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IN
THIS ISSUE:
Cover
Page
by Bro.
Pete Lapid
Our
Faith
By Fr.
KJ Veeger, MSC
Place
of Refuge
By
Philip Yuson
Surabaya
Corner
By
Ramon Martillano
Sharing
By
Martin Widjaya
Here's
the Latest
By
Sansu Garin
Sharing
By
Aaron Lau
God
Answers Prayers
By
Beth Manibog
Catholic
News -
by
Armand Sol
Saint
for the Month
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- Catholic
Links
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 - PROFILE
OF THE
- GENESIS
CATHOLIC COMMUNITY
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- SURABAYA
CORNER
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- Our
only son Ramon Jr. (JR) recently graduated from high school at the
Surabaya In
 ternational
School. As parents, we had mixed emotions before and after the
graduation ceremony. We were quite anxious that JR will soon be
away from us to pursue a college education. He will be on his own,
without the comforts of a driver and the household helpers. With
God’s grace, he will be graduating from college four years from
now, and then what’s next? Get married and have children of his
own. Ahhh, how time flies so fast! Eighteen years ago, JR was
still a baby wrapped in our arms.
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- But
this is something we have to accept.
That ultimately he will have his own life to live, his own
plans to make. We realize that we have not been perfect parents.
We had our own shortcomings in our relationship with our son,
e.g., not being able to spend enough quality time because of
pressing office work. Very soon he would leave us and we will no
longer be able to do for him as much as we would want to. (So dear
parents, express the warmth of your love to your children while
you can, while they are still young and within your reach.
Tomorrow maybe too late.) I
am reminded of Fr. Thoby’s talk when he said, “The
relationship you have with your children is far more important
than the things you do for them.” Very true indeed!
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- In
the graduation ceremony, JR was one of two graduating students who
were given the opportunity to deliver a speech. Excerpts I would
like to share are as follows:
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“During last year’s summer vacation I went to a
tutorial school in the Philippines to review for my college
entrance exams. I
went to a school that hired some of the most brilliant teachers in
the Philippines. One
of them was Mr. Ramos, who taught us many different practical
things about life. He
provided inspirations and encouragement to his students, who were
all taking college entrance exams during that summer, by using
quotes and telling us about stories of success.
One of his quotes went something like this; “Life
is a blank canvas waiting for you to paint your future on it in
any way you choose”. I think this quote is appropriate for today’s celebration.
We, the class of 2001, are now ready to begin a new
artwork. Elementary,
middle and high school are all beautiful paintings, but they are
not yet our masterpieces. I
believe that there is more to come for this class of 2001.
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Now all we need to remember is that everything we do with
our lives will be reflected in this painting; both good and bad.
It is up to us to make masterpieces of our lives.
Making the right choices, picking the good friends,
learning from our mistakes and working hard are some of the
ingredients of this masterpiece.
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- This
is the importance of high school.
We have learned how to face the future through learning
from our experiences and I truly believe that the Surabaya
International School has provided us with some of the basic
ingredients on how to face the future, how to paint our
masterpiece. It is still a long way to go but we are very
confident that with the continued guidance, protection and
providence from our God Almighty and of course the support of our
parents, we will succeed in facing the new world.
God bless us all”.
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- Yes
indeed - “Life is a blank canvas waiting for you to paint your future on it in
any way you choose.” And this includes our relationship
with our children and with all the people around us - but most
especially our relationship with God. JR is right.
“It is up to us to make masterpieces of our lives.” How we
“paint our relationship with God and with our brethren" is
up to us.
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- It
is not too late brothers and sisters, what we have done in the
past, bad or good are our “high school paintings.” What we are
about to do now, if you have not done so, is to start painting our
masterpiece in heaven. Start improving our relationship with
people around us and with Him. It is not going to be easy and
smooth. In fact, it is going to be very rough. But let us work and
pray hard that as we paint our masterpiece, our Lord Jesus
Christ will continuously grant us steady hands and clear mind to
do only what is pleasing to Him.
Amen.
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ideas,
- Write us: Jl. Bacang
No. 20 Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan,
Indonesia
- Call us: (6221)
720-3824
- Fax us: (6221) 662-7384
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- Genesis
Catholic Community
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