20 years of sowing, reaping

and harvesting

Bulletin of the Young Carmel Philippines Foundation, Inc. Vol. 1 Issue 1 May 2015

Quote

NEWSNEWS Two candidates forTwo candidates for solemn professionsolemn profession

REFLECTIONSREFLECTIONS Wake up!Wake up!

GET INVOLVED in GET INVOLVED in nurturing vocationsnurturing vocations

H ealth in the Lord and the blessings of the Holy Spirit! I would like to share our joy with you because the significance of the Car-

melites all over the world was affirmed by our beloved Pope Francis. In his

message to the Carmelites during the General Chapter 2013, he said:

“The ancient charism of Carmel throughout these past eight centuries has been a

gift for the whole Church, and still today continues to offer its special contribution

to building up the Body of Christ, showing the world its luminous and holy face.

Your contemplative origins spring

from the land of the epiphany of

God’s abiding love manifested in

Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.”

Looking back to two decades ago, the

Carmelite friars in the Philippines were

few in number. With the conscious effort

of the leadership and of every member,

they slowly grew in terms of quantity

and quality. In the last 20 years, more

than 20 Carme-

lites have made

their solemn pro-

fession of vows

and ordained

priests.

We were canoni-

cally erected as a

Province on July 16, 2013 during

the Feast of Our Lady of Mount

Carmel.

The Carmelites have been giving

important contributions to the

Philippine

Church and soci-

ety through our

timely and rele-

vant ministries in schools, parishes,

spirituality, media apostolate and for-

eign missions in Papua New Guinea.

We acknowledge that the Young Carmel

Philippines Foundation (YCPF) plays an

important role for the quantitative and

qualitative growth of the Carmelites in

the Philippines.

Continued next page, 20 Years...

Website: www.youngcarmelfoundation.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/carmel.ycpf

NovicesNovices

Student FriarsStudent Friars

PostulantsPostulants

insideinside

22 33 44

Lingap Young Carmel | 2

It was founded in July 1995 by Carme-

lite friars, together with the invaluable

support of lay Carmelites and friends

who shared their time, talent and mate-

rial/financial support.

For this school year, we have a total of

more than 40 formands/students. We

have 15 pre-postulants, seven postu-

lants, six novices and 12 Theology stu-

dent friars. We are grateful to God that,

in one way or another, you have be-

come part of YCPF. The funds gener-

ated by YCPF go to the education and

formation needs of our students. Your

donation is instrumental to these 40

young people becoming Carmelites and

servants in the Lord’s vineyard.

The year 2015 marks the 20th anniver-

sary of YCPF. As the Officer-In- Charge

of YCPF, I express my deep appreciation

to all of you who have shared our vision

and mission of supporting the Carme-

News

20 years… from page 1 lites by being our benefactors and/or

collaborators in the human development

and religious formation of our formands/

seminarians. We hope and pray that,

aside from you, your relatives and friends

will also extend their financial support to

Carmelite Formation as pledgers of YCPF.

I would like to let you know and assure

you that, as always, every Carmelite and

all the formands/seminarians of the Car-

melite Philippine Province and of Papua

New Guinea will offer prayers for you

and our other generous sponsors and

benefactors. May the great multitude of

saints that Carmel has produced

throughout its long history and, above

all, the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Beloved

Mother of Carmel, guide your steps and

give you the strength and courage to live

out your Christian faith with fidelity,

creativity and generosity. God bless you

and all your loved ones.

HUGPONG 2015, The Carmelite Student Gathering. Young Carmelites held the triennial student gathering at the Titus Brandsma Center in New Manila, Quezon City, in time for the Papal Visit from January 15 to 19. The program included talks on Carmelite life and community, common prayers and liturgical services, sportsfest and outing, cultural presentations, and the participation in the Luneta Mass presided by Pope Francis. This is the fifth year of the student gathering. In the photo are the formands and formators from the different levels of formation with Carmelite Prior Provincial, Rev. Fr. Christian Buenafe, O.Carm. (center in white polo shirt). (Photo by Miguel Condes)

New Guinea novice The Carmelite Order in the Philippines re-

ceives its first Papua New Guinea novice

this year.

A fruit of the Order’s mission to Papua

New Guinea, Paul Kaptain Pakao finished

his Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from

the University of

San Carlos in Cebu

City.

In 2014 he under-went the Postu-lancy program in Escalante City, Negros Occiden-tal and in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur. Kaptain will be accepted as nov-ice come June 2015 with six other Postulants. (RTS) Kaptain. (M. Condes)

Two simple professed friars of the Carme-lite Order in the Philippines will make their Solemn Profession of vows in the Order on May 30, 2015.

