<![CDATA[Religious of the Assumption Philippines - Thailand Province

Jesuit connection

As a Jesuit, I was curious whether there was some Jesuit influence in the life of Saint Marie Eugénie. And I did find a Jesuit connection of some sort. In 1866, Saint Marie Eugénie went to Rome to ask for formal Approval of her Congregation. During that trip, she visited the room where Saint Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, wrote the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. It was the same room where he died. After hearing Mass in that room, she wrote to the sisters: “Saint Ignatius knew all the pains of a foundation; he learned through

experience that it is through suffering that the works of God are born
…” And suffering did come for Marie Eugénie.

While she was in Rome, she was attacked personally and her character and fitness to govern the Congregation was criticized. Her ecclesiastical superior in Paris was delaying the approval and spreading rumors about her capacity to govern. (I would like to make a disclaimer: this ecclesiastical superior was not a Jesuit!) She returned home to discover that her intentions and her character were being dragged through the mud. She decided to offer her resignation. The
offer was not accepted, but it seemed to appease the ecclesiastical superior who decided to postpone further action against the Congregation until the end of the year. But before the end of the year the ecclesiastical superior died suddenly; the Archbishop signified that he was perfectly happy with the Congregation and the Decree of Approval of the Institute was signed 1867. The morale of the
story? Especially for scheming priest clerics: think twice before picking a fight with religious sisters; think really, really hard before quarrelling especially with Assumption sisters! Peligro kaayo!

Icon

During the ceremony of her canonization on June 3, 2007, an icon of Saint Marie Eugénie of Jesus, Foundress of the Religious of the Assumption was hung at St. Peter’s Square in Rome. In the icon of Saint Marie Eugénie of Jesus, we contemplate Marie Eugénie standing on the Earth that she loved as the place of the Incarnation of the Son and where humanity can render glory to the Father. In her hands she holds what she was passionate about: the transforming
proclamation of the Gospel and Christ in the mystery of the Eucharist. These three iconic characteristics sum up Saint Marie Eugénie’s life and spirituality:

• Centrality of the Eucharist
• Gospel proclamation of the Kingdom
• The world as the place of the Incarnation
A word on each of these three.

First iconic characteristic: Christ in the mystery of the Eucharist

In her path to holiness, she was drawn ceaselessly by the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Of special significance was her first Holy Communion, which she had made on Christmas Day when she was 12 years old. Her First Holy Communion was a fundamental experience in her life.

“At my First Communion which I made alone, I was seized by the infinite grandeur of God and my extreme littleness. I was so strongly struck that for a moment everything around me disappeared.” “Lost in my God, my soul forgot all the rest, … I no longer saw nor heard anything, I no longer felt the presence of anything except God, whose immensity seemed to suspend and absorb all my faculties.”

One of her constant prayers was: “It is for You alone, O my God that I am here before the Blessed Sacrament; you are the all of my life; my thoughts, my weariness, my feelings all belong to You.”

As an essential part of her Eucharistic spirituality, Saint Marie Eugénie teaches us the importance of patiently, endlessly listening to Jesus Christ, welcoming Him and imitating Him. This means Jesus reigning in our hearts, Jesus Christ recognized as the one who chooses us to makes us his friends. As our gospel says “I call you friends since I have made known to you everything I learned from my Father (Jn 15,15).”

This experience of the utter greatness of God, which drew her in adoration, marked her profoundly. It contained within it her particular spiritual path and the way she would offer to those who joined her. Adoration, love of Jesus, especially in the Eucharist and love of the Church were to be the specific marks of the Religious of the Assumption.

Second iconic characteristic: Gospel proclamation of the Kingdom

In her credo, she declared: “I believe that we are placed in this universe to work for the coming of the Kingdom of God in ourselves and in others.”

Her primary means of proclaiming the gospel was the apostolate of education. For Marie Eugénie, a truly Christian education was one that enabled the pupils to develop in themselves the mind of Christ, to see and judge the world and their own lives from His perspective. Intellectual development mattered and that was one reason why studies were so important for the sisters. Nevertheless, for her
it was more important that the students develop a sound judgment based on faith, than that they learn a great many facts.

What mattered was not so much what they knew as the kind of people they were. She looked for strength of character, generosity, simplicity,
truthfulness and courage. She wanted to develop the spirit of self-
sacrifice, so that the girls should become capable of living for others. To teach them that love never says ‘that is enough.’ To achieve this would be to create a different world, a world more like the Kingdom of God on earth. And for this she longed.

Such an enthusiasm for the Kingdom of God was never going to settle for the mediocre, or for the routine and ordinary. To the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience which characterize religious life, she and the first sisters added a fourth vow “to consecrate my whole life to extending the Kingdom of God in souls.”

It is not surprising that Marie Eugénie responded enthusiastically to the request in 1848 of an Irish missionary bishop for a community to accompany him to South Africa. It was a heroic venture: the sisters were the first nuns to set foot in South Africa and the difficulties they had to face were extraordinary. But they were stretching too far – it took six months for a letter to arrive from one community to the other – and the link between Paris and South Africa broke. A break-away congregation, the Missionary Sisters of the Assumption was set up.

