Youth Marian Crusade Forever

Seeing a familiar face, especially after so many years, always brings back good or bad memories, depending on the relationship one has had with the person. Mine was a spiritually lifting experience when I saw Fr. Matthew from the Marian Missionaries of the Holy Cross (MMHC) last Tuesday and Thursday when I attended a mass at the Greenbelt Chapel.

Fr. Matthew and I belonged to the same school-based religious organization when we were in high school (by the way, we came from different high schools), the Youth Marian Crusade (YMC), which is now known as Youth for Mary and Christ (still YMC). He was already in the congregation then when he would visit our school, together with Bro. Ralph and Bro. Raymond (who, eventually, became fullfledged priests just like Fr. Matthew), the two seminarians who were assigned in our school.

I shared the same desire with them as I also wanted to enter the seminary. Unfortunately, I was not chosen by Tita Letty Albert, YMC and MMHC foundress.and mother of  singer Joey Albert, to become a candidate. Apparently, God had a different plan for me.

After high school, my ties with YMC in our school have remained intact. In fact, the two animators, Tita Cecil and Tita Nina, have become my wedding sponsors or ninang. Only through them do I receive some updates from the brothers and seminarians that I particularly know. Not until the advent of Facebook did I get the chance to reconnect with Fr. Ralph and Fr. Raymond and other ex-YMC seminarians.

To say that YMC created a great impact on my life is an understatement. That's why I was so happy and blessed to have attended a mass officiated by someone who belongs to the same organization that I hold dearly in my heart.

Now, I am still so much involved with this group as I, together with my other colleagues and friends, sponsor two seminarians who came from my high school. And I hope that this involvement becomes even deeper with the passing of years.