The Fruits of Prayer Life at the Somascan Fathers Seminary

Lubao, Pampanga

A Research Proposal Presented to The Faculty

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for

By:

Vince Aron P. Hipolito

January 2023

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 2

CHAPTER I --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 3

CHAPTER II --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 4

CHAPTER III --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 5

APPENDICES --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 6 – 10

LIST OF REFERENCES --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 11

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CHAPTER I

PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Prayer is thought of in many different ways, in different places, and in scenarios, one
of the best promoters of prayer is the church, her priests, and the lay liturgical
ministers. These people, the doctrine, and the clergy invite us to have a devout prayer.
They suggested many ways to practice a devout Christian prayer life, such as personal
prayer, devotions to saints, liturgical celebrations, community prayers, and novenas.
These ways help every people to live their life in the image of God, the Christ in us. But
the doctrine itself teaches us that the fullness of living a devoted life rooted in prayer is
through acquiring the sacraments, one of which is the priesthood and holy orders.

Priestly life is a life rooted in Christ, through prayer, it is a life of total dedication to
Christ and his flock through the sacraments and the liturgy. Priests are to entice people
to live in communion and to embrace one mission, and they can only do this if he
himself is living a life of prayer.

Before being conferred in this order, men who desire to be a priest have to undergo
years of formation to be built in the image of Christ. The church, in her most fervent
desire to bore holy and sanctified priests provide standards or pillars of formation for
these young aspiring men, one of the pillars of their formation is the prayer or spiritual
life.

Since it was mentioned that a life of a priest must be a life rooted in prayer, they are
to be formed in Christ’s way of praying, that, they might bear good fruit, they have to
be deep in spirituality, nourished in the soul, so they may be able to fulfill the
ministerium entrusted to them.

Seminary life as all we know has pillars, one of these is the prayer life, The
Somascan Congregation witnessed, after making a large number of priestly vocations,
the importance of prayer in the life of a priest. The existence of the congregation and
its continued growth, as the number of priests, conferred over time increases, testify to
the power and fruit of prayer. The congregation, as stated in its constitutions and rules,
believes that it consists of several men who live in common, and grow in mission,
because of prayer.

This research aims to identify the importance of prayer in the lives of priests and
brothers, after which, assuming that this study will help the prayer life of the faithful.

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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE.

A prayer is an act of communication by humans with the sacred or holy God, the gods, the
transcendent realm, or supernatural powers.1

Prayer engages God, enables God's people, and enlarges His kingdom. Jesus said, "without
Me, you can do nothing." Once we have prayed we are ready to do anything, until we have
prayed we can do nothing, but once we have prayed we can accomplish anything. 2

Prayer occurs when we pause to hear what God is saying to that deep part of us that gives
us life, our soul.3

The Church must never cease to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he send laborers into
his harvest.4

Prayer is not something we should only do at church or during Bible study. It’s something
we can do every single day. Like any relationship, if you don’t spend time with that person the
relationship will suffer. Prayer is a way for us to spend time with God. It is a way to connect
with Him and align our hearts with His.5

Hallmarks of a seminarian’s mature spiritual life will include a profound devotion to the Holy
Eucharist and the liturgical life of the Church, a commitment to regular Confession, spiritual
direction, a love for the Holy Scriptures, personal meditation and devotions, a special love for
the Blessed Virgin Mary, asceticism and penance, as well as simplicity of life and obedience. 6

Prayer dominates the life of a seminarian. Prayers are the punctuation marks of his day;
one could say that, in a way, his day is a prayer. A little consideration of the nature of prayer
and of the seminarian manifests the point. … In the life of the seminarian, prayer is
everywhere. After morning prayers and meditation comes the daily Mass, followed by breakfast
(with a prayer before and after), then classes (with prayers before and after), lunch (with more
prayers), recreation (very often with a prayer as well), rosary, dinner (once again with prayers),
and finally Compline, the night prayer of the Church. In addition to all these times of prayer in
community, he invariably offers up some private devotions, be it an extra rosary, Stations of the
Cross, or a spiritual communion, while not forgetting daily reading from the Scriptures and from
a good spiritual book (and these readings, rightly performed, are themselves prayers). 7

Through the priest, we experience the presence of God in the sacraments and prayer. 8

Certainly, without prayer, the priest will fail in the call to be a friend, and not slave, of his
Lord, for without it he will not know what his master is about. One might even go so far as to
say that, certainly without prayer, the priest will lose his sanity! 9

CHAPTER III
1
Hamman, A. G., "prayer." Encyclopedia Britannica, August 23, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/topic/prayer.

2
Wittman, C., “Prayer is, for the most part, an untapped resource, an unexplored continent where untold treasure
remains to be unearthed.”, January 27, 2014.

3
Candler, S., “How's Your Prayer Life Going?”, December 3, 2017.

4
Paulus, J. “Pastores Davo Vobis.”, March 19, 1992.

5
Hall, J.A., “The Importance of Prayer in Our Daily Lives and How It Can Benefit Us in Many Ways.”, Thinketernity,
2022.

6
DCPriest., ”Areas of Formation.”, 2000.

7
Chautard, D. ,“Oxygen for the soul.” St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary. 2022.

8
Archdiocese of San Francisco Official Website. “Prayer as the Heart of the Priest’s Friendship with Christ.”, May
18, 2018.

