Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Junior Professed Sharing
8:04 AM | 
Posted by
daniel
This month we have a reflection from our three junior professed Spiritans…
Junior Professed Sharing
By Dennis Casanes, C.S.Sp., Aying Gavino, C.S.Sp., Alfre Liwagon, C.S.Sp.
After a year of Postulancy and a year of Novitiate formation and after happily taking our vows, we are now Spiritan Religious. For now we live our lives as religious in the Spiritan House of Studies, Manila
Metro Manila is a huge city and is extremely different, more diverse and complicated compared to the place where we come from – Mindanao . Though our house (Spiritan House of Studies) is very quiet, cool and comfortable, Metro Manila is generally crowded, noisy and polluted. Since this is where God has put us now, even if it is more challenging than being in Mindanao , we have to adapt and get used to this place. Only one of us found it manageable from the beginning, the rest were culturally shocked. There is so much that we did not know about Manila . When he took the train for the first time, Emboy, was scared and sweating inside. The condensed population, the tall buildings, the six lanes highways, some flyovers and underground highways, are some of the things we experienced for the first time. We are foreigners in our own country. For the new guys, they found it nice to have someone older than them in the place, showing them around and introducing them to some places and friends.
Language is also one of the challenges we had to face. We are all born and raised in Mindanao ; we speak Cebuano eloquently. No one of us speaks Tagalog at home. When we were in elementary and high school we sometimes used it in our Tagalog Course, but after that we only heard it on TV. Now Tagalog is a must, it is our language of friendship and it is more helpful especially if we want to be understood in our apostolate, when riding the jeepneys, buying in the market, and the like. Many times we have been embarrassed because of our hard Cebuano accent when we speak Tagalog. Local people sometimes tease us. We also notice that in language comes culture, even in jokes, what Tagalog people consider funny usually for us Cebuanos does not make sense.
Spiritan House of Studies
This house is a perfect design if we are to aim for internationality. In terms of academic affairs, there are many international schools nearby, most, if not all, are in easy access and conducive for learning. So far we have welcomed confreres from Vietnam and Taiwan who studied English at Miriam College
Every now and then we invite our classmates, friends and other religious for group study, to play table tennis and sometimes watch TV and enjoy everyone’s company in friendship and camaraderie. Having good relationships with other young religious, we believe, is healthy and can strengthen our life as religious.
Loyola School of Theology, where we study, is more international. Students in this school are from all over the world. In one way or another, experiences like living with different nationalities help us enrich ourselves through sharing with other peoples from other countries and cultures.
Community life
Like all the Spiritans in the world we are also called to live out our Spiritan calling in a community, an essential element in our way of life as young religious. In the Spiritan House of Studies, Manila, we do not only live as a community but also as a true family. Even though we are so busy at school, we do not forget to give value to community life. Each one of us in the community has to take part in the responsibility of taking care of the things around the house. Like any poor family, we do not have house helpers. We help each other in running and keeping the house clean. By ourselves, we do the dishes, we sweep and mop the floor, we pay bills and we cultivate and beautify our garden and the like. We create a home that is clean and orderly, a home that is livable and comfortable. It is always a complement when our classmates remark that they like to visit and hang out with the Spiritans in their house because it is very homey and welcoming. During breakfast we have little discussions about our plans for the week and discuss if there are necessary things to do for the community.
We take turns going to the market. We learn how to budget, how to choose proper goods that are fresh, nutritious, delicious yet affordable. We believe that a religious who took the vow of poverty should know how much a kilo of rice costs; that a religious should be able to notice that a dozen eggs is in one store 50 cents cheaper than in the other store. The person who goes to the market is also the cook for the week. It is his opportunity to render a concrete service to the community. It is also an indirect way of expressing to the community what his favorite foods are.
Every Thursday is our community night. We bond through playing games, doing community projects, helping somebody’s homework, taking a walk or going to Mc Donalds for 25peso ice cream sundaes.
In the Spiritan House of Studies we are formed how to be a responsible adults. We do not just do what we are told to do...we take initiative. We are trained to develop our giftedness and potentials and that all dimensions of life are well tapped and balanced.
In our community, being a priest or a brother is less important than being a true religious family where one is concerned for everyone’s welfare. Thanks to our director Fr. Dan, our older brother.
