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The First
Profession of the batch from the first Inter-Provincial Novitiate 2013-2014.
May 4, 2014
Phuket, Thailand – Two Stigmatine Provinces witness the first profession of the new confreres from the provinces of Our Lady of Hope and Mary Morning Star – who are the first batch of the Inter-Provincial Novitiate Formation 2013-2014.
Filipino
candidates under the Province of Our Lady of Hope (South Italy) are Laudemer
Aninion, Carlos Avenido. Indian candidates of the same province are Nithin
Devassia and Jobin Thayyil. The Province of Mary Morning Star (Thailand) have
Thawatchai Krasaesing. These five novices temporarily professed the vows of
chastity, poverty, and obedience before God and were cordially accepted with in
the Mass by Rev. Fr. Joseph Winai, CSS Provincial Superior of the Thai province
and Rev. Fr. Silvano Controne, CSS Provincial Superior of the Stigmatine Southern
Province of Italy.
The
Eucharistic celebrations were concelebrated by Fr. Abel Maglines, CSS, Jose
Lasam, CSS, Marlon, CSS from the Philippines; Fr. Vincencio Sirignano, CSS and
Ferdinando Ronconi, CSS from Italy. From Thailand are Fr. Michel Jerasak, CSS,
Fr. Valentino Wasan, CSS, Fr. John Baptist Pipat, CSS, Fr. Peter Bancha, CSS,
Fr. Dominic Phattharaphon, CSS and the novices’ retreat master Fr. Lawrence
Chai, CSSR. Bros. Joseph Sujin, CSS and James Suphachai, CSS have their kind
assistance to the novices in the celebration.
Parishioners
led by Mrs. Margaret Ens happily joined the celebrations. They welcomed and expressed
their gratitude to the superiors by giving flower bouquets, and garlands of
congratulation to the newly professed brothers. The Formators of the
candidates: Fr. Joseph Wattanasak, CSS the Novice Master (Thailand), Fr.
Jimado, CSS the Assistant Novice Master (Philippines), and Fr. Paul Kritaphark,
CSS (Thailand) the Spiritual Director – has served in the liturgy as well.
The
celebration is one of the fruit of the Stigmatine’ endeavor. It is the output of the so called
“internationality,” where staunched connection in every Stigmatine community
around the globe is found.
Our father and
founder St. Gaspar Bertoni said “The grace of vocation is an immense series of
grace.”
By: Novice
Jerome L. Hermosada
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Friday, June 20, 2014
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The second batch of
the Inter-Provincial Novices in Thailand
3rd
of May, 2014 at 7 o’clock in the evening, eight candidates from two different
provinces were accepted as novices. These candidates are composed of six
Filipinos and two Thais and they were accepted by Rev. Fr. Joseph Winai, CSS,
Provincial Superior of Mary the Morning Star Province (Thailand) and Rev. Fr. Silvano
Controne, CSS, Provincial Superior of the Our Lady of Hope Province (South
Italy). The acceptance was held in the Stigmatine Interprovincial Novitiate House
Phuket, Thailand, witnessed by other Stigmatine confreres, visitors, and former
novices, who did their first profession on the following day.
The
vespers created a very solemn atmosphere of the acceptance. The candidates while
kneeling in front of the Provincial Superiors expressed their heartfelt desire and
willingness of entering the novitiate through the words “Yes we are!” The
clapping of hands from the witnesses, the singing of songs that were played,
and the brotherly hug symbolize warmth welcome to each one of the newly
accepted novices. The former novices gave roses to each one of the new novices
as a sign of congratulation as they were moving ahead to the new formation
level.
It
was a very special event because of the presence of the different confreres
from Italy, Philippines, and Thailand. Indeed it is a manifestation of strong
unity. The purpose of the Inter-Provincial
Novitiate is to create a strong bond and solidarity amidst diversity congregation.
This is the beginning of the international collaboration of the different
Stigmatine communities in the world. This program generates harmony among all
the Stigmatine confreres for the better future of the congregation.
By: Novice Yolleces
A. Amora
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Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Christian’s meditation: fab
Christian’s
meditation
Christian
meditation have many kinds we can practice it for example; Lectio Divina, devotion to blessed sacrament,
Rosary, Ignatius exercise etc. absolutely every kind of mediation have aims to
God. It was the third time which I experienced different kinds of meditation.
Our course began by Fr.Prasert, the Redemptorist priest who taught us his
teaching based on Benedictine Monk Laurence Freemen OSB. According to his
teaching I could understood “what is Christian’s meditation and how do I
meditate?
On
25-26 January 2014, during the night we stared our Christian’s meditation
course at Redemptorist seminary Sampran by Fr.Prasert. He said about “what is
meditation? The word of meditation is like the word “medicine.” It has this
prefix “med,” which is a Greek prefix that means “care” or “attention.” So when
we meditate we are being careful, we are paying attention. And Christian
mediation nowadays there are going back to the teaching of Jesus on
contemplation which in the holy scripture was written by St. Luke whom he wrote
his gospel that we called “the gospel of prayer because he shows us Jesus at
prayer, he prayer as his baptism before he choose twelve (6:12) it is only St.
Luke tells us Jesus prayer for Peter and only tell us the prayer parable of the
Friend at midnight (11:5-13) also we must prayer before do important things as
Jesus did in his life.
