Fr Aristotle “Ari” Dy SJ pronounced his Final Vows in the Society of Jesus in the Sacred Heart Chapel of Xavier School in Manila where Fr Dy is an alumnus and currently school president.
It is customary for Jesuits to make their Final Vows on a feast day of particular significance to the Society, and Fr Dy chose to profess his Final Vows on 31 May, Solemnity of Pentecost, exactly 25 years since he made his First Vows.
In his homily, Fr Ramon Bautista SJ, who was Fr Dy’s tertian instructor in 2017 to 2018, reflected on the Holy Spirit’s gift-giving action. “Pentecost time is nothing else but gift-giving time and no other time is the Holy Spirit at his best as master gift-giver to us than today, which is also the birthday of our Church,” he said.
“As our divine giver, the Spirit is never more generous, never more prodigal in his gifting than when he calls us to our personal vocation,” said Fr Bautista. He reminded the few people gathered in the chapel and the thousands that were following live on Facebook that God calls us freely not so we can do great things for him, but so he can do great things for us.
“This has been the same case with our dear Fr Ari,” he said. “With his calling to the Jesuits, so many blessings, so many opportunities started opening up like doors leading to other doors allowing God to do more great things for him.”
Turning to Fr Dy, Fr Bautista repeated the Lord’s commission to his apostles, which, he said, is also what the Lord and his Spirit are commissioning Fr Dy today: “Go into the world. Covid or no Covid, pandemic or no pandemic, virus or no virus, just go. And as you go, remember, the gifting of the Spirit continues. It will always continue with our Paraclete doing more great things for you and the people of God you serve.”
Fr Dy, in his thanksgiving speech, looked back on his Jesuit formation and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in his journey, remarking that, “All is grace.”
“I have now spent 25 years as a vowed Jesuit, studying and working, doing what I have been asked to do, receiving training and serving in communications, Chinese studies, Buddhism, and education. Today it is the Society of Jesus who has taken notice of my Jesuit life and saying to me, ‘It is good that we are here… this is forever.’ This is now for keeps. It is not only me making my offering of self; it is also the Society of Jesus offering me for service in the Church and in the world.”
He added: “Wherever Jesuit life and mission take me now, I see my Final Vows as a further step in striving to become more and more like Jesus. Having studied Buddhism, I am in deep appreciation of our late Fr General Adolfo Nicolás’ message to young Jesuits—to let Christ in, because it doesn’t happen once and for all. It takes time. Just as the Buddhist path to enlightenment takes time, even several lifetimes of striving to liberate the mind, so the path to becoming like Christ takes time, and much practice. Maybe that is what Christian enlightenment is all about, to become like Christ.”
Read the whole of Fr Dy’s thanksgiving speech here.