On my Jubilee year as a Jesuit I received this precious letter...
Curia Generalizia della Compagnia di Gesu
Borgo S. Spirito,4
C.P.6193/00195 ROMA-PRATI ( Italia)
Rev. Fr. Arsenio C. Jesena, SJ
Jesuit Residence
Ateneo de Manila University
Loyola Heights, 1108 Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Dear Father Jesena,
It is my joy to congratulate you in this Jubilee year of your
becoming a Jesuit and to wish you a full measure of Christ's
grace and peace. I add to this the gratitude of the Society for
the many ministries you have engaged in, both in Mindanao
and in Metro Manila.
Your early formation took place in different cities: Bacolod,
Iloilo and finally Davao where you nurtured your contact with
the Jesuits at Ateneo de Davao. That association seems to
have warmed quickly, for you entered Sacred Heart Novitiate
after just three years of College.
Novaliches was to be your home in the Society for the
next five years. With the new scholasticate at Loyola Heights
still not ready, your first two years of philosophy were added
to the usual early formation that is given at Novaliches'
sprawling compound. Only in 1965 did the move to Loyola
House of Studies take place, so you had the distinction of
being in the first batch
to grace the new center on the Ateneo de Manila's campus.
Regency for you was done just across the campus at the
AdMU High School, where you taught Latin, English and
Religion before returning to LHS for Theology.
During those years of Theology, impressive was the experiment you
undertook: living with Sacadas back in your native Negros.
That experience was articulated in an important report, "The
Sacadas of Sugarland," that helped fire concern for the social
apostolate in the early 1970's.
Your ordination was slightly anticipated, since His
Holiness Pope Paul VI was visiting the Philippines in the late
1970. You had another distinct privilege in being ordained at
the Luneta by the Holy Father.
You then completed Theology
and went on to study labor problems at the I.S.O.,
cooperatives in Cagayan de Oro and leadership training in
Victorias, Negros Occidental. Indeed your first decade as a
young Priest was working for the Social Apostolate, mainly in
Bukidnon where you directed the diocese's Social Action
Center.
Social Action, however, in those first years of martial law
was not an easy task, and it took its toll on you.
A year at the Jesuit Renewal Center in Milford, Ohio helped somewhat to
refresh your resources. Upon your return to Manila in 1981,
you moved to Xavier House as Province Secretary, and
complemented that assignment with Guidance Counseling
at the Ateneo de Manila.
Unfortunately, a tragic accident the following year added
extra crosses to the struggles your Jesuit life had to face. The
victim of a hit-and-run incident near the Ateneo, you spent a
number of weeks in the hospital. Recovery was difficult, not
just from physical wounds but from the inner turmoil that the
accident had complicated.
To facilitate healing you were granted an extended sabbatical in the United States, and
spent much of the time working in a parish on Long Island,
New York.
In 1986 you returned to Manila to begin fifteen years handling a variety of assignments
at the Ateneo de Manila University and at Xavier School. Teaching, campus ministry,
chaplaincy work, retreats comprised your ministries during
those years. You began teaching at the Ateneo de Davao
University in 2001, but returned to the Ateneo de Manila
University’s Jesuit Residence two years later.
Health problems have been increasingly burdensome, and for years you have
borne these without complaint, accepting what could be
done within the various limitations imposed to you.
Writing is one ministry that has engaged your talents
these past ten years. At the end of 1998 the first of your YAYEE volumes appeared, celebrating God's redeeming love in the midst of brokenness. Eight versions of that theme have appeared,
including YAYEE 3 in Visayan, and YAYEE 6 in Tagalog.
And YAYEE 2 won special recognition in the Asian Catholic
Publishers Award, CATHOLIC AUTHOR OF THE JUBILEE YEAR 2000, and in Cardinal Sin's Catholic Media Awards. I congratulate these efforts, Fr. Jesena, and encourage your attention to them.
I also pray that God may bless your long life in the Society with a renewed sense of wonder at his goodness.So many years of persevering Jesuit service are truly a cause for thanksgiving. May your striving to faithfully live out your vocation be a never-ending source of joy and strength for you.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Adolfo Nicolás, SJ
Superior General
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