TIMEOUT: The week that was

the heavy downpour of rains battered parts of luzon this week. with rains of catastrophic proportions hitting metro manila, marikina river's water level rose significantly, stirring fears of what happened three years ago during the typhoon ondoy. back then, i was reviewing for my licensure exam for teachers, so i never really had a first hand experience of how marikina river got swollen and spilled over the city's streets. but people in metro manila, particularly in marikina which is just outside our seminary, were surely traumatized with how water, which was generally perceived as a source of life, has become an instrument of destruction.

as another calamity loomed, the san jose seminary community answered the call of service to those who were in great need. we opened our doors to evacuees from nearby barangays in marikina, assisted the evacuees of barangka elementary school, and conducted relief operations at industrial valley complex and the towns of masantol and minalin in the province of pampanga.

i was deeply moved by the generosity of donors who similarly responded to this call to serve those who were severely affected by the floods. the parishioners of the national shrine of our lady of guadalupe (my weekend apostolate area) came in several batches in a span of three days to bring food, clothes, drinking water, and medicines that they have gathered from their parish. friends of seminarians, priests, benefactors, and even fellow josefinos pitched in to help. as the goods came to the seminary, members of the community also gave themselves in repacking, transporting, and distributing what we have gathered to those who suffered much from this calamity.

every member of the community had roles to fulfill, but what i found edifying was the example of the seminarians and even priests who went out of their comfort zones and stretched themselves, literally and figuratively, to be of service to our brothers and sisters in need. times like these, thinking about self-preservation had to stay in the sidelines in order to work for the safety and preservation of others. to go beyond one's role might mean braving the flood waters, going distances whether that is a few steps from the seminary or all the way to the province of pampanga, and getting soaked in mud and wet with rainwater for the service of the other. to do these, i think, is an act of heroism.

indeed, the words of saint ignatius of loyola remind us of the service and love that we render in these trying times:
"to give and not to count the cost, 
to fight and not to heed the wounds, 
to toil and not to seek for rest, 
to labor and ask not for reward, 
save that of knowing that we do your most holy will."

Magbigay ng hindi namimili, kumalinga ng walang kapalit, tumulong ng buong puso! 
Amare et servire in opus ministerii!
Hail San Jose!