Surprising Grace

I spent the last 8 days making a “silent retreat” at a beautiful Jesuit retreat centre just outside of Manila. Such a retreat – Ignatian-style – involves quieting oneself and giving time for a certain amount of prayer and reflection each day with the aim of reconnecting with God, oneself, and nature, usually with the help of a guide to whom you talk each day about your inner process. Going on retreat, it occurred to me this year, is a bit like going up a mountain. In the whirlwind of work, play and activity that fills our days, we sometimes lose track of where we have come from and where we are going – or why we are going anywhere at all! It is only when we are on the mountain, gazing down at the road we have travelled in our daily experience, that we regain a sense of the bigger picture: yes, I have travelled that road, and look how far I have come! Looking down at the paths by which we have come gives a deeper sense of meaning and direction to the daily grind; the flurry of busy...

This is Part III of a reflection on what it means for me to be a young FCJ in today's world. Read Part I here and Part II here .  ***** 3. People of Our Time A short piece in the local newspaper about millennials and burnout caught my attention a few days ago. On doing further research I discovered the hypothesis made by some commentators that “millennials” suffer from a type of burnout specific to their generation. In a nutshell, this generation has – because of the expectations placed on them by society, and the prevalence of communications technology – internalized the idea that they must always be working, and that it is not enough just to be “average”, but they must always strive to be the best. As a result, they overcommit, work too much, are unable to relax without feeling guilty or thinking of what they should do next, and are more prone to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Whether or not I am a “millennial” at age 32 depends...

This is Part II of a reflection on what it means for me to be a young FCJ in today's world. Read Part I here and Part III here .  ***** 2. Bridging Cultures Growing up in Singapore has also given me an interesting vantage point from which to view our efforts at interculturality as FCJs. While geographically and historically part of Asia, Singapore society has been very much influenced by the West (with the strange result for example that my family always spoke English at home!). It is also culturally diverse, its population consisting largely of descendants of immigrants from different parts of Asia, bringing with them their different cultures and religions. In some sense, we bridged and appreciated the gifts of East and West. All this I took for granted growing up. My intentional adventures in interculturality, though, really started when I left home to join the FCJs in the Philippines. Little did I know how much pain there would be in letting go of the...

On September 21, FCJ sisters and our friends marked the launch of our bicentenary year - a year in which we celebrate 200 years since the founding of what Marie Madeleine - our foundress - called "this little Society". She was convinced that the Society came about by God's grace and would be sustained by it. Two hundred years later, those of us who have been drawn to each other in this Society have lived our life and mission in vastly different ways and contexts. Marie Madeleine and her sisters, who ministered to poor children of cotton pickers in Europe of the 1800s, could scarcely have imagined the Society setting foot in some of the lands we FCJs now come from. As we turn the page into a new chapter for the Society, perhaps it would be interesting for us to ask, "What does it mean to be an FCJ in this time in our history?" Of course, everyone in their particular contexts would have a different answer... though woven through them all perhaps w...