8:15 am
The dews at Richmond’s Eastern Catholic Church (ECC) parking lot that crested on the green blades of grass were still glistening. They were quite content to bask in the warm sun that embraced them on a Saturday morning last September 6 2014. Quietly. Little did they know that their somewhat unknown church was about to open its doors to the second Jesuit Alumni Group’s retreat for the Ignatian community to celebrate in one faith, in one love and in one God.
This year’s theme was: Finding God in Your Life.
Fr Richard Soo SJ, ECC’s pastor and the JAGs retreat master, likes to say “on a good day my parish has about fifteen people attending Sunday service.” I wondered, would today be one of those days where we will have to invoke Mother Cabrini to make room for all the cars of the retreatants?
By 8:45, ECC’s parking lot filled up. Mother Cabrini, once again sensed our need for her help, sent Uncle Phil Chuatoco and Charlie Ramirez to help manage the parking lot.
For the Jesuit Alumni Group of Vancouver, who are quite used to Fr Soo, his opening remarks, came as no surprise: “Do not believe what I am about to say this morning.” Further: “We can read many books but still don’t “hear” God talk to us; as we have tune to a different channel.”
With the stage set, he invited us to experience the 15 minute Examen.
At the morning break, Georgia Kwok remarked: “This is wonderful; I know it is not easy to practice by ourselves.”
Happy
In between short prayers and a couple of group sessions, it was hard to believe that it was time for lunch. We ambled from the church to the parish hall to enjoy our new found friends’ company.
With lunch almost done, with many questions responded to, Georges Gracieuse, who was responsible for managing the JAG’s spiritual affairs, finally managed to sit down, in the few seconds he had to catch his breathe, I asked him how he was feeling. His one word response: happy.
Then he added: “Happy that JAG was able to host its second retreat; happy that we are flourishing from the seeds that Fr Elton planted to the encouragement of Fr Richard; and happy that our reputation continues to be well received by the Ignatian community.”
I too was happy, and proud to watch Ignatius Lee give our Ignatian community a warm welcome. You have to appreciate that he had less than five minutes to craft his remarks, which he delivered without looking at his notes.
I was happy to see GG Francisco sharing his prayerful journey, though his intrepid remarks were uncharacteristically a tad short. I have always enjoyed listening to a Filipino alumnus of Ateneo who professes to being born to a faith not of his choosing …. deliver his perspective to an audience which included a significant number of alumni from Wah Yan College Hong Kong who had to make a choice to follow God, sometimes with difficulty. You have to be at JAG to appreciate the fullness of the sharing of our faiths and how we have trodden different paths to be together. Prior to joining the JAG, I had not realized that there were nuances of Jesuitness.
Finding the light of the Holy Spirit
But the biggest reason for my happiness would not appear until much later. Last year, Fr Elton Fernandes, SJ sensed that for a few of us who were busy helping with the retreat, it was difficult to focus. This year was no different. With Fr. Richard repeating his message “ask the Holy Spirit for light”, I was at a loss and had accepted my fate that I would not find the light. Not today. There were just too many things going on.
During lunch I began taking pictures of the 61 retreatants; and on a lark bounded up to the balcony of the church to take more pictures.
It was not until I got home that I had a chance to view the pictures, and one stood out. There it was the light of the Holy Spirit shining on us! It was at that very moment that I realized that the Holy Spirit had been in my back pocket after all!
Nitz Carvajal who is with the Christian Life Community St. Augustine group would later write: “It was a wonderful experience to be there – just to be physically present – in a church unknown to me, till yesterday. Fr Soo’s energy and words allowed me to feel the life of the community and a sense of belonging. The Jesuit community is indeed growing, AMDG!”
Fr Richard ended our retreat by reminding us that as a community in prayer we have contributed in increasing holiness in the Universal Church.
Sometimes, words may not necessarily capture everything, so with Gary Manansala’s help, I hope you enjoy the pictures. (Click JAG Retreat 2014.)
