Om Shanti!

OmShanti!
-abs borja, svd-
march 2006

Are you thirsty? Come! Let us fetch water from the well! When was the last time you’ve been there? Do you visit the well frequently? You know, I spend ample time in and by the well once in a while, not always, because I am caught up with my own agenda and activities, doing necessary things that I want to accomplish.
When I am thirsty, I tend to substitute any kind of soft drink for water especially when the tempting green-bottled sprite is available in the store. At times I go for the sweet black coca-cola; sometimes I prefer royal true-orange or simply C2. These drinks are attractive especially when they are cold, right? They come in varied colors and in elegant containers. They are tasty and delicious. But these are carbonated, substantiated with preservatives and chemicals. They are labeled with expiration dates! How about water, what can you say about it? Hmmm…is it tasteless, colorless, and to some extent unattractive? Somehow you are right. But water is not carbonated nor sustained by any kind of preservative. It has no expiration date! It remains fresh all the time. It is perfectly alive!
Everyday we feel thirsty. Not necessarily for water but something that prevails upon society. Some of us are thirsty for power and material wealth. Some thirst for fame, achievements, etc. Why? Because these satisfy the desires of the flesh and these can raise us above other people. Fame and power last only for some time; material wealth can be stolen, eaten by rust, and consumed by fire; achievements can easily be forgotten by people. These are like soft drinks. They are temporal and spatial, they won’t last long – they are corruptible.
On the other hand, some of us are passionate to search for water, something that is natural and alive, and something that gives life. We may consider these as the virtues of life – humility, patience, trust, kindness, compassion, hope, love, peace, etc. These virtues can never be stolen, nor consumed by fire nor eaten by rust. They are incorruptible! They are always remembered by people who share love, continue to hope, aim for peace, etc. These are God’s blessings that no man can destroy. That is why we are always confronted with an option whether to quench our thirst with soft drinks sold in the stores or the living water we have to fetch from the well. The choice depends on us.

“To fetch water from the well” is to exert conscious effort foregoing the activities that provide pleasure, and making ourselves free despite our busy day to visit the source of the living water, the magnificent well – God. Isn’t it that when we make ourselves present before the Lord that we feel relaxed, we feel good, restful, and most of al, we find peace in our hearts and minds? Isn’t it that the time we remain quite and still and detach ourselves from the things that make our lives complicated, we reach a certain degree of calmness and we feel peaceful? That’s it – we are on our way back to the “forgotten self, the peaceful soul – the Om Shanti” as the Brahma Kumaris would name it.

The “forgotten self” is the original, the good, the authentic “person” in us that was concealed by our personal interests, locked by our mundane attachments and desires. An effective means to uncover the concealed self is to sit, unload the baggages that burden us. As much as we can, we try to listen to the voice within, what it is telling and where it is calling us. And most of all, to spare and o waste time with God – the magnificent well, who is the source of the living water. We do not just fetch water, but we must drink and allow it to flow inside us. Aaahhh…refreshing! Our thirst is quenched. We are revitalized and we feel renewed – a “new person”, with new energy and life! We experience the peace that springs from within us, and now we have to courage to say,
OmShanti! – I am a peaceful soul. This peaceful soul contains all the positive energies that transmit goodness to others, to share peace to every person in the society whatever be his faith, culture, religion, race, and face would be.

The magnificent well is always inviting and waiting for us to fetch the living water. How wonderful would our lives be if we can always say, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God (Psalm 42:2).” Can we?

Imprisoned Hermit

Abs Borja, “The Imprisoned Hermit,” Ugnay
vol. XI, no. 1 (May-December 2004): 19.

