Refresh

I stopped writing. For some reason, sharing my thoughts in a longer version just went hibernating. It did not feel like passionately updating my old blog called, “Faith of A Centurion” in Blogger. So to keep this blog running, I have published my scripts for television. At least, something appeared here every single week.

I have several reasons why –all of which are excuses all too familiar to justify procrastination leading to nothing. It could be the overwhelming work at the Ateneo de Davao Senior High School, but I had similar challenges in my past work in Ateneo de Manila High School, or at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. In the midst of challenging situations, however, I still churned out some articles.

Could it be that some of my neurons just stopped functioning? Or maybe I reverted into that former self waiting for inspiration? Or maybe I have been too conscious about what to write and what not to write, because not all topics are fair game; some topics may be taboo for a religious priest like me, or my ideas might be misconstrued as the Church’s position on certain issues? Nevertheless, I cannot put a finger on why I just stopped. I love notebooks, and I have a pile of good ones with quality paper, but to this day, they are just languishing inside a drawer with nothing in them.

But then there are a lot of things going on in my head. Should I write about them? I think I should. Just letting out the stuff might help clear the cobwebs and the dusts off my head. Like our rooms, it is good to open the windows and let the fresh air in.

I began to rethink this blog when Fr. Arturo Sosa SJ, our biggest boss, the Superior General of the Jesuits, talked about points for us to ponder. He mentioned the accompaniment of the youth and the development of a culture of reconciliation in a divided world. He reiterated our work for migrants and refugees. He highlighted leadership. He therefore got me excited! Because I can speak about those points from my personal experience!

I do not want to be preachy. But we do greater work here in Ateneo de Davao especially on the care for the environment and continuous inter-religious dialogue. We have placed protection of the environment at the center of our consciousness, beginning with a total ban on single-use plastics in the university (you can’t get in if you have them in your bag).

We have organized several dialogues with Muslims, Christians and lumads (indigenous people) of Mindanao regarding the Bangsamoro Organic Law. Moreoever, we have created a milieu of respect that my students remarked that they have become better Muslims in a Catholic university, than in their previous schools.

My present work is in the formation of the young, particularly in mentoring them to become youth leaders, with discernment as the hallmark of their leadership style. I can also share what we are doing in senior high school!

There are a lot of things to share. They might inspire many of you who subscribe to this blog. On Pinterest, if you pin food, they ask you to post what you tried doing. Perhaps, what you have done might become tastier than the original. So then you can share your ideas or what you have done, so we can learn from each other.

When people share a lot on Twitter or Instagram, blogs like this do not merit a lot of traffic, but I still see that there are many things that cannot be written in just 280 characters. In fact, Twitter says, that people are not tweeting longer, even if they increased the character count from 140.

But I don’t intend to write long reads. Just enough for people to masticate. My Jesuit teachers taught me something about doing homilies at mass: “You cannot save souls after 10 minutes.” I’ll definitely shorten that time.

So this blog needs to be refreshed. And so, a refresh it is.