IF THERE’S one lesson for the Class of 2025 from this year’s Baccalaureate Mass, it’s that not everything goes as planned.
Heavy rains signaling the start of the Habagat or southwest monsoon season disrupted the Baccalaureate Mass for the Class of 2025, forcing its postponement from Friday, May 30, to Saturday, May 31. Instead of the Grandstand and Open Field, the event was held indoors at the Quadricentennial Pavilion (QPav) in two separate batches.
Incidentally, this was the same batch that was welcomed to UST in 2022 under the rain during their Homecoming Walk.
UST Secretary General Fr. Louie Coronel, O.P. in his homily for the first of the Baccalaureate Masses on Saturday, said delays in their welcome and sendoff rites were a “symbol” of the challenges that lie ahead, encouraging Thomasians to carry Christ with them through all of life’s “delays, detours, and disappointments.”
“The storm that postponed this celebration is but a symbol,” Coronel said. “There will be many storms ahead — delays, detours, disappointments — but your task is not to fear them. Your task is to carry Christ through them.”
He also reminded graduates that no matter what hardships come their way, they should hold firmly to their joy and faith.
“Sometimes there are people, or even an event, that would like to snatch away that joy — do not let anyone or anybody snatch away that joy in your heart because Christ is in your heart,” Coronel said.
“That is our challenge: to remain in joy, to remain in love. A Thomasian must always be in love.”
How unique was this year’s Baccalaureate Mass?
“Kayo lang siguro ‘yong dalawang araw ang Baccalaureate Mass,” Coronel said. “Siguro, preparation ‘yong kahapon to test you, at ngayon, Bacc Mass, you’ll be back — mas malakas.”
Coronel, who also serves as regent of the College of Science, said walking through the Arch of the Centuries is more than a ritual.
“You are not just walking toward the Arch of the Centuries, you are walking through towards a world through the Arch that serves as a portal to the world waiting for your witness.”
This year’s Baccalaureate Mass marked the first time in nine years it was held inside the Quadricentennial Pavilion. The last time was during the storm-impacted send-off of the Class of 2016.
The first batch included graduates from UST-Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy, Faculty of Arts and Letters, College of Fine Arts and Design, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, College of Information and Computing Sciences, Conservatory of Music, College of Nursing, Faculty of Pharmacy, and College of Rehabilitation Sciences.
