In this book, I trace the winding paths of my life: the fragile beginnings of childhood, the shaping of character and personality, the search for health and wholeness, the awakening of faith, the long seasons of formation, the call to consecrated life and priesthood, and the outward journeys of mission and ministry. Alongside the joys, I speak also of the shadows—the doubts and struggles, the inner conflicts and external storms that tested my roots. I share how I learned to make peace with what I could not change, and to integrate what once felt broken into something whole. Woven through these stories are the theoretical voices of philosophy, psychology, anthropology, theology, missiology and spirituality—threads of wisdom that helped me make sense of my experience, and that my experience, in turn, has made more real and whole.
The narrative takes root in a landscape of critical reflection and scholarly inquiry, making the personal and the academic converse with each other—experience becoming text, and text breathing life back into experience, and it is in their meeting that true understanding deepens. My hope in writing this book is not only for personal growth but also it might invite the readers to pause, to turn inward, to listen for the seeds lying quiet within themselves, to recognize their intrinsic potential and to tend them gently until they sprout and bloom.

Socrates once said that “an unexamined life is not worth living.” His words, though ancient, still ring with a quiet urgency.

Preface

Section I: Recognizing
In the Belly of a Seed
1.1 Seeds of Joy
1.2 Vocation: A Gift from God
1.3 In the Belly of a Seed
1.4 Authentic Wholeness
1.5 Inner Potential for Authentic Wholeness
1.6 The Structural Plan of the Book

Section II: Sowing
Family of Origin
2.1 Gift of Life
2.2 Family of Origin
2.3 Validating Roots and Wings
2.4 Indispensable Influence
2.5 Tracing My Place in the Family of Origin
2.6 Sowing Faith and Spirituality

Section III: Planting
Personality, Values, Virtues
3.1 Personality and Traits
3.1.1 My NEO PI-R Personality
3.1.2 My INFJ Personality Type
3.1.3 Enneagram and Personality
3.1.4 Integrating the Various Personality Test Results
3.2 Values and Behavioral Modes
3.2.1 Value of Punctuality
3.2.2 Caste System and Equality in India
3.2.3 Indigenous People’s Rights in Alishan (Taiwan)
3.2.4 International Students’ Rights in the USA
3.2.5 Gender Equality in Fu Jen Dormitories in Taiwan
3.2.6 Discrimination Against African/Black Students
3.3 Virtues and Character Strengths
3.4 Integrated Narrative

Section IV: Fertilizing
Well-Being and Spirituality
4.1 Health and Well-being
4.1.1 Holistic Health
4.1.2 Benefits of Well-Being
4.1.3 What Improves Well-Being?
4.2 Emotional Intelligence
4.3 Faith and Spirituality
4.3.1 Religion and Spirituality
4.3.2 Spiritual Worldviews and Practices
4.3.3 Religious and Spiritual Development
4.3.4 Personality and Spirituality
4.3.5 Spiritual Journeys
4.3.6 My MBTI Personality and Spiritual Journey
4.3.7 Enneagram and Spirituality
4.3.8 Summary: My Personality and Spiritual Journey
4.3.9 Finding Spiritual Growth by Finding Ourselves
4.3.10 Spirituality and Image of God

