By Fr. Noel Sumagui, SDB
Fr. Noel Sumagui (45 years, Filipino missionary from FIN province) was sent by the Rector Major last September 2015 with other 5 missionaries to Sri Lanka Viceprovince. Six months after living in this South Asia country that suffered recently a civil war and many painful experiences, Fr. Noel shares his new life experience:
How did you sense that you had a missionary vocation? Why did you take this decision?
After ordination to the priesthood, I always wanted to apply to the missions again (I had been to Papua New Guinea as a practical trainee for 3 years) in fact I believe I have always had the longing. But it is only for the past 5 years that the longing became a passion. What prevents me from applying is the feeling that I am never good enough to be a missionary. Only to realize that if I wait for the time before I can really be much prepared to go, then I would be too old to do so. That’s why although I never intended it to be—on my 45th year of existence in this world, after 25 years of being a Salesian, and after 15 years of being a priest, I took the courage to make a leap of faith, and decided to make this desire a reality. After all, no matter how inadequate I felt I could be, I have also received much and it would be but proper that I share it to wherever and to whomever God will send me.
What is the hardest thing you had to give up?
Because of my age and formation, and my being a Salesian for 25 years, I can more or less say that I was stable with the ministry I was doing and could offer for the Congregation in my mother province. These, the comfort of confreres I grew up with, my family whom I can get in touch and visit, and the natural environment and culture that is so much like my skin already—these are the things I found so difficult to give up. Especially now that the longer I stay in Sri Lanka, the more I discover the big difference between their culture from what I got used to. Now I am literally like a child learning and trying to embrace everything from the basics.
This choice needs courage. Where do you get it from?
God has been good and generous to me in spite and despite of my so many shortcomings in the past as a person, a religious, and as a priest. And yet He has given me so much too. I will be a hypocrite if I say that missionary life is easy, and my experiences for the past months in Sri Lanka were a walk in the park. But at night when I have the chance to talk to him in front of the Blessed Sacrament, I always remind myself and tell Him “its only You…nothing else!” It might sound as if I am spiritualizing, but that has really been my prayer so far. I learned to stop giving other incentives, excuses, reasons and motivations to myself. I just get disappointed. After all, I simply really just want to give Him back everything.
Could you tell us about a day in your missionary life?
I was having a chat with a Sri Lankan pre novice one day and I asked him how does he envision himself in the future. He says that he would like to be a Salesian Priest. But he said “not just an ordinary Salesian Priest dying one day. I want to be a Salesian Missionary Priest, and I want to go to very remote places and to the poorest. I want to have meaning in my life.” It put a smile in my face but especially a feeling of big affirmation in my heart…after all, this young person see that being a missionary is “having deeper meaning in life”.
Do you have some particular project at heart?
The best way to learn a culture is to learn a language. Sinhala and Tamil are the 2 languages being spoken in Sri Lanka. If I want to understand better the people specially the young, I have to make this a real priority now. But also I am very much aware that because of globalization, the Sri Lankans are seriously taking the opportunities they have to be able to study the English language. This too will surely not make them only learn to speak and write in this language, but also acquire a sub-culture. Since I am an English teacher by profession, and I speak this language, I might as well take the chance to be of help so that they can both have a command of this language, and inevitably embrace a sub-culture. Imparting a sub-culture is the real challenge and a mission.
