mike and i first met during our first year at nus. we joined the catholic students' society (css)...ran for office and bonded as heads of our respective faculties, part of the wider ex-co css family. he served as faculty head for engineering and i led the arts catholic family. we formed a loyal friendship with edward (medicine) and louis (law), and spent our days debating much on vatican II, why women can't join the priesthood, contraception, and wondered if the gift of tongues may be another form of hyped and organised hysteria afterall. in many ways, i think we helped each other to locate spaces within our own prayer life to accomodate the sort of disparities that can confront a thinking christian in attempts to understand the role of the church, the centrality of christ and a web of ethics that argue what it means to live out God's promises in life.
amid the necessary mess, i found a safe space with 3 of my brothers who allowed me to be the way i am even as i try to understand their own worldview and faith experiences in light of our common humanity.
way beyond theology, dogma and doctrine, the four of us grew to form a deep kinship that is to last for many years down the road. back in our nus days, we did the usual stuff undergrads dabbled together; organised retreats, planned talks, led in prayer, stayed over in each others' place, shared by breakwaters, took long rides in louis' car and feasted on the good food we enjoyed. we grappled with our fair share of heartbreaks...ennui... crisis...and coping with exam blues. 
louis is married and remains in law. i continue my journey as a teacher. edward has left his career as a doctor and will soon fly to rome to train for the carmelite priesthood (http://www.ocdcarmelites.org/). i still remember the shock we received when mike seemed to have left his old life, family and friends all of a sudden one november morning, packed his bags and joined the verbum dei order.(http://www.verbumdeisingapore.org/). after months of quiet discernment on his own. we kept in touch over the years. visited michael once in cebu where he was doing his noviatiate. after more than 6 years in formation , mike has finally been ordained as deacon, one step more to priesthood, if he decides to journey on. he sent us a youtube recording of his ordination recently, in the philippines where he resides. many past scenes from our journeys welled up within when i saw this clip. he remains the same mike we have come to love him for; a humble and gentle man of simplicity whose very life is rooted in the same love that jesus placed in him. though we no longer meet nor communicate as often as we do, the winding songs of our shared journey remains deeply etched in my mind. and reality bites, knowing we now have different sets of friends and work on different priorities in our lives. i feel a sense of distant warmth even as i pen these words; happy for his journey yet knowing somehow our lives may never cross again due to our separate missions today.
mike once strummed a song to me with white alf in his arms. i was went through a bad patch then. his childlike view of the world, and our faith never leaves its mark on me.
i miss my friend and brother when evening falls. i light a candle for michael, in thanksgiving and in prayer to accompany him, and his vocation...a missionary for christ on life's road.
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