Section V: Grafting
Education and Formation
5.1 The Function of Education
5.2 Basic Education: Meeting the Basic Learning Needs
5.2.1 Primary School: Arousing Curiosit
5.2.2 High School: Carving the Path for Advanced Education
5.2.3 Intermediate: Though Ripened among Thorns, the Fruit is Sweet
5.3 Higher Education
5.3.1 Bachelors and Masters Degrees: Our Learning Follows Us
5.3.2 Ph.D. Studies: The More We Learn, the More We Want to Learn
5.4 Formation for Consecrated and Priestly Life
5.4.1 Minor Seminary: Blossoming Vocation
5.4.2 Life in Palda: Spiritual, Intercultural, and Intellectual Integration
5.4.3 Philosophy: The More We Ponder it, the More it Eludes Us
5.4.4 Novitiate: A Time to Discern the Call to Consecrated Life
5.4.5 Theology in Pune
5.4.6 OTP in Taiwan: Intercultural Experience and Missionary Formation
5.4.7 Acculturation and Interculturality
5.4.8 Stomach Upset due to Eating Beef Noodles
5.4.9 Learning Mandarin Chinese
5.4.10 Regency and Pastoral Exposure
5.4.11 Leave of Absence to Live Like a Lay Person
5.4.12 Theology at Fu Jen: Faith Seeking Understanding
5.4.13 Consecrated Life
5.4.14 Religious Vows
5.4.15 Diaconate and Priesthood
5.4.16 Glory of Priesthood, Ordinariness of Priests
5.4.17 Summary of Vocation Journey

Section VI: Reaping
Ministry and Mission
6.1 Jesus Mission is Our Mission
6.2 Mission Exposure and Immersion
6.3 A Train to Nowhere
6.4 Caring for a Bedridden Stranger
6.5 Contextualized Service in Nursing Home
6.6 Apostolate for People with HIV/AIDS
6.7 Undeterred Commitment Despite Unexpected Appointment
6.8 Becoming Those You Serve
6.9 Being Available to People
6.10 Accompanying the Seminarians
6.11 Counseling to Unlock Inner Potential
6.12 My Eclectic Approach to Counseling and Guidance
6.13 Teaching as a Calling to Specific Mission
6.14 Leadership is Ministry
6.15 Transformation-Oriented Servant Leadership
6.16 Conclusion: Cohesive Narrative of Ministry and Leadership

Section VII: Pruning
Challenges and Resilience
7.1 Seeds Among Thorns and Resilience
7.2 Cultivating Resilience to Care for Health and Well-Being
7.2.1 Ear Piercing as a Toddler
7.2.2 Restless Legs Syndrome
7.2.3 Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms
7.2.4 Mugged in London
7.2.5 Is Being an Introvert a Sign of Weakness?
7.2.6 Lack of Musical Abilities
7.3 Building Resilience in Times of Racism and Discrimination
7.3.1 When Humor Hurts!
7.3.2 A Racist Professor
7.3.3 Taiwanese Stereotyping Indians and Africans
7.3.4 Mistook Me for a Migrant Worker
7.3.5 What Skin Color Has To Do With Teaching Effectiveness!
7.3.6 Someone’s Win is Not My Loss! And, Losing is Not a Disgrace!
7.3.7 Summary
7.4 Honing Resilience in Priesthood and Consecrated Life
7.4.1 Is Priesthood an Escape from Poverty?
7.4.2 Formation of Flawed People and Wounded Souls
7.4.3 Dismissed, Almost!
7.4.4 A Period of Transition Or, a Crisis?!
7.4.5 Challenges to Consecrated Life
7.4.6 The Catholic Priesthood in Crisis
7.4.7 Dangers of Priests Playing Favorites
7.4.8 Faithful Leaving the Church
7.4.9 Conclusion: Sustaining Witness to the Gospel in Modern Contexts

Section VIII: Sustaining
Organic Metamorphosis
8.1 Seeds of Organic Metamorphosis
8.2 Phenomenology of Life’s Metamorphosis
8.3 Intrinsic Potential for Metamorphosis

Section IX: Journey
Metamorphosis Toward an Authentic Wholeness
9.1 The Mystery of the Seed
9.2 The Seed’s Shell: Personality, Persona, and the Self
9.3 The Seed’s Roots: Values, Virtues, and Faith
9.4 The Seed’s Shoots: Growth and Flourishing
9.5 The Seed’s Fruits: Maturity, Generativity, Meaning, and Holiness
9.6 Authentic Wholeness in the Belly of a Seed

Section X: Gratitude
Seeds of Gratitude and Hope
10.1 Seeds of Gratitude
10.2 My Prayer of Gratitude

Bibliography