ASSUMPTION DAY AND AN EXHIBIT
BY Ana de Villa – Singson | Proud to be! HS 1983
Assumption Day. August 15. It is marked in the calendar of Assumptionists. On this day, Our Lady was assumed body and soul into heaven and was elevated as its Queen. On this day, as an annual celebration, we honor Our Lady and troop to the Assumption Chapel . This year’s mass was celebrated by Fr Ricky Montañez who sung the entire consecration in Filipino. What a soul – elevating moment…to hear the most solemn portion of the Mass sung in our vernacular…and with such a beatiful voice too! Fr. Ricky extolled not only through song but also through his homily, which spoke of “disintered-ness”, a concept peppered liberally throughout St. Marie Eugenie’s teachings. From Fr. Ricky’s homily:
“One of the lessons taught to us in our formation years in the Assumption is the attitude of disinterestedness in the apostolate…Influenced by an ever more dominant secular and social media-saturated culture, many of us tend to care much about what others think of and say about us. However, as Christians what should concern us? Christians should care little about whether others think highly of them or not. We never allow ourselves to be controlled by the opinions of others, even if they have good opinions of us. Let us always remember that it may feel good to be admired and respected for a time, but these feelings are passing and should not become the very foundation of our happiness in life. We should not do what we have to do so as to gain the esteem of others. Like many people these days, we tend to validate our life by pointing to our achievements. This validation often leads to boastfulness and pride. As Christians, our happiness should be found in God alone and how He sees us. In the end, we should only have one goal — to be pleasing to God! “
Attended by over 200 alumnae across a wide spectrum of batches, this mass, like all the Assumption Day masses was replete with meaning and poignant emotions. As a finale of all Assumption Day Masses, the culmination of the mass for me and for many other alumnae, was the poignant singing of ASSUMPTA EST MARIA. Sung in 2 voices, with crescendos, diminuendos, with soaring high notes, listening to an Assumption congregation singing ASSUMPTA EST MARIA is like listening to a heavenly choir. Voices float, emotions are high and few eyes are dry when this song is sung from the heart. Just recently, I looked up the English translation of this beautiful song:
“Mary is taken up into heaven. The angels rejoice. Praising, they bless God. Alleluia!
Customarily, we enjoyed snacks after the mass. First to be wiped out were the Assumption Tarts, now even yummier baked under the direct supervision of our nuns in Baguio. What was not customary, was the launch of MAGNIFICART, the AAA’s online art, jewelry and home auction which exhibited 50 of its 400-strong inventory of auction pieces to the alumnae present. The Paradiso Halls were peppered with paintings, sculptures specially curated by the Magnificart team as a preview of the online auction. But, what was intended as a preview for the online auction on September 28-29 became a full blown sale. While select pieces were up for purchase on that day, alumnae nabbed art pieces on the spot. Meaningfully, one of the first pieces to be sold was a Roland Castrillo sculpture of St Marie Eugenie and a red plaid Assumption student. Surely Our Lady was watching over Magnificart 2024, it’s name hailing from her canticle of prayers! We exhibited acrylic paintings of Ferdie Cacnio dancers and put one up for sale…but by the end of the night, the dancers had all mostly been taken and I was worried about having no Cacnio paintings to include in the actual auction ( Happily, this was remedied and we have 4 pretty ones added to our auction). So supportive were the alumnae, that a painting which was not even on exhibit and which had not yet been released and which is still arriving from the US in October, was bought!
All the pieces, specially curated for that evening, were special but standouts were pieces by our own homegrown alumnae talent. Alumnae artists who joined us were Conchitina Bernardo, Vicky Lopez Tuazon, Ivy Lim and Trixie Mutuc ( her eye-catching piece of acrylic sculpture on canvas was purchased on the spot). A corpulent golden prosperity pig by Jerry Morada was much admired and…much hugged ( I was one of the huggers of this cute super chubby pig!)..and was one of the first pieces to be carted off. It was a very good launch for Magnificart 2024 and one whose success we hope will be carried through to the actual online auction on September 28-29.
To view the Magnificart gallery , click the link below. Don’t forget to register. Registering allows you to bid when the auction goes live on September 28 and 29. Then mark it on your calendar and bid. And spread the word…send the link to friends and family…let’s make Magnificart 2024 a roaring success! All profits are for the rebuilding of the home of our Assummption nuns…a cause very worth launching on Assumption Day!
CLICK TO VIEW THE MAGNIFICART 2024 GALLERY. REGISTER. SAVE THE DATE. SHARE WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND BID GENEROUSLY ON SEPTEMBER 28-29. ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE REBUILDING OF THE HOME OF OUR BELOVED ASSUMPTION NUNS.