Phantom of the Opera Commentary and Movie Review

                Human intellect has, indeed, gone so far in the course of history. It has improved so quickly that seemingly all changes just happened with a wink. No one has certainly ever thought of this. 

                Human intellect has also turned out to be very influential in the human race. It has influenced so many people of all races and of all walks of life. 

                Few of the greatest achievements that men have ever attained were in the field of arts- arts in the form of painting, sculpting, speaking, dancing, singing, writing, etc- and the most well-liked and prevalent is the performing arts which include dancing, singing and acting. People have become very enthralled with this to the point that they have gone beyond the walls of theatre and strode up above the flight of steps of the stage.

I believe that Phantom of the Opera is one of the greatest movies, not so much of category but in general, man has ever made. With the movie alone, you will see how man brilliantly thinks when his craft is concerned. The story of the film was really fantastic as well. No wonder why it became so popular all over the world. 

                The Phantom of the Opera was a complete package if entertainment is concerned. It was a nearly perfect incorporation of singing, dancing and acting per se where, indeed, the conglomerated parts worked so well. The way the songs were arranged was very classy and sophisticated. The songs suited favorably to the settings of the movie which was opera that we know a place for the rich and elitists. The chosen actors and actresses really fitted to the movie very well. Their abilities as singing actors and actresses were exceptional which made them capable of the roles. The choreography was done very professionally as well. Everything came off very effectively.

                The film was really a form of art. It was not just a movie. It was a movie that depicted the greatness and grandeur of the word love. It was not made just for entertainment that most of the time people dwell with a perfectly indifferent commonality. It was not made merely for leisure; instead, it was made to move the audience through the way how the actors and production staff expressed their own perception of love.

                The movie has shown how mysterious really love is, and it is not because of the fictionality of the phantom but because of its story. I, too, can not explain exactly what love really is but I will just do it quite assertively. Love, indeed, is a two-way process. It is an in-depth form of communication between people. Love will never be called love when it is selfish. This was significantly shown by how the phantom acted. He has done everything just to get his love, Christine for he knew he was actually waging in a lost crusade for her. We will not feel the ecstatic elation of love when the other does not love us in return. With this, I admire the phantom. He has given up his greatest love because he understands what love is for others and not just what love is for him. 

 

                Often times in our lives, human as we are, we get so hurt every time we fail most especially when we did everything just to win the race. Often times we blame ourselves in failing on some things because we think we did not try hard enough even if we actually know that we did. We just have to understand that everything is not a matter of winning,rather, it is a matter of knowing really what we are fighting for in the very first place.

The Church I Now Know and the Church I Knew Before

          Often times, human as we are, we utter words we do not actually know. We just burst out and speak out things without knowing everything about those words. I admit and can not deny the fact that I also do because it is really tempting especially when I hear words for the first time and when they sound so pleasing to me. I use them. I can still clearly remember how I pointed out to the infrastructure alone every time I was asked by my teacher in grade school what a Church was for me. However, what’s worse is that she affirmed with what I said and she was my teacher so I thought I was completely right. That was how I simply and naively thought about the mysterious word, Church.

          It is, indeed, quite embarrassing that I had been pointing out to something just as I knew it without having any certainty with what I was saying. Nonetheless, I can’t blame myself because I grew up with it. I was oriented the wrong way or, perhaps, not really the wrong way but it is just that its commonality is perfectly incomplete.
Nevertheless, I will just charge it to experience- a concrete proof that I really learned something from my stay in a minor seminary and now, in a major seminary wherein better and more things about this important word are unraveled.

          Church, indeed, is not just a mere building or infrastructures where we pray, venerate saints, and adore God. The Church is not Church with just 1 or 2 persons. The Church is not only the pope nor the bishops. Church is not only for priests nor for lay people. The Church is not for the rich alone or for the poor alone. The Church is not only for those in need or for those who are bountiful. The Church is not only for the problematic or for those who can sleep soundly. Instead, the Church pertains to the people of common belief and one faith which include us.

