Striving to be as Camillus Wishes

Camillus de Lellis has two gleaming wishes in his mind:  to have a hundred arms so that he could assist the sick further; and to have more heart in every Camillian’s hand.  These words were not actually unrealistic.  They hewed a path to the vision of Camillus’ undying service towards the sick.  

By and large, every formation house and program for formation carries with them these gleaming wishes of Camillus.  Thus, every formand is prepared to be a man with hands full of heart just as Camillus wishes! I say this because the Scholasticate community is primarily the first community which accompanies the religious in their first experience of their Camillian vowed life.

“Who am I?” My grade school teacher wrote this on the board. What ensued was my first formal theme composition experience. It was the occasion which initially challenged my writing prowess. The result? I got the title “Best in Handwriting”! Hey, isn’t it that composition writing is supposed to be judged according to content? Elaboration unneeded here.

Back to the “Who am I?” question. I believe each one of us has his/her own way of seeing ourselves and of knowing who we are. But there’s an objective question that, somehow, could also bring us there: “Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.”

This was the exact question ringing in my head when I opted to interview some persons directly involved and affected by our services in Camillus MedHaven in Marikina City. I believe that through them, we will be able to know how our Camillian ministry is faring now on this side of town.

Blurb from “Down Under”
 

I’ve just started to notice something here…it‘s getting very fresh as you sniff the cold morning breeze and you can feel that nip in the air as you go out of the house; we’ve turned our clocks an hour back and it gets darker earlier…which can only mean one thing… Yes, autumn has arrived again!  And my favourite part of autumn is when I get to snuggle up in bed under my comforter at the end of a tiring day.  But from the way it feels, it looks like we’re in for a really cold winter this year, something my body can hardly get used to.

Father Giuseppe Didoné washes the feet of Ilan Hsien Governor

“How Do You Feel?” and Others

“How do you feel?” has been the daily vitamins of Scholastics Brian, Mike, Jayson, Rowel, John Paul, Tobabs and Eric these days.

While others are enjoying the heat of the summer sun in beach resorts, these seven human beings on the other hand are also enjoying (did I hear hating?) the heat of processing their feelings in the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) they are taking up this summer. No amount of sun-screen lotion can shield them from the frying encounters.  But surely, the deeper self-knowledge and the skills in pastoral care for sick patients that they will be learning at the end of the program will truly be like ice-cold water that would soothe their hearts and souls.

SCH-MATI celebrates ten years of existence