Rogate Ergo Asia Online (2024)

23/11/2021

Today, the Congregation of the Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus mark their 45th Anniversary of Missionary Presence in the Philippines!

On November 23, 1976, Fr. Antonio Barbangelo, RCJ, arrived in Manila, Philippines, and a month later, Fr. Diego Buscio, RCJ and Fr. Vito Di Marzio, RCJ joined Fr. Barbangelo to complete the team of Rogationist missionaries in the Philippines.

15/04/2021

NEW RELEASE:
KAYA IDALANGIN 58th WDPV SPECIAL ISSUE (Vol. 33, No. 01)
Theme: "St. Joseph: The Dream of Vocation"

Download your PDF copy here: https://www.rcj.ph/kayaidalangin

As the 58th World Day of Prayer for Vocations approaches, we are happy to release the 58th WDPV Special Issue, which features the message of the Holy Father for the celebration, the Triduum of Holy Hour in preparation for the celebration, together with the Holy Mass and Eucharistic Adoration on the day of the celebration itself. Some prayers are also featured in this issue, which we hope to help the People of God in the prayer for vocations.

You may follow our pages "Kaya Idalangin" and "Rogate Media SMP."

STAY TUNED! Feel free to "SHARE" this to your communities, friends and loved ones, and even in your timeline. If you wish to have a PDF copy of this issue, please comment your request below or send us a private message in this page.

Let us continue praying for more vocations! Let us build a community of prayer dedicated for the increase of holy men and women, who welcome the dream of God for the good of all!

17/03/2021

Our Featured Article for this Week:
THE PARISH: A LOCUS OF ENCOUNTER THAT PROMOTES LIFE AND VOCATION

In the Philippines, the Year of Parish, with the theme: “Parish: Communion of Communities,” commenced as the Year of Mercy ended. The former gave emphasis on the mercy of the Father, where in “Jesus of Nazareth by His words, his actions, and his entire person reveals the mercy of God” (Misericodiae Vultus, {MV} 1). The current celebration only in our local Church, on the other hand, brings the people of God to an aspect which is very important to man, that is, living in communion with other communities. The parish as ‘oasis of mercy” is a very ample place to exercise this gift mercy through our brothers and sisters and to become communities capable of channeling the love of God “who consoles, pardons, and instills hope” (MV. 3). The parish should never get tired of proclaiming the gospel of mercy because the contemporary man wants to eliminate himself “from life and to remove from human heart the very idea of mercy” (MV, 11).

In the wellspring of God’s mercy there is always a man who is always the recipient. Why did God had to bother Himself with man, so fragile, so tiny, enough to be extinguished for his unfaithfulness and sin. St. Hannibal Mary says “do you think God was in need of us, poor creatures? God did not need us, nor was He obliged to love or create us; and yet, He loved our souls so much that He did not only create us but redeem us as well. He made us in His image and when we lost His image because of sin, He sent His only Son on Earth to redeem us” (Rogationist Anthology {RA}, P. 65). He constantly finds ways to bring His sons and daughters to their proper places in order to restore their dignity. The mercy of God that is always in front of His believers continues to remind His children regarding their sublime dignity.

Living among the poor of the Avignone district, St. Hannibal Mary has taught us that even in the midst of human misery, man never loses their very dignity God has bestowed upon him "rescuing an orphan from deadly future along with providing him spiritual and temporal wellbeing is such a redemption that does not end with the individual orphan, but continues from generation to generation, bring about innumerable goods.” (The Father’s Soul {TFS}, page 564). In collaboration with his parish priest, his presence among the criminals, the poor and the little ones in his way of “snatching” them from the world that could lead them to their damnation by “delivering the orphans from the abandonment, depravity of the world, hunger, misery, idleness, scandals, risks, and temporal and eternal ruin” (RA, P. 68). With this example, he is telling us that there can be no institution, any form of government and group can determine, kill, or annihilate life even before the greatest sinner or public offender.