Br. Marvin Diongzon, OCarm entered the Order at the age of 28 after finishing AB Philosophy from the University of La Sal-lete in Silang, Cavite.

Meanwhile, Br. Paul Rey Senturias, OCarm

joined the Order at the age of 16 as a Phi-losophy student and finished his AB Phi-losophy from the University of San Jose Recoletos in Cebu City.

First profession

Together with the new solemn professed friars five novices will also make their simple profession after completing the Canonically prescribed one-year novitiate.

To make their first professions are Clark Canillo of Iligan City; Ritche Salgado of Valencia, Negros Oriental; Wilson Bolocboloc of Catmon, Cebu; Vinson Luayon of Davao City; and Joiezl Fern Piñon of Palompon, Leyte.

They will be joined by Miguel Condes of San Jose, Bulacan, who returned to the Order after a five-year regency. (RTS)

Phil Carmel to welcome newly professed friars

Lingap Young Carmel | 3

In Focus

One, little two, little three, little Indian Four, little five, little six, little Indian

Seven, little eight, little nine, little Indian Ten little Indian boys (2x)

I t was a loud cry from a boy, so loud that all his siblings rushed in to find out the reasons why their younger brother had cried out loud.

“Why are you crying? What is happen-ing here? Are you OK?” These were the questions of the elders in my family which made me feel like I was being interrogated. “Are you hun-gry?” Ate asked me. “Here’s the bread. It’s your favorite…ohm, yummy!” But the little boy never stopped crying. Then another loud sound was heard. “Bromm, bromm, bromm…” His brother brought him his favorite toy car and played with it in front of the boy to make him laugh, yet his presence seemed unappealing. As others were confused what to do, the eldest sister was persistent to find the reason. “Where’s the pain, baby? Here?” She touched the boy’s stomach but the boy did not respond. All of them failed to know the answer. Even-tually, the father slowly walked towards his youngest son while singing his favor-ite nursery rhyme: One, little two, little three, little Indian

Four, little five, little six, little Indian Seven, little eight, little nine, little Indian

Ten little Indian boys (2x) With tears in his eyes, the father imme-diately embraced his son tightly. He let

his son cry on his shoulder without asking any questions at all. Then, the child began to utter the words, “Mama, wake up!” only to know that he was missing his mother, who had passed away just a few weeks ago, so much. You might have suspected, Yes, I was that crying child, reminded by my mother’s words to wake up from my

childhood wounds and move on. I was that same child who received comfort from my father because of the loss of someone dear to my heart– my mother. And the words that I uttered brought hope to my dreams. Obvi-ously, I grew without the presence of my mother. It was like drinking milk without sugar. Nevertheless, I have always felt her love. I don’t know how but it was just there, like the tagline of an old commercial of Alice Dixon when she said, “I CAN FEEL IT!” When I woke up that morning, I could still recall the sweet embrace of my father before I went to school. The caring and loving words — “Take care!

Be good! Study well! Follow your dreams!” — kept echoing in my ears and inspired me to plunge even more into the very depths of life and face its challenges head on. Surprisingly, I found myself standing in front of the mirror, smiling confidently, and saying: “You will be proud of me Mama. Wake up, little dear!” I come from a poor family but since

dreaming costs no money at all, I took the liberty of dreaming unceasingly. Part of realizing this dream was walking for several kilometers to reach school. I made a lot of sacrifices, but what kept me going was the

love and moral support of my family. These fueled me to finish college. Yes, thank God, I did survive and earned my degree. I became a professional! How-ever, I never stopped dreaming. I have always followed my magic words: “Mama, you will be proud of me. Wake up! This time, you will be proud of me not because of my ambition but be-cause of my determination to withstand the different storms in my life, and here I am standing tall, ever ready to face the challenges of life.” Allow me to share not just the learnings from my college education but also the lessons I have gained from the school of life. “Arise from your pains. Life is so won-

By Br. Marvin Diongzon, O.Carm

Continued next page, Wake up...

(Act of crying with a loud scream)

Br. Marvin Diongzon, OCarm

A call answered, nurtured, lived At an early age, Br. Marvin Diongzon was a fixture in the church, partly because he was his grandmother’s favorite church companion. “I always wanted to be there,” he says. That is why it was no surprise when in high school he became active in church, even-tually deciding to enter the seminary right after graduation. “My call was truly nurtured in college,” he shared. “Formation was very strict and we had a structure to follow. It was very diffi-cult, but somehow I longed for such a life.” However, early in his Theology years he decided to take a break from the seminary to discover if he was really meant for con-secrated life.

