Alumni Profile

Love Takes Time

Margarita Sotera Santos

To love is to serve. At times, love through the act of service may seem simple and quick, a passing moment between a person and others. But most times, love through service can be long and arduous, especially when one is patient with time, faithful to the journey, and hopeful for whatever will be. One man who proves this is Fr Mamert B Mañus, the current chaplain of the Ateneo Junior High School. Fr Mamert was ordained as a Jesuit priest back in 2021, but the story of his vocation started more than 20 years ago.

 

Early Years

He was born and raised in a loving family in Cagayan de Oro. Throughout his grade school and high school life, he studied at Xavier University, also known as Ateneo de Cagayan. Despite studying in a Jesuit school all his life, he was not sure about where he wanted to go after. When college drew near, it was his father who urged him to dream big– think Harvard and Cambridge. Fr Mamert laughed it off but knew his father was right in a sense. That’s when he decided to apply to schools in Manila.

Fr Mamert recalls a time when he almost let go of going to the Ateneo de Manila University after realizing he could not afford to pay for the Ateneo College Entrance Test. He was ready to give it all up when his regent and class moderator, the late Ateneo Grade School Principal Fr Joey Fermin SJ, heard of his problem. He then helped a young Mamert knowing that this opportunity could not be passed up. Little did young Mamert know, this would be one of the many Jesuit guardian angels he would come across throughout his life. 

Months later, Fr Mamert not only passed Ateneo, but he got in with a full scholarship. As a young dreamer in the province, this felt like the door to endless possibilities– to grow, to explore, but most importantly to serve. The thought of serving started in his home. He was the eldest son with a big age gap with his sisters. He knew he had to take on a bigger role in supporting his family. Thus in 1993, after a long boat trip and a pitch-black night tour through the Ateneo campus, his journey began.

Welcome to the Ateneo

Fr Mamert studied AB Interdisciplinary Studies with tracks in Management and Economics. He entered the campus with a timeline: to finish in four years, get a job, and start making money for his family back home. That is why he described his college self as very studious and disciplined. He didn’t have the fun party life many college kids seem to talk about. “I went through college having taken no more than 2 glasses of beer.” Instead of parties and nightlife, Fr Mamert enjoyed his dorm life. By his sophomore year, he was the head of the liturgical committee and the portering supervisor. His campus life was full of greenery, watching sunrises and sunsets, and meeting other dormers from other cities and provinces. According to him, his dorm life compensated for his lack of family in Manila. It was in the halls of those dorms where he made many lifelong friends.

Reminiscing about the two Jesuit schools he studied at, Xavier University and Ateneo de Manila, he comments that what remained consistent was the teaching of one basic foundation: The Teachings of Ignatius. As a high school student, the terms he would often hear, including ad majorem Dei gloriam, lux in domino, and magis, sounded so magical and mysterious. But even then, he understood the core principle of doing all things for the greater glory of God. When college prepared him for real life, it was at that time he was able to further firm up those concepts he already knew. “That is why I would say that my Ateneo education has really helped in forming me to become who I am over the years and who I am at present.”

He shares another story of a Jesuit guardian angel who he met by accident. On a random day during his sophomore year, he accompanied his friend to see the friend’s spiritual director, Fr Bert Trinidad. According to Fr Mamert, he wasn’t allowed to leave until he scheduled to see Fr Bert again, and just like that, he had a spiritual director. He went to his first session, then the second one, and all the ones that followed that. “When I look back on my college years, the Jesuits I met were key factors. They were all kind and generous, and all lived out the Spirit of Ignatius that had been instilled in me since my younger years. Sila yung bumabalik sa isip ko.”

Although the thought of becoming a priest was not yet fleshed out, his experiences in Ateneo helped carve the idea of becoming a person for others. As he thinks back at his immersions and outreaches during his college life, Fr Mamert believes “a big component of Ateneo formation is it gets you in touch with the realities on the ground.” He realized how blessed he was with the education he was being given, and that it was a blessing that had to be shared. It was this “pay it forward” mentality that led him to think about the problems of the world, and to look outside himself. “I had my needs, my family had needs, but it should not and did not keep me from looking at other people’s needs.” 