“But what is the meaning of the few orphans who are saved, the few poor who are evangelized, compare with the millions and millions of people who get lost and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd?” he exclaimed (TFS, P.135). Fr. Tusino wrote “when the Father went in the midst of the Avignone rabble, he remembered the gospel’s saying of the crowds without a shepherd and the Divine Command “pray, therefore” (TFS, P. 562). With that historical note, St. Hannibal Mary absorbed, and was absorbed by the very meaning of the Rogate that inspired him to continue snatching soul from ruin, at the same time became a moving principle for him to start groups in the small caravan carrying an effective means of leading the people back to God and restoring their dignity as sons and daughters of the Almighty Father. Those called to join in spreading the Rogate participate in the mission and compassion of God for humanity (Rogationist Consecrated Life, p. 82) by becoming first and foremost pray-ers, people capable of bending their knees and being immersed in their communication with the Lord of the Rogate, their Creator, Master, and Redeemer. “Praying (Rogate) means perceiving our deepest truth, the point in which we join with God, where God touches us while He creates us: the sacred place of the encounter” (Contemplate. 30). That is why for the sons and daughters of St. Hannibal Mary, his experience in the St. John of Malta Church is of greatest importance because it was in that “locus of encounter” where he received the most important effective means of salvation not only for himself but for the entire people of God, the Rogate. To promote vocations, as an expression of the Rogate, is always a promotion of the sanctity and dignity of life. Thus, an authentic vocation promotion mirrors the mercy of God that always saves lives. It is only in prayer that a person can learn his very self and therefore is made capable of sharing to others, and eventually becomes the person who promotes and respects the dignity and the sanctity of life.

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Article Written by Fr. Bryan Tutas, RCJ
Rogate Ergo Asia, January-March 2017 (Vol. 19, No. 1)
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30/01/2021

THE REVISED ORATIO IMPERATA ON THE COVID-19:
Merciful and compassionate Father, we come to you in our need to seek your protection against the COVID 19 virus that has disturbed and even claimed lives.

We ask you now to look upon us with love and by your healing hand, dispel the fear of sickness and death, restore our hope, and strengthen our faith.

We pray that you guide the people tasked to find cures for this disease and to stem its transmission. We thank you for the vaccines developed made possible by your guiding hands. Bless our efforts to use these vaccines to end the pandemic in our country.

We pray for our health workers that they may minister to the sick with competence and compassion. Grant them health in mind and body, strength in their commitment, protection from the disease.
We pray for those afflicted. May they be restored to health. Protect those who care for them. Grant eternal rest to those who have died.

Give us the grace in these trying times to work for the good of all and to help those in need. May our concern and compassion for each other see us through this crisis and lead us to conversion and holiness.

Grant all these through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

We fly to Your protection, O Holy Mother of God. Do not despise our petition in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.

Our Lady, health of the sick, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
St. Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.
San Roque, pray for us.
San Lorenzo Ruiz, pray for us.
San Pedro Calungsod, pray for us.
St. Hannibal Mary Di Francia, pray for us.
Send, O Lord, Holy Apostles into Your Church!

12/12/2020

Our Featured Article for this Week:
PRAYING, AS I SEE IT...

Praying need not only be within the confines of the liturgical, sacramental, and philosophical, teachings of our faith. One should use these into a collective foundation upon which to attain a conversational tone in prayer, molded through the lessons of our experiences, because praying is conversing with TBGU, and is, fundamentally a two-way talk.

I was brought up with the traditional admonishment that I should start my prayers with the ‘prescribed’ structure that included the intonation of the Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, and the Glory Be, before and after what I will thank for and what I will ask for. At an early age, I considered the act of praying as a regimented process, not a personal one. I carried this theory and practiced it even during my eight-year sojourn – high school and college – in a Catholic university. And, as the adage goes, “boy, was I wrong!”

