By Nestor Ravilas
Holiday season’s fever is over, and another exhilarating excitement is filling the air. Benches are warmed, lights are on, marking pens are all replenished, white boards are wiped-clean, and the aroma of brewing coffee is wafting throughout the rooms and the entire hallway. School days are here! Every-one is wearing a smile after a long furlough, greeting each other, and, as common to Penuelians, trading jokes with each other. We are back to Penuel, the place where we are sent to wrestle with the sacred, and to all surprises, with the profane too. The place where we have to confront our own selves, to expose our own ego, to see that we have not read the signs of the time adeptly, to see that we have shrined consciousness rather than ethics, that we have not done enough to the least of Jesus’ brethren.
Now we have more company in this small space. God entrusted us with more wayfarers. First time in the history of Penuel that we offer courses on Saturdays to accommodate to those who seek training but could only avail themselves on Saturdays (see Fred Laceda’s article). This is addition to the extension we have started in Guiginto, Bulacan last year. We are now ballooning to more than fifty enrollees this semester. And like Jacob, we are ready to see the face of God enclosed within the face of the “other” in Penuel!
Penuel School of Theology 