REYES, FRANCESCA MARGARITA R.

11339993
TREDFOR VOCATION EXPOSURE
INTERVIEW
1. Please share your experiences as a single blessed.
Im still studying so I have the routine of the student. I guess its really just a balance of
my duties as a student and the work I have to finish at home in the centre. Im in charge of
organising activities like girls club, so I have to balance that with my studies, plus I also have
additional classes in the centre, such as philosophy, theology, canon law, so its really
just regular student experiences. Also Im praying more often. We also make time for those
moments of prayer during the day. Im a numerary for Opus Dei. The whole point of Opus Dei
is to show people that it is possible to be really close to God even if you are not a priest or a
nun. And its possible to do it in your everyday work, while youre eating, while youre studying,
while youre working, while with your friends. As numeraries, what makes our circumstance
unique is that it is our job to live the Spirit and form others in that Spirit also. Thats why we live
in centres because we receive a lot of formation and its very hard to receive that kind of
formation if you live in your own house. You wont be able to receive it as much, or as well, it
wont be as well facilitated. Of course, there are other circumstances too. For numeraries, you
dont get married and you live in a centre. For associates, you dont get married either but you
dont live in a centre. Maybe because you have a family member who is sick and youre the only
one capable of taking care of them, so thats okay. You can also be a supernumerary and
dedicate your life to your family. Your top priority is your family and by dedicating your life to
your family are you able to get closer to God. There are also assistant numeraries, they dont
get married, they live in the centre but they are employed within the centre, doing administrative
jobs, etc. Nuns look at Jesus as their spouse, but numeraries look to His as their friend or
brother. My routine is not any different. Im still a student but I guess I make a conscious effort
to find God in all the things I do. I also have the responsibility of helping others do the same,
and forming others. People often think that once were numeraries, that we belong to the
religious sector, but really, were secular. What differentiates us from religious is that seculars
dont have vows. Religious have vows, and depending on the congregation, they may or may
not wear a habit. They focus on 3 virtues, poverty, obedience and chastity. We numeraries are

secular. We focus on all human virtues. In order to do our work well, we need all the virtues.
People think that just because we dont get married that we are automatically religious.
Canonically speaking, we are not religious but secular.

2. When did you feel that God is calling you to that kind of life?
Initially, I wanted to become a super-numerary, just like my mom. I always had that
dream that I was going to be a supernumerary with 10 kids, with nice clothes and a nice car. It
never occurred to me that Id end up becoming a numerary. It only started not even when I
started going to the centre more regularly but when I started taking my prayer life more seriously
and I started getting into more conversations with our Lord. This happened in my 4th year of
high school. My parents, being numeraries themselves never even told me to go to the centre
but their lives definitely influenced my path to becoming a numerary, as well as our school,
PAREF Woodrose. Weve heard St. Josemarias name and life story since grade 1 but I never
really connected it all until I started getting serious with my prayer life and getting close to God
in 4th year. It only made sense when I started getting really busy, especially with student council
since I was elected study body president. Thats when everything clicked. This is what
attending those circles are for, I thought. This is why we do prayer. It all made sense. It
became natural for me. I started going to the centres more often because I wanted to. I saw
what I was getting out of it, and I saw that it helped me a lot so I went. Not even my school
mentor expected it. One day I was chatting with her and I told her I felt really weird, like
somethings missing. I talked to Fr. Reyes, my spiritual director. I told him Father, somethings
wrong! I feel like somethings missing, I feel restless. I feel like Im supposed to do something.
Then he said Yes I think our Lord is calling you to be a numerary. Of course I cried, I didnt
want to be a numerary. Id be forever alone! I dont want to be a spinster. So it all started with
that, me getting close to our Lord and talking to Him more.
3. What are the blessings of being a single blessed?
Honestly, life is so simple. My worries are just 1. How is my relationship with God? 2.
How is my relationship with the people living with me in the centre? 2. How is my relationship
with my friends? When I talk to my friends and I hear all of their concerns, its a lot. At my age,
sometimes even younger, people have so much more problems, as in they worry about so many

things, some things they dont really need to worry about but some have legitimate concerns.
Of course, the environment that they are raised in may also present some problems. Life for
me now is really simple. Other blessings include of course, our Lord. God is a blessing in my
life. I live in a house of our Lord so that is a blessing in itself. I get to hear mass every day.
4. What are the challenges?
Living with different kinds of people, its like a dorm but 24/7 because its your house.
There are different personalities, different work ethics. Of course, being away from my family,
physically being an ate to my siblings. I have 8 siblings and its hard for me to explain to the
younger ones why their ate doesnt live at home anymore and that shes a numer now. Other
challenges include following the house schedule. Of course not being able to get married is
something we give up. Its a natural inclination for women to want to choose to get married and
have children. Its not like were lacking in family. We have a different kind of family. Not being
able to get married is something we gave up and were okay with it because we know that we
are called to do something else. At the end of the day, God got us into this and Hes not going
leave us alone. He will help us, with all His graces and blessings.
5. What advice can you give to those who desire to remain single blessed in life.
Keep an open mind. Gods logic is not the logic of men. You are not doing on your own.
You have other people doing it with you, doing the same thing as you. If you put the things of
our Lord first, everything will fall into place, from my experience.
SYNTHESIS
I thought long and hard about who to interview and ultimately, I ended up asking one of
my closest friends if I could hear about the life she is now living. The person I interviewed is
Monica Fernandez. We were classmates all throughout grade school and high school in PAREF
Woodrose and she has been my friend for as long as I can remember. For the past year or so,
she has been living away from her parents home and living her new home in a centre with other
female numeraries, called the Tahilan Study Centre in Malate. As a product of an Opus Dei
school since preschool, I have always been aware of Opus Dei, or translated into as Work of
God, founded by St. Josemaria Escriva. His mission was to show ordinary people that it is