JAG blogs can sometimes be read in Chinese, and French at: jagvancouver.wordpress.com
My 20000 words.
溫哥華聖依納爵社團…..眾志一心、信奉上主。
二零一四年九月六日……早上八時十五分：
朝露仍在停車場地上的綠草閃爍著、太陽已出來了。大地的草正在享受著那温暖的晨光、但它們仍未知道今日星期六在它們所在之 Eastern Catholic Church （ECC) 內耶穌會舊生會將會舉行第二次聖依納爵社圑避靜日。今年主題為「在生活中尋找上主」。
今次避靜由 ECC 的德神父 （Fr. Richard Soo) 主持。德神父常説在最踴躍之日也只有十五人到這鮮為人知的聖堂參加主日彌撒。我心想：今天是否相反、而我們要再請求停車場主保 Mother Cabrini 幫助我們有足夠的車位供應給參與者？
到了八時四十五分、ECC 的停車場已泊滿車輛！Mother Cabrini 再次知道我們的需求、並派了眾人尊敬的 Uncle Phil Chuatoco 和 Charlie Ramirez 來幫手管理車輛停泊。
在序幕時、德神父告訴我們無論我們看過多少書、我們總是不能聽到上主對我們説的話：因為我們心神不在。隨之神父就叫我們作十五分鐘的良知反醒和心靈檢討。
「非常好的指引和集體靜思！」Georgia Kwok 在小息時對大家說。「如果要我們自覺地做真不是一件容易事。」
在短短的禱告和兩次集會過後、又是午飯時間。我們各人亦樂於到大堂去認識新朋友。
開心
飯後、Georges Gracieuse 在回答很多問題後、最終可以坐下來休息一陣子。Georges 是負責 JAG 會友靈修之成員。我問他對此次的避靜活動有何感受。「開心！」他説。
「我很髙興見到 JAG 第二次舉辦避靜日。」Georges 繼續說。「更開心見到在德神父之鼓勵下、由 Fr. Elton 播下的種子能發芽成長；譲 JAG 在聖依納爵的社團中取得良好的聲譽。」
我也很開心。亦為 Ignatius 能在五分鐘的準備下給整體聖依納爵社團人員不用看筆記便送上一篇很有人情味之致詞而感到驕傲。
在這裡能聽到參與者分享他們的信仰心歷路程。GG Francisco 出生於一個非天主教的家庭、他用短但有力的句語說出他的信奉歷程。我很欣賞他這位菲律賓 Ateneo 大學舊生會成員跟其他人分享他對信仰的觀點、尤其是當中有很多香港華仁書院舊生會之廣東會員亦曾在很艱辛的情況下才能信奉上主。
在未入 JAG 之前、我不知道各人的心路亦有著耶穌會員特有的微妙差異。加入 JAG 後聽到各人曾走過不同的心路、我才賞識到分享信仰的價值。
給我最大歡欣的時刻其實是在後頭。
去年、Fr. Elton 也覺察到我們幾個工作人員是很難集中心靈去靜修的。今年他亦有同感。德神父對我們重覆的説道「請求聖神賜于真光」。光？那裡來？我只知要集中精神打理事務、命中註定我是找不到光的…..我對自己說。
午飯時、我開始為那六十一位參與避靜者拍照。像雲鵲一樣、我跳到露台上為大家多拍些照。
當我在家裡觀看所拍的照片時、發現其中一張與其他有別。在這照片上可看見聖神的聖光照耀在我們頭上！
這刻才意識到聖神其實就在我身旁、隨時能幫助我！
德神父提醒我們、我們能以社團一起禱吿己經為普天下教會增進了神聖。
他亦以此勵志說話來結束是次的避靜靈修日。
有時文字未必能反映全部當日的景況。在此、我希望各人亦能在照片裡重溫當日之歡欣和得著。𧫴此多謝 Gary Manansala 的幫忙！(JAG Retreat 2014)
……我的二萬字!!!
jagvancouver 