The Joy of Job Immersion

You might ask: “What is it?” Some might already have heard about it but I suppose many have not heard about it.

Job immersion is a program in the St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary of Mindanao for the Pre-Theology seminarians. It is a month-long immersion done during the first semester for seminarians to work in different companies and establishments like hotel, resort, gasoline station, memorial park, restaurant, bakery and others. Hence, some of us work as a janitor, sweeper, pump attendant, pool attendant, dish washer and the like.

What is very interesting in this immersion is that the seminarians are not allowed to divulge their identity to refrain from special treatment from their co-workers. Only the owner or the manager knows their identity. However, it is alright that the co-workers might discover it but not through the initiative of the seminarian involved.

In relation to the human aspect of the seminary formation, the purpose of the said immersion is to let the seminarian know himself better, to understand the labor force in the society, and much more to bring the message of Christ to everyone.

We worked from 8:00am to 5:00pm every Monday to Friday. Like any other worker, we also commute and bring our own provision for lunch and merienda. Some of us indeed experience the heavy traffic especially those who are assigned at the city proper and to compete with other commuters for at times only one or two are vacant in the jeepney. Some of us are first timers to work as a pump attendant in the gasoline station, as a house-keeping attendant and the like. Others are also scolded by some customers.

Common experience of ours in the said immersion is that each person has his own story to tell especially a story of how good and merciful God is despite the hardships in life. In our sharing, we have also different experiences that inspire us and help us to grow as a person – a future minister of love.
Many of our co-workers work menial jobs and they earn minimum wage or lesser. But what makes them endure all the hardships is that they love their family. They are willing to sacrifice for love. As Blessed Mother Teresa said, “Love until it hurts.”

As seminarians, we really learned a lot. This is once in a lifetime experience and we may never pass this way again. We extended more our hands and ears during this immersion. What a joy to help other people even in just that short-a-time. The experiences and gift of persons are worth treasuring. This is just a glimpse of what job immersion is.

Truly, this job immersion is a faith and life sharing activity.