On 5 August 2026, the Louisian community gathered to celebrate the 64th birthday of Rev. Fr. Gilbert B. Sales, CICM, PhD, a visionary leader who carries strength without the weight of pride. The event also marked Fr. Gilbert’s 10 years of faith-filled service with the mission at Saint Louis University, Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM).
The day’s celebrations, woven together under the theme “Now Playing,” carried forward the constant spirit of gratitude and faith, highlighted by the blessing of new University facilities— further reflecting a decade of leadership and missionary service of Missio et Excellentia.
Remaining in His Love: A Eucharistic Celebration of Thanksgiving
The celebration opened with a Eucharistic Celebration at the Saint Aloysious Gonzaga Parish that set a reflective tone for the rest of the day and the year. The mass was presided over by Fr. Gilbert, along with the CICM fathers and other con-celebrating Priests.
In his homily, Fr. Gilbert said, “My heart naturally turns to God in the gospel: ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Remain in my love’ — everything begins there…Looking back, I can only echo the words of the Psalmist in the Holy Bible, ‘The Lord has done great things for me, and we are filled with joy.’ Every chapter of that life has been a testimony of God’s grace that is always , and has always been, sufficient. This year also marks another significant milestone in my life here in Saint Louis University, because this year is my 10 years of mission here. As a CICM missionary, I know that the educational apostolate is one of the congregations’ and the province’s highest priority. I am deeply thankful that the Lord trusted me with this mission. These 10 years here in SLU have never been my work alone. God has surrounded me with generous collaborators, coworkers, our administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni, benefactors, our CICM confreres, and so many friends and partners in the mission. Whatever has been accomplished has been the fruit of teamwork, a shared vision, God’s abundant grace, and I thank God, because of each one of you.”
“Jesus says today, ‘I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will remain.’ That lasting fruit is not made of concrete or steel. It is found in the transformed lives that we daily transform. Our greatest mission is to continue forming men and women whose hearts are shaped by the gospel. I think that is the most important mission for a Catholic university such as this…. Here at Saint Louis University, we have often said that education must help people, turn their lives from mirrors into windows. It is easy to spend our lives looking only into mirrors, preoccupied with ourselves, our ambitions, our achievements, our comfort, our successes,” he noted.
Fr. Gilbert then quickly added, “But Catholic education calls us to become windows instead. To look beyond ourselves, to see the needs of others, and to place our God-given gifts at the service of humanity. Here in SLU, our mission is not simply to produce successful, intelligent professionals, but to form men and women whose lives are rooted in Christ, and those hearts are open to the world. We hope to form graduates, who will enter the Lord’s vineyard with generous hearts, becoming instruments of healing, of justice, of hope, and compassion, where they are sent in the villages, in the towns, and in their cities. This is the kind of fruit that Jesus speaks of today in the gospel, the fruit that will remain long after the buildings have aged, long after all the curriculums have been reinvented and re-engineered, long after the projects have been completed.”
Blessing Rites across the SLU Campus
Following the Eucharistic Celebration, a series of blessing rites were held across the University, SLU Main Campus led by Fr. Gilbert together with the CICM fathers and the SLU Administration.
The blessings covered several key sites and developments, including the SLU Main Gate; the Fr. Evarist Verlinden, CICM Building; the Canopy Verde and “Footsteps of the Faith in the Highlands” campus mural; the newly installed fire exit and sprinkler system at the Rizal Building; and the fifth floor of the Msgr. Charles Vath Library Building.
“Today, we are going to bless several new edifices and facilities. They are a visible sign of our continuing commitment to provide quality Catholic education here in Saint Louis University,” Fr. Gilbert said earlier in his homily. “These structures are important…because of the lives that will be formed within them. They are places where minds will be enlightened, hearts will be nurtured, and young people will be prepared to become faithful disciples and most of all servant leaders. So I express my gratitude to everyone who helped make these projects a reality: to our collaborators, partners, benefactors, planners, engineers, architects, builders, administrators, faculty, and staff — all who share their talents and resources, and also inspiration, to make these projects a reality. Thank you for believing in this mission.”
The SLU Main Gate
The series of blessing ceremonies began with the SLU Main Gate of the SLU Main Campus: a visible sign of welcome, hope, and opportunity.
Fr. Gilbert prayed that the Main Gate serves as a warm welcome to the Louisian Community and that it always “opens the way that enlightens the mind with faith, that transforms the heart and service that builds a more just and compassionate world.”
Fr. Evarist Verlinden, CICM Building
Fr. Evarist Louis Verlinden, fondly called “Fr. E,” is the Father of Psychology at SLU and a pioneer of the profession in Northern Luzon, to whom the building is dedicated. Solidifying this gesture was the unveiling of Fr. Verlinden’s commemorative portrait.
The Fr. Evarist Louis Verlinden, CICM Building houses various laboratories that will be utilized by the School of Engineering and Architecture (SEA), School of Nursing, Allied Health, and Biological Sciences (SONAHBS), and the School of Medicine.
The First Basement houses two (2) laboratories of the School of Engineering and Architecture (SEA): the Trades Room for the Architecture program and the Soils and Construction Materials Laboratory for the Civil Engineering program. The basement location gives easy access for delivering and storing bulky materials such as soil samples, aggregates, cement, and construction supplies, and keeps dust and noise from hands-on activities away from the classrooms and offices on the upper floors.
