THE FRUIT OF AN ENCOUNTER

(JOGJAKARTA COMMUNITY IN LENS)

10 days of intensive formation with Sr Yola

  BY FRANSISKA MBAWO

We started our meeting with the drawing of our life as a journey so, there was a departure point and the destination. Each of us had different way of expressing but above all I come to realized that our journey of life always begin with encounter in communion with God, others, and nature  ( I was saying community) and ends with encounter too ( community ) communion with God the Father.  There were several themes namely: Journey with God start when we hear about God, the responsibility of relationships personally and communitarian, affectivity & sexuality and above all was Love. The workshop were very interesting and touching because the pedagogy that Jolanda use was really in our level, we were more on sharing our experience  and groups dynamics, preparing presentation and  so on.

Lastly, I would like to get the most important point in all themes is with the word ENCOUNTER or in Indonesia “PERJUMPAAN”. All things begin with encounter without encounter we might find life meaningless. Encounter with God, with myself, with other people, and with the nature. As papa fransisco convokes us to go out and reach other people. And as Claretians I personally called to encounter more with the word of God as the source of our life.

We ended up our seminars with the 8 days of retreat. It was a great experience for me because the first time I made my retreat with Ignatian way. God speak through everything, let him work in me.

Therefore I would thank the province for providing and giving us opportunity to have this time with Jolanda and thanks you to your availability sr Jolanda, the community of Yogyakarta, all the juniors who participated and for the support of our formator Sr Anastasia and all the sisters who support us. 

LIFE IS A JOURNEY TOWARDS A DESTINATION

BY MARSELINA MARY 

“everyone has the right to doubt of the task that is being entrusted, and even sometimes abandon it; but one should not forget it (the task), for whoever does not doubt of her/himself is not worthy, because by relying only in one’s capacity, means one has commited the sin of vanity. Blessed are those who experience the moments of doubt in their lives, for they will trust God all the more.”

I begin my reflection on the materials that I got from our encounter with Sr. Jola last June 21-July 1, 2015 with these upper sentences. It also summarizes what I have learned from the encounter itself. There are many new insights or inputs that are helpful for me from the encounter, and those inputs or insights are giving me some impacts in continuing my journey. One of many insights that I consider as the main realization is that I am in this journey with purpose; it means I am always in the journey towards a destination where in reaching out the destination, I have my point of departure and the roads (the odds or the challenges a long the journey). I always consider my point of departure as when God chose me to be in this kind of life. It is not because I was the one who chose to be here, but God was the main reason why I am here now. Just like when God chose the prophets and gave them the tasks that they have to carry out, I likewise have been given “tasks” by the Lord in order for me to do those tasks. I may have the freedom to say “NO” to God’s invitation; I may doubt and resist being in this kind of life, and eventually abandon the tasks that God has given me; but I am mindful that God is Almighty and too generous to me, that’s why He chose me to be in this vocation; While the roads are the challenges and odds that I may encounter a long my journey. I often think that I am too weak to live this vocation. I doubt of myself whether I am a good person or bad; whether I am capable or not. But, I also realize that there is no perfect person in this life. In fact, when I doubt of my own capacities, I become more trusting in God’s Grace. So, even though I doubt of my capacity, yet there is one thing I am sure of namely the existence of God in my journey. Besides, there are many other odds that I encounter in my journey to reach the destination for instance my disposition or characters and any kind of distortional thinking that are often bringing me to the crisis which sometimes makes me easily giving up; yet I still believe that this only part of the journey.

Moreover, the destination is the main focus in my journey. God is the Destination in this journey. The point of departure will not exist if there is no destination. It will become a wasting journey, or a useless quest because One does not know where she/he should go. When I was reflecting on the points or experiences that I have during the encounter with sr. Jola, I remember someone previously told me a beautiful and very meaningful sentence in Spanish, saying, “Cuando se busca la cima de la Montana, no importan las piedras del Camino.” It means “When the aim is the summit of the mountain, does not matter the stones on the way.  It is like build a commitment in oneself, and always being aware that I have a destination, namely God; and so, I will be able to “stand with head erect” in order to reach the destination. So, I am always strengthened in my commitment to reach out my destination and to do the task that God is giving me, or the tasks that He will be giving me, no matter how many “stones” I find a long the journey.

Lastly, to end up this reflection, I am thankful to the Lord for many experiences that I have in my life, either the joyful ones or the sad ones, because through those experiences I am growing to be a mature person in different aspects of life.

VOCATION IS A JOURNEY

BY Lermin 

 Journey is always starting with the departure to reach out the goal. Along the way there are many experience of challenges and difficulties as well as joys and pains. The journey is the journey with God and the goal is God Himself. The workshop we had is one part of the journey. Through this activity I realized that I am being enrich and strengthen to continue the journey. In my journey there are things that I have to develop, to deepen, to integrate and to internalize in my personal relationship with God and others as a missionary. 

The first is the personal encounter with God and the experience of God’s love in everyday life through all the activities. Prayer is the most essential in the life of a missionary in journey the call of God. Without personal relationship with God, the person will not really know the wills of God for her or his life. In the journey the person is seeking the will of God, there for to know better a missionary has to build up a deep personal relationship with God. 

