My “last” formal formation as a Jesuit!

No 7: My sweet Jesuit home.

Our novice master used to tell us, “Once you are Jesuit, any Jesuit community in the world is your home.” Having lived in different Jesuit communities in different countries, I can truly confirm the statement of my novice master. After spending (the)14 days at the hotel, I came to a Jesuit community. It was really coming to my own home!

A big hug from a Jesuit companion made me feel welcomed. It was a meeting of after twelve years. He showed me the room, a very traditional Jesuit room with very little things. He invited me for a cup of tea. I immediately graved the opportunity. Sipping a cup of tea, we began to share our lives. Specially, we began to enquire about our common friends.

We were all together four Jesuits in the community. What did we do in these three days? We have had long chats, long drives, long walks, we cooked our own food...and, of course, we have had manual works too.

We these good memories, tomorrow (15/04/21) I go to Kandy to begin my Tertianship.

My “last” formal formation as a Jesuit!

No 6: It is possible to live even with...

(The) 14 Days stay in a hotel have just entered into my memory. I was confined in a small room. There were just two beds (we were two of us), only one small (really small) table and a chair. There was hardly any space left in the room.

It was around 3.30am when I checked in the room. I was so tired that I went to bed immediately. I got up in the morning as I had to go for COVID test. After the breakfast, I went to bed again. I got up on time just for the lunch. I took long rest again after the lunch and got up late in the evening just to take shower and to have supper. The first day at the hotel passed quite fast!

Limit yourself! I began the second day, by discovering and accepting the ‘reality’. First of all, there was no facility to wash cloths and giving them to laundry would be exceptionally expensive. I cannot effort to go out for walk or any sorts of physical exercise.  I cannot get the food that I like. And most importantly, I don’t have a separate place to pray of my own.

But it did not take much time to look for other alternatives. I began to manage quite well. Perhaps my Jesuit training to ‘adjust oneself with any situation’ has helped me to adjust myself. Once, one of the senior Jesuits told me, “we, as Jesuits not only find God in everything but also we try to adjust in everything/everywhere.” How true were his words!

As I leave the hotel, (last) these 14 days will remain as memorable days in my life. I may not have the opportunity to live all by myself again for 14 days. But the experiences that I have gained will remain with me for many years...

 

My “last” formal formation as a Jesuit!

No 5: Pray even when you are ‘disturbed’.

I am not sure if I could really greet anyone ‘good morning’ today. My morning was hampered with some negative news. The first message that I received from the hotel receptionist was, “your PCR (Covid test) test result came negative.” It is a positive news though came in the form of ‘negative’ word! Then I received another call from my country. The most of the contents of our conversation was full of negative news. Then a Jesuit companion of my mine gave me another set of negative news.

A decision: I was aware of my emotions. I knew that I could not get rid of these emotions. But what I can do is to ‘being with them’. I took a decision to give a pause. I disconnected myself from the rest of the world and sat at the one corner of my room.

With Jesus: I was aware of my emotions. I was sad, angry, frustrated...I opened the today’s Gospel reading. Today’s Gospel tells us Jesus’ apparition to His disciples. Jesus appeared to His disciples who were utterly disappeared after His death. He sat with them, listens to them, shares their concern and sufferings...Gradually I entered into the scene. I was consoled with His presence. I was motivated to face the world even it was full of ‘negativity’.

Have a good day to you all...

My “last” formal formation as a Jesuit!

No 4: Easter message!

I have received many messages these days, explaining the importance of the Easter Sunday. Among many messages, I liked a short message which was sent to me by a Sister (also a psychologist), who was my class-mates in Rome. She writes, “our life is in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday becomes meaningful because there is a Good Friday, similarly Good Friday makes a huge impact because it is followed by the Easter Sunday. We need to accept both Good Fridays and Easter Sundays in our life. But we need to have faith like the women of the Gospel, who went to the tomb to meet Jesus. Knowing the fact that the tomb is covered with a huge stone, they went to meet Jesus. What a good example of faith!”

It is true that we can live in between Good Fridays and Easter Sundays of life if only we have Faith- Faith in God, Faith in others and Faith in ourselves.

 

My “last” formal formation as a Jesuit!

 No 3: Good Friday at the hotel!

(As far as my memory goes (I suppose my memory does not betray me!) that I have never missed any Good Friday liturgy. Even, I had the opportunity to preside over Good Friday liturgies after my ordination. But today I am confined in a room. As I sit at one corner of the room, I tried to pray, reflect, meditate or being with the Lord. My dialogue with Jesus...)

Jesus: Yes, it is the day, marked as the ‘failure day’ in your life. You were defeated. You accepted the ugly human plots against you. You surrendered yourself to the wickedness of the fellow human beings. But God has not left you. God has raised you to life on the third day, the resurrection day.

