Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHMA) at 68

A life of thanksgiving is a blessed life.

The sense of gratitude that lies in the hearts of men and women impels them to give back and to trickle into the lives of others, their own giftedness. What moves one to be generous? It is the experience of being taken cared for and loved that one becomes an agent of love and generosity. Our faith tells us that Jesus extends himself and gives his life for the salvation of many because He is, first and foremost, greatly loved by the Father. Generosity begets generosity and love begets love.

In the same manner, batch ‘90 wishes to convey the same attestation to love. Because we were nurtured by the loving dedication and commitment of our former mentors and this alma mater, we have become who we are, responding to the many opportunities to create and recreate ourselves and the society we live in.

Dekada Nobenta: Handog Pasasalamat ng IHMA at 68 is a celebration of our giftedness, of how our lives become, in essence, a thanksgiving in itself. Our school motto “Ad Jesum per Mariam,” to Jesus through Mary, has given us the inspiration. We find this prompting from the gospel of John when Mary instructed the servants in the first miracle of Jesus in a wedding at Cana, “Do whatever he tells you”. As graduates of IHMA, we have the conviction that when we left our alma mater 25 years ago, we were challenged by our mentors in love to set to the world and make a difference. “Do whatever he tells you” has invited us to imitate Christ and to live a life dedicated to serving others and serving the community in the lives that we live. Thank you IHMA for such a profound legacy. May you continue to instill in the hearts and minds of young Matinians the same values that shaped the persons we have become. (Ma. Chanda Pilar Gado-Antoque, Ph.D., Hamilton, New Zealand)