“I felt that I was not complete outside. I kept on longing for the kind of prayer life and structure that I had inside the semi-nary,” he said. That was when he got to know Fr. Pablo Ramirez, OCarm. “I was intrigued when he told me to just go to the Provincial House of the Order to witness and try to see how they live. I was challenged because that is not how congregations usually introduce them-selves,” he says, explaining that many others too tried to convince him by tell-ing him what he could get if he joined them. “The most difficult journey is the journey within. With the Order I found lots of

opportunities to know myself better, from the start of my formation,” he says. “The exposures gave me genuine experiences that gave meaning and depth to my prayer life.” He adds, “Mas nararam-daman ko ang hinaing ng mga tao at mas lalong nakita ko kung ano ang totoong pangan-gailangan nila, na nakakatu-long naman na mas makilala ko ang aking sarili.”Br. Marvin will make his solemn profession on May 30 with Br. Paul Rey Senturias. (Ritche T. Salgado)

Reflections

Background photo from davidbuchanandesignblog.blogspot.com/

Diongzon.

Lingap Young Carmel | 4

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair

Fr. Christian B. Buenafe, O. Carm. Members

Fr. Rico P. Ponce, O.Carm. Fr. Edgar Cayanan, O.Carm.

Zenaida Tangan Diana Malig

Atty. Luis Ma. Jose Sison

Lingap (Help) Young Carmel is a call for involve-

ment in the nurturing of the vocation of young

Carmelites. Lingap Young Carmel is published by

Young Carmel Philippines Foundation. Comments

and inquiries can be addressed to Lingap Young

Carmel, c/o Young Carmel Philippines Foundation,

No. 26 Acacia St., Brgy. Mariana, New Manila

1112, Quezon City. Phone: (+63)2-725-8167.

Email: info@youngcarmelfoundation.com .

derful. Never be afraid to face your own fears, your worries. Overcoming your own fragility with humility is a prerequisite to becoming new again.” Your Speech professor compelled you to pronounce the word “awful”, and then most of the time you pronounced it as “owful” because it was so hard to produce the sound “AWE AS IN PAUL.” Then, you felt de-pressed immediately and started to curse your profes-sor silently because you were corrected for mispronuncia-tion. But, hey, wake up! It is not for his benefit at all. It is for you to learn more and be a better person someday. When I was a child, I uttered words of longing. And as I reached adolescence, the uttered words became my guide to discovering my own meaningful existence. I have

succeeded in life with good values because I HAVE learned how to wake up. Life gives us images of hu-man frailties and realities. But these are not the only images of life. It’s not all about experi-encing struggles and pains; life is also about recogniz-ing and embrac-ing its beauty in the midst of pain and loneli-ness. There is MORE TO LIFE than our daily strug-gles. We all need to arise from our deep pain and negativ-ity. We need to rise up from the abyss of our depression

and sense of despair. We need to rise to see that we have many reasons to smile and thank God for every single day of our lives. Let us all wake up to see not only our needs but also the

needs of our neighbors, of our com-munity, of the souls of others. WAKE UP! Wake up, my little dear! Now, may I ask you to ask the per-

son beside you: ARE YOU TRULY AWAKE? WAKE UP, NOW! My dear friends, don’t ever say that it’s too late for you to achieve your dreams. Life is sometimes too harsh but it is also sweet. Believe

and you will know that life is indeed beautiful! Let us seize the moment….

Let us enjoy this moment of

being alive…Let us all wake

up to the reality that WE ARE

YOUNGER TODAY THAN WE

EVER WILL BE, as Evelyn Pey-

ton, a well known public

speaker, would say.

Sleeping is good but do not

make it too long. Wake up

and feel the warmth and joy

of life.

WAKE UP AND LIVE LIFE TO

THE FULLEST!

Oh, by the way, what time is

it?

Oh, it’s time to sing. Please

join me.

One, little two, little three, little Indian

Four, little five, little six, little Indian

Seven, little eight, little nine, little Indian

Ten little Indian boys (2x) ARE YOU ALL AWAKE?

Wake up… from page 3

Fr. Rico Palaca Ponce, O.Carm. Officer-in-Charge

Jeneth J. Nicolas YCPF Staff

Perla A. Choudhury LYC Editorial Consultant

“Arise and transcend your pain. Life is so

wonderful.”