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METHODOLOGY

This part will show the type of research, methods, instruments, methods and tools of data
collection, and the research participants.
This qualitative study aims to determine the understanding of the importance of prayer in the
life of a Somascan religious. Such research will be done through questionnaires and specific
interviews with participants.
The main instrument that will be used in this study is a questionnaire interview with selected
participants.
The participants of the study will be the Somascan religious of the locale.

Information will be collected from 6 religious from the said congregation.

Series of interviews will also be conducted with some of the participants. After which, the
responses will be organized, tabularize, analyzed, and interpreted. The researcher constructed a
questionnaire on the above-mentioned study intended for the religious of the community.

Frequency distribution will be used as the statistical tool for the study.

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APPENDICES

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SOMASCAN FATHER SEMINARY
St. Jerome Rd., Bo. Sto. Niño, Lubao, Pampanga 2005

26 January 2023

Rev. Fr. Jessie H. Samson, C.R.S

Reverend Father:

Re: Permission to conduct research at the Somascan Fathers Seminary

I am Vince Aron P. Hipolito, a 12th Grade aspirant of this institution and I am currently conducting a
research entitled, “The Fruits of Prayer Life at the Somascan Fathers Minor Seminary, Lubao” in
partial fulfillment of the requirements in my subject, Research in Daily Life.

Hence, I would like to seek your participation and other religious in this community to be participants of
this study.

Questionnaires and interviews will be used as the research instruments in gathering the pertinent data for
this undertaking.

Your kind consideration and approval of this request will be most appreciated.

Thank you so much.

Respectfully,

Vince Aron P. Hipolito

Noted by:

________________________
Mrs. Rowena R. Secillano
Research Adviser

________________________
Mrs. Elena B. Lintag, M.A.Ed.
School Principal

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SOMASCAN FATHERS SEMINARY
St. Jerome Rd., Bo. Sto. Niño, Lubao, Pampanga 2005

The Fruits of Prayer Life at the Somascan Fathers Seminary, Lubao, Pampanga

INFORMED CONSENT

PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH: To help in the growth and strengthening of the prayer of
those who want to follow Christ through religious life.
YOUR TASK IN THIS RESEARCH
You are going to read and understand carefully the questions in order to provide answers based
on the prayer life you practice.
Your participation in this research is not in any way hazardous; however, should you find any
perils, please feel free to divulge them.
BENEFITS OF THE RESEARCH AND BENEFITS TO YOU
This research will help the young men who follow the Lord, through witnessing the fruits of the
prayer life of our priests and religious brothers, it shall help them to strengthen their vocation and
prayer life.
VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION
Your contribution to this research is purely voluntary. Coercion in any form will not be tolerated.
Refusal to it for this assigned research task is at your own risk.
WITHDRAWAL FROM THE STUDY
If for any reason and/or at any point in time you decide to decline your task in this study,
goodwill between you and the researchers will be preserved.
CONFIDENTIALITY (UNLESS PERMISSION IS GRANTED)
All information gathered for this research will be kept strictly confidential to protect the identity
of the participant who voluntarily contributed to this study.
CONFORME:

_______________________________ _____________________
NAME OF PARTICIPANT DATE:
Printed Name and Signature

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The Fruits of Prayer Life at the Somascan Fathers Minor Seminary, Lubao, Pampanga

Name: Age:
Grade: Gender:
The Objective of the Study:
To Identify impact of the Somascan Religious on the prayer life of the seminarians.

Instruction: Please tick (√) the appropriate box of your response for each
statement.

NEITHER
STRONGLY STRONGLY
PRAYER LIFE AGREE DISAGREE AGREE NOR
AGREE DISAGREE
DISAGREE
A. Personal Prayer
1. I sing to the Lord every time I
pray.
2. I always thank God.
3. I always ask for forgiveness
from the Lord every time I pray.
4. I pray not only for myself but
for others.
B. Community Prayer
1. I am always eager to pray with
the community whatever my
feelings might be.
2. I actively participate when
praying the Liturgy of the Hours
with the community.
3. I am always excited to meet
Christ through the exposition of
the Holy Eucharist.
4. I am always enthusiastic in
praying the holy rosary with
the community.
C. Holy Eucharist
1. I regularly attend the mass
every Sunday.
2. I am focused everytime the
Priest celebrates the mass
3. I receive the body of Christ
every Sunday and on holy days
of obligation.

4. I actively participate in the

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D. Scripture Readings

I read the daily scripture

I always reflect on the daily

I share my reflections with

I am guided by the word of

E. Devotion

I read books on the lives of

I do novenas in honor of the

I always invoke the Blessed

I celebrate the feast day of

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REFERENCES LIST

Archdiocese of San Francisco Official Website. “Prayer as the Heart of the Priest’s Friendship
with Christ.”, May 18, 2018.

Chautard, D. ,“Oxygen for the soul.” St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary. 2022

Candler, S., “How's Your Prayer Life Going?”, December 3, 2017.

DCPriest., ”Areas of Formation.”, 2000.

Griffin, C., “Forming Fathers: Seminary Wisdom for Every Priest.”, 2020.

Hall, J.A., “The Importance of Prayer in Our Daily Lives and How It Can Benefit Us in Many
Ways.”, Thinketernity, 2022.

Hamman, A. G., "prayer." Encyclopedia Britannica, August 23, 2022.

Paulus, J. “Pastores Davo Vobis.”, March 19, 1992.

Wittman, C., “Prayer is, for the most part, an untapped resource, an unexplored continent
where untold treasure remains to be unearthed.”, January 27, 2014.

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