The second is the responsible life. Everybody has her or his own decisions in life, but the person has to be responsible to the decision she or he has chosen. The life I have chosen challenges me to be responsible in my daily life, in the task that being given as well as in building up the relationship within and outside the community. I have to be responsible for the dynamics of my journey with God in my vocation, community and the mission. 

The third is to do and to make things for other. It is one of the challenges in my journey to do and to create something for others. How do I live my missionary life? To create something for other I have to use the talents that God has given me and to develop so that I am able to share to others. A missionary has to be brave to give up one life for other because she or he is not living only for him or herself but also for others. 

And the last is the love of God. The call of missionary is to love God and to love others.  The experience of God’s love moves to total self-giving to the mission in serving others. First of all inside the community before outside the community. My relationship with the sisters and my availability to the needs of the community. The total self-giving not only in the big responsibility but also in the small responsibility that being entrusted. Along my journey there is always something new that will help me to grow in my vocation.  I really thank for that opportunity, it helps me to open up myself, my understanding, to deepen and to internalize the journey with God.

Finding God in my personal experience

 By: Emiliana Ndung, RMI 

Among all the topics that we discussed during the 10 days of our encounter with Sr. Jolanta Kafka, RMI, I was touched with this sentence, “experiencing God is higher than a prayer.” In the past of my personal experiences especially in times of my difficulty and trouble days; many times I asked and questioned, “Where is God? Is truly He exist?” In those moments I felt that question dominated the whole of my thoughts. Among all the experiences that I encountered of my ups and downs because of the atmosphere and disposition of my heart which was not stable; I had an unfortunately experience where we got the accident on our way to go to the house of our candidate, we almost fell to the Clift because of the road which was muddy and the place was in the middle of the forest. It was so risky but I believe that we were saved only because of the goodness of the Lord, our God.  If just the Good Lord did not safe us at that moment, I didn’t know what would happen. Therefore; rooted on this experience, I would like to say that we were saved by God. At that moment because of that event, my eyes and the eyes of my heart were open and I could prove and answer my question by spontaneously saying, “God is here and truly God exists.” By this experience helps and encourages me always to stand firm on my faith that the Almighty God who rules over all the earth never abandons us in our life and in his own way saves us from the danger that we may encounter in our life. It was also the experience which destroys my fears and doubts of the existence of God in my journey. 

MY LIFE AND THE WORLD

BY Betris Juliana Situmorang

It is a privilege for me to have this kind of seminar, first of all I would like to express my heart gratitude to the Lord who works through our sister in the council which have this concern for us the juniors here in Asia, though we couldn’t gather all yet we hope that one day we can do it again. As a young Claretian, there are many things I need to learn in order to identify myself with the identity of the congregation especially through my pastoral year that I am doing now in the community where I stay. In nowadays, as the development of the technology everything I can access easily what I want to see and what I want to search, just in a click I could find it as soon as possible. I am aware that there are positive and negative sides of this development of technology and I am trying myself to balance it with the life that I am embracing. Prayer, community life and mission are important aspects of religious life and in these three aspects help me to know myself regarding my attitude an another aspects of myself, I am aware as the time is passing I am aware that to grow better is not just in a click like what I am doing with the technology, the growth itself is a long process and done in everyday life. Through this seminar I come to understand how to handle the challenges and difficulties that I face in daily experience, the key word is to come back to myself not others, because my growth is my responsibilities, it is a long journey and full of joys and sadness yet at the end when we are in tune with it we are easily to work for it. Now I am trying to balance my life with the current situation of this world not to be flow with the current yet to learn from the world’s situation in order to grow better for my mission in the future, my life in the community and also my relationship with the Lord through my prayer life. In this stage as a junior I consider these aspects are still the important to be worked because I am still building my foundation to be a solid foundation where I will with the Lord. Thank you very much as well to Sr Jola, for your availability and knowledge which you have shared to us.

God is My Departure and Destination

  BY Teresia Tina Samosir, Rmi

I thank God for giving me an opportunity to join this junior’s encounter in Yogyakarta community. It was a pleasure moment for me to meet again my sisters from different community and to share our own struggles in different situations (missions); sharing our knowledge, joys and difficulties in our vocational journey. Through this encounter, I am being strengthened, reminded of my being (to be firmed in my identity) as Christian and Claretian. I am aware that the growth of my vocation is not in capacity but in love. Love changes everything; Love enables me to relate with God, myself and others deeper. Building up relationship to continue God’s mission; reaching out to others.

This time of encounter, gave me a time to reflect more about my past experience and to see them in the spirit of prayer. God is really present in each moment of my life and helps me look beyond myself to find my purpose of life.  He states my purpose, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and your mind.”  Then He says again, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  With these words Jesus directs me to live for God and for others. God is my departure and destination.

Through this writing, I would like to express my gratitude of my heart to all the Sisters in the vice province of Asia and the Sisters in general government for your concern to us the junior sisters, Thank you for helping us in so many ways. Thank you to Sr. Jola for your time and sharing of life which inspire me to move on and to be more committed in my journey as Claretian. 

One with you all in prayer…!!