Wednesday Night People

He always makes some efforts to ensure that we have something to share on Wednesday nights,” said Fr. Wilson Peñaranda of Fr. Rey Sentillas, their local superior. “In fact,” he added, “if it’s Wednesday and it’s already evening and he’s not yet around because he’s giving a recollection somewhere else, he would call us up on the phone when he’s already on his way home and he would ask us what our plans are for the night.”

Wednesday night is indeed the most special night within the week for the Camillian religious in St. Camillus College Seminary Community in Marikina City. For them, the day is non-negotiable. It’s their community night.

Sticking to the schedule is already in the system of every member. If you check their individual calendars, you would discover that this time of the week is  allotted by all of them to their weekly get-together. “We accept no outside commitments during this time,” Fr. Dey Enriquez, community procurator, aptly articulated.

If a religious is assigned to the formation ministry, it is expected that, whether he likes it or not, he should feel at home with the challenges the ministry posts. But one cannot surely make it if he faces it all by himself. He needs company to provide him with the necessary supports. And most fittingly, nowhere else will he be able to find these but from his very own community.

Hence, these Wednesday nights serve as the venue for the Marikina community members to talk and listen to each other’s stories. Of  course they see and talk to each other daily. In fact, Fr. Nato Maliwat, a community member, shared that, first and foremost, they never compromise meal times. The times when they all together take part of the graces their community receives are also the occasions where they are able to experience and know more each other’s person. They chat about any topic under the sun and even casually tease and make fun of each other. “We are like children,” Fr. Nato disclosed with a smile – a proof of his contentment in the vibrant and pleasurable relationship he has with his confreres.

Their Wednesday gatherings, though, are where they do the deepening and strengthening of their community bond. It is primarily at their regular community meeting where they talk openly about their immediate and major concerns. Personal, community and seminary related issues are given much emphasis for discussion and resolution. Everyone is vocal as everyone is free to air out his feelings, opinions and suggestions. Since everyone listens, everyone is heard. And so the celebrations of brotherhood follows naturally afterwards!

The complete definition of Wednesday nights for them then would be “simply being present for each other,” and that is translated into: eating together (either in or out), laughing together, watching movies or DVDs together and relaxing together.

The college seminary community, by the way, is composed of religious coming from different generations. As Fr. Dey calls it, “we are a fusion of the young and the old.”

Fr. Rey and Fr. Rene Sales (a temporary member of the community) belong to the “council of elders” while Fr. Dey, Fr. Nato, Fr. Bien Jonson and Fr. Wilson belong to the Young Camillian Religious bracket. Fr. Rene and Fr. Rey were once the formators of the four.

Yet despite this fact, the sense of superiority is “hardly felt in the community,” Fr. Nato noted. Instead, felt among them, according to Fr. Dey, is a kind of “creative tensions.” “We tell things outright and confront each other if necessary. We are not here just to please each other but to truly care for each other,” he clarified.

However, Fr. Dey accepted that at first he was apprehensive when he learned that the four of them will be in a community with their former formators. He feared that though they are already religious, they might still be treated like formands. “But I am happy that it did not happen,” he said with a feeling of relief.

The younger religious in the seminary are nevertheless grateful to have with them Fr. Rene and Fr. Rey for they are able to enjoy the “guidance and wisdom of the old.” They continuously learn from them and they consider it an enormous privilege to be assisted by them in their growth process as persons and religious.

What helps in the blending of the personalities of the Marikina religious, in the opinion of Fr. Wilson, is the humble gesture initiated by Fr. Rey when he assumed the responsibility of  superior last year. “We had a meeting and it was there that Fr. Rey asked us regarding our expectations from him as our new superior. Likewise, he solicited our expectations from the community. And for me that was a big thing. It helps us to become open and honest to each other,” Fr. Wilson recalled.

It’s no surprising then to hear Fr. Nato proudly declaring: “Masaya kami dito!” (We are happy here!)