My summer assignment

BUDA, DAVAO CITY — When everyone else is celebrating there vacation time, I’m here in my new community assignment in Buda, Mindanao until May 15.

I’ve been here before when I was a high school student last January 2005. During that time, there’s no electricity and cellular signal yet. Now, there’s electricity and I am getting a good signal on my phone.

It’s cool here. When I arrived last Sunday, temperature was around 27 degrees Celsius at 9 AM. I was with some young brothers and formators who just passed by on their way to Davao. We enjoyed the sweetness and freshness of the locally cultured strawberry in the house backyard. Just chilling on my bed during the Easter Sunday afternoon fixing my WordPress and downloading some Pokemon emulators.

The village is not crowded unlike any barangay in NCR. Though the start of Summer Assignment is on April 7, the birthday of my nephew and Feast day of St. Jean-Baptiste De La Salle, I went straight here since I’m not from Mindanao and I have nowhere really to stay except my relatives in General Santos City.

Not really much to write about since I’m just warming up here.

Expect me to blog everyday whenever I sign up for a mobile data promo.

Have a blessed day to everyone.

An encounter with a Dominican priest

MALAYBALAY CITY, MINDANAO — After the Easter vigil this Saturday night, we had a festive dinner followed by socials with matching drinks and dessert. After getting my allowance (which is not that much), I was talking to Br. Romy and asked him about the Starex vehicle that broke down in Damulog. Since his group was on the broken vehicle driven by Br. Joe that arrived at 8pm last Monday, I mentioned about our retreat facilitator and how he started the retreat with an orientation.

The Habit
Our retreat facilitator, Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P., is a Dominican priest who was the former Rector of University of Santo Tomas. When he entered the Manresa conference room here in a Jesuit Retreat House, he was wearing his Habit. His wearing of Habit is not about his being a Dominican Order of Preachers giving a retreat in a Jesuit retreat house (while co-presiding a Mass with a Jesuit priest, they assured us that it’s not yet the end of the world). He emphasised at the start of this week long retreat that his attire is to remind us that the success of the retreat mainly depends on the disposition of the listener, meaning us Marist Brothers present.

The greatest truths are the simplest ones
There are lots of take aways from the seven sessions but I will mention the simplest ones since St. Thomas Aquinas said that the greatest truths are the simplest ones.

On poverty
1. “When God is all we have, we realize that God is all we need.”

On Sinning
1. “There are no private sins. All sins are communal (1 Cor. 12:26).”
2. “Sin brings its own punishment (Deut.6:15).”
3. “Unconfessed Habitual Sin causes Moral Anesthesia.”
4. “If the devil cannot make you Sin, he will make you busy.”
5. “If I am full of myself, I am empty.”
6. “Hurt people hurt people.”

On Change
1. “Only the dead does not change.”

On dreaming
1. “You cannot outdream God.”

On love
1. “We become what we love.”
2. “We cannot love that which we do not understand.”

On Forgiveness
1. “Forgiveness does not change the past but enlarges the future.”
2. “Even when reconciliation is not possible, forgive.”
3. “If one forgives, one must remember.”

On classics
1. “A classic is timeless because it is forever timely.”

On hermeneutics
1. “Every translation is an interpretation.”

On presence
1. “A bra is someone close to the heart and is there to support.”

On peaceful living
1. “A peaceful life is an orderly life.”

There are lots worth mentioning and I’ll update this post once I remember them.