Spirit of Pioneering (An excerpt from Cosas Notables)

After a couple of years, the morning sunrise has always been very inspiringly captivating. That is from the vantage point of this four storey building of San Sebastian College-Recoletos located in the southern part of Manila–away from the noise of the city, air pollution and ‘multiplicity of things.’

It had become our home since 2009 up to the present. The 4th Provincial Chapter of St. Ezekiel Moreno has created new communities and one of those communities is in Canlubang, Calamba, Laguna. Our residence is probably not the ideal place for a conventual life and monastic aspirations but it is definitely the cleaner, safer and decent abode we ever have. It is a Hotel! Pardon us for not living a “more austere way of life.” This is actually a place like no other. Aside from the delightful sunrise in Mt. Makiling, we also have the enchanting sunset facing Tagaytay City and Cavite’s elongated rich slope of trees. The vast green area is perfectly complimenting the bourgeoning housing projects with colossal industrial sites nearby creating a beautiful landscape. The sight is far-reaching ‘as far as your eyes can see.’ No depressing walls that will disappoint your visual wandering. At night, the wide horizon brings about an amazing sight to count the stars. Indeed, aside from its historical significance and closeness to Jose Rizal, Laguna province is a place of natural wonders. Hot spring is here; it has a huge lake and majestic waterfalls too.

What to do outside school hours? Brisk walking is one of our recreations. Tried many times to feel the wet grass in the morning, we recall some familiar lines from Psalm 23 and morning hymn like Morning has Broken, [we would always say, it is ever fantastic]. There is one thing that most people are envious of us with this place—quiet. Quiet from Friday to Sunday, quiet as the term implies… You can ‘hear your heart.’ It is so quiet that, for instance, you may no longer think of Princess Diana’s Garden in Kensington, Paris’ Jardin du Luxembourg, Sierra Leone’s Kamagbangbarantang, Inagawan, Casian island, Biliran and Caidiocan. This phenomenology of quiet is being punctuated when, with faith and reason, we know, why we are here.

That is not all. Our stay here as religious and ordained men is not inconsequential as others might think it would be. Administering a college campus can be very demanding. We are not running out of good and competent teachers and employees. We do have headaches and stressful days caused by some “weeds among the wheat” as well. Financial concern also hinders the proper execution of some urgent programs and projects. For instance, sports facilities and larger space for divine worship are some of those concerns. Delayed communications and relaying of requisitions greatly affect the execution of some school activities. The need to answer administrative demands, the gradual process of implementation can easily bring anxiety and stress. The need to bring to perfection all these is but human and spiritual enterprise. Our experience helped us to cultivate some fundamental virtues. Humility is one of our prized virtues in this mission assignment. Patience ranks second in our list. Borrowing the words of our prior Provincial, he says, “Precisely it is the spirit of pioneering.” As pioneers of Canlubang community, we are endowed with both polarities of advantages and disadvantages but this is the prize of pioneering spirit. The good Provincial reminisced the olden days when some of our brother religious who pioneered the University of San Jose-Recoletos in Cebu underwent a more austere experience by sleeping by the stairs of the emerging school community. We believe the pioneers of Palawan, Kamabai have had similar trials as we do. They even told us of oddities if not horrific stories because of civil war, malaria sickness and other maladies.

We do not undermine the fact that the spirit of pioneering means being there as the first person so to speak. It entails being at the frontline. This requires prudent mind to understand it. It needs common sense as well to avoid the notion of mere expansion or being part of disseminated personnel of a religious entity whatsoever. It is due to the fact that there will always be polarities of advantages and disadvantages in pioneering. The road of discipleship it is not about occupational. Not even colonial is the exact term. It is not about comfort if it needs to be accurate to its ideal. St. John the Apostle suggests it is Christo-centric, (John 14: 6). It means to say that Christ is the standard, direction, and main objective of any endeavour. Before pioneering spirit will be misconstrued, we say that the midpoint is the idea that before anybody or missionary undertakings came about, God is there as the Pioneer! He came ahead as the consolation of the missionaries. He came ahead to be the object of any apostolate. He came ahead, pioneered and defined presence. He is the significance and grandeur of the mountains. He is the towering Majesty of a landscape, the breath of a frontline called life.