MEMBERS OF the Artlets community must deepen their relationship with God by looking beyond “earthly things” that are filled with beauty and power, UST Faculty of Arts and Letters (AB) regent Fr. George Phe Mang, O.P. said.
In his homily during a faculty-wide mass at the UST Medicine auditorium on Friday, Nov. 17, Phe Mang told Artlets to be vigilant in navigating their lives and emulate Jesus’ disciples, who were devoted to spreading the word of God.
“We are always connected and related with our Creator. We cannot be disconnected; we cannot be separated from our Creator…so we are to look beyond the beauty, beyond the power, beyond the majesty of the created world,” Phe Mang said.
“We cannot just be like [normal] people who are eating, drinking…We must always be watchful and ready…[which] always means being in a constant relationship with God, the Creator of everything,” he added.
According to the AB regent, many of those who doubt God’s plans are “unprepared” to face the end, citing the Bible story on Noah’s ark, wherein God flooded the world due to mankind’s sins.
“The moment we forget our roots or our connection, we are disconnected and we can lose our way. That’s how we eventually experience distractions,” Phe Mang said.
The Dominican priest explained that students must maintain a strong relationship with God to recognize His proclaimed glory in every creation.
“If we can admire the beauty, the power, and the awesomeness of creation, should we not even more admire the Creator?”
The faculty mass was held in conjunction with the recollection of sophomores and the memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, the patroness of Christian charities.
Elizabeth was the princess of Hungary who separated from royalty and established a hospital to help the ill and the poor until her death on Nov. 17, 1231. She was canonized in 1235, just four years after she died at the age of 24. F – Barbra Althea Gavilan and Mei Lin Weng
