'Tis the season to share and care
When the song of angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flock, the work of Christmas begins.”
As a young adult, Christmas is increasingly becoming more and more stressful every year with all the Christmas shopping and mall hopping that go with it. More stressful than battling throngs of people and sitting patiently for hours in traffic is the thought of your 13th-month pay and Christmas bonus dwindling as one’s Christmas list gets shorter.
Fortunately for me, my work as a volunteer for an NGO school has constantly reminded me of the true meaning of Christmas. The experience is that of an aggressive surrender. As our school tries its best to provide free education to poor students, the faculty and staff persistently engage in marketing and sales work outside their careers as educators. Meetings and fund-raising activities are often included in the daily grind of teaching, constructing lesson plans, and checking quizzes and exams.
At the end of the day, however, after exerting much work and effort, with hope, we are left waiting for the generosity of individuals, organizations, and companies. And what our founder Fr. Pierre Tritz, SJ says is true: God will always provide, and always through the souls of kind-hearted individuals.
We remember most fondly the efforts of various people from the Xavier School Parents Auxiliary. This year, Felix Co let go of his birthday party so he could sponsor the tuition fee of students in our school. Vivian Go, owner of Orocan, gave some of her company’s products as raffle prizes as well as Christmas baskets for teachers and staff this Christmas. They are just some of the many parents of Xavier School who have extended help and support beyond their work for Xavier.
This year, I also wrote how SSS funded the feeding program of our students who are unable to go to school without packed food or even a meager allowance of P30 a day. Many other companies were kind enough to help the students through their corporate social responsibility programs. Chevron Philippines donated a significant amount of money to the school, which was initially allocated for the company’s Christmas party. Siemens donated brand-new computers with printers, scanners, and licensed Windows software. There was also Mightee Sports who repainted our dilapidated basketball court and donated top-of- the line sports equipment.
This year as well, I wrote how the very jovial and magnanimous Atty. Charlemagne Yu brought beauty and grace to ERDA Tech through Miss Universe 4th runner-up Venus Raj and her fellow winners from the Bb. Pilipinas pageant. After the event, Atty. Yu continued to help ERDA Tech by contacting friends and business partners. He was able to sponsor 100 students to watch Kaos at the luxurious Resorts World in Parañaque. Atty. Yu was also able to solicit donations of leather shoes for our many students who don’t have enough money to buy new ones.
The song The Work of Christmas of Bukas Palad choir sums up beautifully the true spirit of Christ’s birth. After the first lines at the start of this article, the song continues, “To find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, free the prisoners, to rebuild nations, to bring peace among brothers.”
Despite the stress and worries that the days before Christmas bring, we are extremely thankful for the generous souls whose work testifies that the true miracle of Christmas happens after Christ is born.
