pretty flowers outside the chapel where "The Prayer" was performed
I pray You’ll be our eyes, and watch us where we go,
and help us to be wise, in times when we don’t know.
Let this be our prayer when we lose our way:
Lead us to a place, Guide us with Your grace
To a place where we’ll be safe.
La luce che Tu dai (The light that You give us)
I pray we’ll find Your light
Nel cuore resterà (will stay in our hearts)
And hold it in our hearts A ricordarci che (reminding us that…)
When stars go out each night
L’eterna stella sei (You are the everlasting star).
Nella mia preghiera (In my prayer).
Let this be our prayer
Quanta fede c’è (there’s so much faith)
When shadows fill our day:
Lead us to a place,
Guide us with Your grace,
Give us faith so we’ll be safe.
Sognamo un mondo senza più violenza (We dream [of] a world without more violence)
Un mondo di giustizia e di speranza (A world of justice and of hope).
Ognuno dia la mano al suo vicino (Everyone give your hand to your neighbor),
Simbolo di pace e di fraternità (Symbol of peace and brotherhood)
La forza che ci dai (The strength You give us)
We ask that life be kind
È il desiderio che (is the wish that)
And watch us from above.
Ognuno trovi amore (everyone may find love)
We hope each soul will find
Intorno e dentro a sè (around and within himself)
Another soul to love.
Let this be our prayer (Let this be our prayer)
Just like every child (Just like every child)
Needs to find a place:
Guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we’ll be safe.
E la fede che (And the faith that)
Hai acceso in noi (You have lit inside us)
Sento che ci salverà (I believe will save us).
A young bride asked me to sing "The Prayer" on her wedding day in middle of January. It was not easy for me though and being away from huge celebrations for a couple of years, I was quite apprehensive if I can still make it. Unable to find someone to sing the male part(it was supposed to be a duet), I travelled few extra miles to ask my dad, who never failed granting my wishes, and he readily said "yes". I showed him Celine Dion's album, "These are Special Times" a night before the wedding and the singer that he has been in his own right, was able to pick up Andrea Bocelli's part quickly. Early morning, we rehearsed together to my mom's delight and off we went to the chapel where the ceremony would take place. Unable to sing as often as I did in the past, I was a little nervous when I started the first two lines of the song. Yet I loosened up and I smiled confidently when people staying outside the much- filled tiny village chapel, tried their best to have a peek-with much excitement and anticipation in their eyes. Some procceded inside and tried to find their own place inside the chapel when the male part of the song was performed.
After the wedding ceremony, the church organiser told me that this song " The Prayer" was sung for the first time in this chapel, she loved it and asked a copy. After my singing part, I took photos in that memourable occasion and the song, which has always awed me, has become more meaningful since then- due to the following reasons:
First, my mom was very happy and proud as she sat in the pews watching me singing with my Dad for the first time( he always sang with my mom in special and not so special occasions when i was growing up and still living with them along with my siblings). Second, I disregarded any advice of possible allergenic reactions as I wanted to have my hair coloured the way I want it- a thing I have not been allowed to do the past couple of years. I still have to see any reaction whatsoever but being away from big events for quite a while, the new hair colour( i always change my hairstyle every six months in the past), gave me a "lift. Being quite vain sometimes, I can't stop smiling everytime I look at my reflection in the mirror.
Third, the wedding took place in one of the towns of North Cotabato which was much part of the news of MILF rampage in August of last year. Having been to Zamboanga provinces and passing by Lanao del Sur and del Norte provinces on my way yo Iligan and Cagayan de Oro around a couple of years back, I am much comfortable in this place even if in the recent months, it got national attention due to news of bombings, or foiled bombing attempts. I dropped by the place a week before the wedding and while walking on the highway one sunny afternoon, I saw how thrilled the locals were(I was trying to buy for a bread and a drink at a bake shoppe but the attendant's attention was somewhere else- at the sight of a couple of dashing American soldiers, probably just passing by or doing their own surveillance as a part of their agreed joint effort with the Philippine government(I gathered from a fruit vendor that the sight of Filipino troopers are no longer extraordinary) to achieve or maintain peace in the south. I had a quick glance at the American soldiers who remained oblivious at the attention they were getting from the crowd,and I continued my" discovery" walk. There was an urge for me to take photos but I decided not to -to minimise some sort of attention and be mistaken as a "tourist" or "journalist" and did my unobtrusive observations of what has been going in the town. It was a memourable yet fun walk.
Fourth, the song made to remember and value the lives lost in the battlefields of Mindanao, from the government and rebel forces, including that of the civilians' lives disturbed, dislocated or lost in the process of seeking "peace".
Finally, it pierces my heart remembering what has been going on in Gaza Strip(as of the moment there was a ceasefire) and other parts of the world. "The Prayer", has itself became "My Prayer" noting these words:
Sognamo un mondo senza più violenza (We dream [of] a world without more violence)
Un mondo di giustizia e di speranza (A world of justice and of hope).
Ognuno dia la mano al suo vicino (Everyone give your hand to your neighbor),
Simbolo di pace e di fraternità (Symbol of peace and brotherhood)
And I pray that my prayer and all the prayers of others out there will find some answers somehow, some time. Perhaps soon?
opening of the Chinatown
watching the celebration of Chinese New Year
watching after sunset in Davao City's Magsaysay Park
