Homily of Fr. Tony Pernia on SVD Philippine Centennial

A Journey with our Sisters and Lay Partners

(Homily delivered by Fr. Antonio Pernia, SVD, Superior General of the Society of the Divine Word, on the occasion of the Philippine SVD Centennial celebration, 1909-2009, Adoration Convent of Divine Peace, Cebu City, 18 August 2009)

My dear Confreres, Sisters, and Friends
My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today we gather to celebrate 100 years of SVD presence in the Philippines. In the past few days and in the coming days, similar gatherings had been held and will be still be held to celebrate this milestone of the SVD in the Philippines. On Sunday, August 23rd , we will gather in Abra to remember the arrival of the first two SVD missionaries in San Isidro a hundred years ago. Last Friday, August 14th, we gathered at Christ the King Seminary in Quezon City to mark the 100th anniversary of the coming of the SVD to the Philippines. And so, in the Northern Province, we will gather in Abra, the “cradle” of the Philippine SVD. In the Central Province, we gathered in Christ the King, the “mother-house” of the SVD in the Philippines. Here, in the Southern Province, we gather today at the convent of the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters, the “prayer-house” of the SVD missionaries in the country.

Our gathering this morning in a non-SVD chapel serves to underline that the Philippine SVD Centennial is an event not only of the SVDs, but also of all those who have journeyed with the SVD during the last 100 years particularly, the SSpS sisters, the Adoration sisters, and our lay partners. This celebration here this morning gives me the opportunity to thank sincerely not only our SVD missionaries, but also our faithful partners and collaborators in mission. For we are aware that without them, the SVD journey of the last 100 years would not have been possible. Thank you, then, our dear Sisters and our dear lay partners. You form part of our SVD family and our Centennial is just as much yours as it is ours.

Exactly a hundred years ago, the first two SVD missionaries, Fr. Luis Beckert and Fr. Juan Scheiermann, arrived in Manila on August 15, 1909. Four days afterwards, they resumed their journey to Vigan, and from Vigan to Abra, on two bamboo rafts. And then in Abra, from Bangued to Pilar, which is now San Isidro, on horseback, arriving at noon on August 23, 1909, exactly eight days after they set foot on Philippine soil. The history books describe that memorable day in the following words:

Accompanied by Bishop Carroll and dean Bartolome Espiritu, the two newcomers, Fr. Beckert and Fr. Scheiermann, rode into the hinterland along narrow paths. Toward noon they entered Pilar... the Capitan and some people had put in their appearance to welcome them. After a short rest, Bishop Carroll took his leave at three in the afternoon. Now the two missionaries were all alone among strangers in a rented bamboo house. The church was in a lamentable condition, nothing but a wretched shed with a grass roof. No doubt it was a rough and hard beginning.

That rough and difficult beginning was made bearable with the arrival, in the years that followed, of other SVD missionaries and, eventually, of the SSpS Sisters and the Adoration Sisters. The first four SSpS sisters came in 1912, and first ten Adoration sisters in 1923. And since then it has been a journey in missionary partnership, along with a laity that was always welcoming, receptive and cooperative.

In the beginning, the presence of the SVD in the Philippines was concentrated in northern Luzon and around Manila. This changed in 1935 when, upon the request of Bishop Gabriel Reyes of Cebu, the SVD assumed the administration of the “Colegio de San Carlos”, which later would become the University of San Carlos. By then, it was already a quarter of a century after the arrival of the SVD in the country. But it was an important development since it opened the door to the Philippine South and to a vigorous involvement in the school apostolate throughout the country.

From Cebu in 1935 to Leyte in 1941 and Bohol in 1947,  and then to Mindanao, in Surigao in 1973, Agusan del Sur in 1974, Davao in 1976, and most recently, Zamboanga del Norte in 2005.

As we look today over the hundred years of the SVD in the Philippines, what we see is a missionary journey abundantly blessed with the collaboration of our mission partners. In a special way, I wish to mention the collaboration of our SSpS and Adoration Sisters – a collaboration through the active ministry and through contemplative prayer. The SSpS sisters are present in most of the places where SVD missionaries work here in the South. And three of the six convents of the Adoration sisters in the Philippines are in the South. It was the dream of the Founder, St. Arnold Janssen, that the three congregations he founded would work together in mission. Here, in the South – and indeed in the entire Philippines – the dream is being realized.

Today, as we celebrate the Philippine SVD Centennial, it is as if we are standing on sacred ground, like Moses before the burning bush. For today we see how much God has blessed the SVD in the Philippines. From the small “SVD Abra Mission” to what we now call the “Philippine SVD”, consisting of three provinces with some 460 members, engaged in a variety of apostolates and ministries. Today we count some 530 Filipino Divine Word missionaries, the fourth largest national group in the whole Society of the Divine Word. About 160 of them (or close to a third) work as missionaries in other lands, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with people of other nations, cultures, and languages.

All this is due, of course, to God’s grace – God’s grace, obtained through prayer and contemplation by members of the Arnoldus Family, particularly our dear Adoration sisters. Today, we stand on sacred ground, humbled by the realization of how much God has done for us, for the little that we have done for him. Today, then, we celebrate not so much human achievement as God’s grace, not so much SVD missionary success as the generous collaboration of our mission partners. And so, we gather in profound thanksgiving to God and to all our partners in mission.

But our celebration of the Philippine SVD Centennial would not be complete if it did not lead us to renew our missionary commitment. For all of us, as followers of Jesus, are called to be missionaries.

An essential element of our missionary vocation is prayer and contemplation for and in mission. First, prayer and contemplation FOR mission, because, as the Founder puts it, missionary activity without the support of prayers is pointless. Without God’s grace, missionary activity will not flourish and bear fruit. This is, in fact, the reason behind the Founder’s decision to found a third congregation dedicated to perpetual adoration before the Blessed Sacrament for the sake of the missions. And secondly, prayer and contemplation IN mission. For, as theologians today say, mission is God’s not ours. Or better, mission is God’s first and foremost and ours only secondarily. Our call to mission is a call to collaborate with God’s mission. And this entails that we need to be constantly attuned with God and His will. And this is possible only through prayer and contemplation in mission.

And so, as we gather in this “prayer-house” to celebrate 100 years of SVD presence in the Philippines, let us ask for the grace to be faithful to our missionary vocation, and to prayer and contemplation FOR and IN mission. In particular, as SVD missionaries, let us ask for the grace to be faithful in our commitment to follow the Divine Word,

to be disciples – chaste, poor, obedient, immersed in the life of the Trinity; called, Saint like Arnold, to imitate the Word made flesh in self-emptying, to follow Jesus Christ through cross and resurrection, in suffering and joy.

Only then can we truly make “His life our life and His mission our mission”. And only then can we pay true tribute to our pioneer missionaries, Only then can we fittingly celebrate the Philippine SVD Centennial. Congratulations and may God bless us all.