“Love At First Sight”

Bro. Matt Bernard Opleña Quiao interviewed by Reynaldo Bariquit (UIC Communication Arts intern)

It started with the question “what if?” Bro. Matt Bernard Opleña Quiao, a seminarian scheduled to be ordained on February 11, 2016 at Fatima Parish, answered when I asked him “what made you decide to enter the seminary?”. At a very young age of 5 years old, Bro. Matt started to ask himself unusual questions for a child. “What if, if I were in their situation, talking and conducting a mass?”. It seemed that for him it was not just out of curiosity but it was also more on attraction with the vocation.

His family was very supportive when he was planning to enter the seminary but his father was a bit hesitant because he said “sa akong character man gud sa una, sa mag-igsuon ako jud ang pinaka gahi ug ulo ug pinaka sipat”. He added that when he was in his teenage life he was a happy-go-lucky guy. He was just a typical teenager who enjoyed the luxury of the modern age of technology but when he was about to gradute in high school he asked himself “unsa man jud akong gusto? Unsa jud ang maka pahappy sa ako?” He was a seeker before of true happiness and he found out that what will fulfil him is serving and answering the call of God. And his batchmates were not expecting that he would enter the seminary after they graduated in high school.

During his time in the seminary he admitted that he doubted that call and even himself “para jud ba ni sa ako?”. There were personal crisis that came in to his life but he took it positively and for him he called that “happy crisis” because instead of taking that as a reason to give up he made that as his tool to grip more and strengthen his faith. By then he become stronger, spiritually. He added that he always goes back to what he believes “a call coming from God in not personal that it’s just exclusive to a specific person rather it is a call for everybody and it’s up to us how we respond to his call”.

It is really vivid to him the excitement and the happiness he felt when he’s recalling that first attraction he experienced when he was a child “it started lang jud na na-attract ko sa sanina sa pari, the way sila mag storya ug mag conduct ug mga misa.” It is really amazing at the very young age he was thinking to be a priest. He fell in love with the vocation and driven by his innocent curiosity by asking what ifs.