Heart of a Lion

From the corporate jungle of banking and finance to the glitz and glamor of high fashion and entertainment, on to the globe-trotting life of an international trade analyst, and, ultimately, to the Altar of Sacrifice – Fr. Froilan Briones, SSS could no longer hold back and, finally, said: “Here I am, Lord!”

The Vocation Director did not mince words. “Tinangap ka namin kasi yung mga late vocations hindi na man talaga nagtatagal,” he bluntly said to the dumbfounded postulant who at 35 years old knew only one thing: a burning desire to dedicate his life to the service of God and His church. Jaded he may have been, the Vocation Director failed to discern that this 35-year old “late vocation” postulant was not made of lesser mettle. He had a heart of a lion – determined, patient and hungry. In fact, very hungry.

For Tats, as the would-be Fr. Froilan was known by his peers then, this hunger for God must have started at a very young age. He recalls how he was always the apo that his lola would bring to the San Sebastian Cathedral in Lipa, Batangas, as she went about her pious prayers and devotions. Also, it was customary for him and his siblings to be donned with the habits of saints during the annual Flores de Mayo celebration. As early as his formative high school years at De La Salle – Lipa, the young Tats was already considering the idea of becoming a De La Salle Brother. At the Redemptorist church, he became an altar boy not so much out of religiosity but because “that was one excuse for me to play basketball”.

In 1975, Tats left his laid back life in Batangas. The probinsyano entered the University of Santo Tomas. “Probinsyanong probinsyano ako noon. Ang kapal ng punto ko,” he recalls with a chuckle. By this time he had shed off Tats, the moniker of his younger years, and was beginning to be known among his colleagues as Rene. It was at Sto. Tomas that Rene became an active member of Pax Romana, a Thomasian student religious organization, that for four years gave him the opportunity to gradually deepen his Catholic faith until he finished his undergraduate course in Commerce major in Economics in 1979.

The college graduate lost no time in seeking his rightful place in the world of finance and soon found himself working for the prestigious Bank of America where he first started as a Purchasing Officer and, in just a span of five years, rose to become the banking behemoth’s Training Program Coordinator. It was also during this time that, as a young professional, he discovered in the Opus Dei a way of life that was pragmatic and realistic to his life-purpose and a spirituality that drew him closer to the Blessed Sacrament. He became a Supernumerary of the Opus Dei and, at one point in time, “inisip kong maging pari ng Opus Dei”, Rene reminisces. His childhood best friend was then seriously contemplating of entering the priesthood and that also gave Rene the opportunity to share his own musings and reflections about his own vocation journey.

Rene was just beginning to reap the joys of a lucrative banking career when the economic and political environment of the country teetered on the brink of a catastrophic collapse. The inevitable had to happen. The Bank of America had to lay off its employees.

Froilan Renato Africa Briones, however, could not be stilled. The man with a lion’s instinct knew that the hunt had just begun; and the call of the wild to explore other territories where wandering beasts fearlessly dared to tread was too primal to be silenced. With the separation pay he received from the bank, he plunged into a Master’s Degree in Business Administration at the Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School of Business.

The 80s, however, were heady times for the youth. Rene, who was in his mid-twenties then, was not spared from the exciting sense of freedom that spread across the country after the EDSA Revolution. Bright, brawny, sharp and engaging, he was lured into the glamorous world of high fashion as a part-time ramp model doing shows with such big names like Pitoy Moreno and Oskar Peralta in attendance. At the same time, he became an events singer while attending acting, drama and voice workshops.

Those were his “raket” days, Rene recalls, which lasted for only a year until, in 1988, he landed a job at the Department of Trade and Industry’s Center for International Trade, Expositions and Missions (CITEM) initially as a Technical Assistant and, later on, as the OIC-Chief of the Agri-Marine Division. He had his hands full with his job at CITEM. As an international trade analyst, his responsibilities were not only limited to gathering and analyzing data crucial to the Philippine government’s trade policies but also involved extensive travelling to various countries to develop, nurture and promote globally competitive products of SMEs, exporters, designers and manufacturers in the international market. It was during this time that Rene’s regular visits to and conversations with his best friend who had already entered priestly formation at the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament caused in him a spiritual stirring that was difficult to shake off.

