RUEL B. RAMOS JR.

16, SEPTEMBER 2019

MWF 1:00 – 2:00 PM ROGELIO P. BAYOD, PH. D.
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SACRED HEART EVENT

The sacred heart also known as the “sacred heart of Jesus”, represents
Jesus Christ’s actual heart as is love for humanity. There is a movie that struck
me and made an impact on my views and beliefs and that is entitled “The Bible”.
The authors of the movie tell the story the way God wants us to hear it. I learned
from the movie that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are not attempting to give
us a step-by-step account of the life of Jesus, but are proclaiming a witness to
Jesus’ words and actions so that we might believe in him. It made me realize that
understanding the history is important specially during Christ’s era in order for
us to connect more with God and realize how much he loves us.
I was moved by “The Bible” because this movie promotes everyone to
read the Bible and by doing so, this might bring peace and connectivity to our
community. The Bible, as a sacred text, contains the recurring theme of faith,
hope and love. It contains many lessons that can be applied in life specially as a
student in Cor Jesu College. It teaches a person to be socially responsible to our
family and our society. Now, if I look at the bible in that perspective, that this
book has the ability to bind the entire world, I can’t help but take great wonder
of its power.
We all have various experiences that have a significant effect on who we
are. What I’ve noticed over time is that it is not so much the experience itself
that is important, but the meaning we assign to the experience. The story we tell
about that experience affects who we are, future decisions we make, and how
we interact with others.
The story of Jesus Christ as a man here on earth was not perfect, he also
faced challenges testing his obedience to his Father. As a person and as a
student, there was a significant time that challenged my faith and perseverance
as a student. That time was when my father died committing suicide. I lose hope
pursuing my studies and questioned God why is this happening to me. Eventually
I moved on and realized that everything was in God’s plan. Every moment or
event has a purpose.
Indeed, experience is the best teacher. God is letting problems to come in
our lives because it is one of his ways to teach us and guide us to the right path.
He is preparing something big for us. We just have to open or hearts and accept
his challenges without doubt. If that event did not happen, maybe I am not who I
am today. That is the great realization I have made through that painful event.
Losing someone we loved may cause us heartache. It affects not just our
emotional aspect, but also in physical and spiritual aspect. Even so, I thank God
because he did not leave by my side and that experience taught me how to stand
on my own and value people whom I love. That event shape me who I am today.
Much stronger and more persevere on my studies. If I saw someone with the
same or much worse situation I have, I think to myself that I am still lucky
because I still have my mother and siblings who loves me.
Thinking the life of Jesus here on earth motivates me to become humble
all the time. Imagine, he is the son of God but he came and reach us to save us
from our sins. He gave us salvation and wisdom. I promise to myself that
whatever goal I will achieve in the future, I will stay humble and compassionate. I
will follow God’s plan and reach out to those people who needs help. Moreover,
thinking the situation of my family motivates me to pursue myself to become a
better person. And to have a goal not just for myself, but also for those whom I
love.
The events I have mentioned above have a significant relation of me
being a student in Cor Jesu College. The learnings I get from those events is
somehow the same from what Cor Jesu College aimed to teach to every student,
to be compassionate and humble. The administration in Cor Jesu is not only
teaching students to excel in academics, but also, they want us to excel in life.
The administration taught me how important is discipline. Cleaning our own
mess by practicing “claygo” and following rules. Moreover, they gave us
challenges in order for us students, to test and show our capabilities.
 Losing someone hurts. Losing someone dear has never a thought that has
crossed my mind. I was never worried until that acquaintance day on July 2018,
when I was told about the shocking news that could possibly change my young
life forever. When my caring father had passed, it shows me what it is like to lose
someone you love so dearly.
Tears start to leak out like a heavy rain. I started to ask God why but I
knew it wasn’t His fault. Sitting inside our house thinking about my father was
full of dismay, for all the memories I had with that man are the only ones I will
have for the rest of my life. The silence we have when we gather together with
my mother and siblings did not help much, for I knew we are all astonished and
caught off guard by what happened.
Loss is defined and dealt with so very uniquely by each person who
experiences it. We cannot analyze any one individual’s reaction to tragedy, other
than our own. Losing someone can make us feel in places and in ways we didn’t
know we had within us, an awakening of emotions.
Although the end of someone’s life is a loss to those who were family,
friends, and acquaintances, it can sometimes result in a gain. Death makes us
suddenly aware of our own mortality. In my personal experience, dealing with
loss makes me retreat entirely into my head. I see things from a new perspective,
in a way, that is the ultimate parting gift. We come to recognize the person for
the life they lived, not how they left this world.
The gift of pain is a message about what is important in life. It does not
only tell us how to love, but also it provides us with an opportunity to discover
