去る2月2日フィリピンのカインタにおいて「イエズス・マリアの聖心会」の2名の神学生が助祭に叙階されました。助祭とは司祭に叙階されるための最後の段階で、通常は助祭叙階から半年から一年経った頃に司祭叙階式が行われます。

助祭に叙階されたのはドン・ブライアン(Don.Brian)神学生とJM(Jose.Marie)神学生の2名で「イエズス・マリアの聖心会日本・フィリピン管区」のフィリピン人としては8人目となります。

二人とも今日まで8年の年月を歩んできましたが、これから司祭叙階を目指して、JMはフィリピンで、ブライアンは日本で、それぞれ司祭叙階までの道のりを歩みます。
二人のために皆さまの更なる支えとお祈りをお願い致します。

 

Diaconate Ordination: Mission to serve….

Don Brian Malnegro,sscc
“Only a life lived in the service of others is worth living” (Albert Einstein)

To be ordained as a deacon is not an easy life. God is inviting me to be aware that the true meaning of life is to work hard to serve others. Serving other people is a gift and a grace at the same time. It needs a humble heart to be able to serve well to others as an expression of unconditional love.

When I was in Japan I worked as a volunteer in one of the biggest home for the aged in Yamagata City. The people on that place spoke a different language which is very different from the capital of Japan, Tokyo City. Life in Yamagata is simple compared in Tokyo. I don’t understand that much about the language that they used. I remember serving an aged woman on her 105 years old, language was not a barrier. Instead, it was the language of love that bonds us and connects us and not on how good I spoke the Japanese language. It was more on how I showed my true love to them. Serving these aged persons is a great memory to me. Their smiles, encouragement and love helped me to be more determined in living a life serving others. In Japanese culture, serving others is very significant and an outstanding mark. Thus, my life as a deacon is a challenge on how to live a life of service.

In my community in Japan most of the members are in their advance age already. Some of them are too busy and tired just to respond to the demands of life.  One of the gestures that I remember is to serve one another with a cup of tea. By drinking Tea or any kind of refreshing drinks during the meal bear a resemblance to our experiences in life as a religious by pouring a delicious cup of tea to one another. I hope that a simple gesture of serving my own community will attract new birth of Japanese vocation at our present time.   To serve others means to prioritize the needs of others over my own needs as a person. All of us are called to serve, not to be served. Again, it is a challenge and it helps me to commit myself in the life of service for the greater glory and honor to God which is the primary goal.

Last February 2 at three o’clock in the afternoon we were ordained as a deacon. The ordination was a solemn celebration presided by His Excellency Bishop Nolly C. Buco and concelebrated by the Provincial of Japan and Philippine Province Reverend Father Kenji Honma, sscc and the rest of the sscc priests. The Sscc sisters were also present and some religious from the different congregations. It was a successful celebration.  Thanks to the generous and kind people who made the ordination successful.

Allow me to end with this quote from Mother Teresa: “Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”

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Jose.Marie,sscc

“As the Son of Man who has come, not to be served by others but to serve, to give his own life as a ransom for the many.” As our theme expressed the meaning of our celebration invites us, Rev. Don Brian De Asis Malnegro, SS.CC. and Rev. Jose Marie Trinidad Dumagat, SS.CC., the newly ordained deacons to welcome the challenges of which Jesus invited us to embrace and live-in as we step forward on our journey as SS.CC. religious and be a servant of all. The ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacons was celebrated last February 02, 2019 at 3: 00 o’clock in the afternoon at the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Light Parish whose at the same day was the feast of Our Lady of Light and that day the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. The celebration was presided by His Excellence Most Reverend Nolly C. Buco, JCD, D.D., the Auxiliary Bishop and at the same time the present Parish Priest of the Shrine in the Diocese of Antipolo.
In the celebration, our SS.CC. family, brothers and sisters, shared with us in celebrating the great joy and thanksgiving to God for the gift of vocation that God had given to us, also our families (my mother and youngest brother present as well Rev. Brian’s parents and siblings are there) and friends that shows their great support in this special day.
After the ordination, the whole family gathered in the auditorium to partake the banquet of thanksgiving with our meal and entertainment from the group of youth in our ministry areas. It was a wonderful celebration with gratitude and thanksgiving to God for this meaningful event in our lives as newly ordained deacons of the congregation. May the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary always keep us zealous and with conviction to serve the people in our ministries.