Message on the occasion of my 28th Birthday (July 13, 2016, Wednesday)

Dear Friends in Christ, a blessed morning!

Last year, I spoke about my early childhood. Allow me to speak about my basic education days.
My thoughts bring me back to my first days in school. It was at a Jesuit school, Sacred Heart
School for Boys at General Maxilom Avenue, Cebu City. Now, it is located in Mandaue City with a
new name, Sacred School Ateneo de Cebu. It was in 1992, 24 years ago, that I started out as a
little boy at nursery school. I remember vividly how difficult it was to be in the school of rich
Filipino-Chinese boys and bullying was not alien to me. I was then (even till now) relatively small
in built, dark-skinned, with curly black hair, and bright-eyes: the exact antithesis of my FilipinoChinese peers. In spite of all this, I remember also the kindness of our school director for the
longest time, Fr Ernesto Javier SJ. His tokens of candy, kind words, and the chance to hangout in
his air conditioned office were for me privileged moments to encounter a true educator, a man
considered by many of my peers as one of the pillars of the school.
Another person who made an impact in my primary years was my best friend, Francis Carlo
Manzano. He was kind, smart, and especially generous. I did not have much allowance then and
so I was always the ready and willing recipient of whatever snacks he had with him. He was a
true friend. But we were never going to be together in school in the years that followed.
Since there were four of us siblings studying there and the tuition fee for four boys in a Jesuit
school is just way beyond our means, my parents decided to distribute us four. I and my elder
brother, Vincent Hubert, were blessed enough to end up in Don Bosco Technology Center. I do not
really remember how I felt that time. But somehow, what I can remember is the sight of
basketball courts and a big quadrangle. To tell you honestly, transferring to Don Bosco was not
something I really resisted or resented. It was my mother, Lina, in connivance perhaps with our
BLESSED MOTHER, who brought me here. It was all a mystery to me thenand up to now.
For seven years, I spent the time in Don Bosco getting to know the God who was from the very
beginning, calling me. Really, in the midst of bullying, my personal struggles, my family
problems, and the war we call puberty, there was this Christ Whose face I could not recognize.
And yet, the seed of my vocation was nurtured in the fertile ground of Jesuit and Salesian
institutions.
From being a member of Crusaders club in Sacred Heart School to joining the Knights of the
Altar in Don Bosco to being a member of the BOSCO Council, a vocation was being nurtured and
groomed. I am awed by the love of God because while I am a sinner, he was and is continually
calling me.
One striking experience that I had in my last year of high school in 2005, a few months before
graduation, was my three days of search-in at Don Bosco Missionary Seminary Lawaan. I never
wanted to go for search-in that time, but the Lord and our Blessed Mother wanted something
better for me during the triduum of Don Boscos feast. That time, I was set to take up
Architecture at the University of San Carlos, a decision I have made four years earlier. But as it
were, when Fr Godo exposed the Blessed Sacrament during our Taize Prayer at the Novitiate
grounds, the Lord was trying to tell me something. And so finally, I asked, Lord, what do you
want me to do? (pause) Right then and there, my solid four-year decision became like fairy dust
in an instant.
If we were to do vocation work among young people, please do not neglect their active
experience of being in the youth groups, of inviting them insistently to experience Salesian
seminary or community life, and prayer, yes, prayer might be THE key to their locked-up hearts.

As a token for all of you, allow me to present this little book mark with the Prayer for Vocations
written by Fr Fidel Orendain SDB. This is the prayer which has sustained me and has encouraged
other young people to do the same. I pray this every day after Mass, I hope you join me in
praying for the FIN and the Diocese of Paraaques vocations programs and even for our own
home provinces or dioceses vocation ministries.
Finally, let me leave a little note about my best friend Francis Carlo Manzano. I used to see him
on the road on my way to school since he lived in the same subdivision where Don Bosco is.
During my last year in high school, I wondered where he went since I was not able to see him
anymore. It came to me as a shock when I found out that he had contracted leukemia or cancer
of the blood in his senior year in high school. But in spite of that, he still graduated from high
school with flying colors as one of the top students of the batch, receiving his diploma on a
wheelchair and wearing a gas mask. He passed away on June of 2005, the same year we
graduated and days after I officially entered the seminary. I certainly believe that I have gained
an intercessor in heaven and he is not too distant, (looking up) right Francis? Let us pray for the
repose of his soul and especially for his mother, who found it too difficult to accept his painful
and untimely death. Amen.
May God bless us all! Ave MARIA!
Saint Henry, the Holy Roman Emperor, pray for us! :D