ARVISU HOUSE - MARCH 31, 2007

by Frank Savadera, SJ

MAGANDANG UMAGA SA LAHAT!

I begin with a little story. For a very brief moment in my life, I lived in a boat. It was a huge ship … complete with a swimming pool, talking elevators, a huge theater, a ballroom and all the works and amenities. I was seeing places I haven’t even seen in my life. I was 21 years old then, fresh from college and yes and truly … still very FRESH. I was talking and interacting with people completely different from myself. For the first time, I was looking up, beholding the golden pagodas of Bangkok … and telling myself … WOW! What is this about? Do I deserve all these? What a GRAND experience indeed.

When the boat anchors on a port of call, the passengers of the ship, myself included were treated to a tour of the city. Afterwards a local family adopts us for a week. I consider myself very lucky because I lived with families who were very cordial and hospitable. They were very caring … not to mention loving … and all too generous in sharing with me their time and resources. I felt truly loved by them. And I really mean that. I’ve realized how people can simply accept others into their homes and treat them as family … yes, even for a week. Yet after a week, off we went back to the ship. We toured our adopted parents on board until we hear the old time favorite Auld Lang Syne piped in music. We usher our families back to the pier and we rush up back ON DECK to throw those colorful TICKER TAPES down below where our adopted families can hold on to one end.

There were almost four hundred of us on deck and you can imagine what a colorful site to behold those colorful ticker tapes swinging with the wind as we were also throwing confettis in the air.

But then, the huge BELL of the ship begins to toll … KLANG … KLANG … KLANG. Everybody heaves sighs of despair knowing how in a few seconds, the ship begins moving away from the pier. Everybody stays on deck holding onto his or her ticker tapes. As the ship moves farther and even father from the pier … we extend our tapes … and as the ship moves farther and farther … we feel the tapes being stretched … and overstretched … until such a time … and FINALLY … they SNAP … and BREAK … and with the BREAKING … we hear our hearts throbbing NOT so much BECAUSE OF ANXIETY … but because the IMAGE of those people disappearing in the horizon … as our ship moves away … reminds us of how we have allowed ourselves … for a short period in our lives … to be loved sincerely … and to love sincerely in return.

Why this story? Wala lang!

The past few days, the silent and quiter bell of Arvisu has been clanging! Have you been hearing it? We have thrown our ticker tapes and the ship begins moving away from the pier. Last night, during the despedida (when Joven was singing, when Bonel and Saniler were dancing and when Ladi was already too drunk to sing or dance), invisible confetti were being thrown in the air. But then, the reality is … the ship begins moving away from the pier. In a few hours, our tapes will break … and with the breaking … can we hear our hearts throbbing as well … hopefully NOT BECAUSE OF ANXIETY … but because we have allowed ourselves to be LOVED and have given LOVE in return.

Friends, I INVITE YOU … can we give a face to this LOVE and say that the LOVE we have received the past months is GOD himself. Thus, I ask: Isn’t it love … isn’t it God, the reason why Ed, for instance left GMA for TY jobs with JESCOM? Isn’t it love … isn’t God the reason why Dexter stopped pushing Polynerv … in favor of the more difficult tasks of pushing all of us to sing and sing with the right notes; Isn’t it love … isn’t it God, the reason why Jay and Jason tight rope everyday between de more and schedules in the office?

Isn’t it love … isn’t it God the reason why Bryan and Tootsie exchanged the possibility of finding better paying jobs for teaching deaf-mutes to sign language; Isn’t love … isn’t it God the reason why Job exchanged collecting urine samples for counting the minute- hand of the clock and ringing the bell 5 minutes before time.

