Spiritual Landmarks

“Instead of wasting your life and energy, looking for holy people to inspire you, why don’t you be holy yourself and start inspiring other people?”

I personally felt like I was unfairly constrained to listen to an hour-long sermon on consecrated life, and had to ask myself in my mind what business I was doing in his office. 

I had to ask myself in protest, “was not the Recollection movement born, exactly for that more austere, more radical, more contemplative life, or whatever more there was—and here we are … thrust into the spotlight of activity and disquiet, in the middle of a noisy world, an hour closer to midnight?

“Imagine those young men flocking to Manila from different provinces of the North and South of the country—wounded, hurt, abandoned…”

As I walked back to our theologate, I knew right there and then, that God used Father Matt to do a commando-like rescue operation…to save this pusillanimous soul from implosion, and bring out the best in me—to burst in prayer, generosity, and commitment.

I never knew what siesta was.  It was my first time to learn that it meant taking a noontime nap, because in our vernacular, it referred only to a guitar!

I was like floating in the air, flying, and soaring, my heart bursting out in joy to hear those words, “the Gospel is life, not law.”

The spiritual journey continues from Seminario Mayor-Recoletos in Baguio City to Recoletos Formation Center in Quezon City.

What was at stake was how each vocation would personally respond to or resonate with the greenness or darkness of the forest, the seminary, the family, and the world.

In this article, we follow Frs. Soy Hernando and Paulino Dacanay on a journey that started as a benchmarking travel experience during their diaconate years but evolved into a profound spiritual encounter.