The Twelve-Year Journey

As graduation came near, the thought of a Jesuit vocation started to form. Fr Mamert wanted to see what that calling meant and came to his Jesuit friend, Fr Bob Buenconsejo, for advice. Aware of his family’s needs and financial situation, Fr Bob Buenconsejo assured Fr Mamert that if the question of vocation is truly genuine and from the Lord, it will remain even after 2 years. So, a newly graduated Mamert decided to focus first on helping his family. After applying to different companies, he got accepted at Toshiba for a 3-month project in the Human Resources Department. But less than a few months in, he was offered regular employment. “What started as 3 months of work, became my first and last job before joining the Jesuits.” 

A few years later, during a First Friday Mass, Fr Mamert found himself slowly crying during the song “Sa’yo Lamang [ang Puso ko.]” That was the moment he realized it had been exactly two years since he promised he would look into the question of vocation. “In my heart of hearts, this is the Lord telling me sayo lang ang puso ko. It was his song to me and my song to Him.” That same year, he surprised his family by sharing the news that he had chosen to become a priest. Everything seemed ready until tragedy struck, and his father suffered a major stroke. All plans had to take a pause. When Fr Mamert realized his current salary couldn’t pay for his father’s full recovery and his overall family’s needs, he looked for greener pastures in other opportunities.

That is when his company, Toshiba, gave him the chance to study at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan on scholarship. The company would continue his employment in the Philippines while he was on study leave. All his salaries and bonuses would go directly to his mother for the family to use. Fr Mamert says his time studying in Japan was where he really experienced college life, attending parties and outings, and meeting international students worldwide. On the side, he took up a few part-time jobs such as cleaning hotel rooms, tutoring English to kids, and even dancing in cultural exchange groups. He had more than enough to pay for himself while still sending to his family. “I got paid to study, but there was a catch. For every year of scholarship, I had in Japan, I would have to serve the same amount of years in Toshiba.” So after four years in Japan, and receiving a Master's Degree in Business Administration, Fr Mamert returned home to the Philippines to work for four more years at Toshiba. 

But even in Japan, the call for a priestly vocation continued to find its way to him. This time, through Friendster. Someone messaged him, simply trying to make a fellow Filipino friend in Japan, who he eventually decided to meet up with in Manila. To Fr Mamert’s surprise, he was brought to the Loyola House of Studies, where the man lived. His name was Fr Xavier Olin, the then assistant national director for vocations promotions. Fr Mamert was reminded that his desire to enter the priesthood was not only alive but very strong. Finally, after four more years with Toshiba, on the last day of his service contract, Fr Mamert filed his resignation and started the next stage of his life. 

Priesthood in the Time of Covid

It would take him 15 years from the time he had his very first vocation seminar in college to the time he finally entered the Sacred Heart Novitiate. However, the passage to the priesthood is a challenging task. Fr Mamert would be a Jesuit novice for the first two years, learning about himself, the Society of Jesus, and the God that called to him. This was a time of workshops, seminars, intense reflections, and 30-day Spiritual Exercises.  After professing perpetual first vows in 2012, he spent the next year in a Juniorate program, taking English and Filipino communication classes. The next two years after that were for his philosophy classes, before being sent to Ateneo de Cebu, where he would teach Christian Life Formation to Grade 10 students for another two years.  Returning to Manila, he then studied Theology for the next four years.  Finally, eleven years after becoming a novice, Fr Mamert was ordained a Jesuit priest in 2021.

That year was still a difficult time, not just for Fr Mamert, but for the entire world as we continued to face the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. He was sent to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) after his ordination. He was at the frontiers in the fight against Covid. “It was so consoling being with the people who needed healing, who needed someone to simply be there.” Fr Mamert would do his rounds at PGH in level 4 PPEs, ready to anoint the sick, pray with the dying, and comfort distraught families. On many of his shifts, he would end up anointing up to 45 people, in both Covid and non-Covid wards. Despite the physical, mental, and emotional hurdles of being assigned to a hospital during the pandemic, Fr Mamert views that time with gratitude. “That was one of the most remarkable places of my first year of priesthood. Doon ko naramdaman ang living out being a person for others.”

