As explained by brev Mark Robe, below are the 9 stages a Brev undergoes. We could see here that every brev experiences the same stages any other soul who is establishing a relationship with God.
Brev Stages of Life Explained
Being a brev for ten years now, I couldn’t help but notice the lives of all the brevs that I meet each day. It seemed so familiar year after year. I wanted to share this with you readers for you to understand and know where you are now with your life as a member of the Breviarians.
First stage (Curiosity)
Here are some familiar lines I usually hear regarding the Brevs.
Ÿ Hey, what is a brev?
Ÿ What does this group offer that makes these young people smile?
Ÿ There are so many young people there, how do they do it?
Ÿ They photocopy their song sheets by the thousands; they should be called “Xeroxians” instead.
Ÿ They enjoy singing in masses although they’re not professional singers yet I am touched by the way they sing.
Ÿ They’re proud of what they do…they don’t show shame at all.
Ÿ Hey there are good looking people there, I wanna join them! I wanna see my crush!
Ÿ They do concerts yearly though not so many people attend, for what?
Ÿ Whoa, they have a radio program?
Yup, I do admit this group became known from the above remarks and I tell you there’s more where that came from but that might fill this month’s issue. To cut it all short curiosity initiates the brevity of the Spirit. Our natural instinct to be curious of something is actually God calling you to this group. He uses this human feeling and draws people closer to the Breviarians. I have to say, there are so many mysteries in this group that we could not help but be curious about. Yet we can just conclude it as the work of God. Hey, where have you seen a choir sing with less trained singers and still gets complemented for touching them when this group sings. Then make a concert with no funds to start with. It’s not boasting but I’m merely sharing because I for one am surprised with these occurrences. Well if you’re still curious now, the answer is due to our joy and love in God’s service that makes everything possible. That’s why when someone asks us what a brev is we just answer, “Come and see!”
Second stage (In with the Brevs)
Simple initiation…“If you are willing to love and make friends in God’s service then you’re in!” Openness is the key to this stage. Those who respond to their curiosity now gets to see first hand the group that sets an impression on them. I’m not saying that those who did not reach this stage do not respond to God’s call. They on the other hand have their own mission for God. They are most of the people that God has granted to help other people to be curious with the brevs. They might say some good or bad things against the group but they are the ones who sets the seed of curiosity to the other young people called by God to this group. In other words, they are still God’s gift to the group.
First of, the new members gets to be introduced to the group with welcoming applauses and warmth friendship. They get to see the comedic insets of Bro.A, Kuya Buttercup, Kuya Rodge, and Kuya Paeng. The amazing voice of Ate Grace with her unforgettable clumsy and “wa poise” antics which adds a spice to the group. The musical wit of Ate Shobe on different instruments, especially on guitars, with her “Little Shobe” students holding wind instruments. The Kuya Kardo of all traits with the initial notion of “suplado” effect to the new members. The smiling, prayerful, holy first impression on Ate Chachi. Yup, all these catches your attention and that’s just the start. The new members meet the rest of the brevs who have more things to offer too! I won’t write everything because this might destroy our “Come and see” invitation. All starts to feel welcomed and appreciated. They meet all these young people full of energy and joy. Friendship thus is felt. The Brev Culture is supposed to be manifested here by the old members to the new. That is, pagmamano, saying “otcho”, cross arms during prayers and the like. You’ll get to know much more of these when you join this group. Non-exclusivity of the brevs will be felt! This means all are welcome not only Catholics(even athiests are welcome), not only rich kids, not only sane people, not only healthy people, and not only the young people (this means if you’re young at heart then you’re welcome no matter what age). In this stage the members are full of joy with the new found friends they have. They are now in with the brevs!
Third Stage (Joy in Service)
Wow, now that you’ve met the brevs better, you now find yourself in the service. Hey I’m part of the mass now. Great new youthful songs to learn and interest is roused. The new members now have moved out of their shells, their comfort zones and now find themselves diverting the focus to the service they’re doing. I would like to clear again that those who have not reached this stage is a “pasaway” or the unfriendly type because they don’t like how the brevs treat each other. Their path was made by God to a different direction. Some lose interest immediately without reaching this stage. However, Brevs was a mini-stop for them to see a different spirituality that might help them grow in another group. Or, a seed needs to be planted in their hearts and the brevs, in a little way, may have helped plant that seed for others to water and nurture. They might not have felt it but God works in little and simple ways we might not easily understand.