possible for them to dedicate their lives to God by offering up anything they do, for Him. Our
religious formation in Woodrose has never allowed me to forget the teachings of St. Josemaria,
especially now that I to practice his vision of offering up any part of our daily lives to God. I am
no stranger to Opus Dei. During grade school and high school, I would often get invited to visit
the numerary centre in Alabang called Narra Nueva Study Centre. In this centre lived many of
the teachers who taught me in Woodrose. In Narra, Monica and I, along with my other
classmates would attend girls club where we would be taught arts and crafts, how to cook,
bake, clean, etc. As we got older, the activities they offered us also began getting more serious.
They would invite us to attend recollections, benedictions, and masses. In 2011, Monica and I
were fortunate enough to go to Madrid with other numeraries as our guide to the World Youth
Day. Monica had always been more serious in her prayers than I had, especially since she was
influenced by her parents who both super-numeraries. Growing up, she would always tell me of
her many crushes shed have from reading them in books or listening to their music. But never
did I expect that she would end up becoming a numerary. While in Woodrose, I was already
able to get a good grasp on what it is like to be a numerary. I would see them everyday,
especially though my teachers. My numerary teachers would lead by example, always going to
mass everyday, spending time alone after the mass just reflecting and thanking God for all His
blessings, and of course, encouraging others to do the same as well. During this interview with
Monica, I realised that shes the same old bubbly self I remember in high school, except now,
her priorities have shifted from crushes in books and boy bands to her relationship with God.
From this interview, I learned that God always has a plan for you, and you are never too young
to know of his plan. It may not be the plan you want, but God knows whats best for you. For
Monica, she realized Gods plan for her even before she started life at university. For as long as
I can remember, Monica would always tell me of her dream of having a big family, mirrored in
her family today with 8 siblings. This did not end up as her end goal, as God had something
greater in store for her. From the last time we had spoken, she had just started her life as a
numerary. From this interview, I can see that she is fulfilled with what her life has brought her so
far, and that she is definitely happy with her vocation. She is very lucky to have found her
calling so early in life, and given all the opportunities to accept the path that God set for her. I
hope that other people too, when given the chance to choose a vocation, choose the one they
know will make them most content with their lives. Im very glad that we were required to do this
TVEP activity because not only did it allow me to catch up with an old friend, but also allow me
to see the new life that she lives in service of God and others.

Monica and I in 2009 and in 2015

I definitely enjoyed my last class of TRED. I learned of the different vocations and
realised that we are not all called to follow the same path in life. There are other options too,
aside from getting married. We can stay single and blessed, or even enter into the priesthood
or a religious vocation with God. With TREDFOR, I was able to understand more the choice of
my friend Monica to become a numerary. When I first found out her intention to join Opus Dei, I
was saddened because I knew things would change and she would no longer have that family
shes always told me about. However, I came to understand that only when we can follow our
vocation in life can we be truly happy. Since she is now following her vocation, I gladly share in
her joys.
During the theology of the body talk, it became evident that amidst the rise for LGBT
rights, there are still those who do not support gays.

At some points it became a very

controversial talk but what I got most from the discussion is that the Holy Trinity is the image of
love, where God the father loves the son, God the Son is beloved by the Father, and out of the
love of Father and Son sprung out the Spirit. The trinity is an example of love, where God the
Father is the husband, Jesus is the wife, and the Holy Spirit is the child. This can be very
controversial when we think of gay families, or even families that do not or cannot have children
if people argue that there is no true love in that family. We must nonetheless try to mirror the
image of the Holy Trinity into our own lives and families.

While I believe I am not meant for the religious vocation and to become a single blessed,
I hope that in the future, I can follow the vocation of a married person. In TREDFOR, I learned
that marriage is difficult and a husband and wife must always fight to keep the marriage alive,
even after being together for so long. Watching the movie Fireproof made me see that in a
marriage, it is always important to sacrifice for the other. In the movie, Caleb gave up the one
thing that hed been saving up for for most of his life, a boat, to buy his mother-in-law a hospital
bed and chair. He did it for love of his wife even if he knew that she still wanted to leave him. In
the discussion of marriage, men and women truly are different from each other. During our
class activity where we enumerated the pros and cons of either sex, it also dawned upon me
that in order for a good relationship to work, both men and women should come to a
compromise. Additionally, while it is difficult for us to find the one, we can use some areas of
focus in determining whether or not two people really are meant to be together, such as
authentic love, human maturity, and value clarification. As we go through life, our vocations may
change. We many not know what we want to do with our lives but the only one who truly knows
is God. We must allow Him to lead us to our vocation and we must of course, accept it with
open arms, no matter what that vocation may be.