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Quo vadis, XVD? - In the twilight of my years, and before I finally “lose it,” I’d like to share with you some little random thoughts about the XVD as an organization, its raison d’etre (that’s Ilocano for reason for existence); or, as corplanning pipol like to say these days, what is the XVD’s mission vision. ANO NA NGA BA, KUYA, ANG NANGYAYARI SA XVD? ANO NA NGA BA ANG XVD? ANO GAWA NATIN AT SAAN TAYO PATUNGO SA XVD? WHAT IS THE XVD? HOW HAS IT EVOLVED? WHERE IS IT GOING? QUO VADIS, XVD?
In the beginning, to be very honest, I was starting to get the impression that the XVD was simply a motley group of lonely ex-seminarians who loved to play basketball, hang out, smoke and drink beer with fellow ex-seminarians while exchanging reminiscences about their less than idyllic life in the seminary as well as their present seemingly overwhelming problems living in the so-called real or secular world.
Now, however, after all these years religiously attending those weekly meetings, quarterly recollections and patiently putting up with such interesting characters like Jules Q, VJ, Mon Gallardo, Efren Salvador, Tony Aquino, Toting Antonio, Buboy Angeles, Anac Padua, Vic Agbayani, Sam Juan, to name only a few, I have come to the realization that all is not lost, that the Lord does work in mysteriously wondrous ways. The XVD does have a mission after all. Although the XVDs were supposed to have been called but not chosen, the XVDs it seems were called to be frozen, frozen in some time capsule only to emerge in the 21st century like some storage battery ready to boost and re-charge the many ideals espoused by St. Arnold Janssen at the beginning of the 20th century. What is the XVD mission?
Whoever devised the XVD logo must have been inspired by the Holy Spirit. The logo clearly portrays the XVD living in or under the shadow of the SVD. No, we are not reflections or mirror-images of the SVDs but merely shadows. The dictionary describes the shadow as merely the outline of an object that casts the shadow, a faint indication, a remnant or a trace. More importantly, a shadow cannot stray too far from the real object. The XVD cannot stray very far from the ideals of the SVD.
There was a time not too long in the distant past, in what was relatively a brief but shining moment, each one of us must have entertained the notion that we would someday become a religious missionary of the Society of the Divine Word. Then, all of a sudden, we strayed, we faltered, we lost it - somehow. Eventually, we found ourselves hopelessly if helplessly immersed and mired in the mundane, the secular world of temporal if trivial pursuits.
And then, some five, ten, twenty years later, we woke up as if from the deep freeze. We went back to Christ the King LOOKING FOR FR. HEINEMANN! Actually, what it was, I believe, was that deep in our heart, for many of us, we wanted to re-capture and to re-live at least some traces of those same ideals which in our youth we had cherished. Now that we are much older but the wiser, we have somehow learned to admire and to appreciate what the old Fr. Janssen had envisioned a century ago.
So, when we come together as XVDs, we do so not as Couples for Christ, or some bible study group, or a poor man’s version of some Rotary club. We really come together to do or to be SVD-like, to pray like the SVDs pray, to sing like we used to sing. If the SVDs have a special devotion to the Holy Spirit and Mama Mary, we sing praises and hymns to the Holy Spirit and Mama Mary. That’s why we love to sing the SALVE REGINA the way we do. That’s why we pray the rosary. We like to hear about the work of the SVD missionaries in Ghana, West Africa, in Kenya, Brazil, Korea. In brief, we will support in whatever little way we can whatever our SVD missionaries, here and abroad, are doing in their field of work. The SVD missionaries after all are or represent our supreme ideals. They are doing and accomplishing what in the innocence of our youth we had set out to do and to be but failed (through no fault of our own, in many cases). They are now our idols, our heroes. And whenever anyone of them comes home for a much-needed furlough, we will welcome him as a victorious hero and listen in awe to his wonderful exploits and experiences as an SVD missionary.
Some 250 years from now, the XVDs of the future, wishing to erect a monument to our XVD founders, will look back at those years and be amazed at what basketball and SMB (Lites) can accomplish, AMDG.
Having said that, I would now propose for your consideration the following draft of the XVD mission vision. Pls. study it, give it some thought and together let us craft a document which can serve as a guide for our journey together on the XVD ship. JAMES L.
The XVD Mission Vision
Sometime in his life, for one brief, pure and inspired moment, the XVD came close to embracing the SVD way of life, its mission, vision and ideals. Now, in another dimension in time, and not without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the XVD wants to re-live and re-capture some of the SVD experience, inspired and envisioned by St. Arnold Janssen and epitomized in the lives of the SVD missionaries spread all over the world. As an association, the XVDs have discerned that by coming together on a regular basis to reminisce, share and nurture some of the SVD ideals, they would be fostering a Christian brotherhood of shared interests, plans and activities. Specifically, the XVD would promote spiritual formation programs and activities and interaction with fellow- XVDs ever mindful of their common concerns, mutual interests and aspirations as Christian brothers and as a firm foundation for Christian living and loving service to all men.
The XVD will foster and maintain a special devotion to the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Trinity, and to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a hallmark of the association. It will support by prayer and active cooperation the missionary work and efforts of the SVD missionaries all over the world.
The XVDs will welcome as heroes and idols all visiting SVD missionaries and show genuine interest in their mission work. The Association will focus its efforts in caring or providing support particularly for the retired foreign and local SVD priests and brothers now living out the rest of their lives at the Villa Cristo Rey (retirement home) located within the CKS compound, QC. Having devoted their entire lifetime in missionary work, these retired SVDs epitomize the XVDs’ best ideals.
As heads of their families, the XVDs (and their “XVDas”) commit themselves to raising truly Christian families in an environment of love, kindness, prayer, and disposition to serve others; thereby promoting the development of mature Christian adults and hopefully providing a fertile ground for religious vocations.
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