Recollection

One thing I am really amazed at here in the Philippines is there since of community. I cannot explain how strong the family ties are here as well as the ties of friendship. This came to me tonight as I was visiting the home of a first year college student from Cor Jesu. Last Thursday his father passes away and so the Director of Alumni Affairs and myself stopped by the house to visit him and the rest of the family. In Filippino culture, the death of someone includes a nine day novena to the person. They also put out a canopy that let's people know that someone has died. Something that I wasn't expecting when I got there was the actual casket with his father there in the home. So we sat around and chatted. There were probably over 30 people at there house, some were outside playing games. It was really nice, I enjoyed visiting with his family, especially his younger siblings. The guy I went to visit is the second child of eight. So it has to be really hard on the family now with the man that brought in income has passed. I told him he could always come and talk to me in campus ministry if he needed to talk. I also was able to stay for prayer with everyone. The prayer was in the native tongue, although I don't understand, I prayed silently as well as listened to the leader of the prayer pray at the foot of the casket. It's sad that it was a loss, but I am ever so grateful for the opportunity to have an experience of death and the rites that follow in the Filippino culture.

Today also started recollections for the 3rd year college students for there religious studies class. The venue the recollections are held is at the Benedictine sisters place and let me tell you they are all decked out in black. The recollections are usually all day. I am there to watch right now, but will be facilitating them later on. However, my job was to come up with icebreakers and by golly I came up with some really good ones that they all enjoyed. Tomorrow I plan on doing some the same and some different. I also tried to not distract the students from what the experience was about, seeing the compassionate heart Jesus had and how to live it in our own lives. I was trying not to be as active as I usually am in hopes of trying to be serious in the important matters and not act like I am a little boy. We had a reconciliation service for them, which I had the chance to go to. It is the first time I have received that sacrament while here in the Philippines. I think a lot of the students enjoyed themselves, some even got a little teary eyed, however, I don't know what they were saying a lot of times because they were speaking in the native tongue. Now the bus ride back to the school was interesting. Now they wanted me to be entertaining. They kept wanting me to say istoryaheey to people on the street, which I still don't know what it means. They also wanted me to do facial model poses. One girl, joking, said that I act like a boy. Now that was when the whole trying to be serious thing went out the window, I mean come one, can't a man catch a break. Thanks to Janette, who works at the Student Development Center, she told me that when she was in school there was a brother who always kept them entertained, he was fifty acting like a child and he left the biggest mark on her. I am going to be serious when I have to, but I do want to enjoy what I am doing. I don't want to have that kind of reputation when I leave here.