+JMJ+

May 1, 2024
Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker

My dearest Batchmates, OT Batch 2024,

I send you all my wishes, blessings, and love after your retreat, with joy, thanksgiving,
and remembrance for the past 4-5 years of your college journey and with a firm resolve for
the future ahead.
As you reminisce all the goodness, memories, ups & downs, struggles, and even
challenges you have faced, we still give thanks to Almighty God for the grace of being with
all of you in your perseverance in journeying, especially as you now are in the final weeks of
being a college student and with preparation for your commencement to the life of a
professional.
I echo to you all my own words of wisdom and also a small message to strengthen
your pursuit and to boost self-confidence, self-esteem, and motivation in your encounters to
come.
This Year is what the Church opens as the Year of Prayer, which is the preparation for
the Ordinary Jubilee in 20251, which centers around the theme of being “Pilgrims of Hope.”
Hope is defined as the virtue infused by God’s will, “we trust with complete certitude in the
attainment of eternal life and the means necessary for reaching it, assisted by the
omnipotent help of God.”2 Hope is something that gives us the drive to pursue all things holy
and right, it allows us to align ourselves to God’s will and to put our faith in His Divine
Providence, without which, any of our challenges, we cannot succeed. Hope is something
that shines forth in every human being who has their aspirations and inspirations in their
daily existence and perseverance.
The meaning of hope with great value in God resonates in the words of the great
Father Aloysius Schwartz3, “By hope, we believe in the promise of Jesus and are confident
of future reward for any pain and suffering we endure now.”4 The reward is something that
we do have our ideas of, but we are reminded that God gives each of us according to the
merits and the work we have done, truly in all the pains, there will come the time to achieve
joy and peace. This thought and idea is also mirrored in what my beloved Patron Blessed

1
Ordinary Jubilees are opened every 25 years, 4 times in a century. The last Ordinary Jubilee took place in the
Year 2000, also known as The Great Jubilee.
2
Aumann, J. (2024). Spirituall Theology - Chapter Ten. Domcentral.org.
http://www.domcentral.org/study/aumann/st/st10.htm
3
Father Aloysius Schwartz (1930-1992) is an American diocesan priest and missionary in Asia, who founded
Girlstown and Boystown complex for the impoverished children to provide free education, as well as religious
congregations, namely, the Brothers of Christ and Sisters of Mary. He died in Sta. Mesa, Manila and was buried
at the Girlstown complex in Silang, Cavite; he was declared Venerable by Pope Francis in January 22, 2015.
4
Schwartz, A. (1993). Killing me softly: The inspiring story of a champion of the poor. Alba House.
Benedetta Bianchi Porro5 wrote in a kitchen diary exactly 62 years and 6 days ago, “Hope is
glimpsing the good and not having it yet.”6
The idea of hope has resonated in every one of you, to us who have pursued and
continue to pursue the great profession of Occupational Therapy. Hope has been an
important theme in our profession. Isn’t it showing when we ask the client or their caregivers
what goals they wish to pursue, whenever we do our initial evaluation? Has it not presented
when we re-evaluated after 3, 6, or 12 months and see how much they have improved in the
last few months? Or when the time for their discharge or end-of-service has arrived and we
have assessed well that their goals or what we expected to achieve have come to fruition?
We see that too in performing our duties and responsibilities as OTs. In every
profession or work, when a person engages in such, there is a change or transformation in
their persona or how they can fulfill their work requirements or obligations. But for us, OT
interns, students, or even professionals, particularly in terms of hope, we are transformed in
our profession in more ways than none, since in engaging with our clients, we are not just
learning how to help them relearn basic knowledge or skills, but also we too learn more and
improve ourselves, even if we are not that aware of. Occupational Therapy itself has a
unique way of changing lives, not just through learning and reflecting, but also in doing,
since it is both the essence and the end-product of what this profession is doing for both the
allied healthcare scene and the wider sense, the humane society.
So where does this come from? How so? How do we, Occupational therapists live out
the hope we see as the endpoint or the main concern for our clients and their future? Here is
what the Swedish Occupational Therapist Margarita Mondaca7, a lecturer in the Division of
Occupational Therapy of the Karolinska Institutet wrote about what Occupational Therapist
do in the vision of hope:
“Occupational science and therapy have extraordinary possibilities to address
vulnerability when infrastructures fail. It is in our natural domain to ensure that these
infrastructures humanize and not the contrary. We can reproduce or resist oppressive
conditions, as individuals and as a discipline. We can also build better societies. We seem to
be in need to commit to those disfavoured by their socioeconomic and political contexts. We
need to seek alliances that will bring community building, agency, and capabilities into their
lives in our local contexts. Experiences coming from other epistemological roots have taught
us that there are more sources for knowledge creation beside science to be embraced and
used to close the gap between diverse social realities.”8

