La Madonnetta vol iii issue 1

la madonetta layout.indd.indd 1 12/22/2011 8:53:23 PM

La Madonnetta Editorial Staff

About the Newsletter

La Madonnetta

What’s Inside?Superior General

Fr. Luigi Fain Binda, FSMI

Local SuperiorFr. Paolo Pirlo, SHMI

Editors-in-chiefPost. Robert Jomel Mendoza III

Sem. Jerome Berja

Asst. Editor-in-chief/ Layout EditorSem. Francis Dominic Vergara

ContributorsSem. Cary CaingcoySem. Ferdie De LeonSem. Ian Jan RanocoSem. Rolan Tamayo

Sem. Kevin RegaladoSem. John Ross ArevaloSem. Bryant CabrerosSem. Alven MauricioSem. Aldwin Cecilio

Sem. Neo NavaroSem. Marlon Jay SanzSem. Jules Fernando

Sem. Christopher BaniagaSem Benjun David

Sem. Francis Jude Anthony EstarisSem. Carl Andrew Juridico

Sem. Reineir JuanSem. David John Periera

Post. John Vincent CamralPost. Dennis AguilarPost. Ulysses Rubia

Post. Symon SurmiedaNov. Jumar Llanto

Bro. Raymond JurolaitisProf. Zenaida Burgos

Engr. Al Mario Legarte

Photo Credits to:Post. Cestir Regalado

ConsultantRev. Fr. Jennil P. Tonel, SHMI

PublisherQuality Catholic Publication

From where this scribe is standing right now, he sees a tree – an Acacia perhaps; countless dried old leaves fall, ironically new being received by the ground. As it is with ideas that pour in constantly; some are meant to remain as ideas which

are more eloquently expressed silently, mind to mind; soul to soul. But some deserves to be written down like what is to be unfolded to you, dear reader. After a four-year hiatus of this humble literary endeavor, we present to you once again, ideas hailed from the thoughts of these young, gentle minds. Never was it expected that this would be thoroughly supported by the community at large through article submissions. And so, be our guest to read along with us.

PASCH: A Figlian Way of Life 1Messages 2A New Mission in Pangasinan 3Figlian Prayer Life 4It Started With a Dream 5“Bonding“ with the Man in Red Hat 6"Duc in Altum" 6The Visit of the General 7Nuncio to the Philippines 7The UST Experience 8Buhay Sunday School 9Maritas Apostolate 9Figlians Join Noynoy 10A Figlian Way of Coup at The Manila Peninsula 10Pebbles and Corregidor 11“Brotherhood in the Realm of Sports” 12Ginoong Seminarista 2010 12Independence Day @ Bolinao 13Literary Attempts 18On Vocation Campaign.... 21A Vocation Story to Tell 22Kapatiran 23Thesis Experience 23Novitiate Period 26WHAT IS RELIGIOUS LIFE? 27Voice of the Laity 28Marian Corner 29


PASCH: PASCH: PASCH: PASCH: PASCH: PASCH: A Figlian Way of LifeA Figlian Way of LifeA Figlian Way of Life Remembering the childhood days of mine, my fond father told me that we will go to the for-est to get some dry and sapless fi re wood to be used in our everyday cooking at home. My fa-ther told me to obey every single word he will tell me. Then, we went to the verdant forest nearby. At fi rst my father taught me how to sharpen my dull machete for me to cut the adamantine woods that covers the entire spectrum of the forest. As seminarians, we are also being sharpened in the seminary. As fi glians (sons), we must be like sharpened machete to be good as new to cut into the hearts of the people calloused with worldly sins. In sharpening a dull machete, we need differ-ent stuffs. Some of those are sharp stone, water, blade sharpener and many others. At that, we fi glians are like the corroded and dull machete. We are to be taught the different stuffs in formation and that is the PASCH. In the seminary, PASCH as the fi glian way of formation in life is our guides to fulfi l our dreams, to become priests. The word PAS-CH reminds us of the Passover meal in the Old Testament and the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. PASCH is an ac-ronym which stands for Pastoral, Academic, Spiritual, Community and Human formation. The entire formation for priesthood must in-clude pastoral formation, for sooner or later we will be pastors of souls. One of our Pastoral apostolates as seminarians is MARITAS. Every Saturday after-noon, we go to the developing areas in Parañaque to catechize our less fortunate brothers and sisters. Through this apostolate, we foresee that the work that is waiting for us is shepherding of souls. There-fore, the pastoral formation that we have in our apostolate is the practising and channelling of all the things that we have cultured inside the seminary.Furthermore, we must be knowledgeable of things, especially in faith and in morals. Intellectual matu-rity is also demanded of us. This is the fi glian aca-demic formation. As future teachers of the church,

Sem. Jerome R. BerjaEditor-in-chiefSem. Jerome R. Berja

we must be academically matured because we will be teaching in the name and on behalf of the Church. It is one of the most important sharpeners for priesthood, the spiritual formation. As fi glians, this is heart of our semi-nary life. Our daily Mass, recollections, confessions, liturgy of the Hours, and adoration are some of the spiritual exercises that help us seminarians to grow in holiness. We as fi glians are being shaped to Love Christ in the form of Liturgy and Worship. Next is the Community life. “No man is an island”. This simply means that we cannot live wholly without our companions. We can see it undoubtedly in the New Testament, Jesus formed a community of twelve, the twelve apostles, and send them in a mis-sion by twos’; certainly not alone. Community life inside the seminary is very important. We as fi glians, community life is a way of life that we learn how to share, to give and to offer oneself to God and to others. Finally, the human formation. “Madal-ing maging seminarista ngunit mahirap magpaka-seminarista.” This phase suggests that being a seminarian is not that easy as we think it is. Human formation is entrusted to us seminarians and it is up to us to utilize and sharpen it. We know ourselves better than the others. As Bishop Julius Tonel would say, “no other formator is greater than yourself and God”.In a nutshell, PASCH is the fi glian’s wholis-tic way of life where the virtues of respect, discipline, charity, hope, obedience and love towards God and toward others are being sharpened and being formed. As seminarians, our fi glian way of life is patterned in this fi ve letter word PASCH. Being fi glians, we must live this and use it as a tool for our future ministry.

EDITORIAL La Madonnetta 1


Peace! Let us praise and thank God for His infi nite mercy and love. Let us not boast ourselves of our goodness for sometimes we think God loves us be-cause of it. My dearly beloved, He loves us not because we are good but in the fi rst place, God is good. If we fail to recognize the inner voice that speaks, and invites us to follow Himmore closely in our chosen vocation, then listen to Him once again in the silence of our hearts. May we be impregnated by His Word in order for the people we meet will leap with joy, thus, not only

Peace! Let us praise and thank God for His infi nite mercy and love. Let us not boast ourselves of our goodness for sometimes we think God loves us be-cause of it. My dearly beloved, He loves us not because we are good but in the fi rst place, God is good. If we fail to recognize the inner voice that speaks, and invites us to follow Himmore closely in our chosen vocation, then listen to Him once again in the silence of our hearts. May we be impregnated by His Word in order for the people we meet will leap with joy, thus,

La Madonnetta is a very signifi cant reality both to our founder Fr. Jo-seph Frassinetti and to our congregation, Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate. It is the place where Joseph at his very tender age, consecrated his whole life to Moth-er Mary. It was the time when he was just beginning to value spiritual things in his life. For us Sons of Mary, it is very relevant to remember the extra ordinary events that happened to our founder since they gave us inspiration to do likewise and even better. Now, La Madonnetta has risen. This is the time to unfold the new things happening not only inside the four corners of the seminary of SHMI but also to re-sound the events that happened in the past; to bridge out the past to the pres-ent. The seeds sowed are now ready for the harvest. As we thank our Lord in counting our blessings; The 34 young men dwelling in the seminary have discovered the joy of living their very lives off ered to the Lord. As the young Joseph prepared his life for the eternal vow, three novices now are preparing themselves for their fi rst profession as an early sign of their self consecration to the Lord. Deacons picked by the Lord in the service are now tendering their fi nal commitment to the Holy Church of God. Confreres representing our twin communities are readying themselves to refl ect the will of God for our Congregation as they elect our new Father General this summer. The two parishes dedicated to Mary Immaculate that concretize our love for our Mother will be enriched with the devotion we have to St. Joseph, her most chaste husband, as we begin our newest pastoral apostolate in the far north, this mission station dedicated to him will strengthen our identity as Sons of Mary. For my co-workers in the vineyard of the Lord, living our lives committed to our charism is the powerful echo that will always remain in the hearts of these young men by our Lord to give forth their continual witnessing of God’s blessing to our beloved religious family, SHMI.

Rev. Fr. Eric Gonzales, SHMIVice-Superior/Postulant Master

Rev. Fr. Eric Gonzales, SHMI

Rev. Fr. Cesar Telen, SHMISpiritual Director

2 La Madonnetta MESSAGES

imitating Him but producing Christ in our personal life. Let the in-tercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary strengthens us as we walk in our spiritual journey with faith in our hearts. Praise the Lord!


