THE LOVE THAT WE GIVE; with Guest ROSARI SOENDJOTO
SMITTEN BY FAITH Issue # 0006 4th September 2021
My Special Guest this week is ROSARI SOENDJOTO, Mary’s Millennials from Indonesia who was featured in my book, ‘Millennials Meet Mary’. I don't have enough words to describe Rosari, this bundle of energy who in her young life, has suffered and achieved so much and yet is still able to unconditionally love and give. I think that all this can be attributed to her strong and unshakeable commitment to the Catholic faith. This week’s title – THE LOVE THAT WE GIVE – really suits Rosari down to the ground. Rosari quotes Mozart when she says that love is the key. “Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love - that is the soul of genius.”
Above - some pictures of Rosari as she travels the world
Rosari is a brilliant young woman from Surabaya with a mixed Peranakan Chinese and Javanese aristocratic background. Her late father was a businessman and lawyer who devoted much time to pro bono public defending work. Near the end of his life not long before his death 12 years ago, he pursued his vocation to be ordained as a novice Buddhist Monk. Rosari’s mother, an ardent Catholic is an educator, a researcher with a doctorate in pedagogy who teaches at the university in Surabaya and the Indonesia Open University. Rosari was brought up in the Catholic faith which for her is her unshakeable rock. Even though her many family members come from different faiths, Rosari’s late father always encouraged her to be true to her Catholic faith from the beginning. Rosari is an only biological child whose parents were always very busy and committed to their professions and their many charitable causes; Rosari had to grow up fast and basically ‘fend’ for herself. But Rosari was never ‘alone’. Charitable deeds run in the blood of this unusual family. Her small family became ‘big’ because the generous hearts of her parents were welcoming and big, never hesitating to open their family house to everyone around them. Rosari says that growing up, she had several foster brothers and sisters whom her family fostered along the way. Her recent tragedy was the death of one of her most beloved and closest foster brother, an Indonesian Naval Officer – Submariner Major (Posthumous), Mayor Laut (P) Anumerta I Gede Kartika who died in the recent Indonesian submarine disaster which sank in April 2021.
Professionally, Rosari is an entrepreneur and technocrat; incubating, advising and building tech start-ups and private equity investments. Rosari started her career working with various multi-national corporations and Indonesian conglomerates. After that, Rosari resigned from all this not wishing to be what she calls a ‘cubicle monkey’. On her own, she built and invested in several successful technology and private equity start-ups and was able to achieve ‘glorious exits’ for most of them. But, as Rosari admits, not without failures, hiccups and lessons learnt along the way. Her latest project is involvement in the development of a fintech start-up that provides low-cost cross border remittance and direct payment services targeting the niche of overseas Indonesian Migrant Workers.
An aspiring Humanitarian and Philanthropist
Rosari has channelled the proceeds of her earnings to her many charitable projects. One of which is the Delmar Atelier. In fact, just mentioning DELMAR ATELIER brings forth a big smile. She says that what she has been able to achieve with the DelMar Atelier makes her very happy. Delmar Atelier is a not-for-profit social enterprise initiative which Rosari established in 2015 to collaborate with various communities giving gainful employment to several marginal sectors of society – orphans, former prostitutes, prison inmates, disabled, former convicted recidivists, and refugees – all of whom are very precious to Rosari who says that she can do no less when she sees how much love they put in the handicrafts they make. Among the many handicrafts produced by the DelMar Atelier, are the excellent quality sacred art reproductions printed on fabrics in beautiful hand crafted frames which they sell at special auctions and private commissions with all proceeds going to various communities, sponsorships and stipends for some Indonesian priests studying overseas, various apostolate and grass root communities. And, it’s not about just financial support. Rosari also gives her heart. When the first auction started in 2015, the proceeds enabled Rosari to host more than 20 talented kids from Jakarta orphanages at her private residence over Christmas and New Year where she sponsored several classical music masterclasses and intensive music courses for them with a Piano Virtuoso from Spain, Angela Lopez Lara; internationally acclaimed award winning classical guitarist from Iceland Ogmundur Thor and Samuel Klemke from Germany. Take a look : Www.Fb.me/delmaratelierwww.delmaratelier.org