Prayer Life
For us, Spiritual life is our core, the center and most essential part of our life as religious. It is the spring from which we take our strength to unreservedly respond to our Spiritan calling, to be completely available before God and before others. In a concrete way, we develop our Spiritual life through daily Eucharist, morning and evening prayer, and rosary. During the Eucharist we take turns sharing reflections after the Gospel. Each of us has our own spiritual director and confessor. Once a month we have one day of silent recollection. Every time the Spiritans celebrate a special feast like that of the founders; we also take time make the celebration meaningful.
Academic Life
We study at Loyola School of Theology, a Jesuit and Filipino institution and community of learning, dedicated to formative theological education and research within the Catholic tradition. At school we are enriched by excellent professors who teach every subject matter with mastery. The way of teaching gives us sufficient information. Our Professors are not only Filipinos but also foreigners. Each class is a mixture of religious men and women, diocesan seminarians and priests from all over the globe. We all believe that this ambiance inside the classroom is very interesting and enriching. Sometimes we don’t always agree with each other; we differ in our point of view depending on our cultural background.
The three of us had difficulty adjusting and placing our mind in the academic world, at least at the beginning. After few years of not being involved seriously in academic training, our first semester is like a rehabilitation process. Academics at Loyola School of Theology have a very high standard and demand we need to study really well. Some of us spend at least four to five hours a day, just for reading and understanding the subject matter and trying to figure how to apply it pastorally.
Because we believe this is where God is calling us now, we have to strive hard, not only so that we can give justice to the tuition fee, but also to grow in wisdom and understanding, and be leaned Spiritan religious. Eventually learning became enjoyable. we think any Spiritan religious should see the extreme value in continually honing and expanding his mind.
Pastoral Life
One of our commitments as Spiritan religious is to those oppressed and most disadvantaged as a group or individual; we are called to be defenders of the weak and the little ones. We live out this commitment through our apostolate in Guannela’s Center, a home that takes care of our brothers who are challenged physically and mentally. We stay there overnight; Saturday afternoon til Sunday. Every first weekend of the month is Dennis’ turn to assist in the center. Emboy goes every second week and Aying every third week. Every last week end of the month the three of us go together. We go there to take care of the people there who range in age from 9 to 50 years old, to bathe them, to feed them, to pray with them and bring them to church for mass. We find this apostolate very interesting and challenging, and so we continue doing it. One of us said that in this apostolate also he realized what it means to experience the essence of being with the poor and to the most abandoned. He said that, “for me personally, to be with this kind of people is not so easy. It is because I have to go down to their level so that I can sympathize with them. When I go there, I forget my image of who I am because I know they don’t bother about it. All they need is our care and love. That’s all.” So far our experiences has been very challenging but definitely enriching.
We are Juniors!
There are so many Congregations in Manila. In LST itself there are almost a hundred. We always find it interesting and enriching to get to know other “juniors” from other congregations. We are also active in a group called Juniors – Seminarians Forum (JSF). It is a gathering of all the temporary professed religious and seminarians, men and women, all over Metro Manila, and those from the provinces are also welcomed. As of this year, one of us Spritans works as part of the core group. The last time we had our gathering, there were about seven hundred of us from more than a hundred congregations. It was very meaningful for many of us. One of us said, “I can’t just imagine how God calls each one of us. The moment I mingled with them, I said to myself, ‘Wow, Lord, this is great. I can feel that we are not alone in the journey of religious life. My faith was awakened as I saw the number of religious flocking together in joy. I deeply realized how mysterious the call of God.” Another one said, “Personally such activities help me a clarifying God’s call. The more I get to know other congregations, their spirituality and charism, the more also I appreciate, love and embrace my own.” We gather. We share our charism and spirituality. We share our joys, struggles and doubts as young religious, we encourage one another and we get involved in social concerns, build community and work as a team. We also listen to our elders by inviting speakers whom we believe can guide us in our journey.
As we continue our journey day by day, we are very humbled to take our place in Spiritan history as the first Filipino Spiritans, doing our little part in the building of a new foundation and even a new program here in Manila. None of us can say “this is how it’s always been done”, so we listen to the Holy Spirit and our brothers and sisters in the Spiritan community...and we hear the voice of God.
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