WALKING BEFORE GOD AS BROTHERS IN FIDELITY UNTIL THE END

by Fr. Clemente Moreira, FdCC

The theme “Walking before God as Brothers in Fidelity until the End” was formulated after consultations with and reflections of each community and indeed every member of each community in the whole Congregation of the Sons of Charity – Canossian brothers and priests. The 12th General Chapter preparatory commission consolidated and synthesized the fruits of the shared reflections on April 27-28, 2011. The General Chapter of the Congregation that was held from April 15 till May 8, 2012 at Poiano, Verona – Italy, deepened the theme and the phrase “as brothers” was made as an indispensably integral part of the theme. Since then, this theme has been guiding the whole Institute in its journey.  

Abraham is the biblical figure that was chosen as an icon in our reflection and direction for six years. Abraham made his journey of faith after God had called him. He was not so young anymore when he was called. As a man of his age, it would have been more convenient for him to settle down and to enjoy the remaining years of his life in his known place and socio-cultural environment. Contrary to this expectation, Abraham responded affirmatively to the invitation and the promise of God. He left the place of his birth and walked to the place unknown to him but certainly was known to God. He did not walk alone. God was not just waiting for him at the finish line to see if he could make it to the end. God walked with him. God was with him. 

As a congregation, we would like to have a fresh way of looking intently at our commitment to walking in the path the Lord himself has paved and continues to pave for us. Our Canossian vocation implies that we are not meant to passively “settle down” but to walk in active and dynamic manner. We would like to have a renewed pledge of walking before God. This may sound like we walk ahead of God as though we were leading God to where we want; according to our own plans and projects we perceive more convenient to us. On the contrary, walking before God means walking in the presence of God who leads us to where He wants according to his plans. Walking before the presence of God requires us to reawaken our spiritual consciousness that walking our canossian vocation entails walking in God’s constant presence. 

Contemplating on the reflections that were derived from the concrete and experiential realities of communities, the General Chapter participants integrated the words “as brothers”       into the general theme for the six-year-journey of the congregation. At times, we unwittingly breathe the air of individualism. There seems to be more and more desire to walk without the others. There appears to be increasing tenderly to walk alone. Reading certain phenomena in the communities against the backdrop of this “cultural trend”, the communitarian and fraternal dimension of the journey is perceived, understood and lived as a non-negotiable value inherent in living our canossian vocation today. We do not walk together as strangers who do not know each other but as brothers so as to encourage, strengthen and remind each other to walk in the ways of God; the ways of Charity whose sons we are. “Sons of Charity” was the identity our Mother Foundress, St. Magdalene of Canossa gave to our Institute she founded at Venice on May 23, 1831 after many years of much prayers, reflections and efforts in seeking God’s will. As brothers, we walk together in fidelity. Our fidelity is a response to God who is ever faithful to us. His loving fidelity is eloquently made manifest by Christ on the cross who is the source of St. Magdalene’s inspiration. We are to be faithful to the ideals our Mother Foundress has handed down to us as a particular manner of living the Gospel in our context.

St. Magdalene of Canossa pointed out to us that Christ Crucified is our only exemplar in living our vocation. We see in the life and ministry of Jesus that he was faithful to His Father from the beginning until the end of his earthly life. We seek to walk in God’s presence as brothers in fidelity to the Canossian charism and spirituality not only periodically; when we feel good because everything goes well with us, or living our vocation as though it were a kind of contract that we could terminate when we wish to. We are to be faithful to our identity and mission particularly in trying and challenging moments. This is possible if we constantly fix our attention on the Father’s faithful love that knows no bounds and on Christ’s never-ending fidelity to the Father and to those he loves. 

“We are to be faithful to our identity and mission particularly in trying and challenging moments.”

Our MISSION is the GREATEST THING WE CAN DO for Someone

"Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19-20

It was a long years plan, a long years of waiting to open the mission in East Timor and in God’s time His will always happen, and to Honor the greatness of God we had our “send off” mass last June 19, 2013 of our two Fathers; Fr. Adriano Carazzolo and Fr.Yosef Moensaku that with gratuitous heart accepted their new assignment to start the mission in East Timor. We believed that our two fathers were grateful to start our new mission seriously because of the following reasons:

Jesus commands us to continue His mission. As a Canossian we have the mark in our heart to share the charity of Christ to the poor and the little ones. This is our mission to share Jesus to them to make Him known and loved.

Our mission is a great privilege, to work in God’s vineyard is a profound responsibility, but it is also an incredible honor to be used by God.

Our mission is the greatest thing we can do for someone. We have the greatest news in the world and sharing it is the greatest kindness we can show to anyone.