Isn’t it love … isn’t God the reason why Benja left the shiomai business in favor of bote, dyaryo and garapa; Isn’t it love … isn’t it God the reason why Jereme left PhilHealth for a Jesus-doesn’t-remember-me infirmarian task in the house;

Isn’t it love … isn’t it God the reason why Ladi after delivering the valedictory address during his medical school graduation now contends with making us smile by his KALDERO ng Diyos and SYIEMPRE DEOGRACIAS spiels. Isn’t it love … isn’t it God, the reason, why Saniler and Phil exchanged Manang Roma’s braso de mercedez for Ate Linda’s perennial Kamote Q? Isn’t it love … isn’t it God the reason why Arvin forces himself to listen to boring lectures when he knows he can almost PERFECT the teacher’s exams? Isn’t is love … isn’t God the reason for Rod to exchange the possibility of talking Chinese to 2billion REAL Chinese than settling here with one non-chinky eyed Chinese? And lastly, isn’t it love … isn’t it God the reason why Joven chooses to simply mimic Ate Guy or Jacklyn Jose instead of flaring up because of our liturgical slips.

Friends, remember our experiences of Love and anticipate the coming of our next few life events. From Ezekiel, we learned how the God of love will continue to gather us and make us whole … will continue to deliver us from our sinfulness and compulsions … will continue to make with us a covenant of peace and dwell in our hearts … that will continue to assure us that He remains our faithful God and we, his people.

Remember, as well the first few lines of the Gospel: “Many of those who had come and seen what Jesus had done … began to believe in Him.” The past months, we have seen what Jesus has done. And so with LOVE, we believe in Him. We welcome the KLANGING of the bells, the breaking of our ticker tapes, the throbbing of our hearts with the HOPE that the LOVE we have received … will be the LOVE that we hope … as well … to share with others. Wherever that maybe … after today.

Happy New Year: A FIRE that Enkindles Other Fire

By Frank Savadera, SJ

Welcome back to school! It’s 2009 … the year of the OX and HAPPY NEW YEAR to EVERYONE!   To begin our reflection this new year, let me burden you with my singing of a song I learned when I was in 4th Grade. The song goes:  It only takes a spark to get the fire going … And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing;That’s how it is with God’s love one’s you’ve experienced it … You want to sing, it’s fresh like spring.  You want to pass it on.

It’s the New Year and isn’t right to say that we want to feel invigorated as we resume our regular tasks either in school or in the offices.  Question:  How do you return to your office desks, check on the projects and activities you left pending last year and say: WOW! WORK!  I’m so eager … I’m so excited! Let’s get back down to work … QUICK? DALI!  MagTRABAHO na tayo! What about for some of us?  How do we psyche ourselves up and say:  WOW! I have 3 term papers to finish and an exam this week … I’m so EXCITED!  Let me begin with my outline now.  Yeheey!  Magpupuyat na naman ako! Yeheeey! Ang galing!  With all the to-do-list that we have ALL begun taking out again from our pockets … with all the serious businesses that we again anticipate to get into this 2009 … today at the beginning of the year … do we expect at least to derive inspiration, joy and energy from each other.    

Let me plug and promote a new battle cry: We are the FIRE that KINDLES other FIRES … or in Pilipino, perhaps we may say:  ANG APOY NA NAGPAPANINGAS NG IBA PANG APOY. Ang  Ganda!  Isn't it that in times like these when the weather gets cooler  … it helps to find a little warmth, joy, fire and inspiration from others.  

What kind of FIRE would that be … we ask?  We read the Gospels and note that Jesus himself is that FIRE.   If for our new year’s resolution, we say we would wish to be little more patient, a little more loving and compassionate … then the Gospel exhorts us to look at Jesus.  Who is more patient?  Who is more loving?  Who is more compassionate?  We look to Jesus!  Likewise, we can note an image of Jesus as a MAN of ACTION.  Coming from our reflections on Jesus' nativity ... now we JUMP to images of Jesus beginning his public ministry.  He left his town of Nazareth and as the Gospel describes … he went around ALL of Galilee.  A man of action indeed.  Imagine … walking around ALL of GALILEE proclaiming that the Kingdom of God has indeed come. Indeed, Jesus must have been a BUSY-BODY … indeed a man of action ... such FIRE and ENTHUSIASM that we can acquire for ourselves indeed … the ACTION and RESOLUTENESS of Jesus.  

What are our many New Year’s resolutions? Madami ba? These we know, are as good only as our willingness to put them to action.   May the example of Jesus actively involved in ministry, inspires us to see how His FIRE can keep us active and productive in 2009.

