Eymard and his ‘Corpus Christi’ Experience
May 25, 1845 – Corpus Christi Procession (Lyon)
I had the special honor to carry the most Blessed Sacrament at St Paul’s, and my soul was very much at home. It was filled with faith and love for Jesus in his divine Sacrament. These two hours appeared to be just an instant. At the foot of our Lord, I placed the Church, France, the Catholics, the Society, and myself. What emotions and tears, as though my heart were under a press! How I wished to have at that time all the hearts in the world… the zeal of St Paul!
This is what I promised our Lord.
Since the beginning of this month, I felt a great attraction to our Lord, but I never experienced it as being so strong. This attraction inspires me in my preaching, in my devotional counseling; I want to bring the whole world to know and love our Lord and to preach only Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ Eucharistic. I have already done this many times in the confessional, and in several instructions; and our Lord has blessed his words. This is what I promised our Lord, with my whole heart and soul. This is a serious resolution, and, from now on, it will be the object of all my prayers and all my vows. I asked our Lord for the spirit of St Paul, that great Lover of Jesus Christ. Starting today, I will begin reading his works, at least two chapters every day. I took St Paul as my Protector and patron in this new kind of apostolate, and my good Mother in order to initiate me into the spirit of his divine Son and to personify him in me. O my God! What a joy it would be for me to be worthy to hear from your lips these words addressed to St Thomas the Angelic Doctor: Tu de me bene dixisti, Petre!…
O my God, you know my prayer during your triumph, Pater qui es in cælis. I will renew it often. Oh! It did me a lot of good!
(NR 27,3)
SEND-OFF MASS FOR POSTULANTS BATCH 2018
The Province of Our Lady of the Assumption (POLA), the Philippine Province ofthe Congregation of the Blessed Sacraments, is blessed to have nine incomingpostulants this 2018. After months of aspirancy in BSVC, these young menresponded to the challenge of entering postulancy. They reported last May 23at the Eymard Formation Center; and on the next three days (May 24-26), with Fr. Marlon Reyes, SSS, they proceeded to the Blessed Sacrament Novitiate fortheir preparatory retreat.
Last May 27, during the eucharistic celebration of the Solemnity of the MostHoly Trinity at 3:30 p.m. (which is actually our “Vocation Mass” in Sta. CruzParish), the “Lucky 9” were sent-forth. Fr. Joseph Matitu, SSS, was the mainpresider and homilist, with some SSS priests and Fr. Lito Villegas, parish priestof Sto. Niño de Tondo, as concelebrants. Families and friends of the incomingpostulants were also present promising their support and prayers for ourseminarians.
As we continue to celebrate the Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons, letus remain hopeful through prayers and hard work for more harvest of newlaborers in the church, especially in our congregation.
Fr. Marlon Reyes, SSS, Vocation Director
PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH GOD
(Thanksgiving message of Br. Walker, SSS)
On May 1—the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, three young men took the challenge to give themselves to God. They expressed their humble desire to live the life of a Religious by professing the evangelical vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The Congregation is indeed grateful to God for Brs. Coco, Jabog, and Walker for giving themselves for the service of the Church and the Congregation. The three professed before Very Reverend Joseph dc. Matitu, Provincial Superior, at the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, concelebrated by Rev. Fr. Vergel Dalangin, Novice Director, and with other Sacramentino priests and brothers from different communities present. Here is the excerpt from the thanksgiving message of Br. Walker during that occasion.
Three years back, on May 30, 2015, we were seven postulants sent off at the Mass. Six flew to Davao for the Postulancy program under the direction of Fr. Andres Malawis, SSS, Postulant Director. I stayed at Eymard Formation Center (EFC) until November 26, 2015, under the care of Fr. Reynaldo Capili, SSS, Scholastic Director, together with Fr. Allen Peña, SSS, Pastoral Director. During my stay at EFC, I have learned the importance of community life, prayer life through the Holy Mass and Adoration, and my personal encounter with God. When I transferred to Davao, I enjoyed my stay there a lot. I have experienced different memories and events. We are thankful for the generosity and hospitality of the people. Likewise, to Fr. Andres, for his care, love, kindness, and availability. Thank you for making our foundation into a unique way where we can truly be open to the formation. Thank you for the beautiful life-lasting memorable culmination of our formation in various beautiful venues.
We entered the Novitiate on May 13, 2016, under the care of Fr. Anthony Riosa, SSS, and Fr. Zaldy Norba, SSS, in just a few weeks. In our first year, we are formed to adore regularly even during free days and Sundays. Jabog and Coco learned how to play musical instruments. We also developed prayer life, brotherly love, hard work, and being responsible in many ways. In spite of many trials and challenges, we were able to survive the first year of our formation. When we reached second year, Fr. Vergel Dalangin, SSS, was our Novice Master. The formation is intense as to test further our vocation. We had three exposures and a thirty-day retreat. We had exposures in the community with the workers, in Tala Leprosarium, and in an urban setting in Sta. Cruz Parish and San Vicente Ferrer Parish. Our thirty-day retreat was also an awesome experience particularly when we wrote our covenant letter. We truly experienced the true God who had called us to be a religious.
We are deeply indebted to our formators, families, and friends. Likewise, we would like to thank our Brothers novices and scholastics. Lastly, to our Provincial who made my dream come true to be a Sacramentino. Of course, we are grateful for the gift of vocation in the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.