My approach to prayer has since changed because of two factors: (1) my marriage to my very sensible wife; and, (2) through one particularly enlightening conversation.

HOW WE PRAY...
When my wife and I pray, we do so in earnest. Nevertheless, we often chide ourselves that we should pray more often. But, we do pray with our hearts open, with my wife always reminding me that our prayers should be specific, in our giving thanks and in what we ask for as graces or gifts. Truth be told, part of my traditional “training” was that humility should be practiced by not asking for graces or gifts – that one should be content in what one receives from the Lord, and that one should only ask for something that one needed in dire straits. And, again, “boy, was I wrong!”

For an educated man, I never saw it coming – I should not shirk from asking for anything! Humility is not about placing oneself in a cowered stance. Humility is about how one uses and practices what one had asked for and has been granted in graces and gifts. In other words, humility in prayer should not be regressive, it should be progressive because God wants us all to improve ourselves and help others through our gifts.

THE CONVERSATION...
My wife and I share the same spiritual adviser, a beloved priest by others as well. Our relationship with him is, what I can only term as, illuminating, rather than just instructive, with exchanges that allow us to achieve reflections on how each task, activity, and commitment we resolve to pursue in our daily lives should have a practical application. One particularly bright conversation we had was about how to pray.

He advised us to pray while lying down in bed. Why, you may ask? The answer is, humility in prayer.

Simply put: we converse with the Lord and therefore we should surrender ourselves to Him in as open and as vulnerable a position as possible; when we lie down, we leave ourselves open and at His mercy, doing so using our own free will, the greatest gift that He had granted us.

I must admit, during the times that we first tried this out, we ended up sleeping! It was harder to do than how we had planned for. In the morning, we wake up realizing that sometime in the night, TBGU had to hang up because He saw that we were no longer on the line. I can just imagine the Lord smiling while shaking His head!

We had since improved. Again, simply put, we do not fall asleep anymore, and we recite the rosary in the same manner. And, within our prayers, we had also added three elements: to pray for those who dislike and even hate us; for us to be able to make a difference, however small, in this corporeal world; and, for the Lord to increase the ranks of our priests. Send, O Lord...

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Article Written by Mr. Benjie Los Baños
Rogate Ergo Asia, January-March 2017 (Vol. 19, No. 1)
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05/12/2020

Our Featured Article for this Week:
PATIENCE AND HOPE

Admit it: almost everyone likes a quick fix for a screwed-up situation. Maybe it’s not a bad idea at all to have an easy exit strategy ready at hand given troubled times. For a fast-paced society craving for quick results, a snap-of-a-finger ready-made solution come in handy. As technology processes things faster, so does human activity become faster, too. Because of some fixation in production, humans now become frantic in chasing after time, not mastering it.

It is quite difficult to appreciate discernment when people are always on a leash. People are eaten up by what technology and production imposes on them. One “click” away solves accounting problems. One sachet of a three-in-one coffee mix solves the trouble of mixing coffee, creamer and sugar, one by one. One press of a button, a job is done! It is now about “do more in less time” culture. Less production means loss of profits. Loss of profits means a person is a loser. Patience and taking-time attitude is now seen as antagonism and a waste of time.

There are adverse effects, though, when people gets hooked-up with “instants”. Relationships become toxic because both parties only look for a quick-fix and quick pleasure, but no sense of commitment is present. Complains occur more often when one sees the blue or gray “rolling loop” on his/her smartphone. Misery is now associated with having no “wi-fi” connection at a place. Worse, abortion and death penalty become valid options for “burdensome” individuals. Whenever there is a burden, an instant “judgment” is heavily demanded. And sometimes, this “instant” passing of judgment is inhumane.

Salvation history comes not as a quick fix to sin, but on learning to love God as He first loved humanity. From Adam and Eve’s disobedience, it took generations for the prophets, teachers and kings to prepare themselves for the great Redeemer. But little by little, they learned to understand how God’s love forms and animates communities. For those who saw “waiting” as gift and patience, they earned the opportunity to properly receive the Lord in the right time.

