2024 Heart of Life Centre Graduation
Heart of Life students graduated from various courses.
Daniel Magadia
and Krish Mathavan (in absentia) graduated from the Damascus Spiritual Leaders Program.
Khoi graduated from the Emmaus Spiritual Leaders Programme. Receiving his Certificate.
He is also a lecturer in the Siloam Programme. Presenting a Certificate to Yon SVD from Indonesia.
Three graduates spoke movingly of their experiences of the year and expressed how formative and transformative the courses were for them.
A quote from Daniel’s reflection on the Damascus program.
Two words sum up the growth I have gained from Damascus: awareness and vulnerability. I learned awareness more interactively at supervision. I could share a pastoral experience and was given a space to learn and reflect on the encounter. This involves checking out how one is affected, whether emotionally or spiritually. Awareness is being able to acknowledge these movements. All the units were also helpful in teaching me this. As for vulnerability, a valuable insight is that the strength of a spiritual leader does not come from power, intelligence or whether they are a finished product. It is embracing one’s humanity, and realising they are not God.
They need God’s love as their inspiration and driving force (quoting the MSC Constitutions). I also learned that a spiritual leader is called to be an authentic leader, who’s true to themselves. There’s a vulnerability in this because it involves letting go of the masks and falsehoods. Indeed, just like Paul on the road to Damascus, my journey along this path has been life-changing.
