Holy Cross High School 2011 Grand Homecoming

“AND THE CHILD GREW AND BECAME STRONG, FILLED WITH WISDOM; AND THE FAVOR OF GOD WAS UPON HIM” (LK 2:40). The reason I’m standing here right now is a text message I received yesterday telling me to prepare a 5-minute sharing during today’s celebration, to which I replied, “OK”! It was Fr. Dhems. Feeling a bit nervous about it, I decided to put this into writing because I know it would not be easy to speak before fellow alumni and alumnae, not to mention the fact that it’s my first time to attend a homecoming.

   For those of you who don’t know me, I am Oliver Orlasan Verdejo, a 1993 alumnus of Holy Cross High School and the school’s first recipient of the Alfonso Yap Award for National Discipline. Quite an honor, right? I was told my photo appeared together with the other awardees on a national paper, which I did not see. But you know? Now I think, to receive that award was too good to be true. It took me all these years from my high school till now to really begin to understand what “discipline” really is all about. My life, perhaps similar to yours, is not only full of glorious “ups”, but it is also full of painful “downs”. Interestingly, it was not the former that became my best teacher. It was my “down moments” that best taught me self-discipline, taught me some wisdom about life. My life has been a journey from self-centeredness to God-centeredness, from seeking myself to seeking
God’s Loving Hand in my life. And the journey, the struggle continue…
   Together with Alma, Marian, and Sylvan, I paid a visit to a batchmate named Cindy Maali, who is now terminally ill of cervical cancer. And just like what others have been saying about her, I went to see a woman whose beautiful and serene face stands in contrast to the agonizing pain she feels in her decaying body. And she told me something I will never forget. (I have her permission to say this.) She said, “Kung tagaan pa kog ikaduhang kinabuhi sa Ginoo unya dili nako mapuy-an ang usa ka kinabuhi nga naa sa Dios, mas maayo pag mamatay na lang ko, karon nga mibalik na ko sa Iya.” (If the Lord gives me a second life and I will be unable to lead a life in God, it would be better if I die, now that I have returned to Him.) I have never seen anybody so excited to finally meet her Lord.
   I think all this can be summed up thus: Growing up with discipline, becoming strong, being filled with wisdom – all this can only be possible if, in life’s up’s and down’s, the favor of God rests upon you and me.
   “AND THE CHILD GREW AND BECAME STRONG, FILLED WITH WISDOM; AND THE FAVOR OF GOD WAS UPON HIM” (LK 2:40). AMEN.