never gave up his paternal relationship with he son. The father did not just acknowledge his son but intinsically affirmed first and foremost his being a father. He can never deny himself, God can never deny his relationship with his children even if often times his children because of false notions about themselves deny God. The lenten season challenges us to go back to the father, to reaffirm our relationship with him and try our best to be called true children of God.
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