Fr.Prasert
taught us how do we meditate? He shortly
summarized the practice in this simple way of Laurence Freemen OSB who was
influenced by John Main his teacher as he said “Sit down. Sit still with your
back straight. Close your eyes lightly. Then interiorly, silently begin to
recite a single word – and a prayer word. We recommend the ancient Christian
prayer-word "Maranatha". Say it as four equal syllables. Breathe
normally and give your full attention to the word as you say it, silently,
gently, faithfully and above all - simply. The essence of meditation is simplicity.
Stay with the same word during the whole meditation and from day to day. Don't see
but listen to the word as you say it. Let go of all thoughts (even good
thoughts), images and other words. Don’t fight your distractions but let them
go by saying your word faithfully, gently and attentively and returning to it
immediately that you realize you have stopped saying or it or when your
attention is wandering.
As
I experienced Christian meditating which it’s not easy to get out from my
worries, plans, desires and thoughts there are came to my mind and I could not
focus well. Many kinds of meditation I like Ignatius style because it is
comfortable to me. According to this course it inspires me to meditate each
morning and evening .He said “as one day God will change our mind and heart."
I certainly believes that he shows their lives through clips those who do
meditate every day which change them some of them be clam down, pay attention
well in studying, sleep well, and be close with God until they can show image
of and be true son of God. His conclude before
we finished our course the way of meditation is to seek and to love God that
will show image of God to each other
CHRISTIAN MEDITATION: GUIDED BY HOLY SPIRIT by Nithin
CHRISTIAN MEDITATION:
GUIDED BY HOLY SPIRIT
Nithin
The basis of
Christianity is “the experience of God.” It is not an intellectual experience
but experiencing His love with our hearts. Christian meditation is a method of
prayer to experience God with our heart. In this method of prayer only our
heart is used not our head. Be still and silent and invoke the Holy Spirit to
guide us and slowly repeat the ‘manthra’ and be fully in the love of
God. This is the egoless prayer and the perfect prayer. This is an ‘Affective’
method of prayer in which we are not seeking the help of our own intellect but
rather we allow ourselves to be guided by Holy Spirit.
I remember when
I was doing the first year of Philosophy we had a subject called ‘Spiritual
Theology’. In that class the professor taught us about two kinds of prayer
methods and the examples that he used to explain those methods gives the clear
indication of how to do those prayers. In Sanskrit we call them: “markada
marga” and “marjara marga”. The term markada means ‘monkey’
and the term marjara means ‘cat’. We know how these animals take care of
their small ones. The small child of monkey has to take effort to hold tightly
to its mother when she moves from one place to another but, the kitten, the
small one of cat, doesn’t have any effort when it is moved from one place to
another. It is taken in the mouth of the mother safely. The two methods of
prayers are also same as the above examples. In the affective prayer we do not
have much effort, we allow Holy Spirit to guide us but in the speculative
method of prayer we must use our intellect and our imagination; it requires our
efforts much. So the Christian Meditation is an affective prayer where we
experience the love of god without much effort of our intellect.
Now going more
deep into the Christian meditation we can see that it is an ‘ego less prayer’.
So to make our meditation effective we must find our true self by denying the
ego self. Denying the ego self is as painful as denying ourselves and taking
our daily crosses. The means and end of Christian meditation is Renunciation;
not possessing God. We find our true self in the Christian meditation. Our true
self is the image of God and to know God we need the help of Holy Spirit. That
is why we invoke the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the meditation and ask to
guide us. As a conclusion we can say
that Christian meditation is all about our relationship with God not knowledge
of Him. What actually happens is god seeks us not we seek him. He Himself helps
us to understand our true self. It is a journey of spiritual life through
Christ to the Father.
Vita Consecrata: A Burden or Ease?
Vita Consecrata: A Burden or Ease?
Carlos Pezaña Avenido
In our world where a
lot of schools of thought are started to dominate, where secularism and
materialism are the superiors of every person, and where great existentialists
are on track of changing the old ways of life. We can say that the sign value
which emphasizes and highlights the importance of consecrated life has been
acknowledged very little and is not the number one majority of the person
anymore. This is the effect of the supremacy of the post modern period where
everything is carried away by the advancement of modern technology and modern
devices which will help the life of the human person very easy to live, but
very easy to die also.
For
the majority of the Catholics around the world, to consecrate your life to God
is not a great challenge anymore unlike before where you would experience so
many challenges in line of preaching the Word of God. However in this period
where everything is stable in terms of believing on Jesus Christ as God and
Savior (except for those countries who are not catholic by faith), “… the
passionate search for God’s will, for self giving, for unfailing communion in
the church, for the practice of spiritual discernment and love of the truth…”
(Vita Consecrate No. 84) are not anymore the main purpose of human’s existence
but the search for new computers, new online games, new gadgets and the
accumulation of all the material things are the main goals why they live their
life with confidence and courage.
Usually
when we speak of consecrated life, we are speaking also of the three vows that
a person is going to live if he wants to consecrate his entire life to God.
These three vows (chastity, poverty, and obedience) are the passport of the
person to live a life where everything is about evangelizations and spiritual
experiences, and eventually, where he will be asked to “bear witness
everywhere with the boldness of a prophet who is unafraid of risking even his
life” (Vita Consecrate No. 85).
