To the faculty, administration, students, alumni, benefactors, and friends:
Merry Christmas!
We cannot help but stop and reflect upon the Belens that greet us when we pass by the ground floor corridor of the Administration and Library Building. The crèches stir in us many sentiments, but what comes to mind more frequently—for you and me, I hope—is a deep sense of gratitude.
Everything and anything we possess, and everyone we love, are all gifts to us. We received them not because we have a right to own them. Nor are they fruits of our effort alone. Our career and education, our spouse and children, friends, material resources, and even talents—we all received them from someone else in one way or another.
And every day, whether or not we are aware of it, we become recipients of a hundred and one small and big favors from other persons, who make life a little more pleasant and convenient for us.
In fact, we are even recipients of gifts we do not deserve at all. Our life is one gratuitous gift, especially in this generation when many mothers reject the babies in their womb and when hired gunmen ruthlessly pull the trigger. Another undeserved gift is the Baby Jesus in the manger, who, 33 years after His birth, would unreservedly bring Himself to Calvary for all, believers and unbelievers alike.
UA&P has so much to thank for. Despite the difficult years it recently went through, it never ceases to receive many favors—from each of you and from the Almighty above. Because of you, UA&P continues to reach out to so many people. It is a little over 50 years old now, but its soul remains young. We dream to do more to serve our mission and to forward our society.
This sense of gratitude makes us a little more humble each day. It demonstrates our interdependence as a people. It is a call for unity of purpose and service to one another. 
Let us always be grateful for everything we have. A friend once commented that saying thank you can encourage its recipient to be even more generous and to better the favors he or she will give.
Thank you, Lord Jesus.
Dr. Winston Conrad B. Padojinog
President
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