Second … again from the Gospel … we pick up a kind of fire so described by Isaiah the prophet … that is, the FIRE … the GREAT LIGHT that shines upon those who sit in DARKNESS.  Sometimes we tell ourselves:  Naku ang dami na nating problema!  How can we all get out of this rut … this collective experience of darkness?  

Jesus was FIRE … but then this Fire was also LIGHT amidst the darkness.  Jesus moved around HEALING the sick, reaching out to those in pain, exorcising the devil from the possessed, letting the blind see and the lame walk.  In him, the people in darkness have indeed seen a great light.   He was “lux in domino,” the light for those losing hope, the optimist for those who have become cynics, the worthy coach for those needing a little more encouragement.  We are exhorted to be that FIRE … that LIGHT … that brings about healing more than greater division … that LIGHT that contributes to the solution to problems than to the problem itself. How are we all asked to be that beacon of light amidst our situations of darkness?    

Thirdly, that same FIRE and LIGHT is contagious and makes possible the bringing together of God’s community of believers. The Gospel tells us that as Jesus moved around curing the sick … GREAT CROWDS from GALILEE, JERUSALEM, JUDEA and even beyond the JORDAN followed Him.  Word truly gets around.  Practically speaking, we stick to products and gadgets that work.  Easily, we can become an advocate … an endorser of this brand of soap or computer or this appliance instead of that other one.  Eventually we are drawn to persons who share with us a common inclination.  Why stick it out with something or someone who or that which is repulsive?  Why?  Because FIRE and LIGHT are things that are meant to provide us a sense of WELLNESS. Isn’t it that we stick it out with people who appreciate us? Who make us feel good about ourselves?  This New Year our wish also is to become NOT the person whom people abhor … whom people avoid. GREAT CROWDS from all over came and followed Jesus because he had a great sense of appeal, wellness and attractiveness in him.  This is why in 2009, we would also like to be more attractive and appealing also in many ways (physically or emotionally) so that we may build a community that shares this same FIRE and LIGHT with others.

Friends, we reflect on our readings today and say simply: This 2009, we want to PASS ONTO  OTHERS the LIGHT and the FIRE that kindles the FIRE of people around us.  We look to Jesus and see how this Fire means always being in ACTION, always wishing to serve as the LIGHT amidst our experiences of darkness and sharing this most appealing and attractive FIRE and LIGHT with the GREAT CROWDS that long to see and experience Jesus.  Friends, this is what we would like to pass on to others this 2009.  And with the same song we sang earlier, we end our reflection and say:  What a wondrous time is spring, when all the trees are budding.  The birds begin to sing … the flowers start their blooming.  That’s how it is with God love … once you’ve experienced it.  You want to sing, it’s fresh like spring.  You want to pass it on.  (Jesus … the FIRE that KINDLES OTHERS FIRE. Allow us the grace to PASS ONTO OTHERS your LIGHT and your LOVE this 2009). AMEN.

Young Jesuits in Macau: 2003

Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral (old Jesuit Church) in Macau. We were in Macau in 2003 for the Jesuit Scholastics and Brothers' in Formation Circle Meeting.

MESSAGES FROM JUDITH

by Frank Savadera, SJ

Miles away from us, my friend Judith sends her regular e-mail. For the past two years, she has been writing about how life is in America. Quite often, she would tell us about the exciting places, the new people and communities that she comes in close contact with. Unusual is the fact that she never sent any of her photographs. Instead, her lengthy paragraphs, detail the new goings-on in her life – her pains and her simple joys, her greater appreciation for family, her growing regard for prayer, for friends and even for the minutest things. Her mails are usually the mushy type, approximating the content of ‘forwarded’ messages that we would rather immediately delete from our inboxes. Yet, something about these messages often leaves a lump in my throat, rendering my body momentarily numbed and my mind seemingly wandering away from my usual and mundane preoccupations. You see, Judith is not a mere tourist nor a Filipina trying her luck in New York. At the start of the advent season this year, she just had to break the news: the doctors had been very kind yet honest to inform that her cancer had spread. Emotions initially gripped me as I read through the text which informed how the mail I was reading may well be her last. I was stunned yet consciously perplexed. Some hundred miles away from me, a woman, a friend lies helpless, perhaps even in pain, contemplating what and how life had been, given her now fragile existence. Have you ever thought of yourself, at the twilight of your years, sitting in one corner of a room, rocking your chair and asking yourself -- what may well be for my friend Judith, a far from a mere academic inquiry -- the very real and most dreadful existential questions: “How do I make sense out of the things happening around me? What is my life truly about? What is there for me to hope for?”