The
very reason that I notice why a person is not capable of living a consecrated
life anymore is that he looks at the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience as
major challenges which denied himself from enjoying the things of this world,
to satisfy his hunger for power, and to humble himself from his fellows. As
stated in the document of the church “the evangelical counsels should not be
considered as a denial of the values inherent in sexuality, in the legitimate
desire to possess material goods, or to make decisions for oneself” (Vita
Consecrate No. 87). However, the problem is the person who does otherwise than
following the rules living the consecrated life. Hence, to encourage a person
to consecrate himself to God, he must be taught and injected well of the
benefits that he might get in serving the Lord through the vows of chastity,
poverty, and obedience. And finally, he must learn that the true satisfaction
and happiness is not found here on earth but in the world after this world
where those who are worthy can only enter and live for eternity.
Honestly,
at first I looked at this kind of life (consecrated life) as an obstacle to do
my duties and inclinations in this world because everything must be done
according to the norms of the Gospel. But when I started to learn the true
meaning of this life, I was able to turn my focus on God and not on my personal
interests anymore. It is different when you decided to live this life basing from
your own personal interests than living a life forgetting your natural desires
and do only the things that would please God. These two views are very opposite;
we cannot say that they are the same because the end is still consecrating your
life to God. No, in this kind of life, the intention is very important, we must
learn and live the way the first Christians did. We must be ready to sacrifice
everything not for our own sake but for the sake of our love to God.
Aspiring
to live a consecrated life of course need a lot of sacrifices and suffering,
but what you can find in the end if you decided to consecrate yourself to God
is the happiness and satisfaction that you always longed to acquire. It is true
that it is very difficult but if you discover how God sacrificed himself
because of his love for us then we will realized that living a consecrated life
is nothing compare to the sufferings that God endured when he chose to save us
from eternal damnation.
BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MEDITATION: Louie Aninion
BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
-
Louie Aninion
Peaceful mind, right decision, unlocking
innate knowledge and reaching our inner self are some of the benefits that we
can get from Christian Meditation as Fr. Prasert, a Redemptorist priest shared
to us on January 25-26.
Christian meditation is simple and yet
faith enriching. The objective is to connect with your true-self and find God
within you. How to do this? First, you have to be still and calm yourself. When
reaching the pinnacle of peace start reciting the mantra, ‘Maranatha’ or any
simple thought you like, inviting the Lord to come unto you.
The first time I did this, I felt dizzy.
My muscles stiffed. My mind wandered around. Fr. Prasert said if you are
distracted just continue to say the mantra and always to go back to zero.
Additionally, he shared that doing Christian meditation is, do not expect and
do not compare yourself to other. This is a prayer from the heart not from the
head.
Looking at our present time, I can say
that it (the world) has transformed the lifestyle of many. The booming industry
and technologies snatch out our serene life as it was. We become more anxious
how to respond the demands of our world. Gradually, we forget to feed our
spiritual life. We forget to connect with our true-self. Worst, we forget that
there is God. This materialism and consumerism virus of our spiritual brings
noise and block-out to our spiritual life. It consumes little by little our
real identity as sons of God. This enslaves us.
This is not who we are. We need to find
our way back to our true-self. We need to the stop this virus of our spiritual.
We need to overcome this. Let us not allow that this defines us for the rest of
our existence in this world. As the Scripture would say “Watch and pray.” We need
to be vigilant and pray always.
This Christian Meditation experienced is
very timely for me. This will surely drag away the materialism and consumerism
virus in our life. This will help us to bring back our life into whole again
which is not only body but a ‘body and soul’. It will aid us to be aware of our
‘ego’ which leads us to desire more, crave more for money, authority and fame
and always jealous to other. Finally, be able to reach our true self and God
within our life.
Thus, I would recommend to you reading
this article to try Christian meditation at home first within 20 minutes and
see for yourself how beautiful and worth to connect with our true-self and God
than the world offers to us and how it will give you back your peace of mind,
your very whole self.
It is true as majority said that not of
this world alone that gives us peace, joy and contentment in our life, we
therefore need to connect always to our true-self and God in our prayer like
doing Christian meditation. In perfecting our life in this world through the
aid of our Almighty God we can see and feel what is necessary and not necessary
for our life while we are still continue living in this alluring world.
Reliving The Consecrated Life Makes God’s Presence Felt The More
Reliving The Consecrated Life Makes
God’s Presence Felt The More
-
Nov. Louie Aninion
The common understanding of
consecrated life is a holiness of life pattern to Jesus’ life on earth. In
short, it is an imitation of Christ Life. It is following the way of Jesus.
The encyclical letter no. 84 states
that consecrated life is a special form of sharing in Christ’s prophetic office
which the Holy Spirit communicates to the whole of people of God. It is a
radical nature of following of Christ.
So, I could say that consecrated is
a very special gift from God given to the chosen people. The consecrated person
embraced and commits themselves completely to God through which he/she becomes
an ‘alter-Christ’ witnessing the truth of the Gospel.
Now the questions that come to my
mind are; does consecrated life still important to this day? Does consecrated
life has greatly influence the people of today?
To the first question, yes it is
still very significant. The Vita Consecrata no. 85 exhorts that the sign of
God’s presence has been lost, a convincing prophetic witness on the part of
consecrated person is increasingly necessary.
