INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE. Pupils Aeon and Jewel shared what they learned about Maryam (Mama Mary in the Qur’an) from Almir to Teacher Alma. Photo by Teresa Bagaipo

Report by Joyce Margarette J Digal

The Xavier Ateneo Grade School Nurturing Community celebrated Marian Month with a skit that displayed an inter-religious dialogue of two Catholic pupils, Haven Jewel C Flores and Aeon B Tampos, with Almir Khalid K Macapangkat, a Muslim pupil. They talked about the Marian Month, Mama Mary, and the equivalent of Mama Mary in the Qur’an, Maryam. 

In the said launch, the CLE department presented their lineup of activities that reflected the community’s love and fondness towards Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.

The major activities of the month included a Living Rosary and Rosary Tableau and Procession. The assistant principal for academics also prepared a special schedule to ensure that the pupils, faculty, and staff alike would be able to pray the rosary every lunchtime at 12:50-1:10PM, before the afternoon classes would resume.

The Living Rosary is an annual activity during the Rosary Month wherein chosen grade four pupils, faculty, and administrators represent a bead in the rosary. Each human bead bears a candle and a seedling which adheres to one of the Universal Apostolic Preferences, Care for the Environment. The candle and the seedling both signify how the Mother Mary has been our model of light and hope.

The month-long celebration ended with a Rosary Tableau and Procession. The grade 6 level pupils joined the procession as frontliners, followed by grade 5, grade 3, and grade 2 pupils; while the grades 1 and 4 pupils continued praying the rosary in the de Brebeuf Covered Courts. 

On the same day, the CLE Department had its culminating activity to award the winners of the Altar Making Contest.

The teachers and pupils, together with their parents, joined forces as they decorated their classroom altars. Their altars showed their own creative interpretation of “a beautiful altar.” It was not about the grandeur of one’s altar, but most importantly, how the altar represents the humility and beauty of Our Mother Mary.∎

HIGH FIVE MARIA. The CLE Department and the Campus Ministry of XUGS end the launching activity with a "High Five Mario" flash mob. Photo by Teresa Bagaipo