Marie Eugénie suffered enormously over this break, because the communion which bound the sisters together had been broken. She was ready for her sisters or for herself to go to the ends of the earth for Jesus Christ, as long as they remained “one mind and one heart intent on God.” In 1850, when the sisters in South Africa were already in difficulties, she agreed to another foundation overseas, in Richmond, Yorkshire and this time it was successful. Numbers in the Congregation grew and other foundations followed in France, Spain,
England and Italy. By the time of her death in 1898 there were 1100 sisters and communities all over the world, including the Philippines and Nicaragua. The readiness to go anywhere to extend the Kingdom of God continues in the Congregation and today the Religious of the Assumption have houses in 35 countries, including 11 African countries.

Third iconic characteristic: The earth as the place of the Incarnation of the Son

“It pains me to hear this earth called a land of exile. I consider it a place of glory for God.” Saint Marie Eugénie saw the world as a place needing to be transformed into God’s Kingdom. Her spirituality was not one of flight and separation from the world. No, her spirituality was one of engagement with and transformation of the world.

With the harsh experiences of her childhood, she could easily have seen the world as a land of exile from which it was desirous to escape. There was the death of her nine year old brother and one year old baby sister, both in the same year when she herself was only five years old. Her father, a banker and politician was often away from home. Then suddenly as a consequence of the revolution in
1830, he went bankrupt. Anna Eugénie was thirteen. Her parents separated and the family split up and she went with her mother to Paris. In 1832 her mother was taken ill with cholera and died within a few hours. At the age of fifteen, Anne Eugénie was totally alone.

It would not have been surprising if she wanted to escape from the world where she experienced many trials. But no, the world was the place where God could be found. Saint Marie Eugénie teaches us to gaze at God in contemplation in order to learn how to gaze at the world with the eyes of God. From God’s perspective, we can see that the world is in need of compassion, love and salvation. We can see multitudes of hungry people we cannot feed, homeless people we cannot shelter, battered women and children we cannot protect, cases
of corruption and injustice that we cannot remedy.

But our faith will help us see that the Lord guards His Church. He keeps watch with us on those long nights of confusion and helplessness in mission. Jesus also helps us grow in compassion towards our neighbors. And in our weariness the Lord comes. He is near. He is Emmanuel. But we need to hear his voice and to follow his direction. We need to see realities with His eyes. We need
faith. Without faith fueled by love, we cannot truly be a missionary Church of Jesus Christ. It is only by the vision provided by faith that the Church could meaningfully cast its nets in the vast seas of the world and history. The new evangelization requires putting in the mind and eyes of the Lord again, a transformation coming from prayer. Then we see differently. A child, especially the unborn is no longer seen as a burden but a gift, the youth are not a problem but a promise, women are not objects but persons, laborers are not machines but
partners, the poor are not a nuisance but our jewels, and the creation is not an object of manipulation but a sign of God’s sustaining love. These and many more comprise the miraculous transformation of our world, but only if we see with the eyes of Christ. Whenever we see as the Lord does, there is hope!

In conclusion, let me share with you what I have discovered about the love life of Sr Josefa and Sr Elnora. Do you want to know some juicy chismis about their love life? Gusto mo mahibalo kung kinsa ang ilang mga loves? Saint Marie Eugénie said, “If you could see into the heart of a Religious of the Assumption, you should find these three loves: Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin and the
Church.” If we could see into the hearts of Sisters Josefa and Elnora, we will
discover their three loves: Jesus, Mary and the Church. The very same loves of
their foundress, that exemplary woman, that Saint for our times.

My good friends, let us ask Saint Marie Eugénie to intercede for us so we may
have the same three loves and that in us: “All comes from Jesus Christ, all
belongs to Jesus Christ, all must be for Jesus Christ.” Saint Marie Eugénie, prayfor us.

Xavier Ecoville kids meet Juan Tamad

February 17, 2012- The first year level of Xavier University High School invited Xavier Ecoville kids aged 6-9 to a puppet show featuring the different stories of the famous Filipino folklore character Juan Tamad. This activity was done in in line with XUHS’ annual English month celebration. The XUHS freshmen served the kids some snacks and gave each one of them a pack of school supplies. Games followed after the puppet show and gifts were distributed to the enthusiastic bunch of tots.

Lesson on SWM

Last Saturday February 4, 2012, Meiyoshi A. Masgon of Xavier University’s Research and Social Outreach Sustainable Sanitation (SuSan) Center oriented the partner beneficiaries of Xavier Ecoville about Solid Waste Management. It is the first community development program introduced to them.

The first part of the morning’s activity was held at the multipurpose center. Straight from breakfast, the families started arriving a few minutes before 9. XU NSTP students also came in to assist Mei in the orientation. The participation was high as the partner beneficiaries voiced out their questions, issues and concerns.

Mei cited common mistakes that had to be corrected. One of which was the non-practice of waste segregation. She explained the need of such so the partner beneficiaries would understand why they had to separate the biodegradable from the non biodegradable and the recyclable.

After the discussion, the group proceeded to the newly-dug compost pit. It was created from the resident volunteers’ own efforts. On the actual site, Mei taught them how to use the pit and why it was made. She gave them guidelines that would prevent the wastes’ stink from reaching their bunkhouses. Then they went to the trash area so Mei could inspect the partner beneficiaries’ post-orientation outputs of solid waste management. All family members, including little children, were busy classifying the trash they had on hand.

This activity is the initial step to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WasH) clusters’ series of programs. It will be closely monitored in the temporary resettlement area up to the permanent area until the sense of discipline is fully-instilled onto the new residents of Xavier Ecoville.

Xavier Ecoville kids meet Juan Tamad

Lesson on SWM

Thank you very much for your solidarity and support!!!