Loy Krathong

Loy Krathong is one of the most popular, colorful festivals of Thailand. It is celebrated annually on the Full-Moon Day of the Twelfth Lunar Month.

We at SATMI had been celebrating this event for quite awhile now. It is one of the most colorful and well anticipated event of the year, but unlike the past celebrations, this year’s Loy Krathong was marked with real goal, appreciation more of the culture of our Thai brothers. Of course the event was celebrated at the end of the month together with the celebration of the birthdays.

Like any other celebration, we the food was delicious. The activity by the way was held at the top floor of the new building and it was the first time it was used in such a way. On portion which was highlighted was the dance. All were so participative with thedance, even Sr. Meriam, our dean of studies and Fr. Senen joined in the festivities by dancing their hearts out with the students.


Within the celebration we were introduced into the games that children in Thailand used to play and to our surprise it has similarities with the games of other cultures. Unlike today the games were played with inexpensive materials. The materials used were mostly coming from nature and can be made by a child, with a few active imagination and presto! A game that a child could enjoy and play without spending too much money in the process, in a way I hope we could reflect on this simple aspect. With all the gadgets we have around, we sometimes forget that simple can also be fun.

The event ended by going to the pond and letting the Krathong float in the pond. I pushed my Krathong hoping it would go to the center, but instead it capsized. I had to reel it over as Fr. Senen commented that I wouldn’t get my good luck. Anyway after the event we all cleaned up and everybody commented that this might be the last time an event will be held on the top floor and it is very hard to climbing the stairs carrying things. Thanks team of the month.

Foundation Day

Our poor Br Suresh must have done something wrong because he was banished to the Academic Comittee, haha! Anyway, we the geeks would like to extend a BIG WELCOME!!! Welcome to the club bro. So finally we got one extra permanent staff to lament on the constant need to submit articles. haha! Here's our Br. Suresh's debut article. Enjoy!

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Today (9 Nov) is a very important day for all the Redemptorists in the world, because today is the founda tion day of C.Ss.R. We the seminarians in SATMI too celebrated the feast of the founding of C.Ss.R.

There was a notice in the notice board that we will be having mass at 5.30pm in the church and at 5.20pm all the Brothers should be there for the procession. Before the mass began our beloved and everyone’s sensation Bro.Joseph gave a meaningful introduction about the Founding of C.Ss.R. The main celebrant in the mass was Fr.Senen and with him there were co-celebrants and two of them were new.They were Fr.John Hill from Australia and Fr.Anton Shiran from Sri Lanka. In the beginning of the mass Fr.Senen introduced the foreigners to the congregation including the two theology students from Sri Lanka Bros.Morris and Suresh. The homily was on the history of C.Ss.R .

Soon after the mass was the long awaited, carefully prepared and thirst-quencing 'spirit-filled' event. The Fathers and the Brothers gathered in the common room for the gaudeamus. All of them were happily enjoying the feast and there was a prize distribution too. There were lot of sharing, jokes and singing. This is a true portray of the meaning of unity in diversity. After the gaudeamus you could see some had got into their real resurrected mood and some even had got four legs to walk (which is a normal thing). However, things ended up very nicely and all proceeded to the refectory for the supper at around 8.00pm. The main thing was that we were one with our Redeemer.

Happy Foundation day to all.

[-Suresh]

Welcome to the Family

[Br Suresh]

[Br. Morris]

After months of anticipation, finally our Sri Lankan brothers have arrived to join our big group of 'halo-halo' students here in SATMI.

We have with us now Brother Suresh and Morris (Clap clap clap....). Br Suresh will be joining the 4th yr while Br Morris will be joining the 2nd year.

The brothers arrived with their formator Fr Anton, and were just in time to join us in our students recreation in Talikud, which was the perfect opportunity for the us to get to know them. Thus far, I belive that i speak for everyone when i say that they have been extremely wonderful and eveyone is happy to have another 2 marvelous guys in our group. I am sure Br John is especially happy as now he finally have 2 brothers to speak Tamil to :)

I requested for some photos of them to put in this post so that people far and wide can know how they looked like, but was a little shock at how serious they look. They must have been very nervous while taking the pics. (no worries bro... smile a bit more and show your sparkling teeth :P) I assure all, they are way more fun and candid than what you see in the pictures. haha!

Anyway, welcome to the Family bros. It's really nice to have you!

Sun, Sea, and FUN FUN FUN…

After surviving a semester of hard work, we students finally had our semester break. However, we still did not have lots of time to ourselves as there were endless evaluations and processing to go through. Fortunately, we were given 2 days of full recreation in a nearby island resort, and this time we were determined to party to our heads drop!

The resort was located in Talikud Island, about an hour boat ride away from Davao city. It was a nice little resort with a very clean and well kept beach and not too many visitors. In other words, we pretty much had the whole resort to ourselves. At once upon touchdown, we secured our bunks and had out lunch, but many were already busy fixing cocktails and getting our bodies high in “Spirit”…

Of course, we did find some time to enjoy the sea, and we had a great BBQ dinner with lots of exotic food (squid which made half the group itch up in red patches, sea urchins, thai soup with unidentified objects, etc…) That side, we enjoyed each others’ company through card games, beach games, and of course by entertaining ourselves seeing full transformation of various brothers after the effect of the great “spirit”!

Anyway, the fun 2 days lasted way too short, and before we knew it, we were already packing our bags and heading back to reality. As I type this blog entry, I could not quite believe that school is starting in 2 days. Gosh… I still have so much to do, all the movies to watch and all the sleep to catch up. Well, life goes on!!!

Here’s to a memorable Break. Can’t wait for the next one to come :P

[-Terence]

It's Processing Time...

Last October, we had our processing with Mrs.Mylene and assisted by Mr.Frehqz from 28th to 30th in St. Isidore retreat house in Megrande, Digos. We had many activities such as bingo social, message passing, film viewing, treasure hunt, affirmation and etc. The main purpose is to build a good relationship and better understanding.


All the activities really help us to work together as a team. One of the activities on the last day, which really touched me, was the affirmation session. I was really affirmed by my fellow brothers. These really challenged me and raised a question in me. If my fellow brothers can see good things in me, why don’t I see good things in them?

What I really realized was that, I should not only give constructive criticism but also affirmation and encouragement to my fellow brothers even in the little things they do for others and community. By doing this, it will not only deepen the relationship with one another but also help to understand each other better. On the other hand it will create openness to one another.

Nobody is perfect in this world and we all are trying to walk towards the way of perfection with the help of God. As now we can be staying under the same roof but our relationship can be only at surface level. I will very much appreciate if everyone had a chance like me because the method was change due to short of time.

Ultimately we were able to meet the purpose of the processing. The important part is to continue what we learned by applying in our daily live. It is a process so; we need to start it in order the things to flow. I hope and pray to God that there will be always an agape love in our community. I thank God for this wonderful opportunity.



[-John]