At the end of the lesson, the student will be able to:
Trace the apostolic spirit of Mo. Ignacia and her companions during her time up to the present.
Demonstrate understanding about their Christian identity which is basically missionary as lived by Mo. Ignacia.
Display missionary attitudes in the community.
Christian life is a life of service. Service is the use of one’s resources for the benefit of others. It is putting one’s gifts at the disposal of the community for the common good. It is the Holy Spirit that equips Christians for service according to the variety of gifts given to them. Christian service is founded on the very life and mission of Jesus. “He died for all so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them” (2 Cor 5:15). It is “the love of Christ that impels us” (2 Cor 5:14).
Mother Ignacia was inspired by the Holy Spirit to remain in the service of the Divine Majesty. She understood Christian life to be a life of loving service to others in response to God who is a loving and merciful Father. She dedicated herself to “the service of God, our Father, whose greater honor and glory must be the motive of all our acts” (1726 Rules VI.16) (Co, 1998. p. 112).
SERVICE: Charity, Preferential Option for the Poor; Stewardship
“Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord (Rom. 12:11)”
Mother Ignacia’s vocation to service was clearly evident in the established Constitutions of the community that she founded. In fact, the young women who entered the Beaterio were to be known as those who ‘serve God, our Lord.’ This phrase was reiterated sixteen times at most strategic points in the Constitutions, form the opening text: “The goal which should motivate each and every young woman who would aspire to stay in this House must be to serve the Lord God with all their heart…” The final statement: “the motive of all our acts must be the service of God our Father, for His greater honor and glory.” This service total and complete was to be rendered ‘with all their hearts’ and performed ‘truly and perfectly.’ And that goal was to be pursued constantly throughout the day so that all their thoughts, words and actions were directed to God’s service in great fidelity and total dedication of their lives, day by day until death.
When Mother Ignacia responded to the inspiration of God to a life of religious commitment, the only form of religious life for women recognized in the Church was the contemplative form. Thus the lifestyle of the early Beater was a regimen of prayer, sacrifice, and work. It must have been part of the Jesuit influence that guided the community to enter the mainstream of the Church’s social service in Manila, and thus, to be able to contribute to the social and cultural as well as the religious formation of women in the Philippine society.
The first of this involvement was in retreat for women. Retreats for men were conducted by the Jesuits in the colony. Women, for want of adequate facilities, were limited to preached “missions” during the Lenten season. The foundation of the Beaterio provided them with the facilities for closed retreats. There is no extant record as to when the institution first opened its doors to women retreatants, but the Constitutions of 1726 provided for the admission of women who wished to make an eight-day retreat. Murillo Velarde accounted for annual retreats given in various groups (varias tandas). Archbishop Martinez’s letter soliciting the royal protection in favor of the Beates in 1748 reported that some two hundred and more Spanish and native women gathered during the months of September, October and November for the eight-day retreat, while describing the particular services the beatas rendered to the retreatants.
In addition to providing accommodations for a live-in retreat, the beatas followed up the conferences given by the priest with explanations in the indigenous tongue, and helped prepare the retreatants for a fruitful confession. Governor General Marques de Obando’s recommendation in support of the archbishop’s solicitation testified that his own wife had made the retreat at the Beaterio.
Mother Ignacia did not limit her apostolic involvement to the spiritual, but expanded to the education of young girls. The Constitutions provided that children of not more than eleven years of age may be admitted for education in the ‘holy fear of God, Christian doctrine, in the proper upbringing and training in the feminine skills of sewing and embroidery, as well as in reading and writing. Murillo Velarde’s account stated that there were twenty Spanish and thirty native pupils, and the fact that there were various teachers among the beatas (Ferraris, 2004, p. 16-17). Moreover, this education ministry which was initiated by Mo. Ignacia paved the way for the administration of the Municipal and early Parochial schools which later on developed into private Catholic Institutions of the Congregation.
The impetus for social services in the Congregation developed to address the rising rural and urban problems in the country. The government relocation program for squatters in Metro Manila created resettlement centers that were in great need of social workers to evangelize and address human rights violations. Under the initiative and leadership of Sr. M. Teresa Garcia, the Social Action Ministry in the Congregation was organized, and a good number of Sisters volunteered for the different phases of services since 1972 and trained for social ministry.
Service of the RVM sisters in the seminaries was one of the ministries that arose as a need in the Church in the Philippines. The Sisters bring the feminine influence in the seminary. As co-formators, their work includes academic administration, faculty member, dietician, guidance counselor, infirmarian and house manager.
Thus, it is very evident that Mother Ignacia was indeed an exemplary missionary. Her missionary spirit is greatly influenced by her great devotion to the Blessed Mother Mary in her radical commitment to do the will of God that impels her to a humble and courageous, creative and generous service to the Church especially the poor.
The beaterio as the Casa de Recogidas, may be considered the forerunner of the dormitory ministry. Women who wished to withdraw from the hustle and bustle of society, to live out the rest of their life in seclusion and prayer, without taking the vows of the evangelical counsels, preferred to live within the confines of the beaterio. Some of them were widows, others, single, but all had in common the desire to spend more time in retirement. In the beaterio they found the quiet and security they sought and the care of the Sisters for their well-being. There were also the younger girls who constituted the boarding pupils, living in the institution during class days, and spending their vacations with their families.