Rev. Fr. Paolo Pirlo, SHMIRector-Superior

Opening a new mission is like having a new child: you never know until you feel his little feet humping from within the womb. We already had two beautiful parishes in Salawag and Parañaque, and never in our wildest dreams we had consid-ered to open another one. Like a middle-age couple contented with cuddling a couple of siblings and planning carefully not to use the nappies again. When suddenly, last January, we received a letter from Archbishop Socrates Villegas inviting us to open a new mission parish in Barangay Payas, Santa Barbara, Pangasinan. Out of respect for the good Archbishop,

the enfant prodige of the late Cardinal Sin, four of us took on the 200 kilometers journey from Manila to Dagupan City. We were happily surprised by the warm hospitality of Bishop Villegas, whose kindness refl ects that of his beloved mentor –the and much more by the natural beauty of Barangay Payas.They call it “love at fi rst sight.” The chapel dedicated to St. Joseph, with adjacent convent and rooms, was like a jewel in a sea of green rice fi elds. The parish priest of Santa Barbara told us that he used to celebrate the Mass once a month, with a 10-people at-tendance, and that many were shifting to other denominations for lack of a permanent priest. Without so much ado, in agreement with the joyful archbishop, we agreed to have the launch-ing of the new mission pastoral center on February 19, 2011, at 6:00 pm. With a fl ottiglia of vans - from Salawag, Merville and Multinational – we made the long way to Pangasinan, and we were little prepared for what awaited us: an ecstatic crowd of faithful, in their best attire, waiting for the Bishop and the priests with the same eagerness that the people of Jerusalem awaited for the Messiah on Palm Sunday. Nothing could restrain the clapping of hands and shouts of joy when the declaration of the new pastoral center and the letter of appointment of Fr. Alan was read at the beginning of the Mass. More clapping of hands during the inspir-ing homily of Bishop Socrates, with the culminating apotheosis after the fi nal blessing. A sea of people, hugging and blessing, engulfed the helpless clergy, while tears of joy were mixed with shouts of hurray: the new mission center of St. Joseph had uttered the fi rst whimper.

A New Mission in Pangasinan

FROM THE RECTOR’S DESK La Madonnetta 3


My favorite Cardinal, Blessed John Henry Newman once ex-plained what would happen to an intelligent man without piety, and to a pious man without intellectual life. He said that intellec-tual life without piety leads to indifferentism while piety without intellectual life leads to superstition. Our Figlian way of life as expounded by our Founder, Fr. Giuseppe Frassinetti, avoids both excesses by a balanced interplay of study and prayer. Our Lord Jesus Christ consecrated his disciples to truth (Jn 17:17). Why not consecration to love? Consecration to truth is the preservation of love. A cheating heart is never a loving heart. For the heart to be in the right place, the mind must be enlightened. There is indeed a circularity between truth and love that to consecrate the disciples to truth is likewise to consecrate them to love. These are the two pillars of our Figlian life: study and prayer. My dear sons, Jesus would grant us the gift of wisdom if fi rst we dispose ourselves to its reception through study. Study is like fi lling our jars with water which is tasteless and colorless. Study, however, is a necessary counterpart which Jesus asks as a requisite from those who aspire to be wise not only with the wisdom of man but likewise with the wisdom of God. Then comes prayer. Jesus supplied wine in the wedding at Cana only when the jars were fi lled with water. He did not create wine out of noth-ing; he asked for human cooperation and counterpart. First, fi ll the jars with water. Only then did Jesus perform a miracle pre-cisely out of the water supplied. “No more wine” are the words which we borrow from Mary to beg Jesus to turn our tasteless and colorless ideas into the wine of his wisdom. Prayer is life, my dear sons, and life is based on right or-der; to put in order, however, belongs to the intellect. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus taught them the “Our Father”. The Lord’s Prayer is the life of Jesus him-self. That is why it is orderly. One cannot rearrange the articles of the Lord’s Prayer without actually destroying its form and con-tent. But were not the Pharisees orderly, too? Then why did Jesus censure them for not praying well? The fact was that the Pharisees were utterly disordered in their lifestyle and this was refl ected in their prayer itself. Indeed, the law of life is the law of prayer. If life were based on order, the choice of order is the decisive factor in living well. Among many orders, a seminarian can choose the order by which he can structure his life. However, among those many orders, only one order is the right one. Lastly, remember my dear sons that PRAYER IS THE LIFEBLOOD OF EVERY FIGLIAN. If you have not developed an appreciation of prayer here in the House of Frassinetti, I doubt if you will develop it there outside. It’s an obvious oxymoron—a

Figlian who does not pray—but while oxymoron cannot be said to exist be-cause they are by nature self-contra-dictory, there are in real life Figlians who do not pray. Make no doubt about it—you are only as strong as your de-termination to pray. Prayer again is not only a matter of feelings. Many of you do not pray if you don’t feel like praying. You think prayer is most sincere when you actually feel like praying. When you pray even if you don’t feel like praying, you are not being insincere. You are willfully fulfi lling your duty. If feeling were the measure of sincerity and therefore the determining factor of duty, then when you become priests you ought not to celebrate the mass if you don’t feel doing it. People ought not to come to mass if they don’t feel like it. Nobody should fulfi ll his duty if he doesn’t feel like doing it. Can you imagine what kind of society we would have if everything were left to feelings? Prayer is submission of the will, of the mind, of the feelings. Thus, even if every inch of your body, mind, soul, and fl esh rebels against prayer, it is when you actually pray that you submit yourself totally, for submission is best achieved against the greatest resis-tance.

Let your life be a prayerful life! KUDOS FIGLIANS!!!

Rev. Fr. Jennil Tonel, SHMIVice-Rector/Economo

Figlian Prayer Life

4 La Madonnetta VICE-RECTOR’S CORNER


A dream often starts with an imagina-tion, at the most, positive. The dream to have a beautiful church in our towns, provinces and cities is almost impos-sible because of evident fi nancial prob-lems especially if the area is quiet poor. For us Catholics, a church is important in our community not only to gather for Mass but a visible sign of strength, hard work, and hope. In fulfi lling this dream is diffi cult but to work hard is possible. The pioneer fi glians in the Philippines have already erected two churches in the country-one in the suburbs of Cav-ite and the other in Parañaque. Both churches were dedicated to Mary Im-maculate. However, we gaze our cam-era on the latter, the MIP Parañaque which was recently inaugurated last December 8, 2010. For most people, seldom they’re interested to know the “how” of things. The grand church we see now experienced many ups and downs. It was indeed a long process. It seemed like eternity to labour just to build this exquisite church. There were many happenings behind the scenes that made this church come into being. There were pains, struggles, feeling of hopelessness and helplessness that crawled every soil we see presently. We cannot do away with it. But then again, we’re glad. Without these reap-ings, without these struggles, without the pain, the joy of fulfi lling this dream would not have come true. Thanks to the safeguarding of Mary through her community, the fi glians, stood erect, fortifi ed their stronghold to hold on to that dream. Alas, On the dusk of December 8, 2010,

tion, at the most, positive. The dream A dream often starts with an imagina-tion, at the most, positive. The dream A dream often starts with an imagina-tion, at the most, positive. The dream

It Started With a DreamSem. Alven Rodol Mauricio & Sem. Aldwin Cecilio

there we saw as one community headed by the good shepherd, Jesse Mercado with the parish priest, Fr. Eric Gonzales and the fi glian community, the incense rose up to the heavens to separate this structure from the world. Thus, the sacred and the profane.This occasion proved the greatness and generosity of God. This greatness was shown through his religious, the fi glians and the community of believers always gear-ing to be faithful to the body of Christ, the Church.

FEATURED NEWS La Madonnetta 5


Moments with the ‘Apostles’...

It was my second time to meet Bishop Julius Tonel from the Diocese of Ipil. I fi rst saw him in Salawag, Das-mariñas, Cavite during the ordination of Fr. Jennil to the diaconate. His Excellency is a cousin of our vice rector. Tuesday, February 1, 2011, Bishop Tonnel visited us in the seminary and celebrated Mass in the new church in Mary Immaculate Parish, Better Living, concelebrated by our SHMI-priests. He was actually the second bishop who celebrated in the new church. After the said Mass, he had dinner with us in the seminary. Fr. Paolo gave a mes-sage to our beloved bishop. He said that, “every bishop is a successor of one of the twelve apostles”. That night, we had in our midst the successor of Saint John the Beloved.

"Duc in Altum"

His Excellency gave a message for us semi-narians, so eloquently delivered that stroke our hearts to keep moving forward. It was naturally a very in-spiring message. He encouraged all of us to persevere more, not to think so much whether we have a voca-tion or not as long as we enjoy this kind of life we have embraced. If we feel that happiness in what we are doing, that would be a sure sign that we are called by God in this way. And then therefore we should do and give our best since we are happy. It was truly a great honor for us to meet him and we are looking forward of meeting him for another time.

The gregorians (juniors) had the privilege to ac-company Fr. Jennil to attend the ordination of his batch mates in UST. The said ordination was presided by His Eminence, Cardinal Rosales. As I hear the word “cardi-nal” mu curiosity was awakened and I was so excited to see one of the three cardinals of the Philippines. As we reach the Manila Cathedral, I was struck by the presence of so many priests, with some Bishops and the presiding Cardinal. The presence of the apostles of Christ with the addition of the choir singing Latin hymns and songs the Gregorian way impressed me and triggered me the re-activation of my inspiration. While the rite of ordina-tion was being said, I felt so refreshed and energetic like a car loaded with fuel to further desired destination. I said to myself;” someday, you will be there in front of many priests, bishops and even maybe a cardinal who will extend their hands on your head and your presider will consecrate your hands with oil.”

After the long ordination, I was still full of inspiration that I brought that emotion to the reception area where we ate inspiringly. While we were eating, the presence of Cardinal Rosales was suddenly exposed. Although, we were surrounded with the big crowds, we still man-aged to ask him a question; “Cardinal, pwede po ba kaming mag pa picture?” then the humble and humor-ous cardinal replied:” Ah! Ako magpipicture sa inyo?” We chuckled and smiled… then, said chizz… “click.” Hence, the picture of Cardinal Rosales. That memorable event reminded me of the story of Zac-chaeus. Because of his curiosity and the effort to climb the sycamore tree, he held the privileged to have Jesus in his house and the salvation of it. Like in the story of Zacchaeus, we were curious as well of Cardinal Rosa-les. And because of such curiosity and effort, he had our “salvation “: the memorable, inspirational presence of Cardinal Rosales enclosed in pictures.

