LMI ACQUIRES NEW SEMINARIANS
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THE school year 2026-2027 in the seminary begins with one of the most important spiritual exercises to begin the new year of priestly formation more disposed and well focused. The annual retreat conditions and prepares each seminarian for another year of wholistic formation. Besides, attuning the seminarians towards deeper sense of life in Christ, the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis no.108 states that the "annual retreat, a time of profound in prolonged prayerful encounter with the Lord in an atmosphere of silence and recollection, must then be continued during the rest of the year in occasional periods of recollection and in daily prayer. In this way, the desire to dedicate his life generously to pastoral charity will gradually emerge and be strengthened in the heart of the seminarian, molded by the action of the Holy Spirit."
EVENTS
RECALLING JUBILEE YEAR 2025 AND THE LRMS
IN the celebration of the Jubilee Year 2025, Pope Francis desires that the Church may have faith in what St. Paul had said: "spes non confundit" which means "hope does not disappoint" (Rom 5:5) The celebration of the Jubilee Year 2025 was announced, prepared, and promoted by Pope Francis when he issued the Bull of Indiction entitled "Spes non Confundit" on May 9, 2024 which was the Solemnity of the Ascension. He set the disposition and the atmosphere of the entire Catholic Church to be grateful for the gift of the Jubilee Year which is an important event in the life and mission of the entire people of God. What is meant by celebrating the Jubilee Year for all Catholics as we become pilgrims of hope?
The Bull of Indiction of the Pope, "Spes non Confundit" may have an important grace to reflect on for the promotion and advancement of the mission of the missionary life of the Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Society today. The Bull would like to encourage us to reflect on the value of hope in the mission of the Church. There are four important points here:
1) Universality of Mission- The virtue of hope encourages us to be agents of missio ad gentes. Pope Francis explains the vocation and mission of St. Paul who was doing his mission mostly in the East but turning now his gaze to the West but addressing the Christians in Rome, he wrote the Letter to the Romans giving them hope in Christ in spite of their persecution and suffering for the sake of Christ. He said that the Letter to the Romans is a "decisive turning point in his work of evangelization." Hope make us not only look at the East but also consider the West that makes mission universal. The Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Society is gradually shifting from just merely a Filipino-Chinese Apostolate in the Philippines to the contemporary mission paradigm: Missio Dei. An apostolate is just part of Missio Dei.
2) Christological Source of Mission- Mission always starts from Christ. The Bull of Indiction encourages us to develop hope from the very source of hope itself, which is Christ. Pope Francis reminds the whole Church that "hope is born of love and and based on the love springing from the pierced heart of Jesus upon the Cross." Jesus teaches us to be missionaries from his wounded heart. The Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Society emerged from the vocation imbued by Christ who calls each member to bring His mission to the world. The death of Christ on the Cross which is commemorated at every altar of the Eucharist is the image of the universal mission of God. The LRMS is an instrument of Christ's universal mission. This would theologically mean that mission is born from the sacraments of the Church most especially from the Holy Eucharist which is the gift of Christ for the mission.
3) Importance of Context- Mission considers the value of context in order for the Church to receive, live, and promote hope. The poor are the most vulnerable people, yet the most hopeful people which Christ favors most in His ministry. Pope Francis commented that St. Paul he is a realist. "He knows that life has its joys and sorrows, that love is tested by trials and hope can falter in the face of suffering." Thus, mission is the work of the Spirit in human contexts. Our mission is to make life understood as a "journey calling for moments of greater intensity to encourage and sustain hope as the constant companion that guides our steps towards the goal of our encounter with the Lord Jesus." The contextual existence of the poor contributes to universality of mission because the poor are all around us. They will always be connected with us. Jesus said: "the poor you will always have with you" (Mt 26:11). The Society will always continue to exist as a missionary to the poor. They are inseparable from any form of Church's mission. Pope Francis said: "each day we meet people who are poor or impoverished." The LRMS cannot exist as a missionary agency of the Christ and the Church without considering the poor who are always present in the world.
4) Signs of the Times- The Bull of Indiction greatly emphasized on the value of the "signs of the times" which the Church responds to the "trends" and "stirrings" of the Spirit in the world today. With the "air" of progress and movements of peoples, the Church has the following mission: a) to discover the signs of hope in the signs of the times; b) to interpret the signs of the times according to the Gospel; c) to adapt approaches of the Church to bring the Gospel in the language of the contemporary life of man; d) to recognize the goodness of God present in the world. Pope Francis acknowledges the value of the "signs of the times" as an important locus of mission. He said: "the signs of the times, which include the yearning of human hearts in need of God's saving presence, ought to become signs of hope." The changing landscape of the Filipino-Chinese communities calls forth a rethinking, rediscovering, and restructuring the approaches of mission. The signs of the times affixed in these communities have to be "interpreted in the light of the Gospel" to make the Society more relevant to the changing of times and spaces transpiring in the world today.
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