ABOVE - SOME DELMAR ATELIER HANDMADE PRODUCTS IN FABRIC
Left : Fra Angelico 1399-1455 - The Crucifixion
Right : Michelangelo – The Last Judgement
Commitment to the Church - Archipelago Adventures
This past year when the Pandemic hit Indonesia, Rosari came down hard with Covid - twice ! However, as soon as she recovered, she was back on the plane from Jakarta where she lives, to the Eastern part of Indonesia, the Indonesian Archipelagos where she makes a huge personal contribution of her time and resources to help this tiny rural community of priests, nuns and indigenous locals. She donates equipment for schools, high quality books for the children’s library, and she helps to arrange how to setup modern and scalable agro-forestry, sustainable farming and most of all how to scale up and manage their own social and economic development programs. With her understanding of the Catholic Church’s social doctrines, she volunteered to be a high level advisor to the team of the local diocese who sent their concerns to the Indonesian President – Joko Widodo on the new ‘Wae Sano’ Geothermal Project funded by the World Bank as it highly impacted indigenous communities. Recently, for her birthday, the Monsignor Emeritus, a Monsignor and the priests of Flores gave her a very special rooster and indigenous traditional fabrics– at a special ceremony in Ruteng in Flores – welcoming Rosari to the local community family house, with the priests and Rosari were all dressed up in ceremonial gear. A big honour indeed which Rosari joyfully accepted. ( See the pictures ).
Also, just very recently, when Covid again hit the outer islands of Indonesia hard, Rosari and her mother found themselves playing hosts in Jakarta to priests – some of whom were flown from the islands and were quite ill in the hospitals or in isolation. They cooked 3 meals a day for the more than 14 priests daily who were sick with Covid for several weeks. In this respect, since Rosari is also a hobbyist-amateur chef – she rustles up not just any meals but gourmet 3 course meals for them. She says of her work for the church and the religious community, “ ….for me personally, what matter most is love that we share through direct involvement and genuine personal interactions.” When Rosari was still at school, her mother had an accident that required head surgery and long hospitalization in the Catholic hospital in Surabaya for some time. Also at the hospital was Sister Jeanne SPM who had a stroke. Rosari’s mother gave up her private room for Sister Jeanne, an old retired and very special nun. Sr. Jeanne was also Rosari’s mother’s second cousin and also one of Rosari’s faith sponsors; very dear to her family. It was a serendipitous moment. Here, at the hospital together was her mother and her beloved faith sponsor Sr. Jeanne who had carried the baby Rosari at the baptismal font and from whom she had received her first Rosary blessed by St.John Paul II and who taught her godchild Rosari how to pray and sing Latin hymns before she could even learn to read and write Bahasa Indonesia ! So, when both her mother and Sister Jeanne were so ill at the hospital at the same time, Rosari spent all her time there looking after both of them, especially Sister Jeane who was completely immobilized by her stroke.
Rosari says that this was where she learned the priceless lesson of how to love unconditionally - when she did everything from bathing, grooming sessions, washing their hair, massaging , cleaning them etc . She says that it was truly joyful to share all her love to care for both her mother and Sr. Jeanne at the same time. That experience left a very deep mark that changing Rosari forever. Rosari says that she discovered how to love and do charitable works with pure love. She says that her commitment to the Church today is merely repaying life’s favours to her. She says that whatever she does today will still never be enough as one cannot measure the love and sacrifice of a person who takes religious vows; those who give their lives fully for the Church and goodness of others through the consecrated life as nuns, priests, monks, or Bishops. Rosari says, “wherever they came from, whoever they are, however their stations or ranks – their love and dignity come from the same source: love of Jesus Christ for humanity.”She says that she has spent the past 15 years away from home but managed to keep intact her values and purpose all because of her faith and her deep friendship with the people in the Church - who all undeniably contributed to her spiritual growth.
