Assumpta Est Maria!
By Ria de Villa Montelibano HS’82 San Lorenzo
AAA Bacolod Chapter
It was exactly 6 years ago on Assumption Day that I joined the AAA Bacolod Chapter and the Assumption Seminary Apostolate or ASA as it is usually referred to. I became a ‘Tita’ to the student seminarians, their endearing way of addressing the teachers of the English Conversation Classes conducted by Assumption Old Girl volunteers and a few friends of the AAA-Bacolod. ASA has become a fixture in the seminary curriculum, having been introduced there 25 years ago. It has born fruit, ripe and plentiful! There are now over 35 young diocesan priests who went through the ASA English Conversation Classes. Some have been sent to Rome for further studies, given ranking positions in the diocesan curia, assigned to take care of remote and extremely poor parishes. The ASA ‘Titas’ and the Old Girls of Bacolod are so proud of them. They flourish even in challenging circumstances, animating the Church, the body of Christ, us actually, to serve with a resounding YES! It is fulfilling to be pro-active, even in a small way, in the formation of priests.
The Diocesan Chancellor, the Dean of Studies of the Sacred Heart Seminary, and the Parish Priest of our Lady of the Pillar, all three priests are ASA ‘alumni’, concelebrated our Assumption Day Mass at the St. James the Greater Church in Talisay, Negros Occidental. The Old Girls arrived in their favorite AC T-shirts. It was wonderful to see around forty of us for the event, a good number for our chapter, which is made up mostly of Bacolod-based alumnae who studied in AC Iloilo and Herran, plus a handful, like me, from AC San Lorenzo. After mass, we all headed to the stunning huge replica of the Grotto of our Lady of Lourdes at the back of the Church to pray the rosary.
What did we ask of our Lady? We prayed for the grace to become more and more like her who willingly accepted God’s plan along with all the joy and the pain that came along with it; to share in the promise of her glorious assumption into heaven, and that our hearts be like the heart of our beloved St. Marie Eugenie, beating joyfully for Jesus, Mary and the Church. After prayer, we headed to the newest McDonald’s branch in Bacolod for fellowship and merienda. Hey all, come visit us!
