ROL 155 - September 2013 - p. 5
u SACRED HEART REGION • PHILIPPINES INTERNATIONAL F ORMATION HOUSE BICOL To all our beloved Roma on Line readers, it is another gracious opportunity to share with you some news from our International Formation House Bicol. First of all, we are glad to send you our kind regards! Mmany things have taken place here in the formation house, but the following are the events worth sharing: On 5th June, we, as international formation house, had an opportunity to celebrate the birthday of one of us named George Chanda from St Paul region, Zambia. It was a joyous moment to thank God for the gift of each of us especially of our Br George who turned 22. On 6th June, at around 6.00 am, we were honored to welcome Rev. Br Joel Ponsaran, the Provincial Superior of the Americas who came all the way from Manila just to visit us and give us a conference. It was a nice time for Br Joel to visit once again the n ovitiate as he was the driving force behind building the whole Nazareth complex. On the same day, around 1.20 pm, Br Jesus returned from his two weeks’ home leave. He brought into the community many material gifts to the community. On 8th June, we were privileged to have a fruitful conference given by Rev. Br Joel Ponsaran. The first part of the conference was a sharing with Brother some vital information about his province (Our Lady of Guadalupe) and the challenges facing his province. It was very useful for us to gather factual information about the Congregation in the Americas! The second part of conference was about human d evelopment which was also very helpful for our human and spiritual development. We invited
him to visit us next time when he comes back to his native country, the Philippines! On 13th June, we celebrated the birthday of Br Damian in our c ommunity and everybody here was happy to join him for attaining his 60th birthday. He is now a senior citizen of the Philippines. There were many presentations in the form of dance and music from all the countries represented here. th June, Br Jesus travelled to M anila to receive our fellow companion from Belgium, Deepak Mehra. Theyl arrived here safely on June 19, and were happy to join us! On 30th June, Brs Damian and Jesus left for Indonesia where their wouldl join Rev. Brother General in celebrating the silver jubilee of 6 Indonesian Brothers. They were scheduled to stay there for one week. We all prayed for their safe return safely to our community. On 31st of June, our postulant from Paskistan, Amir Jamir, was unfortunate to be the first to be admitted to hospital as he was diagnosed with “Ndege”; a very severe fever similar to malaria. He would be in hospital for one week. We thank God that he is back in our community still recuperating. On 7th July 2013, we were honored by the honorable visit of Rev. Brother Victor Hugo, who came to visit our community and gave us a conference on Wednesday 10th July. On 9 July, we had a welcome ceremony of Br Victor Hugo in our community. There were songs and dance from all the countries represented here. He is scheduled to live for Rome on 13th July. th
On 20th July, we had a chance to visit the Sisters of Charity in Legaspi; it was a good opportunity for the Brothers, especially for the postulants to meet them and to get to know them
individually. It was a Saturday, on that occasion, we availed ourselves of the opportunity to talk with the street children of which our Sisters are taking care of. As our offering, we rendered a song for them; indeed, that was a joyful experience. On that same day, we visited another place called Albay Wildlife Conservation, where you can find exquisite animals in all their variety. Afterwards, we had the privilege to visit the place of Cagsawa ruins, this place is historical in the Philippines, where we saw the old church buried and demolished by Mayon Volcano. On 23th July, the new transportation of the Brothers of Charity or the s o-called jeepney was blessed. Every month we traditionally celebrate life, and that is our individual birthday, as we all know that life is very important because it’s a gift given by God. Last 30th July, we celebrated the birthday of Bernard Madara O mboga, one of our postulants and we also included the birthday of our w orker, kuya Charlie, at the same time. We officially welcomed Br Joseph K asonde as a membe of our community and as a formator as well. Community life will never be complete without a community outing; this event r efreshes all the members of the community, an occasion that brings us together. On 17th August, the Brothers decided to go to the place where we can soak our bodies in the hot and cold water: we visited Sorsogon, a three hours’ trip; so there we found perfect relaxation; from the bottom of our hearts we thank the Brothers for that very pleasant occasion. Life is really precious because God fills it with love, graces and b lessings, this month of August we have