January 2016

Once upon a time in Bacao

4:39 AM

As part of our Christian Formation Program, an annual recollection activity is usually held in Sitio Bacao, Palayan City. The absence of cellular signal and the it's beautiful scenery composing of green trees and mountains surrounding a clean flowing river makes it a perfect place to genuinely connect with God, nature and yourself.

Our recollection activity is hosted by Kuya Loreto from Family Mission in collaboration with Bacao Reforestation and our school's Christian Formation program office.

This year's theme is "My Profession, My Vocation" since most of the participant are graduating students of our school, College of the Immaculate Conception - Cabanatuan City. The participants which includes us, the graduating marketing students and financial management students are no stranger to this place and this type of activity.

During the activity we were given 3 different tasks with 3 meaningful lessons about life, after every task we were moved both emotionally and spiritually which was the main purpose of the event. Here we were taught of the true meaning of life with Christ in the center of everything and were given a chance to assess and review our present life as well.

During the lunch break, me and my friends went to the nearby river where we enjoyed eating and picture taking. We sat on giant boulders, while listening to sound of the flowing river and fresh wind coming from the mountains.

After the recollection proper, a Mass of the Holy Eucharist was lead by Father Chito, the priest residing at Bacao Reforestation together with the native Aetas in the area.

Truly this activity is life-changing in a way, the absence of any cellular signal in the place, made us more focus in the activity and helped us have a deeper connection to God, nature and ourselves. After the activity, I personally realized that we should have time to think of what's happening in our lives family and the society that we are so busy trying to earn a living that we often forget to actually live a life. I learned the importance of having God as the center of every man's life and that there's a lot of thing to be thankful and grateful for though that we even don't recognize some.