sources of strength within us that help us prosper. Looking inside the pain
expands us, encouraging us to become larger than who we are and to live a life
of meaning. To open our heart to pain is to open our heart to joy.
I felt pain because I did not expect that kind of tragedy. I already
envisioned myself growing old with my dad. The fact that it won’t happen hurt
me the most. Every time I think of my mom on how she will handle us causes me
pain. I know that it is difficult for her. All those years, we are depending on my
father, but now, our lifestyle changed drastically. I am afraid to commit mistakes
because if I do so, what will happen to my siblings? I know that they will depend
on me because I am the eldest son. Eventually, I cope with the situation and
balance my life by doing productive and good things. Though the fear is there,
but I did not let it overcome me.
Losing someone we love can be one of the most difficult experiences we
will ever go through, but I truly believe that there is great beauty and positivity
to be found in the process. Grief can break us down emotionally and physically,
but it can also break us open, make us more compassionate, humbler, and more
loving. I think the reason why we feel pain is because we had such a strong
connection and bond with the other person. There is great beauty in that, and
there are great rewards to be found in moving through the grief process with
presence and prayer.
It is clear now that the emotion I felt recalling those events is not only
sorrow, but there is also joy and thanksgiving. Sometimes people come into our
life to serve some sort of purpose and teach us a lesson. They might affect our
life in some way. And sometimes, the things that happened to us may seem
unacceptable and unfair, but soon we will realize that without overcoming those
obstacles we would have never realized our true strength.
There is no typical response to loss, every experience is unique. Nor is
there a "right" way to grieve, although there are unhelpful ways of coping with
loss. Healing takes time, it can't be hurried or forced. Some people start feeling
better after weeks and others need years. In order for us to be healed, we must
first acknowledge our loss and embrace it. Denying the fact that it happened
won’t solve anything.
Before any healing can happen, there must be acknowledgement that
there is a wound that needs healing. We should acknowledge that we have lost
someone or something, and it hurts. We are in pain, and it is uncomfortable,
sometimes unbearable. To know about a loss, we have to know what was there
before the loss. I think we should start with a remembrance of some of the
positive experiences that cannot now be repeated.
We all know that pain is uncomfortable by definition. Often, we want to
push it away, distract ourselves from it with food, alcohol, television,
entertainment, work, etc., the lists are endless. But numbing ourselves from pain
numbs our entire existence. We focus all our attention and energy on controlling
the pain. But sooner or later, the pain will surface again, and we have to numb it
even more. Instead, we should embrace the feeling of loss. We may feel hurt,
sad, angry, guilty, anxious, bitter, hopeless, or depressed. But we should open
our arms to these kinds of emotions.
I realized that despite what our mind will tell us, there is still meaning in
my life. There are people and activities that are still important to me and I want
to focus myself with that. My pain, in fact, is proof that I am still alive. Through
feelings of loss, I realized more what is important to me. I will use that
experience to become the type of person I want to be. More importantly, I
realized that my loss can be an opportunity to carry on what is most meaningful
toward a life worth living.
By applying what I have learned from my past experiences, I am now
ready to face the challenges in life and will not be afraid of failing. I can relate it
being an engineering student in Cor Jesu College, that no matter how many
times I fail in my subject or in my projects, I will not lose hope and will still stand.
I believe it doesn’t matter how many times I fall, but what matters is how I stand
up. There is no sunshine if there is no rain. I know now that before I can acquire
my goal, I still need to face challenges and errors.
The purpose of this activity is to help me learn from a particular event or
experiences. It will help me make connections between what I am taught and
what I needed to do. This activity gives me a chance to be aware what I am doing
and to learn from my experience. According to Gibbs, it is not sufficient simply to
have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting upon this experience, it
may quickly be forgotten, or its learning will be lost. It is from the feelings and
thoughts emerging from this reflection that generalizations or concepts can be
generated. And it is generalizations that allow new situations to be tackled
effectively.
I agree with what Gibbs said; it is true that without reflection, we don’t
really learn from our experience. I realized now how important is reflection.
Either writing it down or sharing it with people. It is not just our mind is working
but also our hearts. Through this, we can describe any gaps in our knowledge
and explain how we can fulfill them.
My scope of vision became wider, I feel like I can do all things without
fear. Through this period, reflecting something, makes me feel that I am now
grown up; a better version of my self than yesterday. I realized that acceptance
and compassion is really important which is one of the core values of being a Cor
Jesian. Showing sympathy to others is proof that we are human who have
feelings. And no matter how we feel misfortunate we are, we should think that
there are still people whose experience is much worse than ours but are still
happy.