Our Piarist Identity as Contribution to Synodality

Br. Christian K. Bagongon, postulant

Cebu Community

“…you cannot take two steps together without falling down” (Epistles of St. Joseph
Calasanz, c.912).
Walking together with others who share a common mission requires that you know
essentially how to walk. This may sound philosophical, but it is actually practical. The excerpt
from the Epistles of St. Joseph Calasanz and my experiences in the Cebu community is a source
of my reflections on how the Piarist Life and Mission contribute to the call for synodality in the
Catholic church. Fundamentally, our Piarist identity marked by poverty and humility can be a rich
resource to deepen our understanding of this so-called journeying together.
My experience of walking the road of Sitio Kanaas of Barangay Guadalupe is somehow
like that of Calasanz’s experience when he trod the materially, culturally, and religiously
impoverished quarters of Rome. I can still vividly remember the first time I visited the place to
teach catechism, arts, and science with my two other brother postulants. It was frankly a sight not
to behold. As you go down the cemented stairs before reaching the chapel, you will surely make
the sign of the cross because of how slippery the stairs are. Water from unimaginable sources flows
down the stairs. One misstep is a sure free fall. The narrow road is also inhabited by stray dogs
and random human and animal manure which made me question myself about my vocation in the
Piarist Fathers.
As I travailed the road to Kanaas, my mind was filled with memories of my life at home
such as drinking coffee with my friends, window shopping, my workplace, the beautiful places I
visited, and the comfort of our humble abode. However, Calasanz in his letters reminded the
religious not to walk two steps together. What he meant by this was that we must always be in the
presence of God – to never stop contemplating God and to refrain our minds from thinking of
worldly pleasures. In one of the spiritual sentences by Calasanz, he warns his religious that “as
long as only one passion reigns, you will live without quietness even though the others are tamed.”
This underlines the importance of our total surrender to God by personal self-emptying if we truly
desire to follow and become Cooperator of the Truth in the path of Saint Joseph Calasanz.
Emptying our minds from the cares of this world to walk properly with others also
necessitates kenosis. I firmly believe that my experience in teaching the children of Kanaas is a
form of kenosis, and the path to the chapel in Kanaas is a road to holiness. It is always a spiritual
activity of personal emptying. Teaching these little ones is always a humbling experience and a
grace to learn from them how to be utterly dependent on God. Indeed, kenosis requires poverty
and humility. Calasanz did not only see these as evangelical virtues but also pedagogical virtues
that teach us how to be “very poor and very simple men of apostolic life” (TONTI, n.26). Our
Piarist identity, as best understood in the light of poverty and humility, helps us to syntonize with
the small and poor children.
The first step we take in journeying together with the whole Church as guided by our
common mission of evangelizing the world through His Word is to practice the evangelical virtues
of poverty and humility. Pope Francis states that the most powerful and effective method of
evangelization is to live according to what we teach and preach. Hence, our daily exercise of
humility and poverty as demonstrated by our founder, St. Joseph Calasanz, enables us to walk the
talk. The purity and simplicity of the Piarist life not only teach children how to live and love the
Lord but also teach the parents and other people through our way of life as an example. The Piarist
way of life and mission, that is, our identity, is certainly the best and most distinctive contribution
we share to the Church’s call for synodality.