Now with those who have reached this stage, they enjoy themselves with the services they do. They sing at daily and Sunday masses, weddings, wake services, and Easter and Christmas carols. They become part of the Mass and become collectors, lectors/readers, sacristan, and offers the offering during Offertory. They join First Friday pilgrimages and pray daily the Rosary and the Breviary/Liturgy of the Hours. They attend the missions to other schools like that of our mission at Balatoc. They are like being pushed to do these things with the joy they have experienced on the previous stage. What they sometimes not realize is that God is the one setting their hearts aflame to be zealous in service.
Fourth Stage (The “XY” factor)
This stage raises the most important question in our lives…“why”. This is the “X” mark of being a brev meaning this is an essential stage. Sadly most members stop at this point because they feel that what they are doing is pointless and already redundant. This is caused by not being able to ask themselves why do I do this? This is critical to the members who have not yet established a deep faith in their services and prayers. Those brevs who only end up being happy in the third stage and lacked the interest to explore the services more will eventually lose interest and becomes what we call “Luli” “lulubog-lilitaw” members. Meaning, they just show up when they feel like it. However, I am not saying that they are not welcome anymore. We continue to pray that their zeal for service might turn to a zeal to understand the services they do. Ask yourself why you do these services and why you pray these prayers. Why do you go to mass, to first Friday vigils, and to missions? These questions are supposedly answered during the Meeting of the Brevs (MOB) and mostly in our immersion camp the Breviarian Big Tent Festival. Most of the brevs do not attend these activities and are left hanging with these questions. Not seeing the importance of these activities, they continue to serve with no meaning but with only joy to strengthen them. But joy is only for the third stage. The need to dig in deeper should be awakened. When you eat a fruit you don’t enjoy eating it by just chewing, however savoring the juice from the fruit gives you a more appealing taste and makes you want to eat more. The chewing only gives you strain and loss of interest if you do not stop and take effort to extract the juicy part of it. Same true with our services, missions, and prayers. We need to reflect on our lives why we joined the brevs and why do we need this group. Understand yourself and the group. Continue asking yourself why. Your service, mission and prayers go up to a whole new level of meaning and depth when you do this. You would even have the knowledge of Christianity and begin to love your beliefs. I will not answer the why’s in this article. It is up to you to attend the MOB and Big Tent Festival to ask your why’s to our speakers. Also, the asking does not stop with these activities. The brev leaders can help you look for these answers. They can only help but the answer will be given by God personally to you. That I can guarantee, as long as you are willing to ask.
Fifth Stage (High in the Spirit)
A whole new level of happiness! I tell you that once you’ve reached this stage you’d always want to come back. This is the stage where you feel that your soul is in a bliss and you’d feel God in your lives. You get to feel His presence. Conversion usually takes place here. You’d want to be so righteous and you’d ask for God more. You’d long for Him. Everything seems perfect and nothing seems to go wrong. You get the urge to praise Him more and sing songs more sincerely. You’d feel stronger. This is a glimpse of heaven. However, one should not make the mistake of longing to stay with this stage forever. We are on a journey. Our lives are like deserts with a number of oasis that keeps us going on. These oasis are given to quench our thirst but never to fully satisfy us. If we just choose to stay in this heightened state and don’t give effort to finish the journey, we completely lose the essence of our lives. Our end goal is the true heaven and not just a glimpse of it. After experiencing this stage many of our fellow brevs just wants to be high in the Spirit and not finish the trials ahead. I for one did not want to leave this stage. I kept looking for a path with no suffering. Most don’t face the challenges. Friends, we need to move forward. This stage is a gift from God but a gift that will give you only a touch of His love. More of this will come when we finish our journey. Still, enjoy this stage when you reach it.