Me/we: In life, failures are bound to take place. Sometimes we need to make ourselves ‘victim’ for the sake of others. We become prey of ugly plots, wickedness or dirty politics. But that is not the end...there is always third day!

Jesus: You carried the Cross. Your cross was the full of others’ sins. You fell three times while carrying the burden of others, but you went on...You did not want to become cross for others. You simply followed the instructions of the soldiers without any argument.

Me/we: In life, we need to carry our cross too. Our cross could be consisted of others faults, stupidity, weakness. But we need to carry the Cross. We should not become cross for others.

Prayer: Jesus help me to lead a life where I don’t become cross for others. Rather I may carry others’ cross.

My “last” formal formation as a Jesuit!

No. 2: At the airport!

You were a God sent person to me! Thank you...

Today is the Maundy Thursday, a very special day for every Christian. I was obviously sad that I would miss all the liturgical ceremonies of this sacred time. I received many greetings of happy feast (it is also observed as priest day). While browsing through all the messages, I saw a message from Sajol. It reads, “Brother, you were a God sent person to me. Thank you ...”

I met Sajol at the airport, while travelling to Srilanka. While waiting to get boarding pass, a boy in his early twenties showed his passport and asked me, “Dada (brother) is my paper okay?” I had a quick look at the passport and told him, “everything is fine. You are going to have good time in abroad.” He gave a very innocent look. It was quite obvious that he was travelling for the first time. He informed me that he was going to Saudi Arabia along with nine more young men. Finally, I told him, “don’t worry Sajol. Come back to me if you need any help.” He gave a surprised look and asked me, “how do you know my name?” I smiled and said, “it is very simple. I saw your name in the passport.”

I got the boarding pass and was waiting for the check-in. Again Sajol came to me and asked for some information. I felt pity for him and took little interest to know about him. He spent a huge amount of money to get the visa to a broker. He was badly need of a job to sustain his family. I encouraged him and positively spoke of the possible bright future of his life. He also asked some questions about me and asked me to help him at the transit airport.

Our transit airport was in Doha. After coming out of the aeroplane, I gave him some instruction and I went to a less crowded place for a little rest. While I was trying to catch up with my friends over the phone, Sajol came to me and asked, if he could get lunch with his boarding pass. It seems the travel agent mentioned that he would get lunch as he had transit of more than twelve hours. I took him to a ‘help desk’ and spoke to the concern person on behalf of him. The kind lady of the ‘help desk’ informed me that he can take lunch at the specific restaurant. He was so happy when I told him about the lunch. I took him to the specific restaurant and helped him to order for food. He insisted that I should share meal with him. I politely declined and left him. Before I left, Sajol asked for my Facebook account name.

People like Sajol give meaning to my priestly life.

 

 

My “last” formal formation as a Jesuit!

(In this column, I hope to share with you my experiences of Tertianship in Srilanka. Tertianship or the second noviciate is considered as the last formal formation as Jesuit.)

No 1: The unexpected ‘Mission’ from the Provincial!

I was supposed to go for Tertianship in 2020. But the pandemic situation has changed the plan of my provincial. Instead, he missioned me to the formation cum retreat house as a residential staff. I began to enjoy every bit of my time there... In midst of other activities, I almost forgot about the Tertianship and began to immersed myself with other activities.

On January 29, I was going to make my annual retreat to another city. While travelling, I just happened to see a message from my provincial. It reads, “I gave your name for Tertianship which begins after Easter.” I just replied – “thanks” and waited for more instruction from the province curia.  

In middle of February, I had to send an official mail to the socius (assistant Provincial). While acknowledging my mail, he casually asked me, “have you got any news from Srilanka?” My immediate reply was “no” and I curiously asked him, “do I need to send any mail?” He suggested me to get in touch with the director.

Visa and the airport!

As an obedient Jesuit (?), I sent a mail to the director of Tertianship programme. There was a quick reply from him with the instruction to send my passport details. I sent him all the details and there was no reply from him. Suddenly on March 8, I received a mail from the director, asking me to send him my flight details and he asked me to book tickets for March 18. I booked the tickets and sent him the details. Again, there was no reply from him. I sent him a mail on March 15, just before cancelling my tickets as there was no sign of visa. He sent me reply immediately, asking me to do PCR test on March 16 as the visa will be sent to me on March 16. I did the test and the result came ‘negative’ but the visa arrived only on March 17 evening.

On March 18, I arrived at the airport. But I was barred to board as Ii didn’t have landing permission from the Srilankan’s Govt. I returned to the Jesuit community and began to collect all the documents. I rebooked the tickets for March 28, thinking that the ten days are good enough to collect all the necessary approvals. I obtained many approvals but could not obtain ‘Okay to board’ from the airways. However, I came to the airport on March 28 with certain amount of uncertainties. But everything went on very well at the airport...We began our journey (to be continued).