My 80 years in life (Part 2)

I THANK God for being alive. I realized that God is present in my life, is alive through his Spirit.

The motto of my column in Sun Star is ‘The living Spirit’. I am writing my columns under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Now looking back at my distant past, I remember my dear mother. She died already many years ago, in August of 1953, when I was in the noviciate of the Carmelites. My mother was very religious. I owe to her my faith in God and my fervent devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Ever since my birth in 1933, I believe that God has guided me in my life. He gave me my vocation to the priesthood and to become a Carmelite missionary in the Philippines. He guided me by his Spirit through the turbulent years of martial law, until the time that I decided to leave the priesthood and married the social worker in our parish of San Francisco, Agusan Sur. She had lost her husband in the infamous Antongalon massacre. I adopted her six small children. And then after three years, we received also a child of our own flesh and blood. My daughter is now 21 years old. I am very proud of her. That was for me again a sign from God, that he had approved of our decision to get married. I never left the Order of the Carmelites and both of us are now associate members of the Carmelite Family, lay Carmelites. And my daughter is prioress of the Carmel Youth Philippines.

Indeed, I believe God has guided me by his Spirit throughout the years of my life, in a mysterious way. I never in my life had expected that I would leave the priesthood. It was the Spirit who prompted me to do so and until today I am happy to be married and I can sustain myself in my old age through the help of the life-companion that God has given me. I couldn’t live anymore without her.

Included in the arrangement with the hotel was that Angging and myself had a free room for the night. That gave me an opportunity to open all the gifts I had received that afternoon and to read the beautiful messages. But most of all, I enjoyed going through a beautiful memorial booklet that showed many pictures from my youth and the years in the Carmelite Order. Again there were personal messages from my close relatives and they had printed in there also a series of articles which I had written for Sun.Star several years ago until today. I couldn’t believe anymore myself that I had written these columns. This booklet was painstakingly put together by my two beautiful daughters, Cristina and Liesbeth. My two sons, Stangel and Arescon, who are both abroad, had sent messages and money to finance this expensive affair. So also my two other sons, Marklim and Weberlim, gave their contributions.

With deep gratitude I remember all these beautiful things that my relatives and friends have done to me. I believe it was done under the inspiration and promptings of the Spirit of God

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