May I share with you an oratorical piece that I have written for our 3rd year and 4th year Oration Contest. There is a strong likelihood that those who can relate with it are also Paulinians.
I am a Paulinian. St. Paul lives in me.
To stand for Christ. To witness for Christ. To preach like Christ. To feel like Christ. To see like Christ. To love like Christ. To live like Christ.
These were what Saul of Tarsus, who eventually became St. Paul, the most zealous among the apostles, though he never met Christ physically, did when he was converted by Christ himself on his way to Damascus. And I am a Paulinian, whose name was inspired by the Greatest Writer and Preacher of all the Apostles. I must say, it is indeed an honor to carry his name Paul because I am a Paulinian.
St. Paul urged Christians to be “all to all” – to minister to the “body of Christ” in faith, hope, and love.
I am a Paulinian. My roots could be traced from the farming villages of the old, rustic Levesville-la-Chenard in Beauce, France. Four young girls moved by compassion began works of charity for the poor – taking care of the sick and teaching them to read and write and about Jesus. A young priest, Pe’re Louis Chauvet nurtured these young souls until their congregation grew in number. He endorsed them to the then bishop of Chartres, Most Rev. Paul Godet de Marais who gave them his name and St. Paul as their patron to become the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres. The rest, they say, is history.
In 1905, the SPC Missionary Sisters reached the Philippine shores in Dumaguete “to guard the faith” and teach the young people of the “Good News of salvation.”
More than a hundred years later, now here I am, standing proudly before all of you – a Paulinian, inheritor of a glorious past whose people were motivated by their love of Christ. We, Paulinians, live by our motto Caritas Christi urget nos! – our Love of Christ impels us.
This makes me different from all the rest. I stand tall and firm in a sea of people who care less because I care more.
I am a Paulinian.
I am formed as Christ-centered, integrated, environment-caring, and community-oriented person. I am a Paulinian who is academically equipped and morally sensitive in the service of my family, the Church, and my country. I am formed to value the finer and nobler things in life, always conscious of the Gospel of Christ. I am formed to respect myself and to recognize the dignity of others. I am taught to make responsible decisions and to use my knowledge and responsibilities to help others. I am a Paulinian molded to integrate my spiritual and moral values, academic, cultural, vocational, and technological knowledge in my life particularly in fulfilling my various responsibilities in my home and in the community where I belong. I am a Paulinian who upholds my identity, appreciates my cultural heritage, and involves myself in issues geared towards community and nation-building.
I am shocked and angered to see people who are elevated into power tasked to manage the affairs of the government, yet they are motivated by greed and lust for more power in order to get more.
I grind my teeth each time that the fundamental rights and dignity of my fellow are trampled upon by those who are callous and ruthless.
I am shaken by people who think only of themselves regardless of what the cost may be.
I grieve in disgust and pain when those who swore to uphold the law and to protect the people are the same people to bend and circumvent the law to be scot-free from crookedness at the expense of the people.
I clench my fist in shame and protest when lawmakers who profess the Christian Catholic faith would push to legalize and promote the use of internationally accepted contraceptives to ensure “a manageable population of healthy, educated and productive citizens”.
I am outraged not merely by the floodwaters brought by cruel typhoons that ravage cities and provinces and claim hundreds of lives as they destroy billions of pesos worth of properties, but also by the lack of sensible urban planning and the late release of excess water from the reservoirs of gigantic dams! A Paulinian is taught to make responsible decisions.
I am enraged by the utter callousness of people who exact high prices amidst crisis, by the indiscriminate dishonesty and red tape in places enshrined with public trust, by the malpractices of certain professionals who are only after their own welfare and caprices, by the crooks in our society who commit crimes left and right without regard to the dignity and lives of their victims.
I am a Paulinian. I hail and praise to high heavens all the genuine but unsung heroes in our midst who give hope and light in the dark alleys of our jungle society.
I commend all those in public service who are imbued with unquestioned dedication worthy of emulation that brings honor and prestige to the public offices they represent.
I salute with pride all those who extend the extra mile to help build lives and give hope to those who have nothing in life.
I rejoice in gladness to see outstretched arms to embrace another and offer comfort and peace.
I commend all those who genuinely care for the environment and the planet we call home.
And I raise to our ever merciful and loving God all those who genuinely recognize His almighty presence even as I pray that those who have forgotten Him will eventually be converted like Saul on their roads to Damascus.
I am a Paulinian. I stand for Christ. I witness for Christ. I preach like Christ. I feel like Christ. I see like Christ. I love like Christ. I live like Christ.
St. Paul taught me so. He made me so.
And I am thankful because I am a Paulinian.