Even vocation discernment is a lifetime learning process in discovering one’s purpose in life. It’s not done by a walk in a park, but a lifetime journey. But even though many people are already hooked with “instants”, there are still many people who witness to the precious gift of patience, waiting and enjoyment of “taking time”. These are people who kept their humanity intact, as God would have wanted them to have. It’s not bad at all to think of a loving God who wants each of us to enjoy the little things of life, while keeping focused on reaching that destiny. That is not a waste of time. Rather, it helps us appreciate the sacredness, fruitfulness and meaningfulness of life. There is so much hope to enjoy, only when patience is given a “privileged” seat in mind and heart.

True change comes with an honest and patient discernment. It is more human. It respects the course of time, where little by little the roots of today’s societal problems will be uprooted. Aided by prayer and charity, challenges can be treated as “blessings” to reach what God has prepared for us. It is with certainty that whatever God has prepared for us, that will make us truly and profoundly happy.

The Parish Community here becomes a privileged place of honest and patient discernment. Nourished by the Word of God, the Sacraments, and acts of charity, the Parish becomes a community who respects God’s way of nourishing His people’s growth. The liturgical celebration in the Parish is a keystone to appreciating the art and spirituality of patient understanding, especially when the Word of God is meditated together as a community. The parish programs serve as the community’s arms in reaching out to people from various walks of life. The administration of a parish deserves a closer look as an avenue to promote a sense of stewardship, mission and urgency. And when members of community work together to build a missionary Parish – who knows – somebody might consider religious and priestly vocations.

Here’s the catch, worth reflecting: wouldn’t patience and hope can also be in a form of a “smiling” and “happy” missionary Parish community? It simply promotes a culture of life… and vocations, as well.

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Editorial Article written by Rev. John Francis Aberion, RCJ
Rogate Ergo Asia, January-March 2017 (Vol. 19, No. 1)
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28/11/2020

Our Featured Article for this Week:
MY FIRST VOCATION TRIP // By Luisa Magpayo

Surigao Island and its beautiful mountains and waters opened up many firsts in my life. I was there to attend the 20th National Convention of the Directors of Vocations in the Philippines, representing the Union of Prayer for Vocation or UPV.

It was my first time to set foot in faraway Mindanao and also my first time to attend the said conference. My initial excitement to explore the island and mingle with the people somehow led me to discover the real purpose why I was there.

All delegates were housed at the diocesan pastoral center. Oh boy! I found myself rooming with nuns! Amusingly, wild thoughts ran in my head and I found myself secretly laughing. Will I come out looking like them in the morning, with my head fully veiled? Or would they be wearing lipstick and make-up the following day? I sent a text message to my husband in Manila about my excitement to get along well with my nun roommates and he replied back in jest: “You are not yet a widow!”

My first discovery was that I have noticed the nuns’ religious habits were spotlessly clean, simple, and comfortably loose. There were at least three layers of garments covering their bodies and the simplicity of their dress commanded respect, regardless of style and whether or not it was worn with a veil. Finding myself along with them, I somehow felt humbled.

As the clergy began to arrive from different regions of the country and looking tired and hungry, my heart stirred with compassion upon the thought of our Cenacle Spirituality: these are our Lady’s beloved sons! And they are all very human like anyone of us. I realized that beneath their vestments, there exists the real sanctity of the priesthood, and that they are God’s special people to be appreciated and loved, despite their weaknesses. In their humanity is found a hidden strength that only God’s grace and abiding love can sustain. How blessed and privileged I was to have this rare experience to be with these men and women who were called by God to a life of consecration and total surrender. Indeed, God did not call the qualified but qualified those whom He has called.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers into His Harvest” (Mt 9:36-38). This is God’s command for which Saint Hannibal Mary Di Francia found his inspiration and ministry. He was later on esteemed by Pope John Paul II as “the authentic precursor and zealous master of the modern pastoral care of vocations.”