Basic Orientation On Eucharist for the Youth: Rekindling the Millennials
by: Jean Marc Ella Tadla (Christ the King GKK)
Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot about the Generation Y much known as the Millennials. This generation is dubbed as social-media-dependent and digital natives who are raised in the era of mobile phones. And while everyone’s still adjusting to this technology-savvy generation, here comes the Generation Z, or the Post-Millennial Generation, ready to add some more trend to our society. With these two generations representing our youth today, a lot of doubt was expressed as to the capabilities of the younger generation, if they could still be the real hope of our future: Will these tech-savvy youth fulfill the aspirations of the previous generation towards a better humanity? Or will the growing influence of technology take over and dominate the values and faith of today’s younger generation?
With the struggle of coping with generational diversities, certain efforts and adjustments are needed in captivating the interest of the youth to join parish activities. But despite all the critical judgments thrown to these two generations, they are proving others that they are not just good at taking selfies and updating their Facebook stories. Breaking the millennial stereotype, last April 8, the youth of the Our Lady of the Assumption Parish showed their interest to participate in parish activities during the Basic Orientation on Eucharist for the Youth (BOEY) , which was started with a Eucharistic Celebration. There were 118 youth participants who willingly joined the BOEY to nourish their faith as their preparation for the upcoming 10th Summer Youth Camp 2018. They joyfully appreciated the five different topics that helped them to understand more about their faith and relationship with God. The inputs were about God’s Love on Salvation History, Journeying with Jesus, Eucharist as Celebration and Memorial, Parts of the Mass, and Missioning. The talks somehow touched the fragile hearts of the youth, who have their own individual struggles in life. The lectures also became their way of renewing their faith and commitment to God.
During formations, it is always a challenge to retain the attention and interest of the younger generations. To avoid dull moments, the facilitators gave different activities that the youth really enjoyed such as picture viewing of varied family portraits, role-playing of different celebrations and arranging the parts of the Mass. They also had the chance to reflect on those moments where they experienced God’s love and to contemplate where is Jesus in their journey. During the Joys & Pains Activity, everyone had the chance to express and share their thoughts in line with their assigned hugot hashtags namely: #Umasa#Nasaktan, #KasamaKita & #MayForever. They voiced their struggles and frustrations as a youth including their gladness, hopes, and strengths as they journey with God. The highlight of the day was the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, wherein the youth had the chance to adore and experience the presence of Jesus Christ. It was a chance for them to give thanks for all the blessings they’ve received and will be receiving. It is an opportunity for them to ask for God’s grace and to open their hearts and feel His unconditional love. It was a perfect time for them to be at peace with the Blessed Sacrament and appreciate this opportunity to be renewed and be with Jesus Christ.
The whole-day BOEY was a success as it was ended with a missioning activity where they were enlightened to their purpose as active youth members of the church. Before heading home, they have shown their support to more upcoming parish activities as they committed their time and passion in ensuring a continuous relationship between the youth and the church through the commitment making activity. They wanted to show that the millennial and the emerging post-millennial youth are still the real hope of our future. It was everyone’s desire that the younger generations achieve these missions and be more selfless rather than taking selfies and to disconnect from the internet and be more connected to Jesus. As they ensure that the Eucharist will always be the center of their lives and no matter how fast technology changes the world, their faith remains. It will serve as their source of strength while they conquer their individual struggles and guaranteed that they would keep their faith growing as they journey to be young servant leaders.
Kabataan-LITES held at Tagaytay City
The Missionaries of Charity invited the LITES Team to facilitate a KABATAAN LIFE IN THE EUCHARIST SEMINAR (K-LITES) last May 11 to 13. The event was held in Tagaytay City.
There were 32 participants, all male, from Sta. Maria and Marilao in Bulacan, from Tondo in Manila and from Tagaytay City, who are being ministered by the Missionaries of Charity through their catechetical program.
K-LITES is a formation and reflection on the Eucharist as a way of life. It was designed specifically for the youth and young professionals to make them aware of the centrality of the Eucharist in Christian life.
The seminar is divided into five parts, and each part allows the young participants to reflect on the Eucharist being God’s love as (1) Nourishment; (2) Reconciliation; (3) Transformation; (4) God’s Abiding Presence; and (5) Liberation. The structured learning activities made the seminar truly interesting for the young participants.
— Mr. Dante Chua
EYMARD ONCE AGAIN ON CORPUS CHRISTI
This feast day of God, which the Church calls Festum sacratissimi Corporis Christi, “Feast of the most sacred Body of Christ,” is the only day dedicated exclusively to the honor of His adorable Person, of His living presence in our midst.
The other feasts commemorate some mystery of His past life; they are beautiful; they glorify God; and they are a rich source of graces for us. But after all they are only reminders, anniversaries of an already distant past, which relives only in our piety and devotion. Our Savior is no longer personally present in those mysteries; He accomplished them once for all and left only His grace in them. But Corpus Christi is an actual mystery; the object of this feast is our Lord’s Person, living and present in our midst. That is why the celebration of it has a character all its own. No relics or symbols of the past are exposed, but the very object of the feast, which is living. In the countries where God is free, see how all the people proclaim His presence, how they prostrate themselves before Him! The impious themselves tremble and bow the head; God is there! How glorious for our Lord’s presence is this feast, on which all men acknowledge His presence and adore Him!
Corpus Christi is also the most lovable of feast days. We were not present at all the mysteries of our Savior’s life and death which we celebrate in the course of the year. We find joy in them because they are sources of grace. But on the feast of Corpus Christi we participate in the mystery itself, which takes place under our eyes. This mystery is for us.
