Reflection by Aspirant Stephen Carmelo Merecedio
Last January 30, 2025, Aspirants and Contacts of the De La Salle Brothers from Luzon set out on a three-day trip to St. Jaime Hilario School – De La Salle Bataan. Accompanied by the Brothers, we set out for Bagac equipped with nothing but packed clothes, materials for our activities, and most importantly, hearts that were ready but somehow unaware of what was to come.
The truth is that most of the 16 other participants were unknown to me. We came from different communities—Lipa, Antipolo, Dasmariñas, and Manila—and I had no clue if we were getting along. We simply knew that we had to facilitate recollections for the students of De La Salle Bataan from grades five, seven to nine, and eleven. Most of us probably had no experience facilitating such activities, and we were all honest about that. Thus, there was an expected sense of anxious anticipation. To temper that anxiety, we needed to find something more deeply entrenched within ourselves. We needed to find a purpose. To help us do so, we had the official theme of ILAW 2025 to ground us throughout our activity: “Young Lasallians, Live Your Passion!”
We had to look for the purpose inwardly. What were we doing there? What could we offer to the students? What did we want to get from this? Why us? Those questions lingered from the preparation up until the end of our travel, and I’d say that the answers had always been with us. We young Lasallians facilitated those recollections to live out our collective passion as aspirants and contacts, embrace our individual passions, and offer them to the students of De La Salle Bataan by preparing what brief moment we can so that they, too, can encounter God and realize their own passions. To the question of what we wanted to get from this experience, the answer is as simple as it is deep: we were all searching for meaning. We wanted to know what God meant when He called us to go on our journey. What did God mean when He asked us, “Whom shall I send?” What did God want us to do?
As we gathered at times for our communal activities and prayers, we always spent moments reflecting upon those questions, too. In the end, I believe that God made us realize, in His own wonderful way, that we were not merely sent on a journey: we were sent for a mission. A mission is a journey with a deep purpose and meaning. Despite the long and exhausting travel, God never left us empty-handed, for we had our brothers with us making the voyage more fun with jokes, snacks, and stories. The day of the recollections itself went smoothly all thanks to the active participation of the students. I’m glad I was able to meet such smart children, who are living testaments that St. John Baptist de La Salle’s ministry has yielded such great results for everyone and everywhere. We also had the wonderful teachers and Brothers at De La Salle Bataan who welcomed us. Though we gave the students their one-day recollection with great worry, in the end, when we gathered for our group photographs and videos, one could only feel a sense of joy. It certainly felt that God was among us at that moment, just as He’s always been throughout the experience. The only difference is that we also shared that experience with the passionate and hardworking students of De La Salle Bataan. At that very moment, so fleeting and surreal, God illuminated our lives with the light of meaning. To share in God’s perfecting love seemed like life’s highest purpose.
I’ve come to realize since then that the Lord’s gifts are indeed abundant, and His promises secure. He called us, knowing that we were unqualified because to love is to see through imperfections. In our journey as aspirants and contacts, ILAW 2025 was a milestone. It was God’s reminder that we need not be perfect to be part of great things. We can all be vessels of God’s love to others, and just as we can touch their hearts, teach their minds, and transform their lives, so too can they do the same for us.
I will forever be thankful for being part of this mission. Live Jesus in our hearts forever!
