Malaynilay

In 2015, during the Year of the Poor, the DASAL RETREAT TEAM, a group of lay people who work with me to organize the Silent Bible Retreats twice a year for the past 5 years then, reflected on what program we can do for the poor. “Since our group has come together to organize retreats, why don’t we organize a retreat for the poor?” we thought. Further reflection led us to the words of Pope Francis: “The worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care. The great majority of the poor have a special openness to the faith; they need God and we must not fail to offer them his friendship, his blessing, his word, the celebration of the sacraments and a journey of growth and maturity in the faith…. Our preferential option    for the poor must mainly translate into a privileged and preferential religious care.” (Evangelii Gaudium 200)

The poor are not only poor materially. They also do not have the opportunities that the non-poor have to grow in the faith. For instance, they cannot attend retreats because of the cost. So we decided to do something in this regard. Since we cannot just get anyone, we decided to target the poor who are leaders in their communities. Hopefully they can cascade what they learn to their members. There are many groups who organize the poor – for various reasons. Some to fight for their homes, others to defend their jobs, while still others to form their Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs). Many trainings are given to the leaders of these groups, like trainings to negotiate, to hold meetings, to make proposals, to learn the compelling issues of society, etc. Rarely however, do they have trainings to grow spiritually and to have the resilience and the energy that come from deep faith and trust in God. Yet we believe what Pope Benedict XVI said: “Development of individuals and peoples depends partly on the resolution of problems of a spiritual nature. Development must include not just material growth but also spiritual growth, since the human person is a unity of body and soul, born of God’s creative love and destined for eternal life. (Caritas in Veritate 76) Indeed, “awareness of God’s undying love sustains us in our laborious and stimulating work for justice and the development of peoples.” (Caritas in Veritate 79)

So we embarked on a program to offer MALAYNILAY to leaders of the poor. Malaynilay comes from two words: malay, which means awareness and nilay, which comes from pagninilay, that is, reflection. One comes to new awareness through reflection and prayer. In this retreat we give reflections on basic spiritual truths, like the great love of God for each one, the call to holiness for all, motivation offered by love and faith, the true meaning of progress, the encounter with God through the sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance, the dignity and sanctifying effect of daily work, and ecological conversion. The participants are grouped into smaller groups of 6 where a facilitator would lead them in their reflections and sharing. All are given a chance to confess to a priest and mass is celebrated for them everyday. Some are even taught how to pray.

To finance this 3-day retreat in Tagaytay we ask donations from friends and look for sponsors. We also give free Bibles to each participant, a Malaynilay t-shirt, a prayer book, a rosary, and some toiletries. We provide free transportation to Tagaytay. In order that they may have their own contribution we ask 200 pesos as registration fee from each one.

That all started in 2015. From then on, the experience was so fulfilling and enriching, both to the participants and the organizers and facilitators that we have been doing it yearly, with 60 to more than a hundred participants per batch. We get the participants from Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), People’s Organizations (Pos) and BECs.

We found out that Malaynilay answers a great need among the poor. For most this was their first, and maybe only, experience of a spiritual retreat. It is a great awakening for many of an important aspect of their life which they did not pay attention to before. Hopefully we always have the resources to offer this “privileged and preferential religious care” for the poor.