By Margie C. Abulon
Margie is one of our Misyon promoters in Zamboanga Sibugay. She teaches at Kabasalan National Vocational School.
M – agazine creating awareness among its readers of God’s call to all
I – nformative, interesting and enlightening articles touch hearts to share, to love
S – ervice-oriented, giving honor and glory to God in varied lands throughout the world
by Marjorie Militar
Marjorie is a third-level student at the University of St La Salle, Bacolod City.
Serving as a lector at St John the Baptist Parish, Bago City, it never crossed my mind that I’d be part of a great event that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. In December 2003, our parochial vicar, Father Jonas Sumagaysay, told us about an event to be hosted by the Diocese of Bacolod the following November. Soon, we found ourselves busily preparing to welcome the Pilgrim Cross. It went from parish to parish, staying in each for two to three days, from Hinigaran in the south of the diocese, toSilay City in the north, visiting schools along the way, before returning to San Sebastian Cathedral for the start of …NATIONAL YOUTH DAY 2004.
By Rheena Babanto
Former Columban lay missionary Rheena Babanto now works as a college counselor at St Scholastica’s College, Manila.
We arrived in Korea in April 1997, springtime. I can still remember how bulky we looked because of our three or four layers of clothing to battle the cold Siberian wind. We spent nine months learning the language. During that period I went once a week after class to a kind of day care center in a poor area in Seoul. Children with both parents working are sent there for the day. I taught them English nursery songs. I remember the first time we met, they stared at me with amazement, telling me how big my eyes were. They often looked confused when I struggled to speak Korean. The fun the children shared with me made the stress of learning the language more bearable.
By Luzviminda O. Cañete
The author lives with her husband, their 14-year-old son and their 10-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, in Midaslip, Zamobanga del Sur.
It was like a flash of lightning and the roar of thunder when my attending physician at Mercy Community Hospital, Iligan City, told me, after a series of blood tests, that I had Chronic Myelogetic Leukemia (CML). That was 12 February 2003, around 3pm, the time our Lord Jesus Christ shed his precious blood and died on the Holy Cross for us. I was shocked and speechless. Tears didn’t fall - my eyes were wide in shock and my mind numb. I kept saying to myself, ‘God, I cannot believe it ... even in my worst dreams I hadn’t expected this. Of all people why me? Why not the drug lords, the drug pushers? Why not the rapists, the kidnappers?’It’s not easy to face reality immediately. There were thousands of ‘whys’ in my mind, the diagnosis echoing in my ears until my sister-in-law held my arm and consoled me by saying, ‘Kaya mo iyan because God has a special plan for you.’
By Sister Anne Carbon SSC
Columban Sister Anne Carbon of Cagayan de Oro took her final vows in 2003. She ministers to those suffering from the psychological effects of Peru’s years of political violence.
When I entered religious life in the mid-’90s, it was certainly different from the life the older Sisters had lived for years and years. Gone, in some congregations, were the days of superiors, the formality of wearing a religious habit and serving in institutions such as schools and hospitals.
by Marjorie Militar
Marjorie is a third-level student at the University of St La Salle, Bacolod City.
Serving as a lector at St John the Baptist Parish, Bago City, it never crossed my mind that I’d be part of a great event that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. In December 2003, our parochial vicar, Father Jonas Sumagaysay, told us about an event to be hosted by the Diocese of Bacolod the following November. Soon, we found ourselves busily preparing to welcome the Pilgrim Cross. It went from parish to parish, staying in each for two to three days, from Hinigaran in the south of the diocese, toSilay City in the north, visiting schools along the way, before returning to San Sebastian Cathedral for the start of …NATIONAL YOUTH DAY 2004.
By Cathleen E. Caga-anan
Cathleen ‘Nayie’ Caga-anan, now a 4th year high school student in St Scholastica’s College, Manila, wrote this letter to Father Bert Layson OMI in response to his article Peace Progress in our January-February issue. She has given us permission to reprint it.
Dear Father Layson,
Greetings! I’m Cathleen Caga-anan or Nayie, a 3rd year high school student at St Scholastica’s College, Manila. We are encouraged to read Misyonwhere I read your story, Peace Process.
By Claire Dulac
Claire reflects on her Manila experience, ten years later.
Specifically, WYD has strengthened my journey with God and opened my eyes to a whole world out there that exists beyond all understanding over here in Canada. Traveling to Denver, Manila, Parisand Rome to see other youth and their devotedness to God and to Christianity is still mind boggling. Coming from a parish of a maximum of twelve parishioners, including our family, to a world parish of five million in Manila was overwhelming. I was encouraged to know that there are many youth around the world who want to seek God.
Bishop Vicente M. Navarra, born in Mambusao, Capiz, became auxiliary bishop of Capiz in 1979. In 1988 he became first Bishop of Kabankalan and in 2001 fifth Bishop of Bacolod. This is a slightly edited version of the homily he gave on Pentecost Sunday, 2004, at a Mass for the Silver Jubilee of Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WME) in Bacolod.
Bishop Vicente M. Navarra, DD
Bishop of Bacolod
By Sister Adela Paternina TC
Sister Adela, from Colombia, came to the Philippines in March 1999. She celebrated her Golden Jubilee in Bacolod on 8 December 2003. She was a friend of Sister Ines.
Ines came into this world on 6 April 1937 in Medellín, Colombia, the eleventh of twelve children of Fabricano Arango and Magdalena Velasquez. She was baptized four days later, confirmed on 6 October 1940 and received her First Holy Communion in 1944. Like two of her sisters, Fabiola, the eldest, and Cecilia, she joined the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters. Another, Angela, left as a junior sister.