The gregorians (juniors) had the privilege to ac-company Fr. Jennil to attend the ordination of his batch mates in UST. The said ordination was presided by His

After the long ordination, I was still full of inspiration that I brought that emotion to the reception area where we ate inspiringly. While we were eating, the presence

“Bonding“ with the Man in Red Hat Sem. Carl Andrew Juridico

Sem. Ferdie de Leon

6 La Madonnetta FEATURED NEWS


The Visit of the General In every congregation, there must always be a superior general. The superior generals are the ‘bishops’ of each congre-gation. They are the ones who oversee ev-erything and they are the one who govern the congregation. Luckily, last December 2010, we had in our midst the presence of the su-perior General of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate, Fr. Luigi Fain Binda, SHMI.

He governs the congregation for al-most twenty eight years. The main purpose why he visited the Philip-pines was to attend the dedication of the newly built parish-church in Mary Immaculate Parish, Betterliv-ing , and Parañaque on December 8, 2010. The general, with one of his counsellors, Fr. Gilberto Princi-pessa, the economo general uti-lized their time upon their arrival, November 29, 2010 until their de-parture on December of the same year. He visited every house of the congregation and as a “bishop”; he made sure that everything is doing well. Two days before their de-parture, we gathered in the study hall and put him in the hot-seat. We asked him several questions about the journey of his vocation. His answers were great and there his humility was manifested. I can’t remember then how the philosophy entered in the forum but anyway, he

Sem. Francis Jude Anthony Estaris


The Papal Nuncio is the am-bassador from the Vatican, appointed by the Pope. The Philippines is so lucky to have a loving and friendly American Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Joseph Edward Adams, D.D., titular bishop of Scala. The seminarians of Fr. Joseph Frassinetti Seminary were so blessed because they were given the chance to serve Archbishop Joseph Adams during the thanksgiving Mass of the Italian Missionaries in the Philip-pines September 19-22, 2010 at the Carmelite Retreat House in Tagay-tay. The seminarians were so happy

about it. After the said Mass, the seminarians took the opportunity to have pictures with him. Fr. Paolo said that the time arrived; Pope Benedict XVI called the good archbishop telling him that he will be transferred to Greece. Archbishop Adams is the boss of Fr. Paolo since he is work-ing in the Nunciature. He add-ed:”…everyone in the Nuncioture was crying when he announced that he is going to Greece… they cried because this bishop is really good.”

Nuncio to the PhilippinesSem. Symon Surmieda

has a great and healthy brain indeed. His philosophical ideas burst out. He was unstoppable by the way. Father General has a doctoral degree in Philosophy, majored in atheism be-cause during his time (cogito ergo sum) of Cartisso was poisoning the whole of Europe. Their anti-clericalism and anti-church came into and so on. During his stay, Msgr. Chezza secretary of the Papal Nuncio to the Philippines met him but he was expecting the Papal Nuncio.We gave them despedida party and it was held in the garden. There he deliv-ered his last message as superior Gen-eral to all of us. He sat down and spoke to us fi fty minuets. The afternoon of that day Fr. Luigi Fain Binda and Fr. Gilber-to Principessa,SHMI departed and fl ew going to Italy. We learned a lot from him and we treasure every single word he told to us. We are looking forward for his next visitation to us.



Beyond the turning schemes of our lives, since the foun-dation of the Philippines, one thing for sure is vivid and stand-ing still after four centuries, the University of Santo Tomas (UST). The UST from its foundation (1611), finally celebrated its quadrecentenial feast last January 28, 2011, memorial of their patron—St. Thomas Aquinas. Seminarians were lucky enough to have thomasian priests in our community, Fathers Paolo, Bobong, and Jennil. The three of them gave us the op-portunity to join the said event. We arrived at UST by the Blue Angel at around 4:30 in the afternoon. Our first ‘terminus’ was the Central Seminary of the University. There on the walls, out-side their refectory, were dozens of portraits of bishops who studied there. While strolling around, I met and won acquain-tances and seminarians from different dioceses. As I looked for something from the souvenir shops and book stalls set-upped and displayed inside this seminary, I came to realize in a split second, that the men in black approaching toward me were the diplomats—Cardinal Gokolovski, Archbishop Adams, Msgr.Chezza and two other priests from the Vatican. I was star strucked. I did nothing as my body was frozen. I haven’t even greeted them. After a tour in the seminary and after the encounter with the high ranking prelates, I went on my way out and strolled around the university. I went to the so called “arch of the cen-tury” and took some pictures, and then to the main building. A crowd of bishops wearing yellow chasubles started their pro-cession, and I was along the isle waiting for them to pass by. I was a sort of a ‘Bishop fanatic’ then. It was just a minute with them not even five minutes, but with that span of time, I had a great deal of it with them, especially those bishops whom I greeted with my dialect. With my greeting; “Maayong Buntag” (good morning) bishop Cabantan, the newest bishop, laughed at me and responded; “Buntag ka diha, hapon na oy! (Morn-ing? It’s afternoon already)”. And I even called “Soc!”, and he turned his head and gave me a smile. Woahh! It was a great experience with the ‘apostles’. The papal mass celebrated by

The UST Experience

hundreds and hundreds of bishops and priests, was started and Cardinal Gokolovski as the main cel-ebrant. A great throng of people were gathered in the soccer field of the university. Before the mass ended, a recorded video of Pope Benedict XVI was projected, greeting the whole crowd. And a sea of candlelight amazed me as they shared light; passed from one to another. The Mass ended with the “Te Deum”. As the bishops took the recessional, the crowd was unstoppable from approaching the bishops. After the recessional, we immediately made our way home. It took 4oo years to prepare for the said celebration, but still the Dominican Friars, who owned the University, are not contented with 400, still they look forward for another hundred.Kudos UST!

Sem. Francis Dominic Vergara


Isang napakagandang karanasan ang aking natamo sa pagtuturo sa Sunday school. Nakakatuwang pagmasdan ang mga ngiti ng mga batang sumasali sa progaramang ito. Ngunit sa likod ng kanilang masasayang mukha ay na-kakubli ang kahirapan. Khirapan hindi lamang sa materyal na mga bagay, kundi pati na rin sa isprituwal. Minsa’y may tinanong akong bata, sabio ko, “sino ba ang katoliko?” alam nyo ang sagot ng bata, “ ano po yung katoliko?”. Na-kakalungkot isipin na maraming kabataan sa ngayon ay hindi pa alam kung ano at sino ang katoliko. Dahil dito aking napagnilayan na ang pagtuturo sa Sunday school ay isa pala sa pinakamalaking hamon na aking mararanasan bilang isang seminarista. Isa talaga itong mahirap na mi-syon. Kung tututusin, kulang pa nag isa o dalawang oras na aming ginugugol para sa pagtuturo. Nakakapagod nga ang pagtuturo ngunit sa huli, naisip ko rin ang saya, sa-pagkat naibabahagi mo ang iyong mga natutunan. Napa-ka saya pala ng pakiramdam na nakakatulong ka sa mga munting anghel na maibalik sa Diyos. Ang saya isipin na sa simpleng paraan, naibahagi ko sa kanila ang parte ng mga

Buhay Sunday SchoolIan Jan Ranoco

Apostolate is a re-enactment of what the apostles did in thier time. It is the the act of love and proclama-tion of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the people who are spiritualy thirsty. It is an act of love because it is the manifestation of sacrifi cing one self to other people and thus, it is also a manifestation of compassion and concern to other. By proclamation of the word of God works in us to pro-clim the good news by revealing the Gospel and His love to the people. One of the many elements in the fi glian formation is doing apos-tolates. The fi glians work in teaching catechism, sharing their time, talents, efforts and prayers for the good of oth-ers. Meaning, seminary life is a for-mation where we can learn and share with others what we have. Hence, we

have Maritas apostolate.When I was a freshman, I was very excited to teach catechism to the children. Untill I became the Mari-tas president, I appreciated more the beauty of the apostolate. I did not think that being a president was hard because I know that God would help me and I also took it as a challenge. But, when I became the president I realized that it was not easy task and it was a big responsibility. Moreover, I have a lot of realization and dis-coveries aboutr myself. I learned the importance of leadership, humility and respect for other people. I was very happy when the Grand Maritas was over and everybody was smil-ing at me and from the looks of their faces, they enjoyed a lot. Afterall, the experiences I have been through,

I have glimpse of myself as a pas-tor of souls in the future that would bring people to God’s hand.

Maritas ApostolateMaritas ApostolateMaritas ApostolatePost. Ulysses Rubia

naytutunan ko sa loob ng seminaryo. Pero, hindi ito nangangahulugan na basta nalang kaming magtu-turo, pinag-aaralan din namin namin ito. Bago mag-simula ang pagtuturo nagkaakaroon muna kami ng action songs. Nakakatuwang pagmasdan ang mal-iliit na mga batang ganado sa pagsasayaw. Pinagpa-pangkat pangkat muna namin sila bago magsimula nag pagtuturo. Hinahati namin sila ayon sa kanil-ang baitang, magmula sa unang pangkat hanggang sa mataas na antas. Napakaraming mga bata ang sumasali sa Sunday school. Minsan pa nga sasakit sang mga ulo namin sa kakasaway sa mga makuku-lit na mga bata. Lahat ng pagod nami’y napapawi sa mga simleng giti at galak na aming nakikita sa kanilang mga inosenting mukha. Ang saya talaga ng pakiramdam kahit na hindi mo sila kaanu-ano tala-gang mapapamahal kayo sa mga batang ito. Sana naman sa simpleng pamamaraan ng aming pagtu-turo sa Sunday school, mapaunlad natin ang ispiri-tuwalidad at pananampalataya ng mga musmos na mga bata at maibalik sila sa kanlungan at pag-ibig ng Poong Maykapal.

