Novice Marvin Voo recently entered the Franciscan novitiate house in the Philippines. He shares a short reflection on his formation journey thus far.
My journey has been very exciting and challenging. My postulancy time of come and see with the friars was about two and a half years. It began in St James of the Marches Friary in Johor Bahru in 2017, moved to the Franciscan Friary in Penang in 2018, and moved to Singapore in 2019. I was in Greccio Friary in upper Bukit Timah from early to mid this year. Now I am in Juan De Plasencia, the Franciscan Novitiate House in Laguan, Liliw, Philippines. Yes, the wind blows wherever it pleases (John 3:8) in the life of the Franciscans.
My time experiencing Franciscan life with the friars as a Postulant was more about knowing myself and establishing a deeper relationship with God as our Father, as St Francis did when he was rebuilding the physical church. I continued to say yes to God, and He brought me here to the Philippines for my novitiate. I wish to cherish whatever experiences come here as the next step of my relationship with God, to know more of him and to follow the way of St Francis in following Jesus, so that what is bitter becomes sweet.
We novices had our Investiture on 15 July, after a three-day Investiture Retreat. Please pray for us in our year of discernment.
The Investiture is the formal reception of the Franciscan habit. During the ceremony , newly received members of the community symbolically shed their former identities in the world and begin their new lives as religious.
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