On Thursday, January 31, we held an adoration in preparation of the feats of Presentation of the Lord at St. Francis Xavier Parish, Novaliches- Philippines. This year the theme for this celebration was Consecrated Life which is celebrated on February 2, the Presentation of the Lord. The attendants of this celebration were mostly parishioners. There were also some sisters who joined such as Ave Maria Sisters, RVM, Mercedarian Sisters, Our Lady of Consolation Sisters, Salesian Sisters, Blessed Sacrament Sisters, Augustinian Sisters, and Xaverian Brothers and Fathers. There was a vocational sharing by Fr. Matteo Rebecchi SX, rector of Xaverian theology in Manila. In his sharing, Fr. Matteo mentioned some of his human and yet divine experiences where God called him to preach the Gospel to those who don't know it yet. Before being Xaverian, Fr. Matteo joined a group of youth and he encountered Fr. Luciano who showed God's love and care toward him and that changed the way of life of Fr. Matteo. It was a conversion for him, and after graduating from college he decided to become a Xaverian missionary. Being assigned to Indonesia and inspired by the Xaverian charism, Fr. Matteo committed himself to love concretely the Muslims. Once he was invited by Yusuf Daud, a Muslim preacher to share his faith experience to the Muslims.
After the sharing of Father Matteo, the celebration was continued with the lighting of the candles from each representative of the congregations. Then, there was the exposition of the Holy Sacrament. During this time, the faithful were given time to pray and sing some Taize songs. As soon as we finished the adoration, Fr. Simone, as moderator and acting Parish priest, invited all the religious to extend the celebration with a 'salu-salo' (dinner) in a meeting room, where all the sisters, brothers, and fathers shared the meal and presented some songs and dances.
