The Teresian Youth and Vocation Ministry team (TAYVM Team) was privileged to join Vocation Awareness Days at the University of Negros Occidental Recoletos (UNO-R), Bacolod City last January 27-29, 2026.
This yearly activity organized by the Campus Ministry Department allows the students to get to know different ways of serving God. Different activities were organized for the students to get a close encounter with the different religious congregations and Lay Associations like the Teresian Association. To help them be familiarized with the different vocations, each congregation or lay association set up attractive exhibits for them to know the particular charism, mission, pastoral involvements and different presences of mission.
The members of the TAYVM team of Bacolod enthusiastically welcomed the students from the Education, Pharmacy, Engineering, Nursing, Criminology, Business and Management Departments and students from the Senior High School to our exhibits.
Lay vocation
Students are very familiar with the religious vocation, so the first question we got to be asked is What is the name of your congregation? Responding to this question gave us the chance to explain what is a LAY VOCATION, our charism, our different modes of involvement in the fields of education, scientific research, in the corporate world, in health services, empowerment of women and the youth etc. They often asked also about the founder and the reason why he started this kind of vocation and lifestyle. Other questions asked were: one’s motivation in joining, difficulties encountered and how to survive, and if one is happy in living out the vocation and mission.
Open forum
Before ending the brief encounter with the students, we talked about the importance of prayer and we give them the novena prayer of Fr. Poveda, with morning and evening prayer and a prayer after communion. Even non-Catholics asked for the prayer. We also gave out inspirational thoughts of Fr. Poveda and our TA brochure. Before we ended our vocation story, we invited them to join our IT YOUTH activities by expressing their desire to join by filling up the form so we can contact them.
Other activities organized was a talk on vocation followed by an open forum where students have the opportunity to ask questions to be answered by the Vocation Promoters. This is also another venue to introduce the various ways of serving the Lord, this time in the big group of more than one hundred students from the different departments who are taking religious education.
The three-day encounter was a very fulfilling experience. It was an opportunity to get to know the students in their context, their desires for happiness, to be of help to their families and to be of service to others and for them to be familiar with the Teresian vocation. We fervently pray to Our Lady of Grace that the seed planted may bear much fruit.
Lourdes Rolinda Jover, Local Head, TAYVM Bacolod.
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