IN HOPES of drawing students closer to faith in God, the panelists of the talk entitled “Heart-to-heart: The Church in Conversation with the Youth” shared their personal experiences with their faith on October 8 at the Rizal Mini Theater for this year’s Talakayang Alay sa Bayan.
The three panelists—Loyola School of Theology Assistant Professor Manoling Francisco, SJ, School of Humanities Sanggunian Faculty Adviser Raoul R. Roncal, and PraySing Ministry founder Tinnah Dela Rosa—all shared how they view God in their lives and talked about the importance of God in one’s life, especially for the youth.
Finding God
Roncal did not talk about his personal experience with God but rather his experience with a student in a university he was teaching.
“I had a conversation with a young girl in a different university. She was ready to leave her Catholic faith,” said Roncal. He recounted that the student’s excitement for college was predicated on being free from Catholic teachings and rules, and then she stopped going to Church.
Roncal then told her not to give up on God, reiterating that “conversations [about God] with the youth” must never stop.
When Dela Rosa took the floor, she shared her experiences as a troublesome teenager. She added that friction between herself and her parents was due to her unwillingness to attend Mass.
“I didn’t identify with the Church in college,” Dela Rosa admitted.
Her views towards the Church began to change in her later years of college when she joined Ateneo Christian Life Community (ACLC).
While she said that she never saw herself joining an organization from the Faith Formation Cluster, it was in ACLC where she found God.
To highlight her changed perception, she narrated how she became a regular mass attendee and a youth instructor. In addition to this, she started a Christian Life Community in her school.
“Nakilala ko na ang Diyos. Gusto ko makilala din ng iba ang Diyos (I was finally able to meet God. Now I want others to meet God as well.) I want to be to the youth what God was to me when I was young,” Dela Rosa concluded.
Finding God in our life
Francisco, on the other hand, started his talk by stating that while many learn about God in school, believers need to personally experience God in order to prevent their faith from weakening.
“We do not encounter God face-to-face. We need mediation. Jesus is the medium. The invisible God becomes visible through [our] witnesses of his mercy,” stated Francisco.
As a point of reflection, Francisco told the audience, “Don’t just ask where God is in our life, ask also if we have made God visible to others.”