          The Church has different roles in the life of a believer. First, it is a Sacrament. God uses the Church as instruments and means of communicating with his people. It serves as the visible sign of his presence in the midst of people’s materialistic behaviors and unwarranted attachment to material things per se. God continues to shower upon us the Graces we need and the graces, he knows, we are ready to receive. Like, in the form of the seven sacraments- baptism, confirmation, holy Eucharist, reconciliation anointing of the sick, matrimony, and holy orders. Second, it is an institution. The Church has its own identity as Church and as one people of God. It has maintained order in its people through the bishops and priest under the jurisdiction of the pope. The institutionality of the Church only signifies that members need each other especially in terms of cooperation in spreading our belief as a Christian. Thirdly, it is a community of believers and of common faith. It focuses on its people. It continuously encourages its people to live as one people of God. It also encourages all believers to become dependent to others in such away that they may work as one in reuniting the church, making it prosper, and for most cases, defending them to those who attempt to ruin the Church through prayers. Fourth, it serves as a herald in a sense that it continues to proclaim the word of God to all people. The Church also continues to remind all people to deem the scriptures so important to their lives because the word of God is, first and foremost, the structure and framework of our belief. Through the scriptures, God also encourages us to live a moral life. Lastly, it is a servant. It continues to work for the transformation and betterment of the worlds, and at the same time, work for the works Jesus has already started.. The Church is always for the service and care for others especially for the poor and the marginalized.
          

            In the Status Quo, the Church faces a lot of scandals and issues that, definitely, without God’s help, will make the Church stumble down. The Church finds it quite hard to deal with it because of the quick spread of the issues through the media. I, too, was scandalized by those. And, at first, it made me ask what is happening to our Church, where, in few years, if God would only will it, I will dedicate my whole life. However, knowing the issues better made me realize that only a few or only a small part of the Church committed the grave misdemeanors and, as a matter of fact, not all of the members or leaders. We can never judge something or someone just by knowing one or two things about him or about it because it will only be a part of a whole. It will be unjust to other parts or members to get involved with things do not know and be allegedly accused with crimes they did not do, in the first place. Just because we all have one belief? Better not utter any word, I suppose. Moreover, human as we are, we are frail and part of our frailties is for us to commit mistakes. We are no Gods. Even saints committed mistakes. That is practically the paradox of life being created by a God who is perfect. It is just that our merciful Father has given them millions of chances to change, and they did change. People just have to broaden up their horizons and just face it. We all commit mistakes. We just have to help others change and never place them in a box as if there would be no chance for them to change. Who are we to judge then? Who are we to condemn others just by looking at their weaknesses and never consider what they did for others and for the many?

           Reminiscing the past is, most of the time, funny. It is really funny thinking and looking back how I ignorantly yet a little too confidently told everybody that a church is the building or the infrastructure alone. At least, now I know more than that. I learned that each one is part of it. It just sounds quite ridiculous to be part of the building, though. Moreover, church is the living work of the Holy Spirit, the giver of life. Without the Holy Spirit, Church will definitely break down in the long run.

Communications for Seminarians

          I have in mind countless insights that I want to share with you. I can’t count with my fingers the things I want to impart, the topic I want to discuss. However, I realized and deemed it more important to first say something about the significance of communication for me which I believe one of the subtlest things to do in the course of my studies.

        I am certain that not all of us  will become priests few years from now, not all of us will end up standing on the Altar of God in front of hundreds of people, preaching, not all of us will turn-out teaching the people of God to create a change in their lives for the better through priesthood and be a model of it.

          Thus, we can never be certain who among us will make it. We can never be so sure who among us will become priests someday.

So, in the long run, we will resort to pursuing another career, another field of endeavor, which I hope, will be a well-thought one for each of us.

       In the Status quo, in a group of people who received equal scholastic training, it is rather reasonable to ask what makes one person more effective than others, more successful than others.

         I think it is the ability to express one’s self more clearly and explicitly.

        It can also be one’s power to make eligible and logical decisions that more often than not needs to risk the whole office through considering not only one’s own perspective but also that of others which usually requires one proper disposition.

        And, most importantly, it is one’s ability to do well with his colleagues and, perhaps, in one way or the other apprehend his adversaries.

           Nevertheless, if God would only will it that I would become a priest, I would be truly grateful. And I want to express that gratitude by rendering efficient and quality-wise service to all most especially to his people.

           I am convinced that priesthood is not a mere contemplation; it is a total submission of one's self to others. Priesthood is not simply talking about God; it is practically one’s highest expression of how he knows God and one’s strongest conviction that, indeed, there is God. Priesthood is never a form of egoism; it will forever be an outward manifestation of altruism through knowing more about others and embracing their culture in the process of one’s own self-discovery.

            I believe that we can only fulfill these when we know how to TALK, when we know how to communicate well.

          Moreover, as seminarians aspiring to become priests, it is but important to bear in mind that our communication skills will serve as our stepping stone towards the mileage of success and personal growth in this vocation.

        In the end, whatever happens, whatever this precarious life brings, may it be surprisingly far from what we expect, our success will most probably rely on our communication skills particularly our proficiency in oral communication.

    In whatever path we would wish to undertake, our communication skill would always matter especially when we have the desire to go beyond the walls of our limitations and be more professionally and economically competent in this world where, figuratively, only the fittest survives.