Our mission has eternal significance. Nothing else we do will ever matter as much as helping people establish an eternal relationship with God.

To our courageous fathers: Fr. Adriano and Fr. Yosef we are with you as one community in Prayer. May the Holy Spirit continue to work in us, that all of us will able to complete our mission that will bring glory to God. We are praying that like Jesus a night before he was crucified we also says to the father, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” John 17:4. As a Canossian Sons of Charity it is our call to participate God’s work in the world; to be part of what he is accomplishing on earth.

MISSION TO

Sunday Gospel Reflection: October 20, 2013

October 20, 2013

29^th Sunday Ordinary Time C

 

Persistent Widow

There was a boy who wanted to have a bicycle. He went to the church to pray and ask Jesus for a bicycle. After one day, he did not receive a bike, so he went again to the church to pray.  Again after a day, he still did not receive a bike so he went again to church and prayed for the third time.  But still he did not receive a bicycle a week later.  Feeling a bit sad of what happened, he went again to the church.  The following day, there was a commotion inside the church.  The Sacristan discovered that the statue of the blessed mother is missing.  They search the whole church but found nothing except the small piece of paper that was place right where the Blessed Mother was place. It was written in the paper “Dear Jesus, if you want to see your mother again, please give me a bike.”

It is sad to say that many of us today are like this child. We live today in a world that give us a quick answer for everything we need. Everything around us is instant. Instant coffee, instant mami, instant noodles, instant cash. Smart phone helps us to communicate anywhere in the world with just a touch of a button. We can now buy items with a touch of our computer keyboard without going to store. Our postal mails are gradually overtaken by email which is faster. We want to do all things with a little time to spend. We treat also prayer just like an ATM machine that dispenses cash anytime we want. This world of mobility has shaped us to become an impatient people.

In our Gospel today, we can find two characters from real life: a judge who neither respects God nor persons, and a widow who will not stop fighting for her rights before the judge. The judge was portrayed as an insensitive and irreligious; while the widow was portrayed as persistent and knows which door to knock on to get what is owed to her. For a long time, she was asking the same thing every day, but gets nothing from the insensitive judge. At the end, the judge, even though “he had neither fear of God nor respect for man” decided to pay attention to the widow and give her justice. This is a fact of daily life and Jesus uses it to teach us how to pray.

Jesus wants us to have the courage to wait, to be patient in our prayer even if sometimes God doesn’t seem to hear us. Jesus knows that we pray for many good things that don’t seem to come our way in the time we expect. Some of us who pray are tempted to think either God does not care, or that there is no God to pray to. It is true that sometimes we are very impatient in our prayer.  We want God to act according to what we want.  When we prayer, we expect an immediate result and most of the time we are disappointed. I always feel bad every time I hear people left there catholic faith because they think that their prayer were unanswered.

The widow in our Gospel today reminds us that her persistent and persevering attitude she finally gets what she want. Jesus reminds us that God does care, and that in God’s own time he acts.  He acts according to his own will and not according to what we want. Our part is not to give up praying, not give up trusting.

MANGYARI NAWA

A Smile That Turned Fear into a Statement of My Life as a Religious Seminarian

WE ARE CALLED TO LOVE

by Post. Fred. Nana

On June 21, 2012, we started our apostolate area at Luwalhati ng Maynila: Home for the Aged, Marikina City just for the orientation before the acceptance to postulancy. It was for the first time and I could still feel the excitement at that time. The moment we stoop in we were reminded by one of the novices “please read the beatitudes before you enter” and I thought it was only a joke but as I read it I realized that it is true. Indeed, we are called to do what God wants us for his mission and our service should come from within a heart that loves without boundaries.

I found myself before the aged get totally mixed with feelings. Thus, to my simple question: “why am I here?” I did not answer and just continue the service while waiting for the time to go home because of many reasons regarding the environment of Luwalhati.

Every Thursday from 6:00-09:30 in the morning, we spent our time with the old ones; clean their nails shave the beards and cut their hairs. While doing service we also listened to their life stories, everybody shared different stories. Every time we go there we can see them waiting with their bags just like the passengers waiting for the bus to come. We can see their longing for their family and children to come but nobody comes; I think we are their families, the visitors, the students and those who are coming to visit them. They are very happy with our presence in their community. At Luwalhati ng Maynila, we are not only to serve and just leave when the time is over but to share and listen to what they need, not only material things but spiritually. Here we can bring Christ in their midst because we believe that what ever we build it should be Christ is the foundation; Christ is the center of our lives. We may ask question: where are the children of these people? What did they do to their children while they were together? Were they cruel to their children or they just abandoned them? Or may be that is the reason which is why the children ignore them? There will be answers and we are the answer. We are called to serve and to love everyone no matter who they are because God always wants us to go and serve without counting the cost.

