Gaudete in Domino semper, iterum dico, gaudete! (Phil 4: 4)
Below the emblems of our school, under the names Benedictine Abbey School and St Benedict College, now San Beda College Alabang, we read the motto, “Rejoice in the Lord!” What an apt way to describe our spirits in this year’s School of Law commencement, as we prominently rejoice with our alma mater. Another year of beginnings for the 159 Bedan bar candidates gives us all the reasons to celebrate and thank God for this moment we all fought for so courageously. Indeed, you have all struggled bravely.
This graduating class of aspiring Bedan lawyers is a cut above the rest, with all students patiently enduring their legal education under the pressures of a raging pandemic. Together with your equally driven administrators and professors, you have borne the academic rigors of Bedan education amid the uncertainties wrought by the continuing war against COVID-19 and its variants. Let this same determination propel you to hurdle the Bar successfully, with the same Christian faith instilled in each of you by your alma mater.
Hence, rejoicing in the Lord should be your lot because there is no doubt in the formidable challenges you faced and surmounted successfully. I can only imagine the kind of future Bedan lawyers your batch will prove as you hurdle the Bar: excellent in the ideals of truth, justice, and in the pursuit of peace!
Gerardo Ma. De Villa, OSB