Love, Faith, Hope and Everything in Between

Rest and reflection is said to be a daily need for spiritual, physical and emotional wellness, but for the senior high Manresans, it may come as rarely as a blue moon. With their graduation and final highschool year finally approaching, the pressure and workload has been keeping them from finding time to balance workloads and wellness. Now, on the top of a mountain in Tagaytay’s cloud heights, they have been given an opportunity to rekindle their spiritual wellness and regain their energy for the upcoming second semester. 

Caitlin Navidad, a student of Grade 11 St. Ignatius says: “The retreat has given me the time to reflect and reconnect once more with God because I have always been busy within the past months ever since school started.” 

“This entire experience made me realize that I should have put more focus in my

closeness with God from the very start because like from what was said in the retreat, ‘God is the first to love us’ and I took it seriously to once again rekindle our relationship as I love the Lord the way He loved me back.” 

This retreat has given the girls not just time to pause and reconnect with God but also sweet memories to look back on. 

“What my most memorable moment was when we had 1-2 hours of time for ourselves to talk to God and to relax our minds at peace after a rough week, and the reflections/sharing with others! It helped me learn about other personal experiences that others dealt with, rather in difficult or different situations. Some of our small group could relate, and sharing those was rather relieving. Because at least I know that there are people who share the same experiences as others, which is respect for each one of us.” says Bridget Velasquez from 11-St. Candida.

During their stay, they were provided with several sessions wherein they were taught the essence of the three theological values(love, faith and hope) and also how they can practice them not just within the retreat house but everywhere they’d go. Navidad also states what she has learned from these sessions and how she can apply these values in her Manresan community.

“The virtue of love is applied when I take great care of my classmates, close or not, as my acts of service and simple greetings is a way to express my love and care for them as a fellow classmate. The virtue of faith can be the way I lend help to the people around me by being reliable to them as I sometimes remind them of the requirements needed to be finished so that they won't have a hard time in accomplishing and forgetting most of them but it is safe to say that I also rely on them in case I missed anything important. Lastly, the virtue of hope can be applied whenever I feel that a task is too difficult for me to handle because I always have people around me who can help in assisting me to achieve my goals in school as I do the same for them.”

With this retreat having ended with everyone returning home safe and sound, we ought to thank the Lord for all he has done for us and for protecting us all the way through. As students who are often bombarded with work and academic requirements, some time dedicated just for him is the least we can do as our way of giving back.