ESSC - 6. James O’Brien: Reflections of a Magis visit to the Philippines

6. James O’Brien: Reflections of a Magis visit to the Philippines

Wednesday, 13 January 2010

I suppose the greatest memory and recurring reflection from my time in the Philippines relates to one experience.

In Bohol, I spent one of the days walking with the young lad who was involved in crab farming. Over the day he caught three crabs, three crabs being the full extent of what he was going to feed his family with. We couldn't understand each others' language, so our communication was by non-verbal gesture, by smiles on face, by movements of the heart.

I realised the importance of listening, of my faith in all things, for here I was a "follower", as in my faith I am a "follower of Jesus". This faith experience necessarily leads me to wonder where I can play a role in the important issues of the age. That the kingdom of God is opened through the hearts of God's people, and that the people we meet often have more to teach us about God and faith and justice, than anything we can pronounce from pulpits and in elegant academic journals.

In January 2009 I attended the Philippines on behalf of MAGiS. I was there with my sister Anne which was a wonderful grace.

We started out in Manila with the FCJ sisters. Their ministries involved service to the poor and orphan in Manila. Journeying with each other we were present in places like Payatas, where thousands live under the shadow of a rubbish heap, the refuse of Manila congregating in one giant tribute to cronyism gone wrong. One afternoon we broke up into groups of twos and shared an afternoon with a family of the community. With broken Filipino we communicated with each other, receiving generous hospitality, laughing and sharing joy, aware of the enormous blessing it was to be shown the love of "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" by people who were gifting us with a presence that was entirely natural, selfless and gracious.

James Obrien.jpg Young children ran about us happily, following the motorcycles as we entered the community. Here we were, visitors from a foreign land, becoming aware of the state of others really doing it tough, yet being shown joy and hospitality beyond all understanding. I remember going in wondering how we can help and leaving changed. It was as though I now knew that they were helping me far more than I could ever help them: their tenacity in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, their simple yet deep faith, their boundless generosity, their hope for the future. Surely the FCJ sisters had been crucial to accompanying the community. And surely God was very much present in this place, showing love and compassion through the togetherness of the community, a spirit of place which would leave visitors blessed beyond telling, even as you left aware of the putrid and seemingly horrible place out of which we had come. We were aware that the people make a place. We were coming to know that "love that goes beyond all understanding." I was coming to see in the people around me that "joy which is complete" - joy being the very sign that Teilhard de Chardin says speaks infallibly of the presence of God.

We then travelled to Bohol where we were present with the people of a remote village. The tourist towns we passed through in the car were signs of the holiday we could have chosen to experience, echoes of the life we normally live in Australia.

Pedro and his team quickly embraced our group with a warmth and generosity of spirit which reminded us with more than a quiet hint of a smile of the graces of our experiences in Manila. We were to come to realise the depth of spirituality and reflection which had gone into this most amazing organisation. Stretched across the country, Pedro and ESSC were going to the place where land and faith and science meet. They were bringing the insights of faith and looking out for the common good and the "truth of the matter." The pressing needs of a coastal community challenged by overfishing, burdened by future climate change and resolute in faith have been met with prophetic listening by ESSC for many years. Where many in the area had never ventured to the other side of Bohol, let alone to a place which regularly speaks English, Pedro and his team were bringing the insights of a deeply reflective faith in action to the situation at hand. ESSC's national strategy of deep engagement with social and environmental issues was inspiring.

James with host family and mudcrab.jpg On one day we split up and went our separate ways, each in the group being accompanied by a family of the town and the varied hunting and gathering activities they would partake in for a livelihood. Invited to journey with a local crab farmer for an afternoon, a man who I could not share a word with, I found myself met with that same hospitality I had received in Manila. As we walked around searching for signs of crabs, I would often fall thigh-deep in the mud lagoon, only to be met with a wide smile, a hearty laugh, and a strong arm helping me back to more stable mud! It really was an experience to follow this man for the afternoon. He ended up catching three crabs, hoisting them in a bag over his shoulder. We walked back to the edge of the mud lagoon, and started our journey back to the town by boat. I realised I had been "following" this man, coming to realise that "following" is such a key part of my life in faith, wandering, lurking, seeking a way, a truth, a life.

It was wonderful to share the experience with my companions from Australia. Reflecting together each night we all came to realise how deeply we were being blessed by an experience of a people so other-centred that they gave us an excuse to be the same. So natural in a faith of generosity that the infection caught on. We were present with people accompanying others doing it really tough. We came to see that we too can accompany others on this way of faith and justice meeting, where the crying out of the world for truth can be met by others willing to act in line with this great "love which goes beyond understanding," the love which calls us to stand with each other, to be aware of great hardship, to look to our gifts and desires, and call forth a response of "yes" to being with these people, to learning from them, to growing in new and surprising ways, to being led always by truth, always by love, accompanied always by a joy which is becoming ever more complete.

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