He recalls those days. “My childhood best friend and I practically grew up together. We were classmates from grade school to high school and even went to the same university where we continued to bond during weekends. Our families were very religious and I believe that was a great influence to us in deciding to become religious priests. His maternal grand uncle who became a bishop is now a Venerable (Alfredo Maria Aranda Obviar) and his cause is in the process of beatification. We started talking about our vocations when we were already working. I still remember very well what he told me when I decided to join the congregation in 1994. At that time, he was already preparing for his ordination to the Diaconate. He told me that I must remain open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit because religious life is a life-long formation. It is an on-going process even if one has been ordained a priest already.”

Then, a trip to Paris for an International Food Fair in 1990 presented itself. It was while in the City of Lights that Rene became close to two Filipino exhibitors from Zamboanga. They were siblings and were former religious nuns. A few days before their scheduled return to the Philippines the two ex-nun siblings extended an invitation to Rene to join them for a pilgrimage to Lourdes. “But wala akong pera para pamasahe at wala akong pera para board and lodging, Rene honestly told them. “Mukha ka na mang harmless at makakapagkatiwalaan, the ex-nun siblings replied, kami ang bahala!” So off to Lourdes they went where the unknowing Rene was to experience a most-powerful moment of spiritual consolation.

He shares. “The trip to Lourdes was not planned but I believe it was providential. I was not seeking for any miracle but when I knelt in front of the Virgin at the grotto, I felt that I was in a quiet place to reflect and open my heart in a deeper way. I felt empty in the sense that I had nothing weighing me down. For the first time, I had nothing to say to God. I was teary-eyed with joy because I was hearing a whisper: “I love you. This is my gift for you!” They were words of affirmation that I was loved by God through the intercession of the Blessed Mother. This once-in-a-lifetime experience was a reminder of my vocation . . . that for as long as I empty myself God will fill me and I don’t need anything else.”

Coming back from Lourdes spiritually invigorated, Rene still wasn’t convinced that the time was ripe enough for him to enter religious life. A feeling of unworthiness and self-doubt was pulling him back. “Though I consider the Lourdes experience as the turning point”, he recalls musingly, “there was still a feeling of unworthiness and at the same time a feeling of un-readiness. The sense of emptiness and a yearning for something more meaningful had always been there. But the question at the back of mind was about the proper time to make the decision and whether I was ready.”

It took four years after that fateful and unplanned pilgrimage to Lourdes for the hammer to fall on Froilan Renato Africa Briones. In 1994, at the age of 35 years old, the Tats to some who was Rene to others was accepted as a postulant of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament in Davao City. And later, during his novitiate, he decided to be known by all as Froilan.

Aside from his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, he went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Sacred Theology from the Loyola School of Theology; a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Ministry from the Ateneo de Manila University and, still, another Master’s Degree in Formative Counseling and Spiritual Direction from De La Salle University. Since his Presbyteral Ordination in August 15, 2003, his various assignments include being a national vocation director, parish priest, local superior, parochial administrator, a chaplain, formator and scholastic director in various parts of the country. Fr. Froilan Briones, SSS is currently assigned as the Local Superior of the Blessed Sacrament Community at the Assumption Parish, Davao City.

Quite interestingly, Fr. Froi’s childhood best friend, Fr. Sebastian A. Luistro, SSS was the congregation’s Provincial Superior during Fr. Froilan’s ordination to the priesthood which was a fitting coming-home ritual as it was held at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Lipa, Batangas.

The “late vocation” made it. After all, no one is ever too early or too late for God. The right time is only God’s time.

In Fr. Froilan’s case, the lion’s heart roars louder… for a shepherd has been born.