As a lay person, I have realized that the role and mission of priests are very important in the life and holiness of the Church and in the spiritual and moral growth of every faithful. Pope John Paul II noted in his Apostolic Exhortation, “Vita Consecrata,” that “in the Church’s tradition, religious profession is considered to be a special and fruitful deepening of the consecration (of every faithful) received in Baptism.”

For an entire week, the act of praying with them for more vocations and finding better ways especially through media to further our vocation promotion has indeed touched me to the very core of my heart. Despite the little time for sleep and tiredness felt, I knew that I ended the convention and left Surigao with a totally fired up spirit to promote vocations.

The first thing I did when I got home was to thank Saint Hannibal by kissing his statue with a relic embedded in it. All members of the UPV, like me, got the chance to venerate the image of Saint Hannibal and Mary, Mother of Vocations alternately for a month. Entrusting to Saint Hannibal the care of my family before I left for Surigao, I was surprised to find out upon returning that my husband, a not so prayerful person, has been praying the novena to our Saint daily. It was truly a miracle worked by Saint Hannibal! I asked him how he finds our beloved Saint, and he said: “He stands regally handsome and ever since he arrived in our home many positive things have happened in my life. I truly feel his overwhelming presence in our family.”

I silently prayed and wished that Saint Hannibal will stay with us forever. As for me and my family, we will pray more fervently for good and holy priests and see the wonders and miracles of vocations abundantly flourishing in our land.

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First published in Rogate Ergo Asia
Vol. 7, No. 1 - APRIL-JUNE 2006
"Walk with Faith"
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23/11/2020

Our Featured Article for this Week:
VOCATIONS AT THE MARGINS OF SOCIETY

My conviction, my life, my faith, my religious and priestly vocation were shaken by the reality I have witnessed.

When we were students of Theology, we had our immersion in urban poor communities in Pasay City. We tried to enter into their context so that we can have an experience of their own experience, at least during the time that we were with them. I was greatly disturbed by the sub-human and miserable situation they were in. Such disturbance was intensified by the obvious difference and widening gap between the comfortable and convenient religious life and the hand-to-mouth existence of so many poor people. I was ashamed of myself because there were moments I complained about the food while some of them would be easily contended with pagpag (Pagpag refers to the leftovers that scavengers get from the garbage of fast-food chains that they cook for lunch or dinner).

FINDING A DEEPER MEANING OF MY VOCATION
There were moments I took for granted my going to school while there are a lot of youth who wanted to go to school, but cannot do so due to poverty. There were times that I could easily enumerate the communities we have in the Philippines to other people, while majority of them do not own the land where they are living and do not have a decent house to live in. It is a situation that speaks loudly about social injustice and oppression. It is the reality of people who are at the margins of the society. Since they are at the margins, they are hardly noticed. In fact, in their community profile, there are a lot of them who have been in that poor situation for more than 10 years, and some of them are there for 30 years! This prompted me to look for a deeper meaning of my religious and priestly vocation. The search brought me to prayer and discernment. It brought me to an inspiration: flow with the Spirit. There are still unanswered questions. There are a lot of social realities and problems that I still do not understand. Despite all these, there was a strong invitation to flow with the Spirit. It was difficult and I did not understand. In my own little way, I tried to flow with the Spirit.

FLOWING WITH THE SPIRIT
In flowing with the Spirit, the Spirit brought me to the margins of the society. This has become the context of my religious and priestly vocation. I believe that the Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus through our then-Major Superior, Fr. Bruno Rampazzo, RCJ, was flowing with the Spirit. He allowed the Spirit to work when he established the St. Hannibal Empowerment Center (SHEC) at the margins of the society. There are moments when it was very inconvenient to flow with the Spirit because I have to give up the comfort of the seminary and to hear the indifference or lack of support to the endeavors we were doing. There were death threats, false accusations, and lies hurled at us. In fact, my companion, Fr. Dexter Prudenciano, RCJ, is sued by people who are maliciously destroying his reputation. Siya na nga itong gumagawa ng mabuti, siya pa ang sinisiraan. Although the Spirit allows us to go through rough experiences, the Spirit never fails to strengthen us and deliver us from discouragement. It is really worth-flowing with the Spirit.

