BAGUIO CITY- Seminarians of Casiciaco Recoletos Seminary (CaReS) visited sick people confined in several hospitals on the feast of St. Ezekiel Moreno last Saturday, August 19, 2023.
Returning Apostolate
As officials ease pandemic restrictions, the community of CaReS takes advantage to return its annual sick visitation which was suspended for three years due to COVID 19.
“Hearing that we would now be able again to do this apostolate is actually nostalgic,” Bro. Roques James G. Sabas, fourth-year college seminarian, said as he remembers his last hospital visit in the year 2019, in commemoration of St. Ezekiel Moreno.
“To be able to reassure the sick of God’s love and remind them of the meaning they are to find in suffering is very important,” he added.
Reminder of Hope
“Be there for them and comfort them.”
This was the message of Rev. Fr. Joseph Philip Trayvilla, OAR, Spiritual Director of Aspirants and Postulants, to the seminarians when they were preparing their short presentation for the visit.
With this in mind, the seminarians did their visits to Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, Pines City Doctors’ Hospital, Saint Louis University Sacred Heart Medical Center, and Notre Dame De Chartres Hospital, all in Baguio City.
The seminarians also took the chance to propagate the devotion to St. Ezekiel Moreno.
Exemplar Model
St. Ezekiel Moreno was a Spanish Augustinian Recollect Missionary who was ordained in the Philippines where he spent over 15 years proclaiming the Gospel and being a good shepherd to the flock, most especially to the poor and sick.
He suffered from cancer of the palate, to which a painful operation was done without anesthesia. Though the deterioration of his health put on a sign that he was far from recovering, he endured his sufferings and infirmities putting more trust in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He died in Monteagudo, Spain on August 19, 1906 at the age of 58.
His exemplary life led him to be honored as the patron saint of cancer patients.
After the prayer and sharing, seminarians also entertained the sick with their short presentations.