Looking at the present time, human
reason has predominantly prevails in every individuals. Faith has been
neglected. And as we all know reason alone is vanity. We really need faith in
God to guide us in every circumstance in life to arrive at the desired result
where the value of human dignity is treasured. Abortion, civil wars and many
forms of chaos are continuously happening everywhere. Many lives even innocent
ones were claimed by inhuman act because of our own selfish reason.
We really need to relive the
“consecrated life to defend all that is contrary to divine will” (Cf. Vita
Consecrata no. 84) through consecrated person who commit to imitate the chaste,
poor and obedient Christ.
Going to the second question, does
consecrated life has greatly influence the people of today? I absolutely answer
yes to this query. People have high regards to the priests and nuns who vowed
themselves in chastity, poverty and obedience. They seek an advice from them
(priests and nun) when they are in trouble. However, people think that
consecrated life is for the priests and nuns alone to embrace. Yes, they partly
correct in that matter. But if we look at it in deeper sense, this invites
everyone whatever state of life we embrace. Since, we are God’s children
created in his own image and likeness, thus, everyone is invited to live
chaste, poor (charity) and obedience. We are called to live life prudently and to
seek always God’s Will in our day to day life.
Allow me to quote the challenges
that were discussed in Vita Consecrata on consecrated life. It was
written in no. 88 the challenges of consecrated chastity. It states that “the
first challenge is that of hedonistic culture which separates sexuality for all
objective moral norms, justifying a kind of idolatry of sexual instinct. The
reply of consecrated life is joyful living of perfect chastity as a witness to
the power of God’s love manifested in the weakness of human condition.” It
continues that “it is offered to everyone in order to show that power of God’s
love can accomplish great things precisely within the context of human love.”
No. 89 is about the challenge of poverty. It was written that “the challenge of
poverty is materialism which craves possession, heedless of the needs and
sufferings of the weakest and lacking any concern for the balance of natural
resources. The reply of consecrated life is found in the profession of
evangelical poverty which is expressed in solidarity and charity. It is
attesting in imitating poor Christ that God is the true wealth of the human
heart under the inspired principle of simplicity and hospitality.” Lastly, no.
91 talks about the challenge of freedom in obedience. It was said in this no.
that “consecrated person testifies that there is no contradiction between
obedience and freedom. Indeed, Jesus discloses the mystery of human freedom as
the path of obedience to the Father’s will and the mystery of obedience as the path
to the gradual conquest of true freedom. They intend to show their awareness of
being children of the Father; as a result they take the Father’s will as their
daily bread, as their rock, their joy, their shield and their fortress.”
It was indeed the invitation for
those who vowed to consecrate themselves in chastity, poverty and obedience.
But the priests and nuns are not only committing themselves to live the
consecrated for their own advantage. As we remember that “consecrated person
gives witness to the truth to the people of God.” So, they are made as
instrument in order to lead us to the holiness of life which is for everyone.
We are God’s children created in His own likeness. Thus, whatever state of life
we embrace, we are encouraged by God to live the life that Jesus live that is
to be chaste, be charitable and be obedient to God.
Truly, I personally felt afraid of
the challenges that await me. It is not easy to be an example to someone who is
already blinded by the world. It is not easy to be an example to someone who is
sunk from the abyss of this world. Not only that, because many consecrated
person failed to live faithfully their vows, they have biases already about
priest and nuns. Others have put them (consecrated person) into the box labeled
with ‘You are also the same with them and soon you too will leave.’ But as I
try to get closer with Him while carrying all these worries, I remember the
phrase of the song entitled, You Are Mine “Do not be afraid I am with you.” I
regain back my confidence and said those are given challenges already that
cannot stumble the person who ‘watch and pray.’ As long as I will not lost
contact with my God like a child holding the hands of his/her father, putting
all his/her trust and entrusting his/her life to the father, I will never be
lost along the way.
We need to relive the consecrated
life to make God’s presence felt in each one of us in this world. This means to
give witness to the life of Jesus even if it costs our life.
EXPERIENCE OF GOD THROUGH CHRISTAN MEDITATION: JOBIN THAYYIL
EXPERIENCE
OF GOD THROUGH CHRISTAN MEDITATION
JOBIN
THAYYIL
There
are different methods of prayer. Quietism, rationalism, speculative,
apophatetic, kathaphatic, pietism,
encratism, affective, etc. The most important aim of prayer is to experience God.
Christian meditation is one of the methods for experiencing God. Christian
meditation is a silent prayer with a repeated Mantra. Meditation is a
way of self-knowledge and self acceptance.
For
Christian meditation there are there important things. First stillness which means
keeping our mind always steady. Secondlysilence meaning to make our mind and
body quiet and pay attention to God. Then lastlySimplicity, meansdo not use our
head and our reasons. There are four important things to be kept in mind for
good meditation. We should discipline ourselves do not evaluate the result of
meditation because we are allowing God to work within us and He has His own
time to work. Then do not expect
something before dong meditation and start with zero.
For
me Christian meditation is easier than other methods of prayer. Because for
other methods we are more inclined to use our intelligent and reason. But for Christian
meditation Holy Spirit is guiding us and more than the head the heart is used. We
are entrusting ourselves fully to the will of God. The means for doing that is denying
ourselves. Jesus says in the gospel of Luke 9:23 “if you want to come with me,
you must deny yourself, take up your cross every day, and follow me.” If we are
not ready to deny ourselves Holy Spirit cannot work in us. To deny ourselves
means to avoid our ego. The signs of our ego self are desire to dominate,
desire to keep, desire to be advance , desire to hold on everything etc. so for
doing the will of God we have to avoid our ego and deny ourselves even it is
against our will.We can see this in the Holy Family. They did not do anything
according to their will. But they deny themselves for the will of God. They
always seek and act according to the will of God.
