As cliché as it sounds, the phrase ‘in God’s perfect time’ is entirely real and it happens just at the right moment. Just like the Bible verse “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” from Matthew 21:22, blessings pour down on Fr. Teofilo S. Rustia’s life.
Fr. Teo – as called by his friends, founder of the Religious Society of Our Lady of Bethesda, had received a tumultuous amount of 2.4 million for the development to the Oratorio de los Peregrinos.
In a joint discussion made last 2018, Fr. Teo together with Mr. Edmundo Las, a devout catholic and Global Comfort Group Corporation’s (GCGC) Board of Director had a dialog in making improvements to the oratorio. Church repairs and future developments were greatly considered by Mr. Las especially the home lift elevator which he donated amounting to PHP1,170,000 million. Mr. Mr. Edmundo thinks that the renovation of the elevator will greatly benefit the priests and elderly pilgrims of Oratorio de Los Peregrinos.
“We started building 3 years ago; we built this on my property and I offered it to the community so this could be a permanent place for the oratorio – our home, our center.” Fr. Rustia said. In addition, Mr. Las also presented Fr. Teo with a grant to finance the other projects of Religious Society of Our Lady of Bethesda, the organization which operates the chapel.
“One of our future projects is to expand our orphanage since we only take care of only 12 boys. Of course we would like to invite more to become priests. We took care of them from preparatory to Grade 12 and further guide them to become priests. Another big effort we want to put up is to take care of the retired priests, we have started that already but you have to put another home, so these are all lifted to God.” Fr. Teo added.
Blessings did really pour down for oratorio when Fr. Teo and Mr. Las were reunited. And little did we know, they both share the love of God, leadership among others, and care for one another.
“Providence – that is our mantra. It means God takes care of everything, puts everything into place. I and Ed first met during one of the get-together with my ex-seminarians. I think it’s God’s will for us to meet there together with my ex-seminarians as we are planning for projects to help the community. And so, that started our journey together as he became honorary alumnus of our seminary and became a frontrunner in putting up the orphanage we built in Sta.
Maria, Bulacan. Also, through Ed’s inspiration and leadership, he was the moving spirit behind the construction of Tahanan ni Sta. Isabel, the home for elderly women we built after the orphanage.” Fr. Teo shared.
“Ed knows what to do and he always fins solution. I believe all the leader of Sogo will help with our advocacy, including the people and companies connected with Sogo. I thank Ed very much for putting the presence of God in Sogo very much. We’re happy because more and more are into this [helping religious organizations] and I am happy that Sogo isn’t new in this effort. God bless our efforts so that in return we may be a blessing for others. The bounty that you get from God’s goodness, you should be able to share and that is what many business enterprises now have come to realized and Sogo is in forefront of the crusade” GCGC is not only the Philippines’ largest and fastest-growing group of hotel chain; it also has the biggest heart when it comes to helping deserving organizations and people in need.
For more information on Hotel Sogo’s advocacies and charity work, visit www.hotelsogo.com/sogocares.
