Roberto Luanzon op

Personally, I was used to the gathering of young women and men religious especially the Dominican religious when I was in the Philippines. From those gatherings, I learned so much that whatever I got from them, they serve as source of inspiration and guide whenever I am experiencing some difficulties in living my religious life. However, the recent international congress of young women and men religious has also contributed to this source of inspiration and guide I am having at my present life.

At this point, let me be particular and let me share a specific experience when we had the day for SPIRITUALITY during this international congress.

Almost two months have already passed since the congress, but I cannot forget one particular thing that the speaker on SPIRITUALITY, Fr. Armand Veilleux, OCSO talked about and which we dealt much in our small and big group sharing of our constellation, THE ICONS. He has presented some biblical icons for his discussion and then, one of the guide questions he gave for the group sharing was, "What is your favorite icon from the bible or from other sources?" From what I observed the icon that each one of us has chosen expresses one’s own source of inspiration and guide to continue living one’s religious life.

Let me cite an example of an icon presented by one of our group mates who chose a song as her icon and the song goes this way: God will make a way where there seems to be no way, he works in ways we cannot see, he will make a way for me. He will be my guide, hold me closely to his side, with love and strength for each new day, [he will make a way ] (2x). It also visualizes one’s desire for perfection and the Spirit is moving the person towards living a better religious life. One’s dynamic existence is there to show one’s hope and desire for the future.

What has been said above speaks of a message for our superiors: We, the young men and women religious, are full of hope and zeal for the future. We are asking for your full support and encouragement as we continue the path of religious life so that our spirits will never waver towards building a truly religious community of love and service towards the third millennium. AMEN.