Fifty priests, including two Dominicans, made their February recollection on 8 February 2010 at Jesus the Good Shepherd Parish, Cannery, Polomolok, South Cotabato.
Fr. Ronald Plomillo, AB, STB, MPM, D. Min, Rector, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Seminary talked on “Gratitude and Hope”, the theme of the Golden Jubilee celebration, Diocese of Marbel.
“Gratitude”, said Fr. Ronald, “is a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgement of a benefit that one has received or will receive.
“Gratitude is experienced if people perceive the help they receive as (a) valuable to them, (b) costly to their benefactor, and (c) given by the benefactor with benevolent intention”, he added.
“Other than love”, he continued, “gratitude is ‘the basic Christian attitude’ and also referred to as ‘the heart of the gospel’”.
Biblical passages on gratitude. Examples: “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart” (Ps. 9:1),” “…forever” (Ps. 30:12), “for He is good…” (Ps. 107:1).
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15), “…for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor, 1:4). “Thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ” (2 Cor. 2: 14).
“Gratitude in Christianity”, he concludes, is an acknowledgement of God’s generosity that inspires Christians to shape their own thoughts and actions around such ideals.”
Fr. Ronald then spoke on hope. “Hope is the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life”.
“Hope in Christian Faith”, he continued, is “the theological virtue defined as the desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible to attain with God’s help.”
“It is trust and confidence in God”, he concluded.
Fr. Ronald concluded his exposition by sharing his personal experiences of gratitude and hope. Grateful to God for graces received; to priests for inspiring him to become a priest; to the early missionaries for founding and building up the Local Church. He hopes our seminarians would become holy and capable priests; for the Diocese to become zealous in its mission of building a more humane, just and free society – for Christ to reign!
Thank you, Fr. Ronald. Thank you: Fr. Frank Romano, parish priest; Fr. Art Pancho, parish vicar; and parishioners.
