[Photo: Taken at the butterfly farm of EDC
in Bicol]
Last year (March 2012)
the Postnovitiate community went to Bicol for our yearly summer outing. We
wanted our Postnovices to visit our Salesian houses in Naga and in Legazpi, as
well as the local tourist spots.
We went to Naga
cathedral, seminary and museum, the Basilica and shrine of our Lady of
Penafrancia, the Panicuason hot springs, Cagsawa, Daraga church, the house of
the congregation founded by St. Louis Guenella and the BacMan Geothermal
Production Field.
The field trip to BacMan was the most
special. It covers the boundary of Legaspi City, Sorsogon
City, Bacon District of Sorsogon City and the town of Manito Albay in the Bicol
Region, South of Luzon.
It is owned by EDC.
Its official website says: “Energy Development Corporation is a pioneer in the
geothermal energy industry with more than three decades of proven business
viability. It has helped discover new ways of developing and commercializing
renewable energy right at the heart of the resource – wherever the location and
whatever the condition. From exploration and production of water-based steam
power to generation of electricity for commercial use, we build some of the
world’s pioneering and most complex steam fields.”
Besides viewing the
geothermal plant from afar, we were also brought to the Twin Falls, the hot
spring and steam vents (the smell of sulphur was strong but bearable) and the
butterfly farm. It was there that we were able to see a variety of butterflies.
And we were delighted to have them rest on our fingers after some cajoling.
The farm has a chart
containing the life cycle of a butterfly: egg, caterpillar, pupa or chrysalis
and finally, adult or imago. It served as a review of what we had already taken
up in biology. But now it serves another purpose, a spiritual one. It is a good
reminder of the transformation that should happen to us during the season of
Lent and which should culminate with Easter. Moreover, the pupa stage also
seems to me to be an appropriate image for Jesus in the tomb while the adult
stage expresses well his Resurrection from the sleep of death.
May our good will and
the grace of God help us achieve this transformation, this metanoia that is at
the heart of Ash Wednesday ritual.
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