MAKING AN IMPACT
Flowing with the Spirit brought me to the realization that religious and priestly vocation make an immense impact at the margins of society. I remember our Father Founder, St. Mary Hannibal Di Francia, who preferred to be with the poor and work with them for a God-centered, person-centered and just society. We also have St. Vincent De Paul, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and many others who really opted to stay at the margins of the society and fully lived their vocations. They were made by the Church as exemplary models to be followed. The Spirit who brought them at the margins is the same Spirit who continues to toughen us and bring us to the margins of our society so that we could live our vocation to the fullest. The Spirit moves us to work for a new world, where God is directly experienced, and there is justice.

Flowing with the Spirit brings us closer to God who called us as religious and/or priests. After all, vocation is first and foremost being connected with God. The Spirit brings us to an experience of God where there are no words to describe the immensity and no thoughts to capture the profundity of such experience. We just become aware of the presence of God in us.

Presently, I am doing my best to continue flowing with the Spirit and God continues to work wonders in our apostolate with and for the poor – He continues work powerfully at the margins of our society.

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By: Fr. Orville Cajigal, RCJ
Recently elected as the Provincial Superior of St. Matthew Province,
Fr. Orville was once a collaborator at the St. Hannibal
Empowerment Center in Pasay City.

From the Rogate Ergo Asia, April-June 2009
"Along the Path of Love"

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14/11/2020

Our Featured Article for this Week:
VOCATION CRISIS AND RENEWED HOPE
(REA's Feature Article in "The Father Founder Speaks")

Netizens are also Jesus’ sheep and He saw them without shepherds to pasture them. Saddened by this sight, He said: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37). St. Hannibal Mary Di Francia said that “when our Lord Jesus Christ said these words, he was looking through all the centuries at the cities, the peoples, the regions of the world till the end of time, and lamented over the lack of evangelical workers, which at times is worse than at other times… (TFS, p 114). Jesus pities them and ordered them to “pray, therefore, that the Lord of the harvest may send workers to his harvest (Matthew 9:38).” To the lack of good shepherds, Jesus ordered the people to pray and be missionaries among them.

VOCATION CRISIS AND RENEWED HOPE:
The Joy of Evangelizing Through the Social Network.

Vocation Promoters from different dioceses and religious congregations, lay vocation promoters included, brave the tide of lack of vocations. Posters are posted in schools and parishes, even in other public places; vocation symposia, campaigns, encounters, search-ins, camps and jamborees are colorfully organized to attract attentions of young people. Websites, Instagram, Facebook accounts and the like are created for vocation discernment to meet the majority of the young crowd who are spending much of their time online. In these small gadgets, which are capable of reaching the whole world, we find the youth of today. Left to themselves, the mind and heart of our young ones could easily be overwhelmed by this so small a gadget that offers vast information and, if without proper screening, could be of great harm to them (cfr. III Extraordinary General Assembly, The Pastoral Challenge of the Family in the Context of Evangelization, Instrumentum Laboris, 68). Social networking has become a new arena of evangelization which demands on us to become “netizens” of this small yet global world.

This new arena of evangelization, the cyber world, also needs good and holy priests and religious who could be the light of these young people in order to protect them from harm. Netizens are also Jesus’ sheep and He saw them without shepherds to pasture them. Saddened by this sight, He said: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37). St. Hannibal Mary Di Francia said that “when our Lord Jesus Christ said these words, he was looking through all the centuries at the cities, the peoples, the religions of the world till the end of time, and lamented over the lack of evangelical worker, which at times is worse than at other times…” (The Father’s Soul, (TFS) p. 114). Jesus pities them and ordered them to “pray, therefore, that the Lord of the harvest may send workers to his harvest” (Matthew 9:38). To the lack of good shepherds, Jesus ordered the people to pray and be missionaries among them.

