It was Friday two weeks ago when I attended the 6:00 AM Holy Mass at Saint Anthony de Padua church in Buyo, Virac. I was all ears to our parish priest, Fr Joey Tendenilla, in his readings of the religious book in his front.
Being a retiree, I have more freedom to move and live in the best of both worlds of Buyo and Makati City. Buyo made me closer to God: attending Masses four or six times a week is one way of doing it. Makati is for leisure and a place for those seeking good times.
Weekday holy Masses are the ones I attend so as to avoid athe big number of parishioners during Sunday mass. I sit at the second row, the place for choir members, closer to the altar so I can hear Fr. Joey in his readings and giving of the sermons. You can never make yourself inattentive to Fr. Joey’s reading for he is a fine reader and speaker. You’re sure to understand every word that comes from his mouth. Clear and precise.
I asked him after the holy Mass that Friday why he always read from the book the passages/words that are part of the celebration. For him, having been a priest for number of years he could have memorized it, if not the entire book, then a larger part of it. He answered, “We were taught that in celebrating the holy Mass, the priest must read the book in order not to miss nor add a word to what is written in the book that must be heard by the parishioners.”
A number of times, he used up several seconds in turning pages and gazing at the words just to be sure of the lines to read, letting us wait for the continuation of the reading in dire expectations for the next words. We waited for the complete thoughts because the clarity of Fr. Joey’s voice had touched our feelings. Indeed, he is a good reader.
Ciceronian readers/speakers have enormous influence on listeners. Like my alter ego Namar on listening to an inspiring speaker, and upon arriving home, he will call me so I would listen while he is reciting the part or the whole speech he liked very much.
How much happiness it will make me, if in my last quarter of life, I will hear very good Catandunganon speakers, the likes of Kit Tatad, Ninoy Aquino, Sen. Hubert Horatio Humphrey, etc.
Amuse me, dear readers, by reading some of the excerpts from different speeches recited to me by Namar, my alter-ego.
From Ninoy Aguino’s speech: ” Decisions are made during high tide before the water receded, hesitates in everything is lost.”
Inspiring lines from the speech of would-be president Sen. Hubert Horatio Humphrey to the Joint sessions of Congress and Senate of the United States of America; becoming president did not materialize because of big C, “The good old days were not that good I believed. The good days are today and more are coming tomorrow, the great songs are still unsung but some of them had been sang by me.”
Kit Tatad delivered this speech many years ago at the former Virac Youth Center, now Virac Center Mall. As quoted by my alter ego, it runs this way, “I am from the administration but it doesn’t mean that I will always be in the administration, who knows someday those in the administration will be in the opposition and those in the opposition will be in the administration.”
What makes a good speaker/reader? One must have preparation/training, practice, and a stockpile of ideas. These much what I remember from a lecturer from Manila Speech Training Center somewhere in Sampaloc, near UST.
Mrs. Wilma Tapalla, the owner/lecturer, emphasized the importance of reading books orally(audible enough) the year was the summer of 1975.
Author Neil Gaiman is completely correct when he said, “Reading is important. Books are important.”
Afterthought:
Enthusiastic to find cheaper bestsellers/classics books? Please visit Booklatan at ARDCI Mart, Moonwalk Road, Calatagan, Virac, Catanduanes. Friday to Sunday from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm.