Warm Greetings from Lipa!
A lot of things have happened in the Asia-Oceania common novitiate. And since I find it difficult to convey the nooks and crannies of our experiences, I’ll use the imageries of Sendong and the recent earthquake which struck Negros and Cebu to describe what has happened within ourselves over the months. I fear that I might be exaggerating things. But come to think of it, each of us in this Redemptorist journey has our share of “storms and quakes” that have brought out the real and the best in us after the seemingly interminable havocs encountered along the way.
Just as Sendong had deeply impacted the Pasko of the Kagay-anons, the leaving of our bros. Vince Chloe, Kenneth and Sern had affected the general disposition of the rest of the novices amidst the jovial atmosphere of the Christmas season. The series of leaving, which roughly happened week after week, toned down our festive celebration of the yuletide days. Personally, their leaving made me ask myself, “What is making me stay?” I found out later that the rest of my brothers who stayed behind were asking themselves the same thing. In a positive light, this particular storm compelled us to purify our motivations. I must say that we commend the courage of our brothers Vince Chloe, Kenneth and Sern who after careful discernment, decided for themselves to take on new paths in life, paths which are generally unfamiliar to them. We will never forget the wonderful experiences we have shared with them. As we continue to pray for our own vocations, they are rest assured of our prayers as well. So long dear brothers, ‘til our paths cross again!
One of the highlights of January was our Exposure-Immersion to the different sectors situated around different parts of Luzon. This event is one of the unique and defining modules of the EXODUS classes. With novices from other participating congregations, we spent ten days in our respective assigned areas. (Bros. Regan and Ranmal in TALA leprosarium; Bro. Dom with the Fisherfolks of San Diego, Batangas; Bro. Jomil in the Farmers of Pampanga; and I with the Indigenous People-Aetas of Haduan, near Clark Air Base) By the end of ten days, each of us was saying that the experience was truly enriching, meaningful and inspiring. I could very well attest to that. True enough, I never expected that it would be the Aetas who would teach me what joy and selfless love truly mean. We thought that we were sent there to make a difference. But it was the people whom we had encountered who made a difference in our lives.
Currently, we are now in the final quarter of our novitiate journey. It seems that the storms have come to relapse. A process of letting the insights and learning, brought about by various experiences, sink in into the deepest recesses of our minds and hearts is taking place. I see the novitiate as an opportunity of letting our roots run deep into the ground, making the very foundations and essentials of our vocation journey sturdily grounded. One question that comes to my mind is “How is my faith and love for Christ after all these experiences?” Needless to say, this faith and love which have immensely transformed us will be the saving grace to keep us standing when the storms and quakes come again.
