SACRED HEART SCHOOL-HDJ NEWS UPDATE

SACRED HEART SCHOOL – HIJAS DE JESUS
CONFIRMATION RITES
Written by: Ms. Lilibeth O. Sombong

 

Last February 7, 2009, sixty-three young girls received the Sacrament of Confirmation which was officiated by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Roberto F. Alesna, PA at Sacred Heart Parish. The event was attended by the sisters, high school teachers, parents, friends and godparents of the confirmands.  These Second Year confirmands expressed their desire to be confirmed after thorough preparation with their Catholic Life Formation teacher. Aside from their basic catechism on the importance of the Sacrament of Confirmation in their lives, the girls also had an overnight retreat which was facilitated by the Verbum Dei brothers.

On this very special day the confirmands once again renewed their baptismal promises, reaffirmed their renunciation of evil, and expressed their faith in God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth. May the gifts of the Holy Spirit guide them in their journey to discover themselves as followers and believers of Jesus Christ.

POSTSCRIPT:

Confirmation rite is usually given by a bishop. For this reason, Msgr. Alesna explained in his homily the authority given to him by Pope Benedict XVI to perform the said sacrament and according to him, there are five of them in the Archdiocese of Cebu who are given the same authority. At present, Msgr. Alesna is the parish priest of Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.

 

 

 

SACRED HEART SCHOOL-HIJAS DE JESUS SUNDAY SCHOOL
First Closing Exercises
By Mrs. Minerva Roiles

Forty-one Kasambahays reaped the fruit of their labor as they marched on stage to receive their diploma for the completion of the secondary school program under the Alternative Learning Systems Accreditation and Equivalency (ALS) of the Department of Education (DepEd).

To recall, Sacred Heart School – Hijas de Jesus, in a joint effort with the Visayas Forum Foundation, Inc. and the Department of Education, took a step further to realize the vision-mission of our Foundress in educating the young people by setting up a Sunday School for the Kasambahays. The class officially started on the second Sunday of May 2008 and was faithfully attended by these forty-one Kasambahays until last February 15, 2009 when they finally received their diploma that marked their completion of the program.

It was a simple yet heartwarming and touching ceremony.  The graduates were presented by the SHS-HDJ principal, Mrs. Minerva Roiles and were confirmed by the Division Supervisor for the NonFormal Education, Dr. Victorina Veloso, PhD. Those present who witnessed the ceremony were moved by the joy on the faces of the graduates, and the gratitude and appreciation they expressed to all those responsible and involved in organizing the Sunday School, including their employers who allowed or encouraged them to join the Sunday School. 

The most unforgettable and moving part was the speech response of the graduates prepared and delivered by Jocelyn Candilanza.  The speech was delivered well with a touching depth of content that expressed the graduates’ gratitude to God and the important people in their lives, the joy of finishing the program and of being valued as a Kasambahay and more meaningfully, the confidence and inspiration they have gained to pursue their dreams in life.  Indeed, as we have seen it for ourselves, the Kasambahays gained not only literacy but also an awareness of their capacity, worth as persons and the role that they can play to contribute to the betterment of the society.

The Sunday School is another fulfilling task that satisfies not only the heart that loves the poor but also the desire of the Foundress in bringing more souls to heaven through education that builds one big global family.

We thank and congratulate all the people involved from the three groups – DepEd, Visayan Forum Foundation and SHS-HDJ, most especially to the moving force of the Sunday school in the person of Mrs. Emerita Villaver, the coordinator in charge of the outreach, and the teachers who sacrificed several Sundays to serve as Instructional Managers (IM). It is noteworthy to mention the help of Mr. Francis Esmetalda for serving consistently throughout the school year in many ways not only as an IM. As we move to further refine the implementation of the Sunday School Program for the next school year, we hope to heighten our inspiration in elevating the dignity and quality of life of the Kasambahay through education, and encourage greater sense of service and apostolate in the Hijas de Jesus school family and the community of Cebu.

 

 

 

The Way of the Cross

By Mrs. Rosalie Idulsa

Sacred Heart School-Hijas de Jesus entered into the Lenten season with the celebration of Holy Mass held last Feb. 25, 2009 - Ash Wednesday, officiated by
Fr. Ramiro Gallo.  Then on Feb. 27th, the entire educative community, for the first time, participated in the Way of the Cross. Representatives from the different sectors of the educative family led the fifteen Stations of the Cross, while the High School choir adorned this spiritual activity with their angelic voices.

The whole Sacred Heart School community united in contemplation of the Way of The Cross

Indeed, the Way of the Cross was a solemn meditation on the great love of God as shown in the episodes of Jesus’ journey to Calvary until His resurrection. Each station challenged us to live and love fully as our Savior did.

Together students and pupils ponder on the sufferings of Christ in the Way of The Cross

Celebration of the Feast of Blessed Antonia Bandres

This year, the Catholic Life Formation Area set up an exhibit that made the life of Blessed Antonia Bandres known to all members of the Sacred Heart School-Hijas de Jesus educative community. The exhibit was displayed in the Tea House from March 2 to March 6.

Students and pupils came to be more familiar with the life of Blessed Antonia. They had group reflections on how to live life fully, “to reach the top of holiness”, just as she did. They also offered their prayer-intentions, asking her intercession. Many brought floral offerings as well.

Triduum prayers dedicated to Blessed Antonita were also said from March 3 to March 5. In each day we reflected on a particular virtue of Blessed Antonita: first day- Her love for Jesus; second day- Her love for the poor; third day- Her motto: “doing ordinary things extraordinarily well for the love of God”. The Triduum prayers were prayed in lieu of the Angelus.

In each day of the weeklong celebration, we also played the song “In All Things, At All Times”, in place of the usual chime.

On the day of remembrance of Blessed Antonia’s birthday, we had an institutional Holy Mass. This was officiated by Fr. Archie Carampatan, SJ.

 

Vocation Jamboree Held a the University Of San Jose Recoletos (USJR), Basak, Pardo

The Vocation Awareness month here in Cebu was held last February. There were many activities prepared the (eg. Exhibit at SM, visits at Parishes and Universities,etc.) but the highlight was the Vocation Jamboree which culminated the whole celebration. The Jamboree was held at University of San Jose Recoletos (USJR), Basak, Pardo from February 28 until the next day, March 1. The whole night was packed with different surprises, songs, dances, talk and prayer sessions. It began with the welcoming address of Fr. Alex, followed by the play entitled "the Seducer behind", afterwhich there was a talk by Bishop Milo Vergara. He elaborated on the theme this year which was " Jesus the truth'. This was followed by small group sharing with all the religious as facilitators. Confession was available the whole night, the Blessed Sacrament was also exposed, there was Jamming in the early hours of the morning, the rosary was prayed and the whole celebration ended with a Eucharistic celebration presided by his Emminece Cardinal Vidal. During the whole night, the delegates were encouraged to go around and visit the different tents of the various Congregation as to know them better. An estimated 10,000 youth participated in this event.

The HIjas de Jesus Congregation was represented by Sr. Felisa Molina. Sr. Patricia together with our lay collaborators , Mdm. Balicoco, Miss Lilibeth Sombong, Nenita Jumao-as, Christine Luardo, three scholars from Inayawan accompanied with their sisters came and stayed the whole night.

It was indeed a successful month for the Vocation Awareness in the Island of Cebu where each one was encouraged to seek their truth and find their vocation.