The Talisay tree of the Crucified Christ

Photo by fjacinto

"Talisay" (tuh-lee-sigh) is a tree common in the Philippines but the one in the photo is unique in that it is doubly-trunked and the upper part of the right trunk looks like a Crucified Christ. Amazing too because it grows and stands inside the compound of a particular Catholic church in southern Philippines. I first noticed the Crucified Christ resemblance when I was inside the church one afternoon and saw it from the viewpoint of the grille window of the church. Personally, I feel like the image is telling us the beauty and the value of suffering. Suffering is part and parcel of our day-to-day living whether we like it or not. The rich and the poor suffer. The beautiful and the not-so-beautiful. The learned and the unlearned. The fit and the fat. The abled and the disabled. The self-righteous and the righteous. All! We suffer simply because we fail to see and accept suffering as something beautiful and valuable to our growth as a human being. We can learn a lot from the caterpillar that has to wrap itself inside the cocoon, it endures and accepts much sufferings of loneliness, darkness and spiritual desert to achieve a higher level of existence. By its sufferings are birthed in its soul new gifts -- the gift of wings, the gift of colors, and the gift of flight! So it is in the life of a human being.

Photo by Justin Lauria