Archipelago Adventures
Top Left : Rosari in Ruteng, Flores with the ceremonial rooster
Top Right : Rosari in Ceremonial dress in Flores
Bottom Left: Agro farming in Flores
Bottom Right : Rosari in Diocese of Ruteng with Justice of the Peace discussing human trafficking and protection of migrant labourers
Let’s now hear directly from ROSARI SOENDJOTO ( a Millennial with a maturity beyond her years ) :
THE LOVE THAT WE GIVE BY Rosari Soendjoto, September 4th 2021; Jakarta, Indonesia
The hardest thing for me is to find true humility in loving. To love without being trapped to loving the idea of love itself is not easy. Purifying any intentions and motives from ego and pride is the hardest. In order to love purely and humbly, we need to make our ego so small; so small until it can enter the apple of the eyes of the beholder. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it does not belittle others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Pure Love is empowering and liberating, instead of patronizing. If we can only afford to give a small amount - then even though the amount is small; what matters is that it is given with BIG love.
Joyous giving achieves merit, and altruistic practice achieves wisdom. But above all, everything must be done out of love; thus the intention in giving can be purified. My late beloved Papa said this to me. He also told me, “ don’t wait until you feel enough, big, or rich enough to give and do charitable works. What matters most is give of yourself and your intentions beyond any material things. No matter who we are, what we are, whatever we do, wherever we are, how rich or poor, however small or big we are - we can always do good or works of love. We will be able to see the face of Christ in everything and see him face to face; do things to show our love to Him. My papa’s words - a long time ago - when he knew he would not live long, “…you won’t be able to show good deeds for me, give me tea, look after me or cook for me when I am old. But if you miss me or long to do that; just find any Buddhist monk and offer him food or water; find the Bishops and Catholic priests, or old nuns and do the same. When you do good deeds and make merit out of love on my behalf, your love for me is transcendent.”
“Loving” should be a lifetime vocation that is deep, and at its core different from simply “being in love”. It is more meaningful to “be mindful in loving”, dedicating all intentions, acts, merits and fruits; representing and radiating Christ’s love instead of just merely making merit or doing good as human standards per se. Only by giving ourselves unreservedly with unconditional love will we be God’s instrument. Only when God works through us, would we find joy, surpass any mediocrity, touch others deeply personally, reach beyond our human limitations and comprehension – and at the end of the day (even perhaps long after we die): create and build a lasting legacy, or touch someone at a deep personal level. Love is transcendental, brings peace and joy, and is the source of our uplifting energy even in the hardest or saddest situations. As Christ indeed did His works and labour too at the forefront of His life as a human for the salvation of mankind instead of merely being a Son of God that “leads from the throne and commanding around”. He involved directly, and he pursued direct interactions without any concerns towards validations, approval, prestige or applause. He ate and mingled with sinners, taught at the temples with the holy men, he was fully present and actively participated in every natural moment of his life as human. He healed, he touched, he became a fisherman, he prayed, he endured the cross, sufferings, humiliations; he faced and overcame all his emotions, and he put so much love into all of his works and all facets of his humanity and divinity.
The best gift that we can ever offer giving ourself and our energy is to make whomever we encounter feel that they are truly loved, and eventually feel and see the love of God in whatever we give; in what we make and in what we do for them. At the end of the day, this is how the Gospel tells us according to St. Mark 12:41-44, the most precious offering is like the offering of the poor widow. It’s never been precious due to the material quantity, it’s never been about prestige, but it’s all about the love she gave, and how important it is for us to prioritize our gratitude and show our love for God through others. It is the love for God that keeps knocking on the “door of our heart” to express our love for Him through everything we do. It is sweet, soft, subtle, and makes us tremble to the depths of our soul. It certainly does for me. This love stirs and thrills my heart - as when I listen to certain music. Such as my favourite classical guitar composition by Paraguayan guitar virtuoso Agustin Barrios Mangore whose last magnum opus, a masterpiece he created just before he died was inspired after an old poor lady knocking his door asking for coins as alms in a bleak winter night, “Una limosna por el amor de Dios” ( ‘Alms for the Love of God’ ). His music brings joy to my heart just as the great music genius Mozart’s unfinished deathbed choral masterpiece, a requiem mass, ‘Requiem in D Minor, K.626’.
Just give love, and do love, motivated by love. It is more than enough. Because the love itself that we can ever offer – is truly a grace that has been granted to us first by God and enables any ordinary giving to be truly extraordinary in the eyes of God.
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