"PAGBIGYAN MO LANG": Translation by Fr Albert Alejo SJ

 

Watercolor painting, "Tribute to St Ignatius" c. 2021 by Debbie Tan appropriating Ignasi Flores

PAGBIGYAN MO LANG

Filipino Translation of St Ignatius's Súscipe* by Fr Albert Alejo SJ

‘Kunin Mo Poon itóng

buô kong kalayaan,

Tanggapin ang gunitâ,

isip ko't kalooban.

Sa Iyó namán galing

tanàng hawak at tagláy,

Sa Iyó ko rin mulîng

ang lahát ináalay.

Buông kusàng-loob kóng

isinusuko sa ‘Yó,

Ikàw na ang magpasyà

nang ayon sa loób Mo.

Pagbigyán Mo lang ako

na Ikaw ay mahalin,

Sapát na 'tong biyayà,

walâ nang híhilingín.'

—San Ignácio de Loyola

*The Latin word 'suscipio' is used instead of 'accipio' or 'recipio,' which in English means 'receive.' This is because 'suscipe' includes the idea of both receiving and taking up. The Súscipe prayer has a prior origin going back to monastic profession, in reciting Psalm 119. In the Rule of St Benedict of Nursia, the Súscipe prayer involves the monk making or professing his vows of ‘stability, fidelity to monastic life and obedience.’ He then places a document setting out this promise on the altar.

The Rule continues:

“…and when he has placed it there, let the novice at once intone this verse: Súscipe me secúndum elóquium tuum, et vivam: et non confúndas me ab exspectatióne mea.—Receive me, O Lord, according to Your word, and I shall live: and let me not be confounded in my hope (Ps 119:116). Let the whole community answer this verse three times and add the 'Glory be to the Father.' Then let the novice prostrate himself at each one's feet, that they may pray for him. And from that day forward let him be counted as one of the community” (Benedictine translations of the Rule).