Nurturing my missionary vocation

Elbert Balbastro at a village in the Pakistani countryside. - Photo: St Columbans Mission SocietyElbert Balbastro at a village in the Pakistani countryside. - Photo: St Columbans Mission Society

I joined the Columban formation programme around nine years ago, as a young man from a farming family in a beautiful, but rather poor area of Iloilo in the Philippines. In my heart, I had always harboured dreams of becoming rich, and a degree in computer science put me well on the way to achieving that dream.

Furthering my career took me to South Korea. It was my first experience of a foreign land and the loneliness of absence from family, friends and familiar ways drove me to a centre of hospitality for migrants. The priests and sisters I witnessed giving their time and energy to comfort, encourage and support people they had never met, touched me deeply.

It marked a tiny nudge towards a big transformation in my attitude towards life, which finally brought me to the Columban seminary in Manila, where I studied and prayed, learned and began to understand more about my missionary vocation. However, a concrete, lived experience of life as a missionary in a foreign land really hammered home the full implication of what I was taking on.

I went to Pakistan for two years as part of my formation programme. The foreignness of the country was stark, so different from either the Philippines or South Korea. The end of two years seemed so far away.

I had difficulties with the food, the important challenge of language, and learning to enjoy the culture. I felt like a plant uprooted from my comfort zone and transferred to some place unknown. The adjustment process was difficult, but brought moments of grace, because I knew God was with me on this journey. I remember these challenges as grace-filled moments, because they made me more determined in my vocation and gave me the drive to keep going.

I was greatly encouraged by a powerful talk from Franciscan Fr Louis Mascheranas at a celebration of his 60th anniversary of ordination. He said something like, “Maybe some of you may ask how I kept going during those years of service to the friars and the Church?”

Answering his own question he went on, “Always keep an interest in your vocation and embrace the religious life, with all the joy and hardship it offers.”

I realised then the fundamental importance of these two dimensions of my missionary journey. It dawned on me that if I could sustain my interest in my prayer life, strengthen my determination to learn about Pakistan and remain committed to being of service to Church and community, I would be guided in knowing myself better and, consequently, deepen my faith.

I began to ask myself what God had in store for me when I woke each morning. Reflecting on this gave me the impetus to go on. Losing that interest would have meant losing the sense of why I was in Pakistan. I had to stay interested in knowing God, his creation and his people. I searched for what could sustain that interest, because knowing a vocation is about hearing the call within.

Answering his own question he went on, “Always keep an interest in your vocation and embrace the religious life, with all the joy and hardship it offers.”

Accepting the joy and the hardship demands compassion and humility, but working as a missionary helped me understand myself and let go of my resistance to what I found difficult.

Fr Louis said that without staying interested and accepting what happens in life, he could not have persisted in a community. “Community life is not perfect. There is always conflict, challenges and misunderstandings, but it does not end that way. There is also joy in mission.”

That dynamic interested me more and more. Community life is not heaven, but it helps me stay grounded and the joy I experience in missionary work keeps me going. Accepting that life is imperfect helps me to be more receptive to God’s grace, and remain open to the culture and learn from the way of life of the people around me.

Pakistan is a Muslim country and in my early days there, the daily azan (calls to prayer) broadcast over loud speakers across towns and cities struck me as noise pollution, but viewing it with an open mind taught me to integrate the Islamic way into my own prayer life. Learning to listen to the daily azan reminded me of my need to pray and I learned to understand that being open to new ways has the power to transform a negative into a plus.

The difficult challenges of these two years helped me shift my focus away from my own self-centredness to embrace the concerns and needs of others. I now see vividly that my mission is to serve the children of God, and understand that it is from them that I receive the strength to minister to the poor, the illiterate and the sick of the broken body of Christ.

I am now back in the Philippines and last year was ordained a deacon, the first definitive step on the road to priesthood. The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted plans for my ordination as a priest, but I am confident I will have the courage to live my life as a Columban.

I truly learned to enjoy the Parkari Kholi people I lived among in Pakistan and believe it is from them I learned the two great lessons in nurturing my missionary vocation that Fr Louis spoke of so eloquently.

Columban deacon, Elbert Balbastro, was ordained a priest in the Philippines on May 21.

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