He looks back on his fear and paranoia when he first entered PGH and how it only lasted a week or two. All his anxiety and worry disappeared when he was reminded that people needed him, and that the Lord was calling him to be there. He says that it was God who gave him that courage. These were all things he realized after his stay at PGH. “When you’re in the battlefield, wala ka nang maiisip. Wherever there was a need, I went.”  

After more than twenty years of his journey towards being a priest, one of Fr Mamert’s fundamental realizations in his life is that nothing ever happens by chance because everything happens for a reason. He could have become a priest at any time, but God decided it was in the year when the world felt hopeless that he was able to give hope. 

Fr Mamert on Being a Person for Others

Fr Mamert shares that his idea of being a person for others has yet to really evolve. Instead, they took on different manifestations throughout the different phases of his life. “It has a lot to do with the circumference of my circles. From then to now, it has just gotten wider and wider.” Back in high school, the idea of being a person for others was just that, a vague idea. The things he did to serve were always requirements. It was only in college that his mind opened up to think more and to consider other things. Slowly, this vague idea started to take shape and form. 

Even beyond college, when Fr Mamert started to work, he had to remember that even the simplest tasks were still an act of service. He hardly thought of spiritual things during work. Still, when he thinks back to that time, it continued to seep through without being noticed, whether it was through going the extra mile in job descriptions or being there for his different coworkers and team members. “[The idea of being a person for others] stayed on and I know it remained alive. Because if it did not, I would not have been able to make that leap to the priesthood.” 

This circumference was wide open once he had entered PGH. The sense of being a person for others was the strongest it had ever been. They were not only doing regular chaplain jobs, such as celebrating mass, anointing the sick, and administering baptisms. They were feeding people and attending to material needs beyond what the hospital could take care of. All the things he did, along with his fellow Jesuit priests, fell within the sphere of the principles of the Ignatian spirit. “The whole dynamic was just so alive.” 

Even in his current role now as the chaplain of the Junior High School, although no longer dealing with the sick and the mourning, Fr Mamert continues dealing with the same human brokenness. He reflects on the students he has met and the burdens that they carry, young as they are. “This time I have to meet them where they are, to try to expand my understanding. Malaki ang age gap so I have a lot of catching up to do. I need to because that’s my mission.”

The Next Chapter

Fr Mamert looks on with hope and excitement for what is to come as he enters this new chapter in his life. “I’m new to campus ministry work so I’m learning a lot of things as I go along.” He shares his plans of continuing discernment and seeing what he wants to pursue in his further studies. Although the plan is not yet set, he has a vague idea of wanting to go into counseling. He wants to continue accompanying people, but in a much more skilled way, may it be in listening, giving advice, or pointing people in the right direction.

The one thing he wants people to remember is how important it is to go back to your heart’s deepest desires. “Look at what is life-giving to you, because that is what will get you through many of life’s challenges and obstacles.” At the same time, he reminds us that this can only be strengthened when one deepens their relationship with God. He advises us to look for God and his goodness, to not get so embroiled in the day-to-day life that we miss it. It is just as important to take care of our spirit and of our faith. “I hope every Atenean who decides to be a person for others can keep in touch with the presence of God in their life because that’s what makes everything meaningful, that’s what gives life for everyone and for one’s self.”

To Love is to Serve

Far Mamert’s life of service has always been deeply embedded in his love. At all points of his life, there was love for family, friends, and colleagues, traveling and adventures, for the sick and for the youth, and for God. While sharing his story, his eyes would always brighten up when telling stories of the different people he encountered in his life. Just as he serves others, many people have also been a beacon of service to him, guiding him when life felt too difficult. 

His story is also a reminder that anyone and everyone can be a man and woman for others, especially when there is love. “Service can be in immediate circles, in the periphery, but also the people in the margins of society, the abandoned, those suffering poverty. We are called to do our bit. And don’t ever say ito lang ang kaya ko, because it matters even if you are just one person.” 

Some may think being a person for others is done in one big event, moment, or experience. But in reality, service is done every single day in the most mundane of things. Although at a glance it may seem like Fr Mamert’s journey of being a man for others started when he became a priest, it actually started much earlier. It started at home, then in school, then at work, and it continued on and still continues to go on. Fr Mamert’s life teaches us not to wait for a chance to serve, but to live it out at every opportunity and at every point life takes you