Do people choose to take vacations? How to plan a Christmas vacation?
Anong your choice for the summer? Beach or mountains?
According to a new study, most people from Manila prefer the beach to the mountains, while people from the province prefer the opposite.
They say the way one is living with nature reveals something deeper about one’s personality.
naka akyat na ba kayo sa kahit na anung bundok sa filipinas? Katulad ng Mount Pulag, mount banahaw
Don Louis Guanella, our Founder was born on this same day, 180 years ago, in Fraciscio, the place which was surrounded by numerous beautiful mountains, approximately 3000 meters in height. At this time, usually during the winter, you will see the snow falling on mountains and the water will be just frozen. The young people still admire the beauty of these mountains.
Fr. Guanella loved the mountains, their nature, his loving village and his relationship with the people very much (nostalgic), when he left Fraciscio (in 1854) to join in the Gallio School in Como. He said he became a bird in a cage.
Fr. Guanella wrote a booklet called Montanaro in 1886 (he dedicated the book to the people of Valtellina, because they were hit by floods in Sep 1885 which caused many deaths and serious damage). In his booklet the Mountaineer, Guanella discovered the values of the mountain people that nature provided each one of them; in fact, he cites memories from his own childhood, his emotions, and family experiences. I would like to show you only three qualities of the mountain priest.
1. Mountain priest is above all a man of God: ang pari sa bundok ay higit sa lahat ay linkgod ng diyos. Ang mga tao sa bundok ay mayroon malakas na pagka-relihioyoso.
The mountain people (the people of the valley) commonly have a strong religious sense (and they say that because they live near paradise).
Mountains are present also in the bible because the people of Israel lived in and around the mountains. In the Bible, Mountain is a place of God-experiences. The mountain was the place of encounter with God. (it is because God appeared to Moses and spoke with him in Mount Sinai where he gave the commandments. The psalms speak about the Holy Mountain (Zion), it is Jerusalem (there is a Mount of Olives). In NT, Jesus climbed to the mountain many times to pray alone, sometimes with the disciples also on the scene of transfiguration).
Fr. Guanella, a mountaineer had a special grace to relate with God as a father. God is my Father and he will never abandon his child. It was his personal conviction. Like the village Fraciscio surrounded by the mountains, the people felt that they are always watched over by God by his love. Kai sabi ni Guanella, “Ang Diyos ang guma’gawa” That’s why he was able to say, It is God who does! (in the moment of success) nagma’matyag ang diyos, hindi niya pinaba’bayaan ang kanyang mga anak “God sees me. God provides for His children.” This is the first secret of the mountaineer; the Divine Providence.
Fr. Guanella wrote in the book called Mountaineer said, “My Mountains are very high, because from there I am able to contemplate Paradise in a better way. My hometown is dearest to me’. It is close to my heart. because we love God. God’s Providence is always with me, thus, nothing should scare us”.
Give your first place to God! Do not start /work/dream/plan without giving a place to God. Be a man of God, like this mountain priest, and never forget to say It is God who does!
2. Man of Communion:
Guanella came from a rural family in which there were 13 children. He was the ninth child. The mountain people lived healthy relations among themselves as one family. in Fraciscio, all the inhabitants helped each other to ensure a good family and social life, they shared in the joys and sufferings of the others. He learned the family spirit in this context of the mountain village and his own family.
The motherly love of Maria Bianchi, affection of Catherine, his sister and paternal support of Lorenzo made him to be a loving priest, and a servant of Charity.
They tell this was his original thought ‘bond of charity. What he learnt from his family became the dream later; Sisters, priests, lay persons, united by an unbreakable bond, charity that never fails.
Sabi niya: “We are united especially by the bond of charity, as the life of God poured forth into our hearts by the Spirit and the love of individuals who enjoy living and working together”.
Family spirit:
Do you know the image that Guanella is suggesting for the spirituality of his cong..? It is very timing to reflect upon the model of the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Founder says it is the source/model of our fraternal life and our mission. The Constitution no 4 starts like this: The Charity of Christ has drawn us to form a community of brothers…
we should feel like brothers and sisters around Jesus that is called the bond of charity. among us. Though there are three persons in the family, the center of our community life has to be Christ. Who is Christ in the Community of Servants?
3. Man of Charity:
In 1892 the first issue of the bulletin of the Mother House in Como, “Don Guanella included all the poor people of every kind.” He does not have any distinctions. Today in more than 23 countries we care the elderly people, children and the abandoned. Among them primary care is given the special children we call them special children.
Anyayahan natin ang mga mahihirap na may kagalakan, imbitahin natin sila, sa ating mesa, pagsilbihan natin sila ng may pagmamahal, dahil nasa sakanila si Christto. “Welcome with joy the poor, let them sit to your table and serve them with love, because they are Christ in the middle of you.”
Hard mountain (the mountain life is hard): anu sa tingin-ninyo ang dapat isuot sa pagakyat ng bundok? one thing is very important to wear when you climb the mountains? What is that thing? A pair of good shoes
His life of 73 years is not an easy, comfortable life. He took more than 40 years to arrive at the hour of mercy, to start the mission, he received criticisms, opposition, humiliations,
In the mountain, there will be ups and downs. The important thing you have to remember that the mountain hike is hard climbing different than the other usual walk like we walk in himlayan. Fr. Guanella had this character of hardness of the mountain.
From the mountain environment and his little family Louis Guanella learnt the spirit of hard work, dedication and perseverance. Mountain taught him the hardship of his life. “Providence had chosen and guided us. He granted me virtuous parents that instilled in me a spirit of hard work and sacrifice. From them I learned to keep busy all the time.”
In the beginning years of his priesthood, he was sent to a difficult mountainous parish in Savogno, a small village at an altitude of about one thousand meters in the mountains of the Valle Bregaglia. Guanella was not discouraged, because he was a son of mountain. He made dirt his hands and became “as a laborer, as a painter and even to some extent as a stonemason,” he enlarged the church; he built a roof over the laundry area and he build a cemetery.
The obstacles are not few in the path of hard mountains. At every stage you have to encounter risks and difficulties. Fr. Guanella received much opposition and criticism from all the political and ecclesial authorities. The mountaineer lived out the value of work, dedication and perseverance.
Any sickness, problems, death of your loved ones, say your selves, don’t be discouraged, simply say I am a follower of mountain priest.
Dear priests, brothers and religious Sisters of Guanella. All are sharers and at the sametime responsible of Guanellian Charism. Do not waste it! Live it effectively
We cannot live this vocation without love! But, there are so many forms to realize this vocation to love. Love the people around you without boundaries and love the poor without measure.
Today you are united to all the Servants of charity that we have the same mission to grow the love in our societies, showing that God is the Father of everybody and doesn't abandon the abandonment of his family.
I thank all the friends, ministries and children who participate in this celebration, because you manifest the joy of the entire people of God, appreciating the gift of the lay collaboration and certainly asking to God to always send new religious vocations to his Church and to our Congregation.
In this intercontinental mass, we are remembering the different confreres and sisters at the same time celebrating in various continents. I hope to receive from you a new strength for its mission of charity in the world. Our mission is universal. Our Founder said that the world is our country because charity has no boundaries. If each of us loves a person, especially the little ones, he makes grow all mankind in love.
My best wishes are to be always conscious that we can do anything with the love of God. Today you certainly feel yourselves strong and generous for the desire to give all your life to the Lord in this family. But it is not on our strengths that we can count, but on the fidelity of God, which always helps who trust in Him.
You may be accompanied by the example and the protection of Mother Mary, and the intercession of the blessed founder be with us for this Christmas.
