A DAY TO REFLECT

Recollection is a date with God. It connects us students with God through prayer, reflection and sharing our
experiences. Recollection is way for an individual to recall, reflect, and renew our past actions. Through recollection, we
can realize how awful and pleasant our gestures are. There are times that we do not realize immediately what we have
done, whether it is good or not. We realize the things we’ve done once it has made an impact on our lives and maybe in
other people too.

Last Wednesday, 8th of March 2023, we had a recollection at Benedictine Sisters, Queen of Peace Priory at
Nagtagaan, Rosario, La Union. This was the most awaited day of our section, the Recollection Day. At the first part,
Brother Rudy had opened our hearts with the quote of the famous Marcus Aurelius, “When you arise in the morning, think
of what a privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, and to love.” He made us realize that we should be
grateful that we are still alive despite all the challenges we had. The first time you open your eyes in the morning, what
can you see? The ceiling tells you to aim high, the electric fan tells you to be cool, the window allows you to see the
world, and the clock reminds you that every second is precious. The things around me made me realize that if we enjoy to
live our lives we should aim high and reach it, we should believe that we can fulfill it. In life, we can not always have our
good times, but it doesn’t mean that we will stay stressed and bothered about what’s happening, we should take some time
to be cool, to chill, and to relax. No matter how messy your life inside your home, you should take a look of how lovely
the outside world is, always remember that in every bad things, there is something good behind it. The last one was the
clock, we should not waste time because it is precious, we should maximize it by doing our best at all times. This part of
our recollection made me realize many things: first, we should embrace and be grateful who we are and what we have;
second, we should always enjoy our privilege because He only knows when He will take back our borrowed life; last, take
time to pray, to ask for forgiveness, and to express your gratitude to Him.

At the second part, before we had an activity, Brother Rudy made us watch a video titled “Basurero, napagtapos
sa kolehiyo ang anak.” The video was about a dad that had a college graduate daughter. This film touched my heart
because the daughter was so grateful to her dad because of his hard word, even though sometimes they don’t have a food
to eat or she doesn’t have a money attend her class, she still attends her class. Fathers always do their best just to provide
their family a good life. It melts my heart how the father can do his best even though it is hard. It also touches my heart
how the daughter was so proud of what his dad is doing. She is not ashamed of what his father do. Sometimes, it is really
hard for us, children, to tell our parents that we love them. But there are some other ways that we can express our love to
them. The 3 words and 8 letters has a big impact to our parents especially when we don’t usually say those words to them.
At our activity, we made a letter for our parents containing sorry, thank you, and I love you. While doing the activity, I got
a bit emotional because I don’t really express my feeling to them through words. I realized how they did their best to
make us have a beautiful life. I realized that sometimes my actions were hurtful to them. And I realized that what they do
now is for our future.

The last part was the sharing. Sharing of what you are holding back in yourself. The sharing was all about the
letters we made. At our group, we have different problems. In the sharing, I have heard of some problems that for me it
was extreme, there are also some that are blessed with a happy family. While listening to my groupmates I realized how
strong they are, despite of those problems and concerns with their family, at the end of the day they can still smile. I
admire them for how they can carry those struggles and challenges alone and for how long they kept those problems to
themselves. I am grateful because at the end of the day my family and I still sit at the dining table and eat dinner together.
There are times that if we really can’t carry it alone, we can always ask for help. Family is both the strength and weakness
of a person.

In this day I realized that I realized that the love of God represents our parents.