We Have Moved......

The Blog for the Redemptorist Students in Davao has been moved to:

http://rfcdavao.wordpress.com/

Sea,Sun....Just a Day to Rest and Relax.

After another month of hard studies and activities, both pastoral and community, the students had an opportunity to gather together as a student community to have fun and just relax.

Some spent the day bonding over Videoke or Card Games.

Whilst others took the opportunity to just chill.

Solemnity of the Most Holy Redeemer

Today the Redemptorists around the world celebrate the

Feast of the Solemnity of the MOST HOLY REDEEMER: July 17, 2011.

This feast has been celebrated by the Redemptorists on the third Sunday of July since 1749.

O JESUS, THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Have Mercy on us!
OUR MOTHER OF PERPETUAL HELP, Pray for us!
ST. ALPHONSUS DE LIGOURI AND ALL REDEMPTORIST SAINTS
, BLESSEDS, VENERABLES AND SERVANTS OF GOD, Pray for us!

Feast of St Benedict

The St Alphonsus Theologate and Mission Institute (SATMI) here in Davao have the great privilege of having a very gifted Benedictine Sister as the Dean of Studies and resident professor of scripture. Sr Miriam Alexandrino, OSB holds a SSL (Biblicum) as well as a STD (Gregorian).

On the feast of St Benedict, she invited the Redemptorist Community to the Benedictine Convent in Ulas to join in the celebrations with her community.

We are very grateful for the gift of the Benedictine Vocation in Sr Miriam and may St Benedict always intercede of Sr Miriam and the Benedictine Sisters of the Eucharistic King.

With the People

In the Vocation stories of alot of Redemptorists, it is very common to hear that one of the things that touched them when they were discerning their vocation was how close they saw the Redemptorist Priest and Brothers were in their ministry to the very ordinary people. That they were with the people, among them and one with them.

Here in Davao, one way in which the brothers express this is through their weekend apostolate work with the local BECs (Basic Ecclesial Communities) or in the local language GKKs. They spend their weekends in the BECs, to be with the people, among the people.

Through the sharing of the stories of the people, the brothers are able to better understand the issues and problems that are faced in the everyday lives of the ordinary people and as one missionary put it, to see how God is already present with the people even before the brothers came. Jesus came to be with us as one of us, to be really present to us. God is with us. Emmanuel. Let us all take the challenge to be present to each other as how God is present to us.

For Service

Besides the orders of bishop. priest, and deacon, which are sacramental and instituted by Christ as degrees of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, in the early Church there were different ministries that quickly developed and men specially entrusted with these ministries by the Church. Over time, these ministries--or "orders" as they were called--became reserved to those preparing for the priesthood.

In the first year of entry into the studendate, the newly professed brothers are installed into the minor orders of Lector and Acolyte. This allows them to be of greater service to the congregation and to the communities in which the congregation serves in particular reading at Masses and Novenas as well as the giving of Communion.

This year, Bros Mhel, Jerome, Jose, Bombit, Francis and Robin were installed by Fr Ariel Lubi CSsR, the Vice Provincial Superior of the Vice Province of Manila with the Redemptorist Formation Community of Davao as withnesses. May our God Lord, the Holy Redeemer continue to bless these young men in their journey and vocation.

For Mission

"The Redemptorist Congregation follows the example of Christ in the apostolic life, which comprises at one and the same time a life specially dedicated to God and a life of missionary work..” Constitution no 1.

In the third year of the Redemptorist studendate formation program here Davao, the junior professed take a year off the strict demands of the academic  program to be sent out and to participate actively in the missionary activities of the congregation. In a word, to put what they have studied and learnt in the classroom and to apply that knowledge in the real and active mission situation of the congregation in themselves.

This year, Bros Bond, Bank, Pui, Jun, RJ, Bong and Morris were commissioned to be sent out to Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and South Africa in front of the parish community of OLPH to be living witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in those countries last Sunday. Fr Ariel Lubi CSsR, the Vice Provincial Superior of the Vice Province of Manila was the main celebrant and Fr Brenden Kelly CSsR, the professor for Missiology in SATMI was the homilist. We wish them well in the upcoming months that they may truly follow Christ the Redeemer in bringing the message of plentiful redemption to the people and places that they encounter.