Report on Formators’ Meeting Day-6

Tuesday, 11 July 2023

By Bro. Valentinus Daru Setiaji

Today, 11 July 2023, the 6th day of the Indonesia-Chile Formators Meeting, was unique. There are several reasons, but the two were the most special. The first was that our General Superior, Bro. Augustine Kubdaar returned in the midst of us, after three days of hospitalization to restore his health. The second reason that made today unique was that all material of our spiritual exercises, the morning prayer and the Eucharistic celebration, resonated strongly with today's presentation topics. 

First, the morning prayer + the Eucharistic celebration and the first topic 

The morning prayer of today was prepared and led by Bro. Agus Faisal. It was taken from the Breviary on the memorial of St. Benedict, abbot, following today’s liturgical calendar. Interestingly, the first Psalm was from Psalm 97:1-12, deeply connected with the topic for the whole morning sessions, “The Care of our Environment”. This is the first part of the Psalm:

The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad 

Cloud and darkness surround him; justice and right are the foundation of his throne. 

Fire goes before him, consuming his foes on every side.

His lightning illumines the world; the earth sees and trembles. 

The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. 

The heavens proclaim his justice; all peoples see his glory. 

In his presentation about the above topic, which meant to create a new awareness among the formators, Bro. Johan Muijtjens guided all participants by exposing several basic biblical texts on the care of nature that should be read, studied, and reflected in a new way. When our understanding of those biblical texts is completely renewed, we will have a different approach and attitude toward nature. We will become full of respect and caring. 

Start by reflecting on the creation stories from three other traditions in Genesis 1 and 2, Bro. Johan walked us through the deep dialogue between Job and God (Job 46-48). Through this story, we learn how God exposed the great creation story to Job by narrating how the world was created, developed, and sustained without any involvement of any human being. The creation is solely the work of God’s powerful hand. Through that action, God tremendously successfully created a new awareness in Job about who he is in front of God and his position amid God's creatures. When Job saw the wonders of God's creation, he realized how small he was, how the universe had tremendously supported his life, and how dependent he was on God. 

This is the conversion of Job that should also be our conversion. When we can see God's glory in nature, our hearts will be transformed. Joy and amazement will flow every day when we see how God has given nature the power of life that also gives us life (see Psalm 97:6;11-12). This conversion of the heart should also bring about the transformation of hands. We should do something to care of nature because God has given us dominion over other creatures. Listen to the cry of our mother earth, be converted, and do something for the well-being of nature that will improve the life quality of the poor. We should keep in mind that the care of the earth is the mercy to the poor. 

The challenge above that Bro. Johan threw before concluding his presentation, interestingly, has a strong connection with one of the main messages of our Gospel reading of today’s Mass taken from Matthew 9:32-38. Our response to this critical and urgent situation shall be a re-presentation of Jesus’ actions in fulfilling the mission of his Father: went around to all the towns and villages, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, attending to the need of the poor, and curing every disease and illness. May be, in caring of our mother earth who is wounded, we need not go around to the towns and villages because several important tasks and responsibilities bound us, yet we can start from the context of our mission as formators and begin from our yard.

Second, the morning prayer and the first afternoon topic.

Today's second topic was “Formation Community in the Digital Era”. Bro. Eustachius Eko Wijayanto, an Indonesian missionary to Chile, was asked by the Committee on behalf of the GC to share his knowledge and experience on the topic. The fundamental question was how the formators could use the social media that advanced rapidly to assist the candidates in strengthening their vocation and enriching their apostolic mission. How can this responsibility be carried out in this digital age?

To answer those questions, Bro. Eko presented a deep reflection in which, among others, he mentioned several opportunities to use social media. He also outlined five challenges in using the internet. The flood of information in social media requires discernment skills on our part so that we are able to identify "the sheep" among "the wolves" and the truth among the hoaks in the chaotic wilderness of information nowadays. The discernment skill in our lives as religious certainly will help us to make the right choice and subsequently to react properly to what is going on in the society shared in social media. In this way, social media is a means that will enhance our faith, like what is said in the second Psalm of our morning prayer of today: “Blessed are those who fear the LORD… 

They will have no fear of bad news; 

their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord” (Psalm 112:1a;7)

Third, the Eucharistic Celebration and the third topic

The last topic presented today was about Vocation Promotion. It was a collaborative presentation with Bro. Theo is the main presenter, and Bro. Agus Faisal and Bro. Antonius Teguh as the supporter. Bro. Theo lead the house through several sub-topics, such as ways of promoting our vocation and means of vocation promotion. Before concluding his presentation, he asked Bro. Antonius Teguh and Bro. Agus Faisal, both of them are the main personals of the Vocation Promotion in Indonesia Province, to share their program and activities on Vocation Promotion.

This topic was also deeply rooted in Jesus’ teaching, as we can hear from today’s Gospel reading of the Eucharistic Celebration. Moved with pity for the crowd who were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd, Jesus said to his disciples::

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
   so ask the master of the harvest
   to send out laborers for his harvest.” (Matt. 9:37-38)

Bro. Theo, in his presentation, also underlined that the prayer of vocation is the essential way of promoting our way of life supported by Pope Francis, realizing that God is the real owner of the vineyard. In response to that call, in the morning prayer of today, we also prayed for vocation before reciting together the closing prayer.

Today's activities were indeed vibrant, inspirational, and challenging. Today's business ended with a Eucharistic Celebration in which we expressed our gratitude to God for bringing back to us our General Superior present among us and for God being with us the whole day, especially through his words that absolutely give light and live to all of the presentations.  I could feel he was really close with us today.