“...seminary life is a formation where we can learn and

share with others what we have.”

FEATURED ARTICLES La Madonnetta 9


Figlians Join NoynoySem. Francis Dominic Vergara

There is no visible division between the church and the state, so as an individual could not separate his obligation to the church and to the state. The Philippines had conducted for the first time an automated election-via PCOS. The election of May 10, 2010 is over. The people of the Philippines had spoken and Benigno Semion Cojuanco Aquino III won, and now the 15th president of the Philippines. Last July 31st 2010, the seminarians and Fathers of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate attended the inauguration of the

president-elect Aquino. The group enjoyed walking from the CCP, where the bus was parked, all the way to Qurino Grand-stand, passing by Roxas Boulevard despite the direct heat of the sun. Before the clock stroke 10:00AM, various celebri-ties rendered songs for the people. P-Noy formally took his oath at exactly 10:00AM, and delivered his first speech as President, emphasizing “Kayo ang boss ko!” After the gun shots in honoured to the President, the seminarians made their way back to the parking lot. As they walked along the Boulevard, they also saw the Vice- President Binay’s convoy beating the red light with “wang-wang” (serene). P-Noy had mentioned earlier that incident, “Bawal ang wang-wang” and there the first violator was his vicar. The seminarians were exposed to this kind of activi-ties because as figlian seminarians, they must not just be in their cloisters and box themselves; they must also need knowledge of what is happening outside the walls of the seminary.

Manila Peninsula is such a majestic, fantastic and classic place that everybody should visit. It is also a historical place of Coup d’état attempts, but still standing in the paradigm and in the parameter of beauty and excellence. LastDecember2009,allthefiglianseminar-ians were invited to the special masquerade Christ-mas party. They rendered classical Christmas carols with cassocks and white masks. The ever-generous Mrs. Teresita A. Taylor was the one who gave the seminarians an opportunity to step in the marvellous flooroftheManilaPeninsula. Itwasnotjustthefirsttimeithappened.LastFebruary 6, 2011, all the seminarians jumped for joy because they were once again invited to perform. Before the dusk fall, they were there already gazing and experiencing the splendid architectural of the place. All the unexpected personalities were there also. The food was exquisitely done with all the prep-aration,afinediningdinner.Fr.PaoloPirlowastheMaster of Ceremonies that night. As requested, all

the seminarians sang some valentines songs which ev-erybody loved. It was indeed a total experience of the people in the upper class. A priest is for everybody as St. John Mary Vianney once so eloquently said,” We do not only mingle with the materially underprivileged, we also brush elbows with the materially endowed individuals”. So we start getting experiences of it all.The figlianway of coup is therefore to conquer theirhearts through the melodic and angelic voice of the figlians.

A Figlian Way of Coup at The Manila PeninsulaSem. Jerome R. Berja



I never was an avid fan of the hysterical and historical world war narratives, except about that of the Nazi’s in the upper world’s western hemisphere. I abhor the seemingly endless film narration of the war where the Americans always play the hero of the damsel-in-distressed nations. But one caught me dead interested on one particular January day- a trip to a tadpole shaped isle- Corregidor. I woke up jittery on that dawn with the hope of stretching my legs which seemed to be curbing down relentlessly in that fiery furnace of room 2 (try to guess where that is). In the bus were seated the church of 39- whom each suspiciously planed on doing some-thing upon arriving at the destination. You can just read their thoughts through the smirking and noticeable glee etched on their faces. The vehicle could not taxi without first starting the ceremony where nobody on Philippine soil would deny-taking pictures! Few minutes later, ev-erything turned silent. It seemed like a hiatus of sum-mer animals on winter: almost half the bus were asleep enjoying the cool breeze against their faces in the long stretch of the dear NLEX. Finally, the port; it wasn’t re-ally much of a port. Once you sinned against the slim plank, you’re off to the mighty grime-filled port water. We negotiated successfully after 30 minutes against the gusty and wavy dark waters of Bataan. To our surprise (well, not really) upon our arrival, the area seemed to have expanded its territory 10 meters long because of garbage coming from all directions. Upon alighting from our maiden voyage, we were welcomed by an old man who naturally seemed to be drunk half the time, him being our dignified guide. Our carriage, a world war fashioned yellow bus with humongous glass all the way to the ceiling. It was relatively comfy. The tour was the classic 10 minutes per venue mechanics to control time and maximise our tour in the whole is-land. As we move along, we saw that the island is gen-

erally infested with batteries in all shapes and sizes. Technically, it’s the military term for cannons as anti-aircraft defences. Some are huge, others just right to blow away aircrafts with a solid red circle on its tail- the Japs. There were also massive structures to house the soldiers which are now falling into ruins because of the bombs it sustained during the siege. But one won-ders why it fell. One thing’s for sure, Corregidor was also a victim of circumstances. And then who could ever betray his memory of Malinta Tunnel? It was cer-tainly the main attraction the museum island has got. In a creative fashion, they re-enacted all possible es-sential details of events that took place in the fortress. There were halls juxtaposed bringing back the scenes decades ago. It was terrific. That period was really the fraction of time in their lives where at the end of the tun-nel is a bright light which seemed to be in wait for them. True, I had Goosebumps all over that somehow made my knees melt. It was gloomy. If only walls can talk and it will certainly divulge all the secrets it could recount; the walls were the witnesses of it all. Moving on, we reached the zenith of the island. It was such a spectacular view where no one could ever deny that war took place in there; ‘twas simply beautiful and breath taking. On top of the spire, we felt the shared glory and honour the soldiers fought for. After filling our eyes with wonder and brains with megabytes of information, at last its brunch time! We ate beside the beach where it was cosy. We were given a grace period of an hour or so to relax and enjoy the water and afterwards, we’d have to go and give a visit to the church and have mass. Along the shoreline, 3 of us were arguing about the lovely pebbles we were picking; it came to our thoughts if those pebbles were really stones or shards of broken glass bottles.

Pebbles and CorregidorPost. Robert Jomel Mendoza III

Continue to page 14...



“Brotherhood in the Realm of Sports”The Sports fest is one of the most awaited events in the semi-nary. It has already been a part of our seminary yearly activi-ties. As an event that is much waited by each seminarian, for this event is the start for each seminarian to show and share their skills and talents in sports, a competition for each of us, to know who will be the best player of the year etc. But, this event is not only for us seminarians of the Ven. Fr. Joseph Frassinetti Seminary (FJFS), but also for other seminarians and visitors of other places, it is so, because we are opening this kind of event with games to be played by us in the FJFS against our invited visitors or opponents. The opening of the Sports Fest 2010 was held on Au-gust 21, 2010 at FJFS. We opened the event with the welcome address of Rev. Fr. Paolo O. Pirlo, SHMI. The theme: “Broth-erhood in the Realm of Sports” was emphasized by Rev. Fr. Joseph Jerome Agno, SHMI, Parish priest of the Mary Im-maculate Parish (MIP), Salawag, Cavite, who enlightened us for the true meaning why we are celebrating this kind of event. As a tradition, our freshmen presented a special dance number, and followed by another entertaining dance number from our catechumens. The grand opening of the said activity started with friendship games between us seminarians of FJFS, other re-ligious seminaries, and Parish youth. These friendship games were not really a competition, but only to show and empha-

size the theme: “Brotherhood in the Realm of Sports”. Even though it is not really a competition, each player still gave everything they can do for them to show that they are happy playing with one another. The Soccer game was held in the soccer fi eld of FJFS was played by the SHMI soccer team against the Ro-gationist seminarians. Same for the venue for the soccer game, the basketball were played by the SHMI basketball team against the youth ministry of MIP, Salawag, Cavite. The volleyball game was held in the Court of Sacred Heart School. The game was played by the SHMI Volleyball team against the Stigmatines. Unfortunately, two of our team’s los the basketball and the volleyball team, while, our soccer team won against the Rogationist. But, winning or loosing does not mean so much to us at all, for what is important is the brotherhood that can be built up in each of us through sports. It was a very exhausting for everyone. It consumed much of our energy. With the simple food we ate, and chat-ting with each other, we gained again the strength and the happiness we need for the day. As the time for our visitors to leave, each of us said goodbye to each other and we gave each other the gratitude and an authentic smile, to always remember the day.

The community of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate has a chain of tradition that all the fresh-men will be exposed in what they called “Seminary Idol”. The search is not meant for rivalry but to share and expose what are the hidden tal-ents of each of them. The search is also a way to make them be more confi dent to themselves and a help also to overcome their inferiority complex. The whole congregation of viewers was fi lled with delight when these freshmen showed their talents and cleverness. All of them gave every single second of their most excellent to make the audi-

ence be entertained. All of them also exerted efforts in making their costumes and presentations more presentable. You can see in their faces the anxiety, enthusi-asm and joy in entertaining the community. Every one of them really hunted to be the winner of the seminary idol.The show was ended and indeed you can see in the mixed emo-tions of happiness, sadness, ex-citement and discouragement to the innocent faces of the fresh-men. Sem. John Ross Are-valo was the one who fully showed what he has, followed by

Sem. Kevin Regalado and Sem. Jexter Camonay. He was the grand winner of the said search and he harvested also a lot of minor awards.Until now, it is one of the highlights of the seminary. By means of sharing and exposing one’s talents is truly a refl ec-tion of a being responsible, unselfi shness and a true steward of God.