Through Christian meditation we can find our
true self. We are the image of God and this is our true self. Our duty is to
avoid our false self that is ego and find our true self that is the image of God.
Christian meditation is an egoless prayer. We do not desire to possessGod but
to love Him and experience His love.
Christian
meditation is the prayer of faith. Through this we are having a good
relationship with God. It will increase our faith in God and encourage us to
trust fully in God. we are the part of Jesusbody. That is our true self.
Through meditation we can find our true self and become a good child of God.
REFLECTION PAPER ON VITA CONCECRATA.
JOBIN
THAYYIL
Consecrated
life is a call to prophecy. In the history of the church along side other
Christians there have been men and women consecrated to God who through a
special grace of Holy Spirit have carried out a genuinely prophetic ministry
speaking in the name of God to all even to the pastors of the church. True
prophecy is born of God from friendship with Him, from attentive listening to
his word in different circumstances. Prophets feel in their hearts a burning
desire for the holiness of God and
having heard his word in the dialogue of
prayer , they proclaim that word with their lives , with their lips, and with
their action becoming people who speak
for God against evil and sin. Prophetic witness requires the constant and
passionate search for Gods will, for self giving for unfailing communion in the
church for the practice of spiritual discernment and love of the truth.
It
is necessary to show the witness of prophetic life in the modern world where
the signs of God have been lost. For that firstly we have to entail the
affirmation of the primacy of God and of eternal life. It should be through
following of Jesus who consecrated His life for the glory of God and to the
love of His brethren. We can do this
through fraternal life. A prophet should be ready to even sacrifice his life to
bear witness. Secondlytheprophesy requires a consistency between proclamation
and life. Their life and teaching should
go together. It is also needed that they should have the harmony with church’s
magisterium and discipline. A consecrated
person should be faithful to his life even to the point of martyrdom. We have
many examples of martyrs who kept their faith in the midst of persecution and sufferings
in the history of the church. They enlighten us by their examples , they intercede
that we may be faithful and they awaits us in glory. The church always inviting
us to imitate them.
The
decree also explained about three major challenges of consecrated life.They are
related directly to the evangelical councils of chastity, poverty and
obedience. The consecratedlife really transforms the true human values. The evangelical council should not be
considered as a denial of the values inherent of sexuality, in the legitimate
desire to poses material goods or to make decision for one self. But they are
good in themselves. The profession of chastity, poverty, and obedience is a
warning not to underestimate the wound of original sin and while affirming the
value of created goods, it relativizes them by pointing to God as the absolute
good.
First
challenge against chastity is the hedonistic culture which considers sexuality
as a consumer good or treat it as a mere diversion. It justifies a kind of
idolatry of sexual instinct and it causes psychic and moral problems in individuals
and families.The reply of the consecrated life is above all in the joyful living
of perfect chastity as a witness to the power of God’s love manifested in the
weakness of human person. They love God
above all other things and love others with the same freedom of God with the
grace of God. It is offered to every on – young people ,husband and wife, and Christen
families -in order to show that the power of God’s love can accomplish great things
precisely within the context of human love.it is also witness which also meet a
growing need for interior honesty in
human relationship. The duty ofa religious is to present to today’s world an example
of chastity showing balance, self maturity, an enterprising spirit and
psychological maturity. Through this they offer a stablepoint of reference to
human love that is the pure love which concerted person draw from contemplation
of Trinitarian love. Because of this contemplation they feel that they are
capable to have a radical and universal love which gives them the strength for
the self master and discipline necessary in order not fall under the domination
of the senses and instincts.
The
decree also explains about the challenges of poverty. The main challenge is
materialism that is desire to poses things.it does not consider the people who
are weak and it has no concern for the balance of natural resources. The reply
of the consecrated life for this is the evangelical council of poverty.
Evangelical poverty is a value in itself. Because it recalls the value of
beatitudes in the imitation of the poor Christ.Its primary meaning is to
testify that God is the true wealth of human heart. It is very necessary in
this modern age where people are not concerning about the resources and its
scarcity. So consecrated persons who understand the scarcity of recourses are
leading a simple life and placing a break on desire so that they can respect
and protect the creation.They are leading a life based on fraternity inspired
by the principles of simplicity and hospitality. So they have to show concern
and compassion to the poor. They are keeping a preferential love for the poor
and they show it to those who live in a very poor condition. Many consecrated
people areliving full their life hid with Christ in Lord (col 3.3) for the
salvation of the world,freely giving themselves, and spending their life for
causes which are little appreciated and even less extolled. Through this they
are sharing the radical poverty embraced by the Lord.
Bl.
Pope John paul II also explains very
well about the challenges of obedience. The main challenge derived from the
thought of freedom. Freedom means promotion of human value and it is connected
with the respect of human person. But sometimes the freedom leads to injustice
and even violence. The effective response to this problem is obedience. Consecrated
person follow Christ through obedience who was very obedient to His father. So
the obedience of consecrated life re-proposes the obedience of Christ to the father and taking this mystery as its point of departure testifies that there is
no contradiction between obedience and freedom. Freedom is the path of
obedience to the will of the father and mystery of obedience as the path to the
gradual conquest of true freedom. So the
consecrated person proving that he is the son of the heavenly father through
obeying of His will.
