Remembering The Years

Saw this photo on my FB Memories app early this morning. Every day, I always look forward to some of my shoutouts and photos uploaded on my Facebook account since I joined the site. We had lunch at Bellini’s to celebrate Lovell’s Theology graduation.

We go back several years of friendship. We first met when I went to UST to confirm Nissa’s attendance to the Domnet Youth Festival (Dominican Youth Network) which was held in Davao City. Nissa represented the Faculty of Arts and Letters while Lovell was the representative of the College of Commerce. It was Nissa’s first plane ride out of Metro Manila.

There used to be this Friendster app which Nissa and I joined and she showed me her list of friends. I was surprised to see Lovell wearing a cassock. He entered the seminary right after college. We both majored in Economics so we always had something to talk about. He gifted me with a rosary from the Vatican blessed by the Pope. Friendster travelled to Multiply then on to Facebook.

He was finally ordained to priesthood in November 2012, same year and month that Nate was born. I remember Nissa’s wedding the year before and Lovell’s ordination as Deacon several days after. We have maintained the friendship even when he was assigned in different places. Every time he presides over masses in different churches, he always texts me for my petition. We haven’t seen each other since his Thanksgiving mass in UST in December 2012 but we regularly get in touch through texts and calls sometimes. He told me one time that I am his spiritual mother and I’m so glad that there is someone out there praying for the family especially for my health. Looking forward to his vacation so we could see each other again. Iloilo where he is assigned is quite far from Metro Manila.

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Campus Life (Remembering the Feast Day of St. Thomas Aquinas)

Do you remember your own high school and college days? Those days of new discoveries – having your first crush, falling in love (or you thought you did), meeting lots of friends, having a crush on one of your professors, aspiring to be a poet (because you want to remember everything  about your first love)  – you name it, perhaps those days are a little obscured now but they are not forgotten.  They simply fade in one’s memory and when you think of them, you smile and reminisce.

I remember the days when my classmates and I used to squat on these  same fields  while eating mani and kornik  laced with chili oil. Back in our time, this  cobbled walk way was simply cemented  and the century old trees had concrete benches underneath.

Ah, the familiar landmark and statue of Fr. Miguel de Benavidez,  OP the founder of the University. It’s the first thing that will greet you on your way to the UST Main building.  This bronze statue “rises on top of a granite pedestal flanked by four lions each bearing the coats-of-arms of the Philippines, Spain, Holy See, and the Dominican Order. He dons the rugged habit of the pioneer Dominican missionaries. His right hand is elevated in the preaching fashion, his index finger pointing to heavens. His left hand rests on his chest holding a book bearing the words Santo Evangélico on its cover. A skull-cap covers his head, and a pectoral cross hangs from his neck, the symbols of Episcopal dignity.”

I miss this place. I spent nine years of my life here, from the tender young age of 12 to a young lady of 21 when I left its doors.

And every chance I get, I take pictures of the place,  remembering those days – campus life – it seems so long ago but it is still achingly familiar.

The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, in short, we, alumni and students alike, fondly call it it USTe.

Today, we are celebrating the Feast Day of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Patron Saint of UST. The university was named after him. And it’s the beginning of the neo-centennial year of UST.

Read Full Post »