Ginoong Seminarista 2010Ginoong Seminarista 2010Ginoong Seminarista 2010Sem. John Ross Arevalo

Sem. Neo Cyrill Navarro



It is already a part of the seminary’s calendar, that every Philippine Independence holiday, the whole community will be out-of-the-town. Last June 12, 2010, we celebrated it in the beautiful beaches of Bolinao, Pangasinan. At four in the morning that day, we started our journey and reached the destination at around ten. Some of us dove immediately after seeing the ala par-adiso beach, some stayed in the cottages and prepared the food, others were afraid to expose themselves un-der the sun, and others feel the beauty of nature while walking along the shores. One of us stated to threw the soccer ball, and we started and played “Rugby”. At around 1:00 pm, we had our lunch and at four in the af-ternoon, though we were all tired, we celebrated a Holy Mass under the talisay tree along the shore and with the breeze of the air. When the sun was about to set, we made our way home. Along the North Luzon Express Way (NLEX), where everyone was asleep, a sudden problem shook all of us, one of the wheels of the bus burst. Another problem was the spare tire that we brought was worn-out also. Luckily, we were near an NLEX exit. So, we took that exit and not so far from the portal, we saw a vulcanizing shop. Whew! What an experience along NLEX! Our holiday was ended at around 11:30 pm. All were exhausted, but we are all happy. The formators exposed us with this kind of ac-tivity to make really every holiday a day for recreation, a day of thanksgiving, and a day of remembering im-portant events in our history. Mabuhay ka Pilipinas!

Independence Day @ BolinaoSem. David John Periera

We arrived at the conclusion that those were indeed shards of broken bottles, possibly shattered by the drinkers and the sea waves. But the point is, we were struck in awe what and how the shards caused to be smooth that it can be mistaken as au-thentic rocks to the untrained eye. And the culprit? The waves. We were still holding the shards after the solemn celebration as the culminating part of the tour. While it is on our hands, it dawned on us that

Pebbles and Corregidor ... from page 12waves like time can smoothen the rough edges of rocks. It can refine whatever is coarse. It heals wounds; it mends memories especially of what took place decades ago. Corregidor, which once checked and corrected ship car-gos and all that came now as a ‘corrector’ of the past; safeguarding a reminder of peace that what happened be-fore would not have a remake. G. Santayana said “Those who fail to look at the past are condemned to repeat it.”



I.I heared a voice calling my

nameI tried to look around and

learned‘Twas just the wind, I said

But if it’s just a wind, it must be deafening

But then I hear a whisper of a voice

Saying, “Come, Come follow Me.

Follow my Footprints and stay behind me”

II.“Who are you?” I askedI’m frightened, anxious

And extremely confusedThen my whole bodyWas flooded of sweat

‘Till it drops downSolemnly on my feet.

III.Now, I cried and realizedHe is my Christ who was

crucifiedWho died on the cross

And on the third day, gloriously He arose

IV.Then, He showed me the road

to salvationTo be one in Him, in Christ’s

communionAt first I thought I’m in the

state of hallucinationBut then I have now the full

realizationOf God’s calling to eternal

predestination.

Eternal Predestination

Sem. Jasnar LlantoKami’y sampo nang pumasok sa seminaryo

May iba’t ibang katangian, kagus-tuhan,

At kani-kaniyang pamilyang pinanggalingan.

Pamilyang mahirap, masagana’t mayaman,

Broken family sagot ng iba dyan.

May iba’t ibang expectationsDreams at motivations

Pumasok sa seminaryo itong sam-pung binatilyo.

Sa una’y nagkakahiyaanAt hindi nagpapansinan

Lumao’y nagdaanNaging friends din naman.

Itong sampung kabataanTinawag raw sa kabanalan

Pagpapari’y pinasukanAt hindi sigurado

Kung talagang mao-ordinahan.

Sina barts,aldwin,neo’t sanzKiko,alven, benjun, jules, tonton at

ako ang mga tauhanAt di kalauna’y tinawag na

“The Ignatians”.Kami’y ibang-iba

Sa bawat isa

May tamad mag-aralMaroon namang dean’s lister

pa!

May kani-kaniyang hiligAt larangan sa musika

May ilang guitarista, pianista at violinista pa.

May singers na malupitSintunado naman kung bu-

miritAng iba’y trying hardPinipilit kahit pangit!

Mayroon namang mahilig mag-soccer

Inaani naman palagi galit ni Father

Sipa dito, sipa sa cornerPara lamang mapa- BRAVO si

Father...

Hanggang sa ngayonKami’y kumpleto pa

Sana’y magtagal at makausad pa

Sa napiling bokasyonSana’y magdesisyon

Kung talaga nga bang Kami’y may karapatan

Sa tinatawag nilang“Ordination”.

Sampo KamiSem. Jerome Berja

18 La Madonnetta LITERARY ATTEMPTS

A smile costs nothing but it means a lot.It enriches those who receive,

Without making poor those who cannot give.

It takes a moment but the memory lasts for ages.

No rich or mighty can get along with it.And even poor can be rich by having this.

A smile creates happines.Even a start of a new frienship.

It brings rest to the weary,Chear to the discourage,

Sunshine to the gloomy,And gives remedy to the uncured

sickly.

Yet it cannot be bought, begged,Neither borrowed nor stolen.

It is something that has no worthTo someone who doesn’t value for it.

If you cannot give anything to others,Just a sweet and simple smile

Andeveryburdenwillleaveandfly.

SmileSem. Rolan Tamayo


After all I found myself thinking of you

And it’s time to let goAfter all, I realized that

between us is not workingBut all the especial memories we

have shared will stay with meAfter all, I’ll keep silent as if

all things are possibleConsidering that I’m always listening

If you feel like talking, or in need of a stepping stone

Just to hold your warm hands

After all, I’m sure you know that I’m thinking of you and I care for you

I don’t think if all the things that I’m doing is also your concern,And I want you to know all the

things will vanishAs if it was blown by the wind

I don’t know if what the reason whyYou’d always be a stranger in me.

It brings me pain wheneverYou would walk away from me, for I

know one dayYou will be gone forever as tears

well in my eyesIt gave me so much emptiness that

tears my heart apart.

After all, I silently suffered, si-lently I’ve cried,

Silently I prayed, for our love not to die.

After all, I want you to know how much I pray,

That you find true happinessAnd God loving hand will always

guide youAfter all

After AllSem Bryant V. Cabreros

Ba’t pag seminarista ka naMay mga tanong na ang hirap talaga

Hindi dahil ang hirap sagutinIyong tipong mangangapa ka pa sayong sasabihin

Tulad na lamang ng mga tanong na ‘to.‘Kuya, ba’t ka pumasok ng seminaryo?

Pwede bang magka girlfriend ang isang seminarista?O kaya’y magpapari ka nga bang talaga?

Sige nga sagutin mo,seminarista!

Hindi natin ito maiiwasanAt hindi rin basta-bastang masasagotan

Pag sama-samahin mo amn iyong nalalamanIsama mo pa pilosopiyang iyong pinag-aralan

Tiyak ikaw pa rin ay maguguluhan.

Pero huwag mong masyadong problemahin itoMakinig ka at meron akong ipapayo

Di ko man masisigurado sayoKung ito nga’y epektibo

Bakit hindi, subukan nang malaman mo!

Sa tanong na ba’t ka pumasok ng seminaryoSagot mo, eh tinawag ako

Nino...??? Ayon, sinabi noong nakapako!Sa tanong na pwede bang magka girlfriend ang

seminarista?Sagot mo, bakit pwede bang hatiin ang puso sa

dalawa?

Tungkol sa huling katanunganSa totoo lang dito ako naguguluhan

Ni kahit yung magsasampong taon na sa seminaryoNahihirapan pa nga sa mga tanong na ito

Ako pa kaya na mag-aapat na taon palang dito?

Ako’y nangalap ng ibat-ibang uri ng opinionAt sa huli ay nakabuo ng isang konklusyon

Sagot pala sa panghuling tanong ay nanatiling blangko

Blangko sapagkat ang kasagutan ditoAy depende sayo at sa nakapakong tumatawag sayo.

Hindi natin alam kung ikaw nga’y magpapariSubalit huwag mabahala sa bokasyong pinili

Sa seminaryo marami ka ngang problema na nararanasanPero tuloy mo lang ang laban patungo sa kabanalan.

Sagutin Mo SeminaristaPost. John Vincent Camral

LITERARY ATTEMPTS La Madonnetta 19


I.This grumpy sickness encompasses meWicked illness indeedWhich shatters my dreams into pieces?And breaks my bones into fragments

II.I try to laugh, I try to smileI try to hide these seclusionsI try to fix this maskBut still the real I appear

III.My emotions burst at onceThe tears fall down simultaneouslyTears as heavy as a rockWhich weighs a thousand tons?

IV.Laughing seems to be an opportunityHappiness is a fast breakA maximum of minuteFor my time is corrupted by darkness

V.My friends come and goneWall of misunderstanding rises betweenNow rejected and aloneEnsnared by a spiral of gloomI cannot rebuff myselfI am the man wearing theMASK OF HAPPINESS

MASK OF DARKNESSSem.Christopher P. Baniaga

ISiya ang ilaw, Siya ang DaanPatungo sa aming kabanalan

Tinawag Mo kami sa aming pangalanUpang paglingkuran ang sambayanan

Sa pamamagitan ng aming kapwamatutugunan namin ang Kanyang hiling

REF:At kung kaya’t tugunan ang kanyang Bayan

Ikaw lang Hesus, Ikaw lang AmaAng aming Bokasyon

IIIkaw ang may likha, sa Iyo nagmumula

Lahat ng bagay sa mundoIkaw ang lakas at Ikaw ang buhay

Puso’t sarili nami’y alayTinawag mo kami sa buhay na Banal

Kung kaya’t aming tatapusin ang IyongNasimulan (REF.)