The prophetic witness in the modern world
The prophetic
witness in the modern world
Nidhin
The consecrated life is
the life of witness in this world. It is
the prophetic witness to the primacy which God and the truths of the gospel
have in the Christian life. This prophetic witness is the special form of sharing
in Christ’s Prophetic office. According to Bl. Pope John Paul II the true
prophecy is born of god, from friendship with him, from attentive listening to
his word in the different circumstances of history.
The religious must feel
in their hearts a burning desire for the holiness of god and, having heard his
word in the dialogue of prayer, they proclaim that word with their lives, with
their lips and with their actions, becoming people who speak for god against
evil and sin (VC 84). This is how the religious are expected to do their prophetic
witness.
This contemporary world
demands a convincing prophetic witness because they seem to have lost the
awareness god’s presence. The consecrated persons must give witness to the
affirmation of God and eternal life. It is in this place the evangelical
counsels become necessary for the consecrated persons to become witness in the
world. They imitate the chaste, poor and obedient Christ. The living of these
counsels itself is prophetic in this present society.
The prophetic character
of the religious life demands the consistency between proclamation and living.
The religious proclaim their vows publically and in order to fulfill their
prophetic witness they must live them in its fullness. But, this modern world
and its rationalistic thoughts raises many challenges to the consecrated life.
To overcome these challenges the consecrated persons must have a courage and
faithfulness of a martyr. They must bear
witness to Christ the lord with the gift of their lives.
Bl. Pope John Paul II
speaks about three major challenges of religious life in ‘Vita Consecrata.’
They are directly related to the evangelical counsels of chastity poverty and
obedience. The vows from the rationalistic point of view is misinterpreted as a
denial of the values inherent in sexuality, in the legitimate desire to possess
material goods or to make decision for oneself. But the real meaning of the
evangelical counsels are far beyond these explanations. It is not the denial of
the values of human life but it is the affirmation of the real values of the
created goods and it relativize the created goods by pointing to God as the
absolute Good. Thus they find the real value of everything and reject the
idolatry of anything created.
Now let us go little
deep into the challenges of the consecrated life. The first challenge of the
religious life is the challenge to the consecrated chastity. That arises from
the Hedonic culture. We know what hedonism is. They have a different
understanding of happiness. They consider bodily pleasures as the real
happiness. And they separate the sexuality from all the objectives of moral
norms. It is a kind of idolatry of sexual instinct. The consecrated persons
through living the vow of chastity give witness to the world that it is
possible to love God with whole heart, putting Him above every other love and
thus love every creature with the freedom of god. It gives a witness to the
interior honesty in human relationships. The vow of chastity does not limit the
nature of man i.e. to love. But it gives a joyful liberating experience. It
gives the freedom to love everyone in this world in a same way. Through this
vow the consecrated persons are liberated from binding themselves to one person
or one family.
Another major challenge
is the materialism. It is the challenge to the vow of poverty. Materialism is a
desire for possession without considering the needs and sufferings of others
especially of poor. And the result is; the rich becomes richer and richer and
the poor becomes more poor and poorer. The profession of the evangelical
poverty is the authentic witness or testimony against this materialism. It is
expressed in an active involvement in the promotion of the solidarity and
charity. Through deferent charitable works and educational institutes the
consecrated persons fight to overcome the hunger and its cause. By living the
poverty they learn more to give than take or possess. Thus they overcome the
challenge of materialism. They attest that god is their true wealth and
challenge the idolatry of money. The
consecrated persons live the poverty by respecting and conserving the creation.
They do it through reducing the consumption, by living more simply and placing
a necessary brake on their own needs. They show a preferential love for the
poor by sharing their conditions of life through living and working among them.
The different
understanding of the notion of freedom is another major challenge to
consecrated life and it is the field where the religious through the vow of
obedience give a prophetic witness to the world. Considering the obedience of
Christ to the Father as the point of reference we can prove that there is no
contradiction between obedience and freedom. Obedience is actually the gradual
conquest of true freedom. We gain the freedom of the children of God through
obedience so we can say that obedience makes us actually what we are. We find
our true identity as children of God through obedience.
As a conclusion we can
say that the challenges that consecrated persons faces in their lives
challenges them to show the world a true testimony with their lives. And the
evangelical counsels are the means for giving witness to the world. The
counsels makes them prophets and give them the courage of a prophet.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Psychology course on maturity and interpersonal relationship
Psychology course on
maturity and interpersonal relationship
We had our two days
course on inter-personal relationship and maturity at the pastoral center of
Surathanni Diocese by Fr. Sompong. He is the diocesan priest of that diocese.
He gave us talk on maturity in the first session. 
In the second session
Fr. Sompong taught us about interpersonal relationship and personality
development. Since we live in the community the mature interpersonal
relationship is very necessary. He also taught us about different kinds of
personalities in our live.
The classes were really
helpful for us to grow mature in our relationship with one another.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
FEAST OF HOLY SPOUSES AND CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
FEAST OF HOLY SPOUSES AND CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
On
January 19th at 5 O’ clock am we started our journey to Sampran to
attend the feast of Holy Spouses and for our course on Christian Meditation.