Firstly, I ask these questions out of the experience of occasionally being stunned and numbed by certain phenomena and goings on in my life, by the true-to-life-shocking situations just as that of Judith’s. Since the possibilities of experience are numerous and varied, then from life, I can almost always expect more perplexing, more puzzling questions that may accompany every instance that come my way.

Needless to say, the events that transpire outside of me, are never detached from who I am. Thus to make full sense of events, much like that of the sufferings of a friend, means for me a breaking free from my unattached, isolated existence to a cognition of the 'other' that ever impinges itself on my oftentimes impervious system of constructs. Life, therefore, must endeavor change. I must continually open myself up to a world that promises to reveal new ways of looking at and absorbing things. Life is to fashion myself as an actor, that is, more than a mere spectator, and involved in a drama of existence that establishes for myself a basic commitment to processes of and goings on in the world. And … what is there for us to eventually hope for? Praying for Judith, likewise led me to a biblical story of a widow, a Jewish woman who carried my friend’s same peculiar name. Scriptures talk about this wealthy and beautiful woman who lived life in lonely mourning for her dead husband. We learned that in her precarious emotional state, the biblical Judith so trusted a far greater force that allowed her to take on the challenge to engender a spirit of confidence amongst her downtrodden people. She exposed herself to the enemy line, charmed her oppressors and in her weakness and lack, ensured victory for her nation.

Life, I continue to discover arouses in us such a sense of hope, such a sense of victory that comes even amidst our many limitations --- a consequence of our acknowledgement of the far greater being, the God who makes even our living and hoping possible. Thus, with the same words that inspired the biblical Judith to seek life amidst our utter lack and limitations, we continue to submit ourselves to the act of living by praying: “O God, my God, hear me …. It is you who are the author of all events and of what precedes and follows them. The present also and the future you have planned. Whatever you devise comes into being; the things you decide on come forward and say, “Here we are! All your ways are in readiness and your judgement is made with foreknowledge.” (adopted from Judith 9:5-6) To the greater Being that allows us to hope and live, we come forward and say: “Here we are, Lord. We take life as you had given us ... and as you may decide ... to take that same life away.” I’ll be seeing you, Judith.

Love is Easier Said than Done

"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."  (John 15:12)

To share love is always easier said than done.  A story goes:  A well loved pope lays in his sick bed, waiting for his time on earth to expire.  People gathered around Saint Peter's Square crying and wailing, shrieking and emotionally expressing their love for the sick pope.  A papal delegate soon came out of the balcony to make an announcement:  "The pope needs a heart.  Who will be willing to donate his heart for the pope?" he said.  Everyone in the crowd roared and said "I will donate my heart for the pope."  Each person was shouting at the top of his lungs as if competing to be heard.  The papal delegate smiled with contentment and announced: "To choose which among you can donate his heart,"  he said, "we will blow a feather off the balcony.   On whose head the feather falls, will donate his heart to the pope." Everyone fell silent.  The delegate was signalling to blow a feather off the balcony.  Each was looking at one another.  A stampede occurred.  Soon, the square was empty.  Who truly loved the pope?  To share love is always easier said than done.    

NOVITIATE PHOTOS

Sapang Palay: Last Day!

I wouldn't wish to get out of my bed this morning.  Today is our last day in Sapang Palay and my heart is heavy and troubled.  We are detaching ourselves from friends again.  They have become like family to us.  But then, even amid the sadness of being separated from friends, I look at the past year and feel still oh so blessed.  "Papuri sa Diyos sa Kaitasan."  The past two years had indeed been an experience of love and being loved.  I've found love being among the simple and downtrodden.  I've found God promising that I'll find this same love again and again if I care to look and hope for new encounters with new friends.  Allow me to reach out to more of your people , Lord.  Allow me to be more free as You have been in giving much of Yourself to us.