Even in his new challenging field of evangelization, St. Hannibal Mary is convinced that they, too, need to arrive to the truth and salvation through priests and religious: “… There is no light without the lantern shining on the lamp-stand; there is no way to preserve food from corruption without the salt keeping it” (cfr. The Father’s Soul, p. 113). St. Hannibal Mary deeply believed that the workers of the Lord need to be present wherever the people are. As a priest himself he said: “I will never spare myself in the work for the Lord’s glory and salvation of soul…” (The Father’s Soul, p. 420).

This is what Pope Francis means when he said, “Evangelizers thus take on the smell of the sheep and the sheep are willing to hear their voice.” The Holy Father adds: “An evangelizing community gets involved by word and deed in people’s lives; it bridges distances, it is willing to abase itself if necessary, and it embrace human life, touching thee suffering flesh of Christ in others” (Evangelii Gaudium, (EG) 24). Indeed, the Pope is right to insist that we have to know and be acquainted of the places where our youth of today are found “not to make enemies but to see God’s word accepted and its capacity for liberation and renewal revealed” (EG, 24).
We observe that the youth venture into this new world without knowing where it will bring them and what information they will get from it. Our role is not to prevent them from entering into this world but rather to accompany them with our loving presence, discerning care, and hopeful trust in their capacity to stand on their own feet as young Christians. Jesus was present anywhere His people needed Him, for He is “the first and greatest evangelize” (EG, 12). The Holy Father is leading his Church toward a hopeful journey toward the world of the youth of today.

The proclamation of the Word of God will never be limited only in the pulpit. It is in our capacity to pe*****te and understand the mind and heart of the youth that makes us credible and acceptable to them. Joshua Garcia, an FB friend of ours from Laguna, when he was told that we are using social media to evangelize the youths, said: “Gooooooooodddddd. I’m so blessed to meet you.” Joshua is just one among our FB friends who are very glad to meet Jesus openly through the Internet, who change their lives and follow His call. Today’s youth are willing and open to meet Jesus not only in the conventional way but through their own way in the Internet. Several of them express their desire to enter priestly and/ or religious life but did not have the possibility to meet any priest or religious to listen in their own way of telling their own personal stories of joys and pains. Is this not the “peripheries” the Holy Father was telling us to go to?

What a joy to see these young brothers and sisters of ours being led and willing to lead others to Jesus in their own way! Finding Jesus means finding one’s self, thus finding God’s personal call for them. This is the joy that the Gospel has given us when the Lord saw the crowds, like sheep without a shepherd and said: “The harvest is great but the laborers are few: PRAY, therefore, the Lord of the harvest that he may send workers into his harvest (Mt. 9: 37-38).” Our present generation seems to be helpless and hopeless, but in reality it is not. “God made the nations curable, but no remedy is so effective as plenty of evangelical workers, who are salt of the earth and the light of the world (TFS, p. 112).” The joy of evangelizing in the heart of St. Hannibal Mary is a burning flame which has consumed his life. It is coming from his deepest conviction that the Lord who commanded “Pray, therefore, the Lord of the Harvest…” will listen and answer his prayer, for it was he himself who asked us to pray to him for more holy and good vocations. This is a radical cure: therefore, let us adhere to his holy radicalism, if we want a sure social rebirth! (TFS, p. 112).

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- Article Written by Fr. Marcelino Diaz, II, RCJ, Responsible of the St. Hannibal Mary Discernment Center in Mina, Iloilo

(Article published in Rogate Ergo Asia, Vol. 15, No. 1, April-June 2014 - "Renewed Hope Through Evangelization)
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