by Aivy Banawa

“HOPE,” was the message of our virtual recollection last Friday, June 4, 2021. As the pandemic shook our faith, God never failed to use people to remind us that there is hope amidst these difficult times. For this year’s recollection, we were blessed to have members of the Jesuits Volunteer Philippines [JVP], Blas Descallar as speaker and Love Dorero, technical assistant. 

Their reaching out to us is beneficial in combatting the challenges of materialism and self-centeredness we are facing. The recollection rerouted us to find a deeper meaning of ourselves and how to live out the core Christian values. We were challenged to rediscover Christ-like values, learning it from the great saints like Mother Teresa. We rekindled our zeal for prayer and rediscovered our universal duty as Christians. 

The songs that were played with guiding questions after, enabled us to reflect and ask questions about the life we lived during our entire high school life. The movie clips shown were heart-warming, they knocked at our hearts and taught us the value of family that we had taken for granted. There were many realizations that we learned during the recollection, which will be useful in the next chapter of our lives – college life.

Our school has never done this online recollection before. It is amazing that it was still interactive, exciting, and interesting even given the online platform used.  I truly believe it was God’s providence to experience a short recollection that awakened us to nurture our faith and reach out to all people around us especially our family members. Thanks be to God and may the Lord bless us all!

[The writer is a graduating senior high student from Collegio de San Francisco Xavier in Rizal, Zamboanga del Norte.]