sMART.FUND Appeal
- Bahay San Martin de Porres
- Feb 22
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 23
The Bahay-San Martin Prayer Partner and Vocation Renewal Support Initiative
(The Bahay-San Martin Association, a non-stock, non-profit association)
I wish to introduce a group-initiative that was established way back 2017. We called it San Martin Prayer Association since its establishment. We renamed it to Bahay-San Martin Association two years later.
I personally have chosen St. Martin de Porres of Lima Peru to be our group's Patron Saint. We are aiming at imbibing the charism of St Martin as we progress with our common mission and vision.
St. Martin de Porres, a Dominican brother, is the patron saint of the sick, and of community living (community life). I have underlined his commendable response to the challenging community living since his childhood life in his village to a more challenging community living inside the Dominican monastery. Martin has shown first and foremost a deep prayer life with his love of the cross as well as his devotion asking for the intercession of Holy Mary. Human relationship had been a necessary part of his daily life with the Dominican Formation House Community so that patience, humility, simple joys and humor are strongly attributed to him by his life's writers and readers. With his care for the poor people, the sick and the lowly, it had been natural for him to also befriend small to big animals, while the animals loved him too in return. For many writers and readers of his life, the humility and humor were indeed important ingredients that paved the way to his holier life. Martin became an instrument of God's miracles especially for the sick and marginalized. There is also a recognition that St. Martin also becomes patron saint of mixed race following specific notes from his anonymous writers. He was raised by a politician Spanish father and a dark complexioned mother who is believed to be a freed daughter of slave parents from Panama.
We adhere on meeting each other, reaching-out to others, creating various life-support activities, and deepening our faith each day based on our patron's life's sacrifices. Our group with members still few at present is asking for the intercession of our Blessed Mother and St. Martin. We rely on the movement of the Holy Spirit as to where we will be led to especially in the next years ahead.
At the onset of our existence, I personally aimed at meeting people to pray together and together extend support in many and different ways to priests and religious (priestly and religious vocation), and also to the laity and other friends who have been with me and with us all these recent years.
The establishment of the association is openly associated with my very personal priestly life's experiences together with the judgments, advices and interest of people who have been with me until recently. I was sent to Japan way back the end of the 4th month of 2006 as a missionary - member of the Mission Society of the Philippines to the Catholic Diocese of Kyoto. On my 9th year, I have walked a path, in one way or the other, away from the ordinary and regular life of priests. I am now however currently receiving the unending mercy and love of God as a catholic diocesan priest of Yokohama.
There are bits of experiences to share, in order for you, and for other people around me, to understand deeper the humble beginnings of the association. I sincerely admit, as a good start for understanding, that it have been necessary for me to continue re-consider the so-called not-so-good experiences (humbling) of mine as sweet spices of my recent past. The same experiences can be well understood by many, simply as consequences of my approach and response to particular ideals, and life's realities. Better try to put a little more humor in them, and realize God's wisdom. I hope that I can also go beyond self-centeredness, focus more on life centered in Jesus instead, with St. Martin`s life as a model.
It is indeed possible to reach our goal keeping in our minds and hearts that there was once a holy man like Martin of Lima Peru who was prayerful, so focused on the cross of Jesus with deep joy, and so loved praying the Holy Rosary. The holy man from Lima was selfless and was just happy caring for the poor people and the sick. There was a holy man from Lima Peru who has opened the eyes of his brothers in the community teaching that the most important thing is prayer life and charity.
In our 9th year as a group-initiative praying for priests and religious, I humbly introduce to you the Bahay-San Martin prayer and life-support group initiative. I hope you can be part of our small community in discovering the range of St. Martin's charism, in immersing on the meaning of his life's sacrifices, in purifying and in strengthening the foundation of our hopes.
There are at least three or four major activities being held under Bahay-San Martin Association.
We are having a Rosary-Novena prayer meeting once a month from February to October.
November 3 is the memorial day of St. Martin of Lima. We call this special day as San Martin Festival, the day we celebrate our patron's feast day and Bahay-San Martin Foundation day as well.
I have been organizing pilgrimage to the Philippines every other year. It is also the time we visit our Retreat House project (Bahay-San Martin Retreat House & Renewal Centre) in Cuenca, the Philippines.
I also organize a yearly retreat that happens right before or right after San Martin Festival. I also take the opportunity within the duration of retreat to have a simple round table meeting with our volunteer leaders.
By the way, we have a free website and still enjoying free service. You may browse once in a while with the following link:
I personally do constant website updating at the moment while we are still laying stronger foundation for our group, I do upload Sunday readings point for reflection in English language, and in Japanese language translated from English by a certain Catholic Japanese faithful.
Provisionally, I supervise the spread of our association`s public information as follows:
The Bahay―San Martin Association is a group initiative that seeks for the intercession of Saint Martin de Porres in prayers for the sick, for people in loneliness who are deeply seeking to understand real purpose in Life. We continue to learn value of inner silence to be able to pray more & more for poor people, for homeless due to injustice and inequality, for those who in one way or the other are away from their respective immediate family and are not sufficiently receiving life and faith-life support from others, and for those who are weak in many ways, such as those voiceless in the society and communities they live in.
We dream of a Prayer House. We dream that someday people who had been near us most especially for the past years, those people who are with us in fighting against all forms of corruption within small and big communities, will find a place conducive to spend time in prayer, a conducive resting place to ponder about how life had been for them.
We dedicate most especially this dream for the continuance of humble cause of Saint Martin`s life`s sacrifices. While we enter into this place of prayer for recollections and retreats, may we receive proper and good judgment from the Holy Spirit, be able to determine what things are really important among many other things we have considered important up to this day.
Our community gears towards achieving some specific objectives.
To be able to promote to all members the charism of Saint Martin de Porres of Lima Peru, in his simplicity of life, humility, sense of community, love of the poor, care for the sick, homeless, and marginalized.
To be able to promote justice and equality in the society, so be able to work against all kinds of injustice, and discrimination in the society.
To be able to provide spiritual and moral support to Catholic priests, religious and lay faithful, and the rest of the humanity reachable by the association.
To be able to provide a quiet place and temporary shelter (Bahay-San Martin House of Prayer & Renewal Center) for people who deem it necessary. -end.
I, remain;
Eeso
March 20, 2026
Catholic Nakahara priest`s house
Kawasaki City _______________
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