Father Joeker

By Fr Joseph Panabang SVD

Which is Which

Trying to welcome a group of elders who came to see me in my hometown during my last vacation I pulled out a bottle which I though was the lambanog whisky given to me by my benefactors in Baguio. Everybody was commenting that the drink was perfect. It was their first time to taste such. The following day, as I was preparing for the Mass, I discovered the bottle I had offered was the Mass wine. It was the bottle nicely covered with red Japanese paper, similar to the cover of the lambanogbottle. What a costly mistake. And no, I did not use the lambanog for the Mass.

Appearances can deceive

My two SVD companions from Indonesia and myself were in Cologne, Germany to see the mighty Gothic Cathedral unparalleled in its imposing arches and majestic beauty. From the Cathedral we stopped at Burger King Restaurant which had a huge bright poster in front with a picture of three big pieces of chicken legs. “Very cheap and yet very big,” we all believed. When our orders came, we were stunned to find out that the chicken legs were as a size of a thumb! Exchanging deadpan looks with my companions, I thought, under that poster they should have put: Warning! Objects in this picture appear bigger than they really are.

Identity Crisis

My puppy, Peace, gets along well with the kittens in the convent. He plays with them, he sleeps with them and even eats with them. One day I came home from work in one of the villages in Ghana and, to my great horror, Peace jumped all over me sounding, “meyaw…meyaw…” You could only imagine the trouble I have had to go to in teaching him how to bark like a dog. After all what would the other dogs think?

Nabisto Ako

In our Renewal Course in Rome back in 2000, my classmates and I attended a Mass. I enjoyed observing the organist who played very well on the Yamaha electronic organ. When time came for Communion he set the electric organ to automatic so it would play away on its own while he went for Communion. I couldn’t resist taking over the organist’s chair as if I was actually playing. Meanwhile the instrument played on. Everyone was surprised to see how proficient I was but when I stood up to go to Communion myself and the organ continued to play on happily, nabisto ang aking palabas.