A golden anniversary

MY high school class ‘68 just celebrated our golden

anniversary, and we had a grand reunion the other day. Of the more

than 200 who belonged to that batch, about 60 came.

   

            Of course, quite a number already had gone ahead to

eternal life. In fact, I had to read a long list of teachers and

batchmates who have passed away, before the Mass that I celebrated on

that occasion. Others could not make it for one reason or

another—health, distance, previous appointments, etc.—but everyone

practically followed the event through our new techs.

   

            As the only priest in the batch, I was asked to say two

Masses and to give some spiritual inputs. On the spot, they made me

the chaplain of the class which I, of course, gladly accepted.

            I was moved to see all of them, many of whom I have not

seen for practically 50 years also, since I seldom got back to my home

province and to our former alma mater. As can be expected, there were

those who can be considered as doing very well in life and those who

were struggling, those whom I expected to get into a certain condition

in life and those who gave me a big surprise.

  

            Anyway, what is important—and this was one of the main

messages I gave them—is that we should keep strong our class spirit. I

told them that as persons, we are not only individual beings, but

persons expected to form a strong community spirit in every level in

our life, until we all become the People of God, the family of God.

             For a strange reason, I stood up to sing a number of songs

of our time during our dinners since there was a band playing. It was

a good move, since many others let down their shyness and started also

to sing.

            That was when I had a big surprise—there were actually

many good singers, dancers and entertainers among my classmates. It

took 50 years to discover their hidden talents. You see, during our

time, it was not the usual practice to show off our talents. Unlike

today…

  

            Anyway, I told my classmates that our memories, whether

good or bad, are very precious treasures. If seen with faith, they

actually would show us the guiding and merciful hand of God. They

actually offered lessons to learn from all the events and

circumstances of the past. They are strong reasons to be very thankful

to God for everything.

  

            Given our age now, I told them that we still have to learn

to flow with the times, learning the art of inter-generational

interactions. We actually still have a lot to offer especially to the

young generation who definitely know a lot more in terms of the

technical things. We can show them what is actually most essential in

life—how to love, how to understand and respect everyone including

those with whom we have big differences, etc.

  

            I also told them that while before we were encouraged to

be future-ready by acquiring as many skills as possible, now we have

to be more eternity-ready and to see to it that we have what we would

really need for a happy eternal life.

             And that can only be love—the love that comes from God who

loves us to death with his mercy and compassion. All the events and

circumstances of our life, whether good or bad, should be made to

develop and grow in that love.

   

            I told them not to be afraid of death, since death can

only be the transition from our earthly, temporal life to our eternal

life. I reminded them that our time on earth is the time of God’s

creation and redemption of ourselves. We should try to cooperate with

God’s action on us as best as we could.