Before arriving there we stopped by Hua Hin floating market and farm. We
really enjoyed there for some times. The market was not functioning that time.
But we had our good times in the farm. From there we went to Zonta, the place
of Fr. Dominic and stayed overnight there. Then on next day we went
around Ratha Buri to see the beauty of the place. We went to the Scenery
Vintage Farm. It was really beautiful. We saw a lot of sheep there and we had a
lot of fun there with different games like shooting, basketball, throw ball,
archery and so on. We really enjoyed there.
We
reached at Sampran on 20th of January. We helped the seminarians
there to do some cleaning as part of preparation for feast. Then we had our
interesting football match against seminarians. Though they defeated us in some
games we all enjoyed them and the seminarians too.
On 21st we hanged around Sampran to
see some interesting places like Ban Puan (pastoral centre of Bangkok arch
diocese), St. Joseph school, and Blessed John Paul II memorial hall. We went
also to the cemetery and visited the tomb of Fr. John Bosco and br. Paul Arthit
and prayed for the eternal repose of their souls. Then we went to see the
Sangtham College or Lux Mundi. It is the only collage of Philosophy and
theology in Thailand. Seminarians from all the dioceses and religious
congregations are studying there.
On
25th of January was the celebration of the Holy Spouses Mary and Joseph.
All the benefactors of our Congregation in Thailand came to attend the feast.
It was a big and holy celebration. At 10.30 Am we had our Holy Mass. Fr. Winai was
the main celebrant. He was assisted by ten of our confreres. After the
celebration of the Eucharist there was special prayer to Holy Spouses and all
those who attended Mass offered flowers to them. After the Mass there was grant
lunch and some programs. Fr. PeterBancha andFr. Dominic were the masters of the
ceremony. In the afternoon there was a big foot ball match between the
Stigmatine seminarians and those who left the seminary before. Most of them had
come to attend the feast.Our minor seminarians won the game.
On
that same day evening at 7.30 pm we started our course on Christian meditation
with Fr. Presert from Redemptorist fathers. We went to their house and attended
the course. It was 5 session course. We completed the course in two days.
Christian meditation is an “affective” method of prayer in which we pray with
our heart. We learned a lot about it and practiced it at the end of all the
sessions.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Reflections on the
Spiritual Excercice
in Chiangmai
By Jobin Thayyil
In
the first day our retreat masters Rev. Fr. Paul asked us to pray three times. He
gave two bible passages those were ex. 2:23 – 3: 12 and 1 Samuel 3--. 1-10. He
also gave us the pictures related to these passages. First I meditated on ex2:23.
It was about calling of Moses. God called Moses when he went closer to God. He
approached the burning bush out of curiosity. When he approach it God talked to
him. So in order to hear and respond to Gods call I should also go closer to
him. Moses was also asked to take off his sandals. This means that we have to
detach from world. We have to take off the impure things to approach God. To
approach the holy place we have to remove everything which are hindrance to
holiness. The detachment from the world will help me more to attach to God. God
always listen the cry of his people. He is a God who is having compassion to
his people. He chose Moses to save Israel from the slavery of Egypt. Thus we
can say that every vocation is the answer for the cry of God’s people. I am
also called by God to wipe the tears of his people and bring them to him. Moses
was a person who could not speak well. When Moses said this to God he said that
I am with you. I am also very weak but God can make me strong.
I
received the same message when I reflect on the book of Samuel. God called
Samuel when he was sleeping in the temple. He was very close to God. Samuel was
able to respond well to His call with the help of Eli. He said that Lord speak your servant is listening.
I also have to respond to God’s call and submit myself fully to God like
Samuel. In the thirds prayer period I reflected on Luke 10. 11-12. this passage
was about the choosing and sending of 72 disciples by Jesus. They were sent by
Jesus to preach. It is the duty of the disciples to preach. Whether people
accept or reject they must to preach the good news trusting fully in God.
The
second day Fr. Paul taught us two methods of prayer; contemplation and Lectio Divina.
We were asked to pray three times. I used the method of contemplation for two
prayer periods. In this method there are three preludes. 1. Read and understand
the history. 2. Imagine the place, the characters and the events. 3. Ask our God
what I want and desire. First I reflect upon Jn .1. 34- 42.it says about the
first disciples of Jesus. I also tried to put myself in the gospel. At first I
found it very hard to concentrate because I was very distracted. But after wards I was able to do that. I
reflect on this gospel in the garden of seven foundens. Jesus was asking the
disciples to come and see where he was living. They went and stayed with him. They
were able to understand and proclaim about him. They brought Simeon to Him. Since
I am also called to proclaim Christ I must know Him first. So at the end of the
meditation I asked the intercession of Mary the mother of God and concluded the
meditation with an Our father.
In
the second section I reflected on john. 1 .43- 53using the same method. This
says about the calling of Philip. Jesus called Philip and said. “Follow me.” He
followed him suddenly. He was also able to bring Nathaniel to Jesus.
When he reached Jesus told that Jesus had seen
him before when he was sitting under the fig tree. He also believed in him.
During the time of contemplation I was very peaceful and I was able to complete
my meditation and imagine the gospel. At the end I asked the intercession of
mother Mary to pray for me to increase my faith. I concluded my prayer with an
our father.
In
the third section I use the method of Lectio Divimna. I reflected on Jn. 1
1-18. I read the scripter passage slowly slower than usual without pausing.
