At first, when we were told that there was going to be a talk for the youth on First Friday, we were a little hesitant to attend. But when we heard that Fr. Edwin Soliva was going to give the talk, the attendance shot from a (somewhat) bleak number to pretty good. Among those that attended were Miggo, Julio, Pam, Patch, Pia, Celine, Carline, Miggy, Arby, Jody, Enzo, Jared, Fiona, Abby, David and Zyra.

Fr. Edwin first gave us a talk back at the Beach Camp (on previous issue of the bulletin) and we have not forgotten him since. His technique and way of interaction with the audience seems to keep us listening. (And believe me, this can be quite hard.)

First he told us of the 3 S's. Stewardship, Simplicity and Service. For Stewardship he told us about how everything that we have is from God. All our talents, our looks, our bodies, our skills, our gifts...EVERYTHING is from God. And therefore we have no right to abuse them or call them our own--and as caretakers we are tasked to take care of what God has given us. He gave us the example of a woman about to abort her child. She claims that she has a right to choose what happens to the baby since it is hers...when in fact, it isn't. The baby is God's gift to her and she has no right to kill it. He also told us of people who are close minded and always saying to "mind our own business". These are people who do not like to share and have a very pessimistic view on life. We should not be like them because by being selfish, we are abusing God's gift.

About Simplicity, he shared with us the literary piece "The Pit". It goes a little something like this--

This man fell into a pit. Several people came by.

A subjectivist came and said "I feel for you down there."
A mathematician calculated how he fell into the pit.
A geologist came by and asked, "Are there any rare rock species down there?"
Buddha came and said, "That is only a state of mind."
A realist came by and said, "That's a pit."
An evolutionist came by and said, "You are going to die in that pit so that you cannot produce any more pit-falling offspring!"
Then Jesus came along, stretched out his hand and pulled the man out.

Simple isn't it? How so many people can have so many views on one thing and yet Jesus knows the most effective way to deal with it? That is what he told us. That so many people in this world make things seem more complicated than they actually are. We tend to over-analyze a lot of things. Also, he told us of the example of the media. People tend to think that the media is responsible for why we are so materialistic, when in truth, we already are, and the media is just helping us realize it. They advertise so that we can be aware of what's available, and therefore want or "need" it. We don't really need these, because in the end we will have no use for it. They are nothing but worldly pleasures.

The last S is service. Pretty self-explanatory right? Basically the beauty of serving others.

Well anyway, that night was a memorable experience where we learned a lot of things that will be useful as we go through life as teens. But don't get me wrong-- these are good for adults too! You can never be too old to learn.