The Imprisoned Hermit
Frt. Abs Borja, SVD

When I was told by the editor to write about eremitical life, I suddenly remember an old, unpleasant, bearded man with along white hair, dressed in a filthy robe, holding a staff, and living alone at the hub of the jungle. That was a figment of my childhood imagination of an “ermitanyo (hermit).” I was deeply fascinated about it, yet, I found it a boring lifestyle.
Back to my sanity. After several days of scribbling my thoughts and losing my patience with this fickle mind, I approached the editor telling him that I am hard up writing this article. I was planning to withdraw from writing this literary composition, but if I do so, I’ll be missing the opportunity to impart my own story, my experience, and my reflections and the rare moment to be with you in an exciting adventure – to meet the hermit in the jungle. We have some rules to observe carefully. First, remove the unnecessary baggage that might cause a burden to the flight, and second, avoid creating any noise that will disturb the hermit. Are you ready? Okay, take a deep breathe then we go. A second, two minutes, sixteen days, twenty months…after twenty-one years, eureka! There he is my own little hermit. Mostly the unheard part of my person; crying, longing for eternal freedom and solitude.
My hermit is not in the jungle. I found him imprisoned inside the walls of my various desires; in fenced by my mundane attachments; bound by the barbwires of my retained worldly pleasures and shackled in the chains of my insatiability. Now, I discovered him. It is my pleasure to heed his desires to see the true light and the brightness of God’s glory; to smell the fragrance of God’s paradise; to hear the sound of silence; to taste the sweetness of solitude; and to feel the warmth of God’s loving presence.
Settling in a hermitage house in the novitiate’s holy grounds ushered me to breach some barriers. It widened my horizons and escorted me to uncover the small world of silence in this big tough world of noise. This world of silence offers excellent time to unwind, relax, and detach myself from the bustle of routinely activities. It is a friendly place to savor the sweet and settle the bad memories of the past and appreciating their contributions in building who I am. Most of all, it is a conducive place to waste time with the Lord.
I lulled the awakened hermit into sleep when I am so busy ad very much concerned with so many things. But in silence, I wake him up from sleep – a young sweet child wearing a shimmering robe of truth, holding a rod of hope, dwelling in the nucleus of peace and love. This hermit is a precious gift designed to bridge between God and me.
How about you? Have you found your own hermit? The secret is to pause for some moments of silence and allow your hermit to come out of the prison. Give adequate time for your hermit to wonder and to live in freedom.

Youth...Hope of the Church

Abs Borja, “Youth …Hope of the Church!,” Yeastako
vol.3, no.2 (April-June 2006): 3.

Youth…Hope of the Church!
-Frt. Abs Borja, SVD-

They came! I saw in their faces the smiles of excitement. All were carrying their back packs. Some carried firewood. Others carried kitchen utensils. Two or three of them carried their tuldas. Of course, rice, canned goods, and vegetables completed the expedition. The gentle boys put up the tents and the lovely ladies cooked delicious foods and prepared their viands. Some were still coming! They grew in number! At last, they completed the menu! Wow! It was the very first time in Aguinaldo that all gimongs (communities) were well represented. That was great! Who were these people? They are the youth who came to participate and to worship Christ in the Parish Youth Camp.
As I lie looked through my tent’s opening, my eyes gazed heavenward at the dark blue sky. I remembered the days when we prepared ourselves for the Vicariate Youth Camp; the day when we built our tent; the little sharings we had; the talks we attended; the camaraderie we cherished; the joy of meeting friends and making acquaintances with the youth of Bon-Lag Vicariate. We were just ordinary participants then, but now, we are at the helm, to re-echo the VYC. The success of the PYC underscored the vision, the mission, and the strong support of Fr. Teody Saluba, SVD to the youth, together with the active youth leaders from the different gimongs who courageously and willfully took the risks to re-echo the VYC.
Other thoughts were also playing in my mind. I realized that the next day would be my call back to the seminary. Summer camp was wrapping up. I felt a bit sad that I would be leaving the people I had learned to love; that I would be leaving the places where I experienced the simplicity and the beauty of life, the places where I had lots of realizations and memories. But that is life! It is a continuing journey. It is not stagnant. There are chapters that I have to close to open new chapters. What else can I do but to make those experiences my inspiration and continue to move on in my journey!
But wait. Let me tell you who my companions were along the journey. Can you guess? Definitely, they were the faithful people, but to be more specific, they were the youth. The youth who sang with so much life during the mass; the youth who walked with me to the barrios; the youth with whom I shared jokes and laughter; the youth who supported the parish willingly and untiringly; the youth who became my inspiration in preparing and giving myself for the parish youth camp; the youth in whom I saw the face of Christ through their simple actions, deeds, and cheerful words.
If others say “ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan”, let me say, “ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng simbahan”. If the youth of today will go astray, who will build the Church tomorrow? If they are trained today, then, they will be the leaders tomorrow. How I wish that the youth who were so energetic, excited, and participated well during the youth camp, will feel the same in sharing to others what they had learned; experienced, and realized. A life that is not shared is dead but a life that is shared is alive. We are the youth of the nation, the hope of the Church! Let us not just think of ourselves but rather look around us. Let us build a fraternity of young people and make service as an everyday gimmick! In doing this, we may not see it but I believe that God who sees us from above smiles!