Sixth Stage (Devil’s Ultimate Test)
The climax of our lives. This is the time to see how far is your faith. The devil becomes active in his persecutions and oppressions. A long stage in the life of a brev. Many would backslide from this stage and many would just give up. Some would just go back to the third stage and others would get lost back to the fourth stage. Others more just don’t come back to the group in search of themselves. This is the time where we are tested on our weakness. Leaving us either stronger or weaker in our lives. Our Blessed Virgin Mary have also undergone this test based on the book “Mother Mary as seen by the Mystics”. When she was still a child, she was able to talk to her angels and to God Himself because of her purity and innocence. She was so joyful and enthusiastic to know that God and her angels are there for her. One day God put her to the test. God suppressed Himself from her and ordered her angels not to talk to her. Mama Mary was troubled. She called her angels but no one answered. She asked God why He was doing this to her but still no answer. She was deeply troubled and began reflecting to herself if she had done something wrong. She examined her conscience and asked God to forgive her if she had offended Him. Still no word from either her angels nor God. With this she began to do acts of repentance and began to humble herself more. Some of her friends who were jealous of her holiness began to oppress her and they would gang up against her and would try to even hurt her. Amidst all this our Mama Mary humbled herself more and accepted everything. She even apologized to the girls who hurt her and said “I am sorry if I have offended you in any way. Please teach me how to be better for I am a sinner.” I was amazed at the humility of Mama Mary upon reading this. God was also hurt to see Mama Mary being oppressed and tested by the devil but God knew this has to be done to make her stronger. To cut it all short, Mama Mary received all sufferings, oppressions and trials with full humility and love. She only thought that she deserved all that because she was just a lowly servant of God and that she had offended Him. When Mama Mary was at the brink of all these sufferings, the time that one may have already surrendered, she cried her heart out and said “My Lord I deserve this for I am a sinner.” I was astonished by this statement. I thought she would give up and plead to God to forgive her but she accepted everything and was still willing to suffer more. At this, God could not take it anymore. He showed Himself and embraced Mama Mary and her angels began to show themselves to her again.
My fellow brevs, Mama Mary’s weakness was the absence of God. However, she showed more humility, perseverance and hope that one day God would again talk to her. This point in our lives, where God allows the devil to oppress us and use our weaknesses as our downfall, is where we either become stronger or weaker in faith. The ultimate test is the climax. The turning point of our lives. Our weaknesses like pride, lust, expectations from our families, seeking of attention, relationships, anger, jealousy, too much dependent on God and many others are our bondages in life. We need this ultimate test to conquer our weaknesses. We need to know that this has to come in our lives and we need to go out of this victoriously. This does not take a day, a week or even a year to conquer depending on the level of faith that you have. Mama Mary took also a long time before God eventually appeared to her. God acknowledged Mama Mary’s humility in undergoing this test and Mama Mary humbled herself more. Never give up on this stage. You are almost there. When we conquer this stage, we can conquer any other test in our lives. Humble yourself like Mama Mary and accept all sufferings. The good thing with us is that we have the brevs to help you with this. It takes a series of formations and prayers to help you in the devil’s ultimate test. When we have finally passed this test, God will again embrace you and heal the wounds of your suffering. Blessings and graces will overflow from your proving of your faith to God. This is the time that we die to ourselves and live in Christ. I would recommend you reading the life of Tobit in the Bible and his extreme test of faith and how God blessed him more in the end.
Seventh Stage (Climbing to Holiness)
First of all I would already tell you honestly that I haven’t reached this stage. How I am writing this comes from the wisdom of God. He had shown me this from my reflections and prayers. This is the hope He has given me if I were to surpass the devil’s ultimate test. I congratulate the people who have reached this stage. Your journey to holiness is almost complete. The mountain of suffering you are now climbing will be your last step of journey. This is the time that you collect yourself after a heavy war that you have encountered during the sixth stage. Effects of post wars are hard like building back your destroyed house, making a new living, getting back your life and the like. In our spiritual life we rebuild ourselves but now the hope is there that we can make it. God is there with you to help you throughout your journey. As I have said earlier you will still climb a mountain of suffering but you will be able to handle everything as long as you remember what you have experienced in the sixth stage and how you have proven yourself worthy. It is very important that you remember what you have learned in the prior stage and how strong you have become to prove your love for God. Hope should always be present here and know that God will be with you always. I guess as for me I am still stuck at the bottom of the mountain and still don’t know how to climb it because I am still struggling to fight on the sixth stage. I too have backslides from the sixth down to the third stage and repeatedly undergo my trials in life. However, I still pray that I may be like my Mama Mary full of humility and love.
Eighth Stage (Corporate Sainthood)
The primary goal and dream of the Breviarians. A group made of saints that would help make a difference in the world. A corporate sainthood that will proclaim God’s love to all people. With the services that we do and the prayers that we say, may God’s love be like a disease that spreads rapidly to all people. We envision this corporate sainthood to be an instrument of conversion to people. Just as the mere sight of a saint brings conversion to many people, what more if a group of saints comes to you and sing songs of praise to God. We always say in our group, “I hope we see each other in heaven.” In this group we share our wings with each other to help us reach heaven. I do hope many other young people will still join this group and make a difference in the lives of all people. Let us proclaim God’s love hand in hand and be His instruments of conversion.
Ninth Stage (Cloud 9)
What more can I say but…HEAVEN!
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