Divine Word Missionaries

Seminarian Ariel Llanes, Techny

Ariel was born in Brunei and immigrated with his family to Canada at age nine. He completed high school there and began his seminary studies at Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa, in 1999. Following his graduation in May of 2003 (as class Valedictorian), Ariel entered the novitiate program in Techny, Illinois. He professed first vows as a Divine Word Missionary in August of 2004 and is currently studying theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

The Latin inscription on the wall near the entrance to the Divine Word Novitiate building says a lot about what the novitiate year is all about. The Latin word “ora” means pray, and “labora” means work. The phrase refers to how life was lived by the early monks during the time of St. Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism. Divine Word priests and Brothers are not monks, they are missionaries. We novices are being instructed in the way of St. Arnold Janssen, the founder of the Society of the Divine Word. So if we’re not monks, and we’re striving to become missionaries, for whom are those words of St. Benedict on the novitiate building meant?

Novitiate life involves both work and prayer. The work we do as novices is not so much about physical labor as it is about the religious missionaries. Novices all have one prayer in common: that we do God’s will. In other words, we’re asking ourselves: “Is the religious missionary life the life we’re meant to live? Arriving at an answer to that question takes a lot of prayer.

Fidelity to the work of praying takes discipline and determination. We may not want to be there physically, but on a spiritual plane, it’s our divine appointment and we don’t want to miss it. We have to be there – body and soul – even when our minds may not want to participate.

All Divine Word priests and Brothers place a high priority on work, both physical and mental, because they know their work for the kingdom is important. Missionaries make it a point to pray; both alone and in community. In the novitiate we strive to find a balance between work and prayer. In a world where the demands of life can push and pull us in all directions, missionaries have to stay grounded in prayer.

We have a global responsibility to attune ourselves to the needs of our world. Just as we search the radio for the right frequency to listen to the latest rap beat or hottest hip-hop tune, prayer helps us search for our “God frequency.” Raising our prayer antenna to God’s frequency allows us to become attuned to the suffering of the world around us. When we attune ourselves to God and our neighbor through prayer, we let go of our need to hold on to things, people or pleasure; let go of our need to avoid pain. Why is there suffering in our world? It’s because people take without knowing how to give; we hurt without knowing forgiveness; we judge without understanding; we seek love of self without knowing selfless love. We can change the world around us, but first have to change ourselves.

This is where the real work comes in. The change that occurs in us through prayer may not be readily apparent, but subtle changes can make big differences. For instance, novices may find themselves reacting less and less to how they think things should be. Through prayer they may try to respond according to a greater knowledge of themselves and more carefully consider the results of their actions and words.

Just as finding the right frequency on the radio to get a clear reception involves searching, so does prayer. Prayer gets us to quiet the “static” until a clear manifestation of God’s presence is revealed.

There are many ways of praying and different kinds of prayer may be well suited to various kinds of persons. For some, exterior modes of praying (i.e. saying the rosary, reciting prayers repetitiously, etc.) may move them toward a more interior mode. Scripture reading is an outward gesture, but once read with an “ear” towards God, it can lead to the quiet prayer of the presence is a powerful means of establishing contact with the Divine Other.

Saying the rosary does that. It breaks down the constant “inner chatter” that goes on in our heads to allow a deeper, truer Self to emerge. That Self is the divine image of Christ. If we are to change this world, that image must be embodied in us. The only way to carry out Jesus’ mandate to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world is through prayer. Only then can the work that missionaries do become incarnated, a visible sign of the living God. The Latin inscription reminds us that at the beginning of our lives as Divine Word priests and Brothers, prayer and work, “ora et labora,” must be the foundation upon which we live.

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