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Being rooted in Vincentian spirituality |
| Jan 19 2009 |
November 09, 2008
PENANG: Forty-three Vincentians from Penang learnt the roots of their rules and spirituality when Fr Jojo Fung SJ gave a session to them on the theme Rooting in Vincentian Spirituality on Oct 4 and 5 at the island resort of Pulau Jerejak.
What is the ‘Vincentian Roots’? According to Fr Fung, the Vincentian roots look at a certain vision and certain ways of deepening relationship with God and with the people on the margin of society. Faith is used as the starting point and God as the end point. This God is imaged in people Vincentians serve.
Fr Fung then explained what spirituality is, first by looking back at history from the Middle Ages (Monastic spirituality) and Medieval Europe (eg Franciscan & Ignition spirituality) right to modern time like the Charismatic Renewal spirituality.
Coming to the heart of Vincentian Spirituality, Fr Fung said that the SSVP National Council of Malaysia 1995 Additional Commentaries stated: “The primary aim of the Society, as stated in the rule, is the spiritual advancement of its members (the end and this comes first) and not the service of the poor (the means). The latter (poor) is the means to the end.”
Fr Fung said that the key element in spirituality is faith. Faith holds us together, faith leads us to action, grace is poured on faith, faith enables us to have a relationship with God. This relationship with God, then leads us to relationship with others.
He shared with us the strong faith MP for Seputeh, Teresa Kok had when she was incarcerated under the ISA. At first, Teresa pondered on the question: “Are you prepared to sacrifice everything for your arrest?” When Teresa heard that there were many vigils and prayer services held for her, she felt consoled. She thought that just as Jesus died for us with a purpose, her incarceration in ISA must have a purpose too.
Fr Fung divided us into small buzz groups to answer the question “How have the poor that you serve been a means of or helped you in your spiritual advancement? If positive, how so? If negative, why not?”
Fr Fung said SSVP should concentrate on the ‘new poor’ e.g. migrant workers and abused children. He then specially highlighted on the plight of human trafficking and showed a video (from Tenaganita) about human trafficking, especially of women and children. Many members were moved seeing the video of how the women were treated so inhumanly.
At the conclusion, Fr Fung reminded us of the three C’s — country, citizen and Christian.
He said that, as Christians and concerned citizens of our country, if we sense there is a lack of integrity or justice in our country, we must speak up. Being critical of the country means we are playing our role as concerned citizens, which is also part of our Christian duty. Therefore the three C’s will help us to see that we are here on earth to help build up god's kingdom.
To wrap up the session, members got into group discussion again to answer “What new understanding did I gain from this weekend?”
A few Vincentians who attended the formation were quite surprised themselves of the existence of such beautiful rules and commentaries from our society, which they admit they were not even aware of. Vincentians have Fr Fung to thank for opening their eyes to their very own rules, which if followed closely, will enable them to develop spiritually and holistically as a human person that ultimately brings them into closer communion with God.
— By Lucia Lai
Last changed: Jan 19 2009 at 5:19 PM
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