Poverty
By Andy Gregorio
Andy Gregorio and his wife Nora have been involved for many years with Worldwide Marriage Encounter in Dumaguete City where they live. They also served a three-year term in national leadership of the movement.
Philippines
Vocation Page
A Chapter In My Life
By Jason Antiquera
The Beginning of the Chapter.
Stories we read in books are often broken into chapters not only so that readers can have a good stopping point in reading but also to indicate movement and shifts in time, situations and, in some case, places in the story. My period of regency, which is a time of discernment while being out of seminary formation, was a particular and important chapter in the story of my life. Such a period indicated a serious time of reflection on the movement of the Spirit in my life as it unfolded in and through my daily experience.
Vocation Page
Photo by Fr Hector Suano SSC
Columban Missionaries live in many countries throughout the world. It is a rewarding life, but it is not always easy. There is a long list of Columbans, Priests, Sisters and Lay Missionaries who have suffered violence, imprisonment and even death while sharing life with the poor. They all believed that the hardships they experienced were small compared to the life, hope and joy they shared with others. Are you willing to serve in that world today?
Our Cover Story
Photo by Fr Hector Suano SSC
Our cover features some Columban priests on their way back to the main square after viewing St Kevin’s Bed, a cave he used as a hermitage in Glendalough, County Wicklow, Ireland. 36 Columban priests recently made a pilgrimage from St Columban's in Dalgan Park, Ireland, to Bobbio in Northen Italy where the body of their patron, Saint Columbanus, is buried. We can only think of how they felt as they relived the steps of their patron.
Her Home In The Philippines
By Richelle Verdeprado
After many years of not attending Mass, 26-year-old Peruvian Marisol Rojas Tomasto’s concept of priests and going to church changed when she first met the Columbans ten years ago. Since then, she has admired their sense of closeness with the people and how they break down the walls that separate them from the community. Wanting to do the same, she has now found her second home in the Philippines as a Columban Lay Missionary.Your Turn
By Peace Flores
Despite suffering from mild cerebral palsy since childhood, the author is a second-year Secondary Education, English Major at the University of Negros Occidental – Recoletos (UNO-R), Bacolod City.
BEING HONEST HURTS
By Suzzanne Saniel
Suzzanne is from Consolacion, Dalaguete, Cebu. She graduated as a
Bachelor in Secondary Education major in Physics and Chemistry last 2007 and has
been teaching in B.R.I.G.H.T. Academy, Banilad, Cebu City for two years.
Presently she is a Chemistry teacher.
As a child, I was told to tell the truth always. I remember confessing just before my First Communion that I had lied many times. The value of honesty has always struck me and I have observed how people easily get around it. As I was growing up, I got confused with telling a twisted truth and a lie. I also realized how being frank enough to tell the truth could even lead to persecution. So if being honest at all times is not good, we try to be prudent.
Mission In A Smile
An Interview with Ana Belma Flores, CLM
By Mary Joy Rile
Ana had the chance recently of visiting Misyon in Bacolod City and Joy, our Editorial Assitant interviewed her. Here she shares the story she got through the interview.
Let me start with a quote from Mother Teresa, ‘Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.’ You can only guess how we started… Yes, we started with a smile, as I eyed her for an article, believing that there is one beautiful story from this simple, beautiful woman.
L to R: Mary Joy Rile, Ana Flores, Richelle Verdeprado, Marisol Rojas and Bessie Palma at the Misyon editorial office in Bacolod City.
Miracles Still Happen!
By Macelinda Diaz Verano
I still could not believe that we were the Grand Champions of the whole Philippines in the Third National Catholic Family Bible Quiz held recently at Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati.
‘Am I dreaming?’
Of course, I wasn’t; it was more of a dream coming to reality. Months before it seemed to be a vision which I thought could only happen in dreams or through a miracle, notwithstanding the hurdles that we had passed before we finally made it here – the pressures of everyday living, the negative feelings of anxiety, fear, doubt and exhaustion, the responsibilities our family members had to attend to. The list could be endless. Yet through it all, God has given our family this precious gift – a miracle to remind us to trust in Him no matter what.