Vision and Mission: Who We Are & Quo Vadis?

Dehon Jyothi Community:
The Aspirant Program of SCJ India District

The SCJ India District has a new community and we call it as Dehon’s Jyothi (the light of Fr. Dehon). It has begun just last month, exactly at 1 June 2008. It is a formation community for youngsters of Indian who has finished after plus two (other than the minor seminary) and those who had finished their degree. This is one year program and we consider it as the first step formation towards religious life in the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in India. Actually, this aspirant program is not new at all. In these two previous years, we ran this program together with the minor seminary in Kumbalanghy. Now we are renting a house nearby our community of philosophy, Dehon Vidya Sadhan, Aluva.

The vision of Dehon Jyothi is as follows. We are a formation community towards religious and priestly-religious life who help each member in order to discover the meaning of their lives and vocation and to deepen our baptismal commitment as well, to be more Human, Christian, and Dehonian, marked by openness, readiness, sharing and hospitality. The missions are to grow in the life of some aspects, as follows: Intellectual, Spiritual, Human, Physical, Social-Culture, Ministerial, and Moral. And we try to improve in the capability of official language, especially English and Hindi (Study of English is given importance and urgent).

For this year, the SCJ India District appointed Fr. Agustinus Guntoro, SCJ and Br. Xavier, SCJ to run this program. Now we have 13 students with us. They are coming from four states of India, Kerala (3), Andhra Pradesh (5), Tamil Nadu (4) and Karnataka (1). As a new community, here we try to see and put together our SCJ rule of life to find out inspiring texts about community life. Bible readings, conferences, study of religious life may deepen the spirituality of communion and community. Here we have to limit ourselves to creating positive condition for community life. Therefore the rules are designed to assist students to develop into men who are truly matured, men who reflect in their lives the deeply human and spiritual qualities of Jesus. From many dimensions, three are very importance.

The first is about Spiritual life. Students are encouraged to come to prayer a few minutes early in order to prepare their minds and hearts for prayer, before the community prayer: this consists to come to Morning Prayer, Mass, Meditation, Rosary, Adoration and Night prayer. A devout reverence of the Blessed Sacrament when entering and leaving the chapel is an act of faith. Appropriate dress shows respect for the Blessed Sacrament. A good bodily posture during prayer contributes to praying well. Common prayer, spoken and sung, calls for a merging and blending of voices require a moderate pace, neither too fast nor too slow, neither too round or too soft. When the books and booklets are used for prayer are in good condition and clear this contributes a good prayer. Private prayer, for example, short visit to the Blessed Sacrament and spiritual reading each day, support and nourish our spiritual life. For a well founded and properly developed spirituality, students are expected to approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation and spiritual direction at least every month.

The second is about Study Life. Each student is expected to study seriously and to achieve the marks he is capable of achieving. One will be influenced to make good use of study time when he begins and ends his study with prayer, when he plans ahead what he will study during the study time, when he learns to stay with concentration on study for the entire time of study, allowing only necessary interruptions. Group study can be mutually helpful in terms of acquiring a correct understanding of the material, completing notes, organizing notes, and learning to explain clearly the materials to a brother. By reason of our brotherhood, we are just as concerned about the success of our brothers as we are about our own success. Teachers, when asked, will assist students as much as they can.

The third is about Community Life. Our service to the community has certain values: it expresses our interdependence on one another; it makes us like Jesus who said, “I have come here not to be served, but to serve.” It enables each to contribute to the needs of the community; and it diminishes our community expenses. All contribute to the community by caring for their assigned tasks. One should carry out his tasks each day or as often as indicated. Joy and generosity should characterize our spirit related to our assigned work, for by our work we assist our community who is caring for us in many ways. Out of concern for God appearance of out house and out of consideration for our brothers, those assigned to house-cleaning will take care that their assigned areas are clean and in food order. When it is obvious that some common area is dirty or disorderly, whoever notices the problem should take care of it. When something is broken or not functioning [power, water etc] the one who observes the problem should inform the formation director. Nobody should waste water and electricity etc. a moderate use o these and other means should be part of lifestyle.

We put the third dimensions at above as our base of formation. Another important thing is this. We aware that our whole vocation, our purpose, our duty, our promises are found in these words: ‘Ecce Venio’ and ‘Ecce Ancilla’ (Cf. Rule of Life of SCJ, Nos 6, 58, 85)

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