THE CHARITY OF CHRIST IMPELS, TO THE GOOD IT PROPELS

“And let us send Jesus who is ever present in our lives, who is walking with us every day, who is enduring pains and sufferings for us and who is offering His mercy and compassion”, Sister Auralita Intal, SPC aspired to achieve in the first Paulinian prayer congress held at St. Paul College Pasig on Saturday, November 5, 2016.

It was indeed a meaningful reconnection with the Lord for our Paulinans as they hold their 1st Paulinian Prayer Congress. The space complex was filled with joy and happiness as the event proper begins. Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres (SPC) administration, teachers, students and other guests attended the event from different St. Paul campuses. The participants were given the opportunity to reflect and meditate on their personal experiences with Jesus in their lives. Sister Flordeliza Crispina Deza, SPC discussed the home of the SPC Community and it’s connection with our own personal homes with her talk titled, “We are 320 Years Old: Let us reclaim our Roots”. She gave the points for reflection focusing on our own “Querencia’s” or our heart’s desire especially in times of trials.

Mary Joy Ballaran, an ABRE student from St. Paul University Quezon City shared her own “Querencia” which is her beloved school SPUQC. It took a big part in her growth and development as a student and most especially as an individual. She stated that, “My heart is there in SPUQC. I really love our school because it is where I have really grown not just as a person but inside or deeply. In this place, I was able to deepen my relationship with God.” She also had the realization that she became more merciful and loving through her learnings as a student and through the Bible readings she had.

However Sister Luciana of the Congregation of Mercedarian Sisters of Charity also shared that apart from our own Querencias, we also have our “Calvaries”, or the place where we experience pain like Jesus. “I think my Calvary is here in the Philippines. Since I am a foreign student, I never took the course of Tagalog but for me to understand my patients in the hospital, it is very difficult.” Sister said. She also shared that for her to bear every pain she experiences, she prays. “I wake 3 o’clock in the morning. I always pray from 3 o’clock to 5 o’clock. That is the time when I can really offer my pain to Jesus Christ and I will be really happy after.” She added.

Mrs. Remegio, a professor from SPUQC expressed her deep gratitude to be able to attend the congress. She was grateful for this opportunity and because of this; she made sure to bring her “best” self. “Whenever I go to a place or attend an event, I really give my time to that. I know (that) with my presence and with the (presence of the) people around me, it will always be better. It’s just that (you should) choose a decision to make it the best place. Yes, I am in the best place!” She exclaimed.

Another fruitful realization that was presented in the event by Sister Auralita Intal, SPC, was the transformation of pain to blessing through the grace of God. Having the Paulinian Spirituality leads us to see the good things even in the darkest times of our lives. She asked the participants to recall an experience or an event of pain and difficulty that turned in to blessing. Afterwards, she also encouraged them to share their experiences with their seatmates.

2 students from St. Paul College Pasig willingly narrated their lives to each other. Gita Manuel, a Grade 11 student gave her friend as the person who was once a difficulty that eventually became a blessing to her. “I think mine, from all the many. It would be this one person. She was sort of a close friend when I was young but it turns out she hated me the entire time. I don’t know. I doubted all my friendships. It felt like a difficult time kasi nga (since) it felt like everyone just hated you but then as you come to realize may be you had something to fight in it. So I had to adjust, make sure na yung mga (that my) friends ngayon (now) sana (I hope) they’re genuine to me and ngayon kasi mas prinprioritize ko friendship kasi for me super important yun (I prioritize my friendships because for me it is truly important). I think that is something na God would want me to have.” On the other hand, Jyrel Sacayan, a 4th year student shared her experience that is almost the same with Gita Manuel’s. She had a good reflection over this matter as she stated, “But it made me realize something about myself that I can’t be possessive of people because I don’t have control over their lives. They can choose whatever they want to do and it made me realize that if although she was my friend for a long time, I had to let it go.”

Sister Aurelia Narag, SPC, initiated the third reflection. She discussed the Paulinian Life and Mission, which is about the contribution of the Paulinian community to the society and most especially to families. Her beautiful question to ponder was, “In relation to the core values, what in your life as Paulinians can you share to others or community so that you can be the best millennial who make a difference in our country today?” Kimberly Robles and Mereljo Alberto, BA COMM students from SPUQC enthusiastically reflected on the meditation and gave their realizations. “Since yung course ko is communication, so parang mas madali sakin tumulong kasi katulad non, help them na mag express ng thoughts, be more creative sa kung anong pwedeng mangyari (Since my course is communication, so I think it will be easier for me to help—help them express their thoughts and be more creative on what can happen) Be more open sa mga nangyayari sa atin socially ( be more open to the things that happen to us socially) Para sa course, pwede pa naming maitulong, since ang nagyayari sa atin ay puro negative na , so para maktulong kami like social media which is pinakamabilis pwede kami maglagay ng mga advocacy about sa nangyayari sa atin (In relation to our course, the fastest help that we can give especially with the fact that we are surrounded by negative concerns and issues is to create advocacies in social media)”, Kimberly Robles said. “especially now about Drugs (and) early pregnancy”, Mereljo Alberto added.

The day of reflections and meditations ended with a personal prayer led by Louise Isabelle Padrinao, the youngest of the inspiring Padrinano family. She prayed, “Heavenly father, you were the source of all goodness in life. We praise you for your infinite love we are here and alive. We thank you for the gift of life, for the every breath, for the beautiful nature and the scenery we are surrounded with. We thank you for all your provisions, the food that we eat. We thank you for our friends, loved ones, and family that we keep. We thank you for this day, the opportunity you gave to share our thoughts and experiences to all those who came. Loving God we are grateful that you never stopped to fill us with your love. Please always guide us and keep us humble even with the things that we have. Teach us more and more to be generous, merciful and compassionate. In our trying times and struggles, help us to trust and increase our faith. We cannot thank you enough Lord for giving us everything we need. If we hurt you in any way because of our sinfulness, forgiveness is what we plead. For all your blessings and graces, we want to thank you. We give you back the honour and praise O Lord to show how much we love you. Everything that we do today, we offer for your great glory. This we ask in the mighty name of your son Jesus Christ together with the Holy Spirit and through the intercession of Mama Mary, Amen.”

The talks truly imparted new realizations to the participants especially the reflection to live out a Christ-centered life like our patron, St. Paul. Caritas Christi Urget Nos!