IIIBayan Mo’y gagabayan

Mga yapak Mo ay SusundanUtos Mo ay tatandaan

SapagkatIkaw ang Daan, Ikaw ang Buhay

At Ikaw ang Katutuhanan ng LahatBridge:

At kung kaya’t paglingkuran, Ang Kanyang Bayan

Ikaw lang Hesus, Ang aming Bokasyon.

TugonA song composed by

Sem. Marlon Jay Sanz

He called....it rang..

i picked...i answered...

i surrendered....i gave up...i entered....

and now, am journeying....

The Call Sem. Francis Dominic Vergara

20 La Madonnetta LITERARY ATTEMPTS


To promote priestly vocation is the main charism of every fi glian. The month of October is always dedicated for our vocation campaign.The fi rst time I had my vocation campaign in the Diocese of Negros Occidental, together with Fr. Eric did not quite turn out successful. Even though it was easy to promote priestly vocation in every school, for I’m with a priest, un-fortunately no one responded to God’s call for priesthood. My fi rst experience did not discourage me but rather helped me to learn from my previous mistakes. As I pondered more deeply, I realized that I cannot give what I do not have. Maybe that is one of the reasons why my talk was not convincing to the students. Let us pre-sume that the priestly vocations of young men in a cer-tain area are poor, but if the candle, which represents your vocation, is burning brightly with zeal, I do not think they would not be convinced. It is a matter of building a fi rm foundation of conviction within you. This is also where your seminary formation will be put to the test. One last thing popped out in my mind before I ended my refl ection is to remain in the state of the grace of God. It was 12 noon when Aldwin and I arrived in Roxas City, Capiz. I do believe in the divine providence of God, so I did not worry much about the place where we could stay. My mother who tagged along with us and whose motherly nature cannot be avoided called up her friend for us to have a secure place to stay in. The following morning, as a SOP we went to meet the Bishop of Capiz in his offi ce near the Cathedral. Bishop Gordoncillo was not quite approachable for he was a busy man. Hence, he referred us to the vocation director, Fr. Ar-can, who will give us the vocation campaign permit. Since all schools were having their CAPRISAA until Friday and so we started our vocation campaign in public schools. No one responded at our fi rst campaign in Capiz National High school, which is not a good start. But still we did not lose hope. After that, everything followed smoothly and successfully. We did continue to live our status as seminarians.

On Vocation Campaign....

"...we have inspired them to become priests."

We did not lose track of the daily ac-tivities in the semi-nary by attending daily masses and served the mass during Sundays. We always visited the Adoration Cha-pel before and after our campaign to ask for strength, cour-age, guidance and wisdom. We prayed the Liturgy of the Hours and also the Rosary. As our recre-ation, we spent our time in malling, visiting histori-cal places, strolling along the beach and the streets of the beautiful city of Roxas. We also enjoyed eating cheap delicious sea foods in the “bay-bay”. I did enjoy much during our campaign in giv-ing vocation talks and meeting people. I learned a lot of things and my seminary formation was tested. I experienced the thing they call, “expect the unex-pected”. We were not expecting to have a conver-sation with the “Big Bosses” of the Department of Education in Capiz. I also experienced the divine providence of God. A secret that I learned during campaign is to remain in the state of the grace of God by living a constant prayer life and persever-ance towards holiness. And to live a life as who I am, as a seminarian. Hopefully, a lot of young men from Capiz will join our search-in this April 2011. But if we fail to promote our congregation, somehow, we have inspired them to become a priest.

Sem. Jules Bernard Fernando

FEATURED ARTICLES La Madonnetta 21

Things You Might Forget MARCH 26-Graduation 28-31-Tour APRIL 2- Start of Summer Vacation 4-9- Mindanao Search-in 11-16- Manila Search-in 16- Pope Benedict XVI & Fr. Eric’s Birthday 18- Fr. Jennil’s 2nd Sacerdotal Anniversary 30- Rev. Tohoy’s Ordination to the Presbyterate

MAY1- Beatifi cation of Pope John Paul II8- Fr. Paolo’s Birtday21- Postulants must be back!23-27- Retreat of the Religious, Novices and Postulats28- Seminarians must be back!31- First Religious Profession of the Novices at MIP, Betterliving, Parañaque City


It is essential to have companions in life, thus, “no man is an island”. But the companionship does not mean good and happy all the time, a journey of companionship may also pass through rocky roads. Thus, one may offend the other and vice-versa. It’s normal. What is not normal is the negligence to for-give the one, or the other. Yes, we can have the sac-rament of Reconciliation, but the sacrament is just a part of the whole thing. Reconciliation per se is to be reconciled with God and neighbour and never with God alone, or with neighbour alone. In Matthew 2:22-25, Jesus explained how we must forgive, and how are we forgiven. He emphasized that reconcili-ation is ‘not just’ asking forgiveness but also forgiv-

Be Reconciled!(A Lenten Refl ection)

ing those who offended us: “...forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sinned against us...” The season of Lent invites all of us to mourn for our sins and repent, as the story of the “Prodigal Son” reminds us. “It is unthinkable to see Christians in particular, priests, seminarians and religious, who do not know how to forgive.” Our good relationship with God must always be complemented with our good relationship with others, with our neighbours. Thus, “...if you have something for God at His altar, and remember that someone had offended you [you offended some-one], leave your gift... at once, go and make peace with him and then come back and offer your gift.”

-fdcv

Life in the seminary is very different from the life that I had before-a life full of miseries, darkness and a lot of crosses to carry. My whole life was changed and continues to change when I enter in the seminary. My soul was awakened from a long period of sleeping on the bed of sins. The eagerness and the consciousness to help other people and in serving God wholeheartedly was sparkled. My intellectual capacity continues to produce new ideas, new learn-ing’s and new discoveries about life. Let me tell you fi rst about my vocation his-tory.I would like fi rst to introduce myself and my family. We are living in Dasmariñas, Cavite, Salawag. We are all seven in the family. Our status of living is not so good. My father is an ambulance driver and my mother has a part time job of being real estate agent. There so many trials that came to our family, but we are still standing strongly by the grace of God. While I’m studying I experienced all earthly doings and vices-like smoking, drinking, and even joining gang. I expe-rienced all those things.

Until one day, my concerned father told me to join to the “Knights of the Altar”. At fi rst I don’t like the KOA because it sounds corny and weird. Until I learned that there are unique, enjoyable and exciting things the KOA offers, I decided to stay. Deeper than that, I started to enjoy serving God in his Holy Altar.Then I met our new parish priest, Fr. Jay Agno. Even though he knew that I’m not that “good”, he helped me fi nancially, spiritually, and morally. Then as the days went by, he told me about the congregation of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate where he belongs. Then he said to me;” why don’t you try the search-in in the seminary? I just laughed at him because there is not even a little interest in me of being a priest at that time. But one day, I decided that I should give it a shot. Time passed by and I found myself in the seminary attending the “search-in”. After staying one week in the seminary, I found myself in one corner thinking about entering to this kind of life and change myself to become a better person.

Life in the seminary is very different from the life that I had before-a life full of miseries, darkness and a lot of crosses to carry. My whole life was

A Vocation Story to Tell

Sem. Cary CaincoyThe search-in was over and I’m very glad to receive the letter which says, “Congratu-lations! You had passed the search-in!” I went home carrying the unending happiness that I felt. My parents gave their full consent and they were very supporting in my decision, to enter in the seminary. That is all that I can come up this instant, however, this is the story that I want to re-member over and over again. Now, that I’m a freshman in the seminary, I would like to continue to strive and perse-vere in my chosen vocation.

Sem. Cary Caincoy



One of the aims of every seminary is to strengthen the brotherhood of the seminar-ians among themselves. Just this school year (‘10-‘11), that the formators of Father Joseph Frassinetti Seminary established the so called “Kapatiran” (Filipino word for brotherhood). The purpose is to promote camaraderie and most of all the spirit of brotherhood among the seminarians. The kapatiran is divided into three, ac-cording to the room assignments of the semi-narians. The seminarians who are assigned to rooms 101, 102 and 103, is called kapati-ran adelfoi ‘adelphoi’, a Greek word which means, brotherhood); those who are assigned to rooms 109 and 110 is called kapatiran חור (‘ruah’, an Aramaic word for spirit); and lastly, those who are assigned to rooms 119, 120, and 121 is called kapatiran ‘SERVIAM’(a Latin word which means ‘I will serve’). Each kapatiran was given the chance to meet among themselves every first and third Friday of the month to update each member of the kapatiran. The kapatiran is promoting the ‘spirit’(ruah) of ‘brothehood’(adelphoi) among themselves by serving(serviam) each and ev-eryone.

FEATURE ARTICLES La Madonnetta 23

KapatiranSem. Kevin Regalado

Writing and defending a thesis is like the joys and pains of a mother who is about to give birth to a beautiful and intelligent child. What makes it more beautiful is the death that awaits for we do not know, whether the mother or the child, will witness the beauty of life-this we are uncertain. One thing is for sure, that is, “I or we wrote our theses,” and in writing if we experienced the process of bringing out the real fire-tried gold within us. We expe-rience, the bitterness of the roots of wisdom, the com-plexities of philosopher’s thoughts, the contradictions, and the despairing outlook of others. All of these are the gloomy realities that induced our beings and to ponder whether to continue or not. However, because of our inner incentives we’ve chosen to continue writing even if we are at the abyss of uncertainty. With all these in mind, we’ve singled out the gold in the sand, the discipline that we’ve acquired, the profound bickering with the philosophers, and the ubiquitous perspective of reality. All these are the sweet fruits of writing and defending a thesis in one year and will remain forever as long as we live. To end, what I have said are but little articula-tions of our experience and it’s not enough. It’s like knowing the nature of the color red when you perceive it. So it is the true to our experience, words cannot con-tain all, the experience we had are incomprehensible and uncontainable but it will remain in us. One will only know the feeling when one is place in that situation of ours. So I say, “Sceintiae radices amarae sunt, frutus dulces”.