The Trades Room serves as a multi-purpose learning space for Architecture students. Aside from supporting courses in building technology, building utilities, and construction methods, it also functions as a drafting laboratory, where students work on architectural drawings and design plates, and as a model-making area, where they build scale models of their design projects. The room features mock-ups of engineering installations, including plumbing and sanitary systems, electrical wiring and fixtures, and other building utilities. These let students see how service systems are laid out, connected, and integrated into a structure. It also houses a display of actual construction materials, such as masonry units, tiles, wood, metal, roofing, and finishing materials. Students can examine the properties, sizes, and applications of these materials up close. By bringing drafting, model-making, utility mock-ups, and material displays together in one space, the Trades Room lets students move from design concept to an understanding of how buildings are actually assembled.
The Soils and Construction Materials Laboratory supports Civil Engineering courses in Geotechnical Engineering and Construction Materials and Testing. The laboratory is used for experiments and sample preparation, where students perform procedures such as moisture content determination, sieve analysis, Atterberg limits, and specific gravity tests, and prepare specimens such as soil samples and concrete cylinders. Prepared specimens are then brought to the Testing Laboratory for strength and other mechanical tests. This workflow trains students in proper laboratory procedures, from sample handling and preparation to testing, following recognized standards such as ASTM and AASHTO.
The Second Basement, including the Ground and Second Floors, house the Animal House and the Research Laboratories of the Natural Science and Research Laboratories (NSRL), inspired by the missionary and scientific work of Fr. Gerard Braeckman, CICM.
The Third Floor is where the Jesusa B. Lara Laboratory is located. It is the nursing and medicine simulation rooms of the Department of Nursing and the School of Medicine (SOM) named after the founding dean of the School of Nursing in SLU, setting the standards for nursing education in Northern Luzon. The Fourth and Fifth Floors house the Center for Counseling and Wellness (CCW).
The sixth floor is currently being prepared for the physical therapy and occupational therapy laboratories and classrooms.
Canopy Verde and “Footsteps of the Faith in the Highlands” mural
The Canopy Verde and the “Footsteps of the Faith in the Highlands” mural crafted by Rusty Lopez memorializes how the Belgian missionaries of the CICM, inspired by their founder, Fr. Theophile Verbist, arrived on 02 November 1907 in the Philippines to bring education, healing, and spiritual guidance to the people of the highlands.
Beyond building churches and schools, the CICM fostered relationships and nurtured faith. Working side by side with indigenous communities, they shared Catholic teachings while honoring and preserving the rich Cordilleran traditions.
The Canopy Verde and the mural serves as a narrative artifact of the story of CICM evangelization in the Cordillera and how it lives on, not only in chapels and educational institutions, but also in the generations shaped by compassion, learning, and a sense of community – a living legacy. Etched in this mural and carried in the heart of the highlands is the enduring portrait of CICM roots as the legacy of the Congregation’s evangelization lives on through compassion, learning, and community
Thereafter, the newly installed fire exit and sprinkler system at the Rizal Building were also blessed, even ensuring safety and security in the University.
The 5th Floor of the Msgr. Charles Vath Library Building
Ending the series of blessing ceremonies was the dedication of the fifth floor of the Library that features a number of Discussion Rooms for the community to have spaces where they can process data through discourse and knowledge sharing and exchange. During the untying of the ribbon of the newly-refurbished fifth floor of the Library, prayers were offered asking for the space to be a place of learning and discovery.
Each site that was blessed reflects the University’s continuing commitment to safety, growth, discovery, and the wellbeing of the Louisian community it serves.
Commissioning of the Solar Panels
Another milestone acknowledged was the commissioning of the Solar Panels of SLU. In his message, Campus Planning, Maintenance, and Security Department (CPMSD) Director Jeffrey James V. Gamit described how SLU continues to champion programs, projects, and initiatives that are not only innovative and effective, but also socially responsive and environmentally sustainable.
The University’s clean energy journey began about seven years ago with its pioneer solar power installation at the Main Campus. With an initial capacity of 243.3 kilowatts-peak or kWp, these rooftop solar arrays harness the highland sun to significantly cut grid reliance during peak academic hours. Building on this momentum, SLU expanded its solar infrastructure with WEnergy Global in 2022. A 90.9 kWp solar system was installed at the Maryheights Campus, taking advantage of open surroundings and maximum sun exposure. Concurrently, a massive 179.1 kWp system was commissioned at the SLU Sacred Heart Medical Center, supporting critical healthcare with sustainable, uninterrupted power.
Mr. Gamit then shared that SLU continues to accelerate its sustainability agenda through two major expansion projects: first, an additional 158 kWp system at the Main Campus, and second, a new 51 kWp installation at the SLU Aquatic Facility, Maryheights Campus. “Upon completion, the University’s combined solar capacity will exceed 720 kWp, generating more than 543,840 kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually and substantially reducing its carbon footprint and emission,” he said. These milestones affirm that sustainability at Saint Louis University is not merely an aspiration, but an ongoing legacy.
“Birthday Hits”: A Hit Show for Father Gilbert
The day’s festivities culminated in “Birthday Hits: A Hit Show for Father Gilbert,” a celebratory program held at the Fr. Francis Gevers Hall. True to its “Now Playing” theme, the show brought the Louisian community together in song and celebration, offering a joyful send-off to another year in Fr. Gilbert’s life of faithful service.
The University President expressed his gratitude to those who have celebrated his gift of life, especially the SLU community. He remarked, “Thank you for your presence today…Your prayers, your friendship, your encouragement and companionship are amongst God’s greatest birthday gifts to me. Jesus tells us in today’s gospel, “I no longer call you servants. I have called to friends.” I have experienced that friendship through so many of you. Thank you for walking this journey with me and for remaining faithful companions in the mission that God has entrusted to us here in SLU. So as I begin another year of life, I ask for only one grace — that I may continue to remain in the love of Christ, for apart from him, nothing truly bears fruit….”