I remembered one Thursday, I was cutting the hair of an old lady and came one of the teachers, and she asked me: “Kuya, how much is your salary every month? I look at her with a simple smile and I told her: I have salary; I am a volunteer-brother. And she left a smile saying: God bless you, brother.

I realized in fact that I had expected too much from the time I went to Luwalhati for the first time, reflecting on the state of mind that day, I realized that I have turned a fear into a statement of my life as a religious seminarian. I understood this also a test of heart to love without measuring the boundaries, to love even without knowing who they are because life and love is something immensely greater, created by God who is love and it is fulfilled when love grows and when we love others as ourselves.

How To Turn Tensions to Redemption

Last school year I had a privilege to have my apostolic experience in our parish in Jipapad, Eastern Samar. It was of my choice and with the support of my formator to be assigned there. For almost one year, I had been staying there and helping our parish priest in doing some parochial activities, particularly with the youth. Beforehand, I already told myself that it would not be an easy experience for me. First and foremost that year was a transition to new parish administration, which was unchanged for the past 35 years. Unfortunately, there were tensions during these times.   

It is a reality that sometimes we cannot get the attention of everyone. Some did not like the new administration, particularly those who were not ready for the change and were already fixed in their mentality to the old administration; while others were very supportive and open for development. Facing this reality, my first five months of stay there was filled with struggles. The community of religious was trying hard to be united. This situation also affects our service to the people in the parish. Due to the existing tension we had the difficulty in organizing various ministerial groups in the parish. Nonetheless, despite the condition I can still feel God guiding and strengthening me in the moment of pressure. 

The tension did not stop us from fulfilling our mission in the parish. I said to myself, “Never mind the tension, just focus on the mission”. It was the reason that I went there, and if I let myself to be carried by the tension for sure nothing will happen to me. The Parish Priest had given me the task to handle various youth groups. 

TURN 5 to 32 

I was given the responsibilities to train the altar servers, to handle the choir group, and generally to assist in the Oratorio. When I arrived in our parish in Jipapad, there were only five sacristans, and so, we recruited some young boys who are willing to serve in the parish as altar server. After the recruitment, accompanied with a series of formations, we were able to install 32 altar servers that are now helping the priest during the mass and in other liturgical services. We had a weekly meeting for scheduling and formation. During the installation, I can see the joy in the face of the new altar servers. Their parents were happy too for them and were present in the occasion.

In the parish oratorio we encourage the youth within the area to join the daily rosary and other worships in the parish church and also to get involve in various parish ministries. It is good that in the place of Jipapad it is still not so difficult to gather the youth in the parish, due to the fact that the area is quite isolated, which is why; there are less other factors that would get the attentions of the young people. This is an advantage that I see for the Oratorio.

BROTHER-TURNED-CHOIR MASTER

Indeed there are plenty of works to do in the Oratorio than dwelling on the tensions around. There, I was also given the task to handle the choir group of the Oratorio. With my little knowledge in singing, I was trying hard to teach them some songs for the mass, which I also learned in the seminary. I was thankful that we were able to invite a good number of young people to join the choir. It was quite a funny experience; primarily I couldn’t imagine myself teaching the choir, and I even did not desire to be assigned as music coordinator in our community in the seminary. But since I was given the task, so I gave the best that I could in order to improve the choir group. Not to mention the struggles that I passed in learning some songs to teach them.

  

TURNED PYD ORGANIZER

 Another unforgettable experience that I had was being present during the yearly youth gathering of the parish or the “Parish Youth Day”. In that activity we invited the young people from the different villages to join the event. Though it was a tiring experience of preparation, I personally enjoy the activity and happy to see the young people gathered together to meet new friends, to have fun, to learn, and most especially to worship God as one.

Along the way, I did not notice that I am about to finish my pastoral year. Given the opportunities to handle various tasks and to work with the youth relieved me from the tension brought about by the transition. Somehow it leads me to redemption and to a much meaningful experience. Indeed it is true that having a strong desire to serve the Lord is much greater than all the trials, tensions, and difficulties along the way. In fact, it helps to overcome our troubles and fear in the mission. As we continue in doing our mission, God will take care of our burdens. I realize that there is much joy in seeing others happy because of you; feels liberated in seeing others being liberated. At the end, I just realize that I was able to survive my pastoral year. I finished it with joy in my heart rather than regret in choosing to be there. Such experience from tension to the experience of redemption is something that I can treasure in my life as religious. It deepens more my faith to God, the source of my vocation.