Thesis ExperiencePost. Dennis Aguilar


To be a freshman in the seminary is not easy. This is the stage where a person is adjusting to a new way of life. You will meet new faces, new friends, and you will experience a new environment. It is totally differ-ent from the outside world. This is a great challenge for us freshmen to cope up with the new things. We are originally fourteen in this batch, unfortu-nately, one of our batch mate realized that God has bet-ter plans for him outside. Tatay Jennil asked every batch to have a patron saint. He helped us to search and we have decided to make St. Pius X as the patron saint of our batch, and so we are called PIANS , celebrating the feast of St. Pius X every August. There are five qualities that we wish to fulfill to be a good Pian; Perseverance, Improvement, Adaptability, being Natural, and Simplicity. To persevere is one of the things a figlian must do. By means of great motivation and faith, we will be able to get through with the obsta-cles and challenges of a seminary life. We need to show that we are also improving in both physical and spiritual aspect. We should improve our personality and become mature in the way we view life. To adapt to the new en-vironment is very important for us pians. We should real-ize that the world we are living now is different form the world we used to live, which is the world outside. To be natural is essential not just for the pians but to all the filgians. We should live our lives naturally. Just be who we are. A pian should also live a simple life just like our Lord Jesus. As His followers, we should set our selves apart from the material things that made us so attached to the world. We should free our selves from being so attached from gadgets, luxuries, worldly things etc. If we live in simplicity, we will live in harmony. As what St. Pius X said, “I was born poor, I have lived poor, and I wish to die poor.”

24 La Madonnetta FEATURE ARTICLES

St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Je-suits, was born at Loyola, Spain in 1491. His dreamed in life was to become one of the best soldiers of his country, but unexpectedly, his ambition was came into an end during the siege of Pamplona in 1521. He was shot on his legs and while he was recovering from the tragedy that happened to him, he read some books of Christ’s life and lives of the saints because he got bored in his room. Fortunately, he was touched by their examples of living and offer-ing their lives to God and to others. Then, there was a big change that happened in his life. He became now a soldier of Christ. He organized a new religious order, whish was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540 with the name—Society of Jesus. Their battle cry was, “Ad majorem Dei Gloriam” (For the greater Glory of God). St. Ig-natius was a man of spirituality and intellect in defending the Church of Christ. On July 31, 2010, St. Ignatius’ way of life was reborn and bestowed in the presence of the second year figlians of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate. They got the name of St. Ignatius of Loyola as their patron saint of their batch. They called their batch as “the Ignatians” after the name of St. Ignatius. The ignatians ig-nite their aim in their hearts and soul; to do all things in accordance to the will of the creator and for the greater glory of God.

Ignite to be IgnatiansSem. Marlon Jay Sanz

As Fresh as Green Leafy VegetablesSem. Ferdie de Leon



FEATURE ARTICLES La Madonnetta 25

I never knew them completely until an inevitable cir-cumstance took place. I was thrown into a group whose indi-vidual names I only knew. It was like a jigsaw puzzle waiting to be completed. Though, certainly, I couldn’t say otherwise until we marched on the aisle altogether and asked one September morning. The puzzle is really puzzling—each in different shapes and sizes—different characters and faces: well, this is only to state the obvious. Just like this die-hard, choir musician fellow we have here, Ka-Uls, when by English twang can be mistaken to chaos. Name the tune and he knows it, brother! That is Ulyss-es’ specialty. Then, there is Vincent, popularly known as blah. I wouldn’t want to know the reason why he’s been branded as such but needless to say he could be very talkative should you engage a chit-chat with him—definitely no blah. He’s weird but fun to be with: unique in his own right. And if you want to meet a person who dives for the soccerball, who never cared even if you beat, spat, or jeer at him, that would be Symon—an incom-parable goalkeeper. Seriously, though, you can depend on this guy for your secrets—a real goalkeeper indeed, metaphorically; all humility would his trademark be amongst peers and profes-sors alike. You can’t miss to point him out with the birthmark on his lower right jaw! Moving on... You’ll never meet a more eloquent philos-opher of pure folly than Saddam or Elmerson. He’s an admix-ture of the present and past seminary which I both witnessed (wink). Embarassingly, I know more of his weakness than his strength—food! His stomach always says hello! But, of course, kidding aside, he’s more than that. He’s the one who easily makes me laugh-out-loud even after or in the middle of a ter-rible crisis situation. Academics, leadership, organisation think tank¬— that would be Dennis; he’s the man to a poke a finger to at least as the majority says so. And if there’s a man who knows how to take down almost anything, Cestir’s the name: the jack of all traits. From cars to buses; from dog house to man house, you name it, he knows how to handle them. As for this incumbent scribe—you be the judge. Water and soil, salt and pepper, light and darkness, cat and mouse, there you have it folks, a portrait of the seniors classically described briefly. These just make them true blue humans and a quark of divinity. You might want to ask what holds the portrait intact despite these spiteful facts? Amazingly, ‘tis St. Anthony the Abbot— an inspiration that glues them alto-gether. Need to ask more?

Seniors, Anthonians or Postulants: Same BananaPost. Robert Mendoza III

How would I describe our batch? It is a mixture of different personalities. We are like the four elements of the world: earth, fire, water, and air. But our beloved professors would call us The Four Musketeers. Known for our strong commitment for one another, although the most outnumbered among the entire Figlian batch, still we show to others our solid and firm attachment. It was a mind-boggling experience to be with this guys whom I had considered as brothers. Different per-sonalities but easy to coup with. We had experienced a lot of difficulties much of the time, we fall but we stand as one. We call ourselves the Gregorian’s named after St. Gregory the Great who called himself “Servus Servo-rum Dei” (Servant of the Servants of God). Following the motto of St. Gregory the Great, we give ourselves for the service of our younger Figlian brothers. In the beginning, I had compared our personali-ties with the four elements of the world, namely earth, fire, water and air. First, earth stands for toughness, we stand as one, we decide as one and we live as one. We are as solid as a rock in times of trials and difficulties. We have a strong conviction in our decisions. Second, fire stands for excitement; we give not only joy but also excitement to our fellow brothers. Like a fire, we give light to oth-ers and keeps on bringing light to everybody. We ignite our vocations with such burning zeal. Third, water stands for comfort, if there is toughness there is also comfort. Water gives relaxation and relief to everyone. Like wa-ter, we give comfort to our fellow Figlian brothers. We shower blessings and care to our fellow brothers. Lastly, air stands for energy; we are really funny and entertain-ing. Like air, we freshen the sad moments of our fellow brother. We entertain in order to give happiness and give flavour to every dull moment. We are not contented with a world without energy. We find means to be happy even at the top of crisis. To be a Gregorian is a wonderful experience and much more to be a Figlian. We, the four musketeers will always pursue for our goal and we work hand in hand. We don’t leave each others back. Seven times we may fall but we will stand up eight times. It is who we are. It is the real Figlian way: to never give up, to never surrender in the name of Jesus.

The Four MusketeersBy: Sem. Reinier A. Juan


Why there is a novitiate period in the religious life? Why do I need to pass or experience it? Is it really necessary for religious life and for my journey towards priesthood? Is it still a period of discernment? Is it a refuge from the out-side world? These are the dilemmas that often confronted me during my early years in the seminary formation. Truly, the novitiate house of the Sons of holy Mary Immaculate Congregation is like a small paradise. It is a paradise since there is a place where God dwells (the chapel and the presence of my co-novices and superiors), there are different kinds of plants, and different kinds of animals; cat, monkey, turtles, different kinds of fish and dogs, and other animals that crawl on the ground. Nevertheless, singing reli-gious songs like angels, and reading spiritual books are one of the passions inside. Again, novitiate period is a period where a novice transferred or lives in a novitiate house which produces a big gap between a novice and his world. It means, it is the period when a novice started to strengthens more the “prin-ciples” that he has acquired from his seminary formation, and started to live more the spirit of disinterestedness; to detach himself from the exterior and interior impurities, and the things that will hinder him from growing in religious life and in pursuing priesthood. Novitiate period is a period when a novice is constantly protected and accompanied by God towards being a good holy religious priest. How or in what way God accompanied him? It is through constant “Colloquio” that makes the Divine Protection of God to a novice visible. “Colloquio” is a constant dialogue between a novice and a novice master concerning to the vocation and the situation of a novice. It is not a means of spying and detecting the errors of a novice. Rather, it is the best way, es-pecially in the part of a novice, to preserve his authentic love to Jesus and to strengthen his determination in consecrating himself to God in the religious life. Novitiate period is neither a moment of rehabilita-tion nor a time to study and observe all the laws of God. In fact, it is a state of religious life where a novice exer-cises more the evangelical counsels; poverty, chastity, and obedience, and embracing more the Christian virtues that will make him to continue to live the life of discipline as a religious. Yes, it is also through Christian virtues that make a novice continue to walk in his journey towards holiness. Moreover, novitiate is a time when a novice is convinced by his fundamental option; to live the life of the apostles as a

religious, to become a holy religious priest, to be loved and accepted by others, to accept and love the others, and to experience more the love of God. In short, it is “a period of growth and maturity of [his] vocation”. In connection, novices are firm in believing that it is the Holy Eucharist and everyday’s adoration (Je-sus) who sustains their willingness and who preserve their perseverance. Notwithstanding all the challenges, which can even convince a novice to surrender and give up, for it is through the Holy Eucharist and the motherly love of the Blessed Mother Mary that a novice knows how to consider all the challenges and difficulties as “informations” that will strengthen his will and aware-ness, and prepare himself for his future ministry. To experience the life in the novitiate is to ex-perience also the great love and happiness that come from God… and to experience the beginning of practi-cum of apostolic work.

