I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to go back to my parish with reason. Ever since my family and I moved to another village I didn’t find any other reason to be there. I thought “Why should I go there? No one from that community even knows me.” I know that I shouldn’t wait around for people to befriend me. But I mean, my family and I had just moved from Pasig and it was hard to adjust to the people around me. It was hard when I was younger.
I was still grade five when we moved to Parañaque and apparently very shy. It was hard for me to make friends because I never really learned to. From moving from house to house, I really didn’t have that much experience in making friends from people in the same neighbourhood. My parents don’t allow me and my sisters to go out of the house that much. We never had a chance to meet the other people in the village as well. Because of my parent’s over protectiveness and my own insecurities, I failed to actively be part of the community.
I realize now that a parish is more than a mere building or the location of the church. It’s more than that; it is the people who make it a church. When I didn’t know the people in the community I didn’t feel that I was part of the community at all. From the moment that I finally joined the parish I had a chance to be a part of it. Being active in the parish community is probably the best way anyone can become part of it.
This service became a way for me to go back to the community. For me, it was a second chance to be part the parish.