5
Benedetta Bianchi Porro (1936 - 1964) is an Italian young woman who was known for her immense patience in
suffering from Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (also known as Von Recklinghausen’s Syndrome), who had dreamt of
serving others through becoming a doctor. In spite of this, she remain ever courageous and hopeful for God’s
Love. She died in her home in Sirmione sul Garda on a snowy January day, and was later buried in the small
Abbey church of her hometown. She was beatified by Pope Francis, through his legate, Cardinal Angelo Becciu
on September 14, 2019.
6
Amici di Benedetta (1976). Pensieri 1962. Translated using Google Translate, quote was written on 25 April
1962
7
Moncada, M. (2017). Margarita Mondaca | Karolinska Institutet. Ki.se.
https://ki.se/en/people/margarita-mondaca#about-me
8
Mondaca, M. (2020). “Doing hope” as a possible way towards a responsive occupational science. Journal of
Occupational Science, 25-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2020.1797858
 She points out that we have the power to change the world, but through hope, we can
achieve this by doing ordinary things to help grow extraordinary fruits. This is why we
become beacons of hope because we do not discriminate but welcome and collaborate with
all people who benefit from our services, no matter how big or small, how unique or common
their concerns are, and how their impact has shaped either society or their local
communities, or even in their relationships with close people. That is how, we OTs bear
hope, by actively participating in the transformation of a person, their environment, or even
how they perform or do their occupations. We know how to help them through our
performance of activity analysis, our interviews, our implementation of standardized
assessments, and even how we formulate the intervention plan.
Every time we engage with a client is “one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for
mankind”9, through which every effort made, every behavior learned, every attempt done for
a skill, and every realization gained has helped to bring forth their progress to maximal
occupational participation. But in doing so, we not only help transform the person, and instill
in them hope and motivation to push through and achieve their goals, but also in this
commitment, we bring forth a transformation in the community through which, our clients
participate whether actively or passively, in each part of the community that engages in is
brought forth a certain addition or a small reformation in their fulfillment of the obligations
and duties that beset upon.
Looking at our profession, hope is indeed an innate virtue and an enriching ingredient
in the therapeutic process. We need hope to do our work since it is a requirement, an
obligation, or a fulfillment of a quota wherever we work. Having no sense of hope does
cause our hearts to be less animated with concern and care for our patients, leading us to
nothingness, pure nothingness, by which we only do this for wealth or for selfish reasons.
This leads to the point, that we are all pilgrims of hope, we are changed and we carry on our
hearts the virtue of hope. In fact, during this year’s Vocation Day message, which took place
on the Sunday before your retreat10, our dear Holy Father Pope Francis exclaimed that in
being pilgrims of hope, “we are pressing forward towards a better future, committed at every
step to bringing it about.”11 The Pope wrote this to encourage vocations in the priestly and
religious life, however in this context, I think it resonates with us, Occupational therapists,
since the profession is like a religious vow, committing oneself to a lifetime of service and
care. It also envisions our main goal of making the world a better place and ensuring a future
of bright and wonderful possibilities. His Holiness also added, “To be pilgrims of hope and
builders of peace… [is] knowing that every effort made in the vocation that we have
embraced and seek to live out, will never be in vain. Failures and obstacles may arise along
the way, but the seeds of goodness we sow are quietly growing and nothing can separate us
from the final goal: our encounter with Christ and the joy of living for eternity in fraternal

9
Nasa Video (15 May 2013). One Small Step, One Giant Leap [Video file]. Youtube.
10
April 21, 2024 was the 4th Sunday of Easter, also known as Good Shepherd Sunday
11
Pope Francis (21 April 2024) Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the 61st World Day of Prayer for
Vocations: Called to sow seeds of hope and to build peace.
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/vocations/documents/20240421-messaggio-61-gm-vocaz
ioni.html
love.”12 Therefore, in our goal-setting and intervention plans, in mapping out our
management strategies, and in our experiences of difficulty and strife, we must never give
up no matter the setbacks that might happen, the problems that could arise, and we assure
ourselves that one day the efforts we have made are therefore fulfilled. Just like how now,
you are in your final month as college students, every late night works, every review, every
tears and sweat, all the complaints and hugots that we have expressed privately or with our
friends and loved ones have paid off to where you are now. All I have hope for you, my loved
ones, my dear friends and colleagues, is that you become bearers of hope to all and that
never ever let the pains of past, the regrets of yesterday, and the wounds of history limit us
to do exceptional, extraordinary, and amazing actions, activities, and performance that
benefit all who engage and help in the improvement of our profession, our patients, and
lastly, our own selves.
In ending this letter I resound the warned yet optimistic words of Prof. Mondaca, who
points to us what we can do in our fulfillment as Occupational Therapists. She wrote, “I will
insist on the need to be aware of our positions of power, and instead of using it for
self-reward or academic prestige, share our positions by building collaborative initiatives that
transform this world radically, into a more humane one. I believe that we all can be
responsive to the challenges we are facing in our societies, in large, medium, and small
scales. Dare to start with demarcated and specific projects, and find more synergy partners
to enlarge and expand an agenda of justice and equity‌.”13
We are indeed wonderful people who have the KSA to perform well in this great and
necessary healthcare science. In spite of the limited professional opportunities here and the
vast abroad, the call of bringing hope to each and every person is needed to ensure a
greater society that welcomes all people, with great inclusivity, justice, and care for every
unique and valued needs. My dear batchmates, I pray for all of you not just for your
collaboration and responsiveness, but ever more to enrich yourselves with grace and
blessing, that in everything that we do, we carry on the light of hope in us. Although I am
delayed by a year, I express how proud I am that you accomplished these things, how your
efforts boosted me and brought enlightenment to continue pursuing and persevering in the
OT program, and how you foster wonderful channels to help in improving and growing.
As you pass through the Arch of the Centuries at the end of the month and as you
wear your togas and receive your degrees, and in preparation for the Board Examinations, I
wish you all the very best in your occupational journey and I hope to see you all in great
success and joy. May God, the source of all vocations and the hope of all men, bless and
strengthen you. Go forth in peace.

To and for Christ now and forever,

Derick Thomas P. Juan

Batch 2025 (former Batch 2023 and 2024)

12
Ibid.
13
Mondaca, M. (2020). “Doing hope” as a possible way towards a responsive occupational science. Journal of
Occupational Science, 25-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2020.1797858