Novitiate PeriodNov. Jumar Llanto shmi


“...to accept and love the others, and to experience more the love of God. ...”


For some persons religious life is the most perfect expression of the love for Christ; for others, it is com-plete foolishness. What do I mean about that? What is the signifi cance of religious life for me? Frankly speaking, I seldom refl ect about it, since I am already a religious, and for me religious consecration is simply my way of life. However, let me share a few insights with you. Religious vocation implies a life of voluntary poverty, humble obedience, and serene chastity. We fol-low our Consitutions and are under the discipline of our superiors. Our day follows the Benedictine rule of “ora et labora,” prayer and work. We receive our assignments and apostolate according to our personal talents, the charism of the Congregation, and the needs of the Church. We work for the community and not for ourselves, avoiding any egocentric attitude and nurturing the virtue of char-ity, which is the purpose of our religious life. The mem-bers of the community have different mentality, culture and attitude, but we learn to accept all of them for the love of Christ. We also help each other to overcome our human limitations and sinful attitudes. Religious life is not a bed of roses; there are also thorns, which are the daily challenges and the necessary adjustments to the attitude of others. Every day we must

For some persons religious life is the most perfect expression of the love for Christ; for others, it is com-plete foolishness. What do I mean about that? What is the signifi cance of religious life for me? Frankly speaking,

WHAT IS RELIGIOUS LIFE?love more and forgive more, shunning the temptation of return-ing to our family as the utopistic island of serenity and peace. There are moments when religious life seems impossible, but through prayer and the

reminiscence of our calling we feel the loving pres-ence of Jesus that urges us to persevere on the jour-ney. He who said: “If you want to follow me take up your cross every day;” and “I am with you every day until the end of the world,” will never abandon those who have consescrated their life to God. Religious life is joy and peace in the Holy Spirit - which do not disappear in time of storms and diffi culties - that we must always share with the peo-ple we meet along the way. We religious are like the bread: it is not made to be preserved intact, but to be broken for all people to eat and satisfy their spiritual hunger.

Bro. Raymundas JurolitisNovitiate Brother Assistant

Founder’s Corner The congregation was founded by Fr. Joseph Frassinetti who was born at Genova, Italy on December 15, 1804. Three of his brothers became priests and his sister, St. Paola, founded the Dorothy Nuns. At the age of six, he was consecrated to the Virgin Mary in the sanctuary of La Madonetta, where he probably discovered his vocation. After his ordination on September 22, 1827, Joseph was assigned at Quinto and then at the Parish of Santa Sabina in Genova. His apostolic zeal knew no boundaries. Aside from spending many hours at the confessional every day, he founded associations for the evangelization of the children, the care for the voca-tions and the spiritual formation of young priests. He worked assiduously for the defense of the Catholic faith and in his lifetime wrote more than forty books. In 1861, Fr. Joseph instituted the Pius Union of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate with the purpose of supporting vocation. Fr. Joseph Frassinetti died on January 2, 1868 and the Congregation he founded was approved by Pope Saint Pius X in 1904. The congregation spread throughout the world. Presently they have houses, parishes and seminaries in Italy, Poland, Mexico, Argentina, Chili, Ukraine and the Philippines.



As I See It

We are part of an environment where great and complicated diffi culties are experi-enced when we are serving and following the Almighty. For one thing, His power actually brings confl ict and struggles. It is important for us to have the proper insight into the richness of God’s provision and the purpose of His plan for each of us in this world. The life of a seminarian starts with a trial separation from the comfort zone of his home – the loving presence and mutual support of the family with the spirit of understanding and af-fection together with the generosity of sharing joys and sorrows. Life is a continuous search for the ho-rizon of all horizons. As such, one should be sensitive to God’s way of lighting up one’s path. We are shown the right direction together with the challenge to move on. Seminary formation has the presence of the Divine Shepherd of souls who called on the apostles to become fi shers of men. It has also its morning star, the kind and loving mother of seminarians whose presence brought joy to the fi rst apostles of the Gospel while waiting in the Cenacle for the coming of the Divine Spirit. In seeking the light of truth and the warmth of love, the silent supplication as a manifestation of answering the call on the part of a concerned youth who is willing to be of service to the Lord’s ministry. This goes with the longing for grace and for a priestly zeal as a mark of holiness so as to become “the salt of the earth and the light of the world.”

28 La Madonnetta FEATURE ARTICLES

Minamahal kong mga Estudyante,

Mula noong ako'y dumating sa Rogation-ist Seminary-College, may isang dekada na ang nakaraan,at nakilala kayo. Napagmasdan ko ang inyong mga pagbabago, sa gawa, sa pag-uugali at sa mga pananaw ninyo sa mga bagay bagay. Minsan ako'y nakinig sa mga sari-saring ninyong hinanaing at nalaman ko ang inyong mga problema: sa vocation, sa pamilya at sa eskwela. Nalaman ko din na wala na kayong nakakaibigan o nakakasundo sa loob ng seminaryo. Ngunit sa pa-glipas ng mahabang panahon, unti-unti kayong nag-babago! Isang seminarista na may sipag at tiyaga! Isang mag-aaral na may kakaibang sigla para bang isang batang busog sa pangaral at puno ng pag-asa! Ipagpatuloy ninyo ang inyong magagandang asal at manalig kayo parati sa DIYOS!

Gumagalang,

Engr. Al Mario Legarte (Professor ng Rogationist

Seminary-College)

Liham

We are part of an environment where

Minamahal kong mga Estudyante,

Mula noong ako'y dumating sa Rogation-ist Seminary-College, may isang dekada na ang nakaraan,at nakilala kayo. Napagmasdan ko ang inyong mga pagbabago, sa gawa, sa pag-uugali at sa mga pananaw ninyo sa mga bagay bagay. Minsan ako'y nakinig sa mga sari-saring

Zenaida Cruz-Burgos(Professor-Rogationist

Seminary-College)

Engr. Al Mario Legarte


It is already fl owing through our veins, Filipino Catholics, to have faith in Mama Mary. Once a Filipino Catholic, always a Marian, at least most of us. Philippines is known to be the Pueblo Amante de Maria—a people in love with Mary (CFC 45). “We are the favourite country of Mary,” as our old folks would say, “because we are deeply in love with Mary”. We are indeed vividly in love to our mother, as we have a lot of de-votions to her. We came to have faith in Christ Je-sus because the one who brought Him to us are the people whom we trusted and believed in, perhaps, 99% of those are our parents, in particular our mothers. But how could a true Christian not accept Mary, the mother of the Christ that they believed in, who brought Him in our midst, and from whom the incarnated Word took His fl esh? Thus, the fruit depends on its tree (mother), the fruit cannot be into being without the nourishment the tree has provided... and sooner or later the fruit will be like the tree... TALIS MATER TALIS FILIUS. On the other hand, to have faith in Mary is to have faith in Christ. A true

Christian is a true follower of Christ. And who told us to be so? Mary! As she said: DO what-ever He tells you! This was the last will and testament that the mother of the Lord gave to us. This means that, following Christ is not just imitating Him, but also obeying whatever He tells us. We pray to our mother asking for her in-tercession. We don’t ask from her the blessing and grace that we need, from God through her. No one else knows the Son after the Father ex-cept Mary. Ad Jesum per Mariam!

It is already fl owing through our veins, Filipino Catholics, to have faith in

Christian is a true follower of Christ. And who told us to be so? Mary! As she said: DO what-

True Discipleship through Mary Sem. Francis Dominic Vergara

Ma. Ma? Ma! I am hungry. Ma, my classmates is teasing me! Ma, what is this? These are cried of all children. The children are weak and have little knowl-edge that is why they are dependent to their mother. And, I was once like them and for me my mother was the incredible woman in the world. In addition, she is my provider, comforter and mentor. My mother was a hard worker. As a matter of facts, she made the night as day to make kakanin just to earn money and to live her family in a simple but decent way. In making kakanin, she should always make special one that was reserved for me. She would have a pasalubong for me after she sold everything she cooked. She was my provider of everything I need. Every time my body aches, she would cure me with different herbal leaves

and prayers. Every time my heart aches, she would give a motherly advice. Moreover, she would heal me with his prayers and inspiration when spirit was weary. My mother consoled me in times of trials and diffi culty. She is my comforter ever since.When I was a baby, she taught me to walk, to talk and to eat. My moth-er taught me to be responsible in house chores and in school obliga-tions. But most of all, she taught me about God who is to be praise and adore in spite of the suffering we were enduring. She is my fi rst mentor and model. But, how foolish I am that after all the good things my mother have done for me, I rejected her love and follow my stupid will to live without her and to go far from her. I was not able to say sorry to her when she died. I thought my

life without her would be easy. Be-sides, there will be no one to stop me where ever I go or there will be no hindrance what ever I want to do. But unfortunately, I was wrong and realized how silly son I was. I have been ingratitude and indifferent to my mother.Taking the road of change and living in the chaotic world without a mother, I found a woman who will be at my side and to be leaned on in the midst of bad times. She is like my mother who is my comforter, provider and mentor in everything. I treat her like my mother and I feel that she treats as her sons through my co- brothers and fathers. And, I am proud to her son. I am proud to be Sons of the Holy Mary Immaculate.

* μητέρα (mitera)- is a greek word which means, Mother.

Mitéra*Sem. Benjun David

MARIAN CORNER La Madonnetta 29


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La Madonnetta vol iii issue 1

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Transcript of La Madonnetta vol iii issue 1