An Exceptional Canonical Visitation

The Educating Communities in the FIL Province had long looked forward to the canonical visitation of Sr. Lucy Rose Ozhukayil, FMA. She finally arrived on February 22, 2020, with her secretary Sr. Veronica Kamei, FMA. Srs. Mabel, Cynthia, and Debbie met them at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, and together, proceeded to Mornese Center of Spiritualty in Pansol, Calamba City, Laguna, where the community and the Provincial Councillors welcomed them.

On February 24, 2020, Sr. Lucy Rose met the Provincial councilors and the community animators. She presented to them the working document for the 24th General Chapter. She invited them to be spiritual leaders who could “move people from where they are to where God wants them to be.” During her encounter with the Provincial Team, she also underscored their role and importance for unified projects. She affirmed the decision of the FIL Province to redimension its works. She stressed that in promoting vocations, witnessing delivers a strong impact.

Coming down from Mt. Makiling (where the Mornese Center of Spirituality is situated) on February 26, 2020, Sr. Lucy Rose began her visits to the various communities. Her presence brought consolation to the FMAs in Metro Manila and Laguna who were then doing relief operations for the victims of the Taal volcano eruption. She arrived at Mary Help of Christians College in Canlubang. The representatives of the MHCC Educating Community welcomed her. She spent five days meeting the sisters and the other members of the educating community.

From Canlubang, Sr. Lucy Rose traveled north to Mabalacat, Pampanga, on March 1, 2020, to be with the Educating Communities of Mary Our Help Technical Institute for Women until March 3, 2020, and of Mary Help of Christians School from March 4 to 7, 2020.

She was in Don Bosco School in Sta. Mesa, Manila, from March 8 – 12, when the suspension of classes (March 10 – 14) in Metro Manila was declared, following the confirmation of the first local case of Covid-19. Nevertheless, Sr. Lucy met with various sectors of the educating community. They were grateful to meet her in person and listen to her conference.

Despite looming risks and the forthcoming lockdown of Luzon on March 16, Sr. Lucy and Sr. Veronica flew to Cebu on March 13 to be with the Educating Communities in Minglanilla, Cebu: Mary Help of Christians School until March 17 and St. Teresa of Avila from March 18- 20, 2020. By the last week of March, the country was under community quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Only a few representatives of the Educating Community met Sr. Lucy personally because all schools were closed due to the pandemic.

Physically equipped with just the face mask, Sr. Lucy traveled to meet the sisters and their collaborators in Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Punta Princesa, Cebu City, from March 21-23, 2020.

Sr. Lucy and Sr. Veronica remained at MHCS Minglanilla because there were no flights due to the lockdown. With the world, the FIL province entered into a period of uncertainty. The sisters prayed and contemplated how to proceed with the visitation and with its life and mission. Thanks to technology. It defeated the boundaries of time and space. Sr. Lucy started to travel virtually to the houses and conduct online visits via FB Messenger’s video chat.

She began her online visits with the communities in Negros Occidental: St. Mary Mazzarello Student Center in Bacolod City from March 24-25, Laura Vicuña Women Development and Training Center, Malihao, Victorias City from March 26-28, 2020, and then proceeded to be with the community in Laura Vicuña Center in Puerto Princesa, Palawan from March 26-28, 2020, and the community in Mary Help of Christians School in Calapan Oriental Mindoro on April 1, 2020. Virtually, she visited the farm, encounter the sisters and the students staying in the dormitory.

Indeed technology opened us to many possibilities despite the restrictions brought about by the pandemic. The FIL Province gathered in an online Easter celebration to greet Sr. Lucy Rose and receive an Easter message. Sr. Lucy was spiritually and virtually present with the Laura Vicuña Center Community in Cubao from April 3-5, 2020, with the Aspirantate Community for the online canonical visit from April 6-8 / April 13-15, 2020, with the Novitiate Community from April 16 – 19, 2020, and with the community of Mornese Center of Spirituality in Pansol, Calamba, Laguna from April 20-22, 2020. From April 23-24 and 27-28, 2020, she was with the Provincial House community, making her online canonical visit, and was with the Pius XII community from April 29-30, 2020. Online she reached the communities in Papua New Guinea, those in Port Moresby from May 5-7, 2020, those in Sidea Island from May 8-10, and those in Tapo from May 14-16, 2020.

Sr. Lucy has also witnessed the immediate response and sacrifices of the Sisters. They organized relief operations for the poor, their employees, and the medical frontliners in the vicinities, starting in March onwards. Thanks to donations local and foreign!

Sr. Lucy Rose and Sr. Veronica were locked down in Cebu from March 13 until June 13, 2020, until they returned to the Provincial House in Manila. It is the first time in the history of the Province that the visitation went on in this way. Nevertheless, the sisters were grateful for the presence of Sr. Lucy Rose. Her welcoming presence was warm, spontaneous, simple, and serene. We appreciated her well-prepared conferences that were practical and down to earth, profound points for reflection, and relevant to our journey.

The sisters felt that Sr. Lucy Rose is a motherly presence of gentle love that encouraged and educated them through her counsels to live their consecration with authenticity. Despite the distance, they felt her presence as she journeyed with them in this experience of coping with the unexpected.

In the days of the visitation in our various encounters with Sr. Lucy Rose, the Holy Spirit, who usually works quietly through our days, made Himself strongly felt. He allowed us to look back at how God is actively present in our personal and collective history. God strengthened our faith in Him, reminding us that He never fails to provide us with all that we need. We are sure to have enough to live our consecration and carry out our mission – the jar of flour shall never be empty, and the jug of oil shall never run dry until brought to fulfillment.

In an online encounter of the communities in the north on June 15, 2020, Sr. Lucy read her final report, one that she also read to the communities in Cebu in person. She gave three challenges to us:

1. Formation at all levels • Formation of animators with a vision for the future • Ongoing formation • Initial formation

2. Vocational animation and accompaniment The future of the Salesian charism and the growth of the Province depends on attracting good vocations. I have seen that each community has this passion and pray daily for vocations. Each one is responsible for vocations.

3. The growth of the mission Life will be different after the lockdown. It will affect our Institutions and our educative mission. You need to reflect on new methods and creative ways.

To conclude her report, she said: “I must say that all of you are active, creative, and generous in giving yourself to the Salesian Mission in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. The future of the Salesian Charism in this land is in you. Its beckoning and calling begin now in the present. What you will be in the future depends on the choices you make today. What is your vision for the future?

As I leave, dear sisters, I urge you to deepen your charismatic roots in this rich soil so that rooted in our charismatic identity, you may have a vision radically open to whatever is best for its future growth. May your limited vision never block the unfolding of the dream of God for the Salesian Charism. The outcome of the Provincial Chapter and the preparations for the General Chapter XXIV offer you a privileged time for this.”

The FMAs of the Provincial House and Don Bosco School gathered together to thank and wish Sr. Lucy and Sr. Veronica a safe trip back to Rome on June 28, 2020. They flew back to Rome the next day, June 29, equipped with protective face masks and face shields and the love and prayers of the sisters of the FMA FIL province.

By Sr. Mariel Riceani De Mata, FMA