Amidst the threats of typhoon Ineng, Sr. Divinia de Claro, Sr. Porfiria Ocariza, Sr. Santa Conde and Regine Areno, a Pauline Lay Mission Partner, headed for Olongapo City on August 22, 2015 for a Bible mission.
At the height of the downpour and strong winds, they continued to launch “Banal na Biblia at St. Columban Parish and Holy Rosary Chapel the next day, August 23. The event was announced during the masses the week before by Fr. Jaime (Fr. Jimboy), the parish priest. An announcement on tarpaulin was displayed in front of the church to prepare the people for this event. They were happy to see the missionaries and they took good reading materials, including the Bibles.
The group also visited San Roque Parish and were warmly accommodated by Fr. Mozo , the parish priest. Rain showers did not hamper the people’s enthusiasm for the Word of God and other catechetical books that can help them deepen the faith.
The next day, August 24, a Bible Seminar was conducted to members of the Association of the Pauline Cooperators, catechists, leaders of Basic Ecclesial Communities and religious organizations. The seminar was conducted by Sr. Divinia de Claro and Sr. Santa Conde. Due to heavy rains and floods, the classes in elementary and high school were cancelled. This proved providential because it gave some of the teachers the opportunity to attend the seminar. The 31 participants, who braved the rains and the floods, were young professionals, retirees, and a 4th year high school student who expressed his desire to enter the priesthood. They were very grateful to receive Biblical animation, to deepen their faith and experience of the Word of God. Although most of the participants already have a copy of the Tagalog Bible from other publications, some of them still took Tagalog Bibles from us.
With this, I experienced once again the joy of “proclaiming the Word, in and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2) as our Father St. Paul urged us. Truly, even at the height of heavy rains brought by typhoon Ineng, it is always a joy for us to share God’s love communicated to us in His Word, in the Bible!
