STORY OF MY LIFE
Sem. Saturcito Velasco, Jr.
I
remember in my Summer Apostolate, A young “Inday” of St. James the Greater Parish
in Batuan came and asked me, “Why are you a seminarian?”
I
had answered that question, hundreds of time before… after all, I have been a
seminarian for three years… but this time, I wanted to give a better answer to
a young “Inday”.
“I
am a seminarian.” “Yes.” I finally said, “I am a seminarian because God wants
me to become a priest.”
For
the first time, I had felt at peace with my answer.
In
the past, I would say something like “I am a seminarian because I am called or
because my father don’t want me to become a nun.”(Something weird)
And
then I would launch upon my story about when I was 11-years old. For when I was
eleven, a catechist in our school began brainwashing me.
I
was studying at Bool Elementary School. She told me “Satur, why don’t you learn
how to serve the mass?” I thought it was a good idea but the problem is who
could teach to serve the mass.
It
was Msgr. Avon who taught us. He named in us the sacred vessels of the mass and
their respective usage. It seems interesting because their names are unique. We
did it again and again and until, we have learned. And my ate Lutche who gave
me her white sotana.
I
was eleven. It had never, never entered in my mind to become a priest. But
GOD—God had His plans.
Starting
when I entered the Knights of the Altar, opportunities came. I became the
leader of our Parish Youth Ministry, SVF- New Voices Chorale Leader, Servant
Leader of CFC- Youth for Christ and Youth for Family and Life, and a Diocesan
Secretariat of the Mandated and Private Youth Organization of the Diocesan
Commission on Youth of Tagbilaran.
After
All, I chose to enter the seminary and willing to become a priest.
No!!!
That description is wrong!
I
did not chose God. It was God who chose me, and who made me His seminarian and
become His priest. It is GOD!
“Countless,
unnoticed miracles. Each day, saturating my heart, my mind, my whole being.
Despite myself, ‘my pride, my ego, my selfish ways’, my sensuality, my
weaknesses, my sins. Gently, lovingly, God was inviting me, enticing me. Until
I had no more choice. Except to say yes—to HIM and HIS LOVE.”
“For
to be true to myself, I had to be true to Him. To be with Him, to loose myself
and find myself totally in Him. Forever.”
The
petite and small Saturcito Batoy Velasco, 70kgs, a spoiled brat, cute and
handsome. From the place of unknown “Bool”. Surviving mostly in love, and in
God’s loving providence.
It
was some anonymous afternoon of 2011, maybe 3 o’ clock, in our group sharing during
the National Youth Day, I was walking all around the Mary Help of Christians
Parish Church in Parañaque. I was walking, standing and then knelt down, in
front of the “retablo”.
And
I realized that I WAS IN LOVE. I was in love—with GOD. I was in love with GOD.
All
of a sudden, I realized I was different. My world seems to be different. For
God Himself, made real in me and HE had conquered my heart.
“And
nothing else mattered, ‘NOTHING, except GOD, and to be with GOD—forever.’
‘And
it seemed that the best way, the only way to do that was to become a priest.’
‘But
the inspiration, and the strength, and the perseverance’—All came from GOD
alone”
And
so, my young, little, tiny and cute girl friend, there it is.
God.
“It was God. God’s idea. God’s planning. God’s help. God’s forgiveness. God’s
healing. God’s empowering.”
“I am a seminarian, because GOD wants me to become a priest.”
“And
here I have found the JOY, Joy in my heart and my mind.”
From
the abyss of my life and its shattering outcome… All the masses I have served,
the retreats, recollections, camps, my many friends. The one-year regency of
mine and its drifts. To my UBian classmates and to my IHMS Community, “You all
have been instruments of God’s sympathy of LOVE, all for me.”
If I become a priest, if I am still
a seminarian, if I have been able to do any good at all, it is all because of
GOD, our wonderful God of compassion and love.
God.
God.
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