After that I read the passage again used word by word and phrase by phrase.
When I came to know that a phrase touched me I tried to reflect on it. The
phrase which touched me was Jn 1. 8, “he himself was not the light but he came
to testify the light.” It was said about john The Baptize. He was sent by God
and his duty was to testify Jesus. The duty of the disciples of Jesus is also same
that is to show or introduce Him to the people. That is the duty of all who
received the call of discipleship. I am also called to be the disciple of Jesus
so that it is also my duty to lead the people to Him. This is the massage I
received from this prayer section. I found this method is easier and comfortable
because we reflect word by word and phrase by phrase. So if it is started to
distract we can continue the reading and go to other phrases or words. So it is
more helpful to avoid distractions. I found it more peaceful and comfortable.
In
the second section we were asked to sing psalms of thanks giving. We were asked
to do it without disturbing others. So I went to the hut at the corner of the
garden and did this. I used the canticle of Daniel. I tried to remember all the
blessing she had showered upon me and thanked him.
In
the next prayer section I went to the Labyrinth. I reflect on Jn. 2.5 That the words of mother
Mary “do whatever he tells you.” I reflected this words and walks slowly
through that .the message I received from the prayer section was to do all
things according to the will of God. For doing the will of God I have to listen
the word of God and to live according to the word of God.
So
for me the retreat was very helpful. It really helped me to increase my
spiritual life. It helped me to acquire knowledge about knew mew methods of
prayer. So the retreat was very useful.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Journey through the Labyrinth
(Experiencing God through Ignatian Spiritual Exercises)
By Carlos Pezaña Avenido
According to Fr. Paul Pullock SJ our
retreat director, the labyrinth has been the place of worship used by the
Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians, for meditations to obtain inner peace and
enlightenment. To have a firsthand experienced in the labyrinth during our
three day retreat at the Seven Fountains Spirituality Center run by the Jesuits
in Chiang Mai was very inspiring and faith enriching. For three days I prayed
in the labyrinth many times, and there was a day that I prayed three times with
different styles of prayer.
As I go through with this reflection, I
will be writing here the development of my prayers in the labyrinth and as a
whole in the Seven Fountains Spirituality Center, since from the beginning
until the end of our retreat.
I was really amazed after experiencing
praying in the Labyrinth many times because it is just like the story of
yourself journeying towards God which is at the center of the Labyrinth,
sometimes you feel that God is very near to you but you could not touch Him
because it is not the end of your journey yet, sometimes you would feel that
God is very far from you because you are walking at the very side of the
Labyrinth. While continuing your journey you would think a lot of things and
many distractions would try to trouble you. Sometimes you would lose your
consciousness as regards to what you do and sometimes you would feel very tired
because of thinking that you are walking too far already. And then, when you
feel very tired but you still want to continue to walk, it would be the time
that you would reach God at the center of the labyrinth which means that would
be the end of your journey. It was really an amazing experienced!
On the second day, I started to love the
place, the ambiance of the environment, the trees, the plants and flowers at
the surroundings. At least unlike the first day, I have plans and goals already
to be achieved at the end of the retreat, in other words I knew already what to
do. In my prayers in the chapel and in the labyrinth, I have accomplished and
made them without too much distractions. I was able to talk to the Lord deep
inside me without minding all the disturbances that were trying to control my
consciousness. And unlike the previous day, I did accept the place
wholeheartedly.
The only thing that for me made my day
incomplete is that, I was not able to talk to my retreat director because of overstaying
at the chapel for my first prayer period. I did not really notice the time and
so when I finished my prayer period without knowing that I have overstayed at
the chapel, then when I went to the main building it was already 11:15 am and I
supposed to meet my retreat director 10:50 am. Thus I have no choice but to
wait for another day to have a chance to talk to him. However, all in all, the
day was good for me and I felt the gladness and joy in my heart through reading
and understanding some scripture passage in the New Testament.
On the third day, I have realized so many
things especially the things that I have in myself. Through accomplishing all
the recommendations of the retreat director I have realized that I have a lot
of reasons to thank God for all the good and bad things that happened in my
life which lead me to develop my skills and talents that I believed will be
used in the future for His greater glory. The achievements that I have gained,
the skills and talents that I have developed, the unique personality that I
have inherited from His wonders, and even the small things that I have received
from Him are some of the reasons that I should thank God. God is really all
good and all powerful because whatever we ask from Him surely He would give it
to us through different ways and manner. Hence, in every grace that we receive
from God we should also do our part to thank Him. God does not need our ‘thank
you’ but if we did thank Him we would receive more consolation from Him just
like the leper who came back to Jesus to thank Him for healing him of his
disease.
For me, the retreat was successful, I
have reached my objectives, and my goals in the first place were actualized.
Experiencing this kind of retreat is very effective to a person who is finding
answers from his/her questions. This kind of spirituality is really faith
enriching because you don’t always find the answers to your questions through
discussions and sharing from the spiritual director. Sometimes discussions
should be set aside, and you only have to look deep within yourself through
continuous silence and meditations to find the answers you are looking for.
I can say that I have really understood
definitely this kind of retreat which is very effective by which I have
experienced it firsthand. For three days I was looking up to heaven to find the
peace I was looking for, eventually I have found it and it was not in the sky
but it was deep inside me.
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