March-April 2018
From the Editor
Responding to the Call
By Arlenne Villahermosa
The Missionary Society of St. Columban’s centenary celebration has been blessed with two ordinations in the Philippines in the month of February: Diaconate Ordination of Rev. Peter Dong, the first Chinese member of the Society in one hundred years on February 4, 2018, and the Priestly Ordination of Rev. Erl Dylan Tabaco on February 17, 2018.
These two occasions speak not only of jubilation on the day of ordination but also of a journey filled with the grace of God, a process of listening to and answering the call. They speak of formative years so that each one may discover and know the depth of God’s love in themselves, and by the same love reach out to others in mission . . .
The Late Dawn of a Restless Dream
Here is an article about the diaconate ordination of Peter.
A faith born in the shadows cast by a single candle in a tightly curtained room of a small farming village in China emerging from the repression of the Cultural Revolution in the early 1980s blossomed on February 4 in the chapel of the Columban Seminary in Manila, as Peter knelt before Bishop Honesto Ongtioco to be ordained a deacon, becoming a minister of the word of God that he had imbibed in the clandestine darkness of his home so many years before.
The ordination was also the fulfillment of a dream born in the imagination of an Irish priest working in China over 100 years ago . . .
Solemn Profession of Filipina Carmelite in Belgium
By Sr. Mary Carmela OCD
Sr. Marie Paul Thérèse after her Solemn Profession
This story has one of its beginnings in the pages of MISYON, as MISYONonline.com was known before. Columban magazines have been a significant part of the vocation story of many, not all of them Columbans, such as Sr. Marie Paul Thérèse of Jesus the Good Shepherd. We thank God for that.
On Sunday October 1, 2017, the feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the sun was shining brightly in Vilvoorde, Belgium. The Carmelite monastery church, the Basilica of Our Lady of Consolation, was beautifully decorated with white flowers and filled with more than the usual Sunday attendance. The atmosphere was festive as Sr. Marie Paul Thérèse of Jesus the Good Shepherd, our youngest Sister, pronounced her perpetual vows in the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel during the Solemn Mass that began at 3pm.
The eldest of four siblings, Sr. Marie Paul Thérèse, née Jurechille Catalan, was a member of the Redemptorist Youth Ministy in her birthplace, Iligan City. She came to know Vilvoorde Carmel in 2007 upon reading The Touches of God in MISYON, then a printed magazine, by one of the Filipina Sisters, Sr. Carmela, about her first home visit. She was intrigued by the term "contemplative-missionary Carmelite", something new to her and asked how it was possible to be one . . .
Music Eases My Journey
By Vasemaca Ratu
Vasemaca Ratu is a Columban Lay Missionary from Fiji who came to the Philippines in December 2015. After language studies she was assigned to Barra sub-parish, Opol, Misamis Oriental doing catechesis with the children. She is also involved with the women’s ministry (livelihood), Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC), and with the youth ministry. Now, she is working with the Diocesan Deaf Ministry of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro.
Learning a new language is really difficult. One has to become a child again. It is entering a new culture that you were not born into. The question most people ask is: WHY LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE?
During my six months language studies, I really struggled to learn Cebuano. My brain was suffocated with new words, grammar, etc., every day. Sometimes I felt like quitting but I realized only losers quit. My body had to adjust also to the change of climate, culture and language. Thinking I had a goal to achieve I did SELF-CARE in order to continue my journey. . .
What I Have Learned from CLINICAL PASTORAL EDUCATION (CPE)
By Peter Dong
Peter Dong with Fr. Felisiano Fatu, Rector of the Columban Formation Program, Philippines
The author is a Columban seminarian.
I took the Clinical Pastoral Education program at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute. There were nine of us. I thought CPE was about helping the sick deal with sufferings and death. However, along the way, I gradually discovered that it was not only about helping the sick, but also helping my own self. While doing my patient visitation rounds, I recognized my own issues and weaknesses. I, too, need to grow and be healed. Many times, it was not I who comforted the patients, but instead, they were the ones who comforted me, with the way they went through the process of healing. This gave me hope. The group processing helped me face my own shortcomings and affirm the goodness in myself. . .
Will I Wait for the End of Time?
By Larry G. Duerme
The author is a Columban seminarian from Salawagan, Quezon, Bukidnon doing his spiritual formation year in Cubao, Quezon City. Here he shares to us the poem he wrote as product of his reflection attending the Laudato Si’ – Awakening The Dreamer Workshop.
Will I wait for the end of time?
When the last heave of breath is gone?
When all that I see now are dead?
When the beautiful created things of this life are already shattered?
. . .
The Missionary Society of St. Columban has been blessed with two ordinations in February 2018 – ordinations to priesthood and diaconate. Thank God for the gift of Vocations! It is then fitting to raise this question which puzzled a number of the faithful: What is the Sacrament of Holy Orders and why is it called “Orders”?
March – April 2018
You know that the rulers of nations behave like tyrants and the powerful oppress them. It shall not be so among you: whoever wants to be great in your community, let him minister to the community. And if you want to be the first of all, make yourself the servant of all. Be like the Son of Man, who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life to redeem many.
~ Matthew 20:25b-28