Filipino Jesuit Fr Raymund Benedict Q Hizon SJ, known as Fr RB, professed his Final Vows in the Society of Jesus on 8 September during a liturgy at the Jesuit Residence of Ateneo de Manila University. Philippine Provincial Fr Xavier Olin SJ received his vows on behalf of Fr General Arturo Sosa SJ. The congregation included not only the Jesuit community from Fr RB’s residence but also his family, relatives, and four Jesuit brothers who journeyed with him since their novitiate years.
Fr Arnel Aquino SJ, who was Fr RB’s secundi in the novitiate, gave the homily. He noted that the Final Vows, which is the last stage of formal formation for a Jesuit, are not only about full incorporation into the Society of Jesus. More importantly, making the vows of lifelong poverty, chastity, and obedience is about mission.
“Jesus left the little that he had and lived with even less. But this freed him to go where people needed him most. He related in celibacy and intimacy, which was why his friendships were both lasting and healing. Obeying God’s word, he flung his ministry open to non-Jews,” said Fr Aquino.
“Our full incorporation into the Society is a peak experience by which God shows us how blessed we’ve really been all this time,” he continued. “Graced with the Final Vows, we remember that we really have everything we need to (a) go where we’re sent, (b) do our mission in earnest, while (c) knowing how to step aside.”
Fr RB joined the Society of Jesus in 1991, shortly after graduating from the Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in Development Studies. He was ordained priest in 2002 and currently serves as the Rector of the university’s Church of the Gesu and the Assistant to the Provincial for Health Care.
In his thanksgiving speech, Fr RB reflected on three gifts he has received over the years. These are the gifts of faith, family, and friendship.
“The simple words I professed tonight I have tried with many faults and failings to live all my life. If anything, more than promises, they are words of hope, expressed for myself, for the life of the world, in union with the whole Society, whom, more than ever, I cherish and cling to as a mother who continues to hope in me. I owe everything to her,” said Fr RB.
Recalling his own mother, who had passed away recently, Fr RB shared how he found comfort in the words of Pope Francis about Our Lady, whose nativity was celebrated on the same day as his Final Vows.
“Mary’s gaze, says Pope Francis, always rested on Jesus, protecting him with her heart,” he said. “My mother was that way with me, as Mary was with Jesus: her eyes gazed on me, protecting me with her heart.”
He invited the congregation to “turn to Mary and allow ourselves to be gazed upon by her who holds us in her heart, embraces us, protects us, and prays for us; we turn to her whose gaze of mercy is turned towards us who seek to follow her Son.”