‘YOU FOUND ME’: Carmelites launch first CD

He never imagined that from being a rock band member, he would one day land to a congregation where he could still use his God-given talent in music. “I never thought that I will become a priest, but he found me.”

Son of a seaman and a dressmaker, Rev. Fr. Haluendo Rafael Amit or Fr. Wen supported his siblings until he forego his license as an electrical engineer and was ordained as a minister in Cebu last 2012.

The young Discalced Carmelite priest completed the “Flower of Carmel” album after series of life’s events. Thus, this album was not made overnight.

This 10-track album with carrier single bearing the same cover title envisions to support the needs of the brothers and priests in Tugbok as well as the sisters in Lanang. Interpreted by the Carmelite Nuns of Davao City with guest singer Choy Lido, Sr. Ma. Teresa arranged the songs, while Sr. Mary Cecilia OCD took care of the accompaniment.

“Carmel is a garden. It is a mountain range. Sta. Teresa says that when we pray it’s like we are watering the garden. As we reached 10 songs, we decided to record them then produce the album for the first time,” explained Fr. Wen. “…this album serves as a new form of evangelization. The songs have a pop where it can easily be understood by the youth. The melody has a contemplative spirit, like the Carmelites have. The songs in the CD will pull the young and the old generations.”

Fr. Wen narrated to DC Herald the story behind the title ‘Flower of Carmel.’ “It happened in Iloilo way back September 14, 2014, Feast of the Triumph of the Cross. This was right after my morning mass. I was driving my car with a postulant seminarian named, Paul and with his mother, Carmela. Suddenly, I hit an old man. We went down to see him. Then there was a police officer who came. I introduced myself telling him that we will bring the person to the nearby hospital. Very much afraid, I spent the whole day at the hospital. I tried to check whether he was fine or not. The thought of being imprisoned if the man will die really frightened me. Yet, after the examinations, he went home without any scar. His name by the way was Emmanuel. That event made me pray for personal conversion and renewal of trust that Mama Mary was just at my back. I thought I found God, but God found me, us. He finds ways to find us. God is the one who searches for us. Who are we to be searched? Let us bear in mind that God’s goodness is beyond compare,” ended Fr. Wen.

Other songs in the album include Our Father, Let Me Be, You’ve Found Me, A Faithful Friend, Muling Paghahanap, Great and Holy One, Hail Mary, and two Cebuano songs for Holy Thursday and First Friday, Pari ni Kristo and Sa Akong Handumanan. Copies are available for Php300 only at the Carmelites Monastery, Bajada. The album is the first in the Philippines.