Yesterday I went out of the house to set off in a quest: a quest to order some must-have documents from the UST College of Nursing that’ll help me land that oh-so-elusive job this year. And also, to get The Thomasian 2008, the official yearbook of our batch, which had been released a couple of days ago.

I haven’t been on the grounds of UST in months and I’ve got to tell you, it feels sort of odd to go on walking and walking without seeing one familiar face in the crowd. It used to be my home-away-from-home home but now it just feels…different, in that sad sort of way. I suddenly missed being a student. I want that humdrum life of getting up, going to class or going to duty and then going home to sleep off the tiredness. I sure wouldn’t mind having that kind of surety again; in school everybody else takes care of all the important stuff for you.

Now it’s literally every man for himself and boy, is it tiring.

As was my nature, I arrived half an hour earlier than the appointed meeting time (with Rae, who agreed to meet up with me so we can get the yearbook together). I ducked in the St. Martin de Porres building, flashing my alumni card as I went. I got pushed and shoved by a ton of undergrads rushing off to their first class of the day on my way to the Admin. Office, where I was ignored for five whole minutes as the Dean, the Assistant Dean, the Guidance Counselor and the Regent were busy chitchatting with the staff.

Finally I was given the form and was filling it out with the basics, when something weird suddenly happened: the priest said out loud, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…” Yes, ladies and gents, he was starting a prayer. Not just your ordinary short prayer of thanks, oh no; he was ticking off the Hail Mary’s of the Holy Rosary.

Thoughts of me fleeing the office entered my mind but different people blocked all exits. So I just…joined in. I mean, what else can I do, right?

Although I cannot stress enough how weird that experience was for me. First of all, it’s been months since I’ve last prayed the Rosary and for me to be performing it with a bunch of people who couldn’t be more different from me (in age, in stature, in financial income) just amazes me.

I’ve contemplated on this event during my bus ride home and I’ve come to realize that surely, there’s a lesson in there somewhere for me. Life isn’t that random.

And then it hit me: I’ve been blabbing on and on about how I’ve lost connection with God but haven’t really done anything to reconnect with him. Maybe this jolt of a prayer’s meant to remind me that it’s high time for me to incorporate more prayers into my life.

Hey, it couldn’t hurt, right?