Mission
“The normal state of mission is crisis.”
Bang! That goes deep. Deep into me. Those were the powerful words that struck me during our recollection last Monday. I’ve read the outline before the talk, I’ve even made the slide presentations, but hearing it over and over again made a big difference. More when you get to experience it.
I’ve been a lay Catholic missionary for over 8 years already. And I didn’t know what made me last this long. My life has been constantly in crisis. No fail. I’ve experienced, together with my family, so many ups and downs, highs and lows. Just like one big roller coaster that sometimes you’ve felt that you cannot stand up anymore. But the highs were just great too. For over 8 years, I’ve experienced and no doubt, I know, that God never fails to take care of His missionaries. He has been there all along..
Oh yeah, God stretches you too. Make you wait longer than you expected. Even makes you cry. Makes you worry and wonder and even doubt.. and even shout at Him or complain to Him. I can just imagine the smile on His face when in His time, He hands you His surprises, His gifts, His love. Oh, our God is just full of humor. He loves surprises. And because of His miracles and surprises, I kept on holding on, that strength that He gives. It did actually made me a better person.
Currently, I’m in crisis. Oh yes, the life of a missionary is not a bore. We had this one big crisis all the time. Mission life, whether full-time, part-time or any-time is full of crisis, of pains, of sufferings. Man, but the best blessing is knowing how to accept it. Knowing that there is a God who handles everything. There is a God who takes charge. There is a God who carries you all the way.
So, don’t let your emotions control you, don’t let situations fool you. Find the humor in everything. Find God in everything. And Joy will come to life. He is in charge.
Because this is foremost, His mission.
And oh, here’s a cup of coffee… Talk to Him today.
PS. don’t be angry. lol
PSS. just drink. it’s fun.
10 Things Not-to-Do for 2012
The feast of the Epiphany is one of the most special days in our family. The coming of the “three kings” also meant a coming of something very important in our lives. We celebrate this day not only as the end of the Christmas season but as a day of blessing, a day of grace and a day that love showered us again.
So, for me, this is actually my own start of 2012. My own new year. And with that, I was inspired to write this. Read on..
2012 is a controversial year. News of end-of-the-world has been circulating around the globe. A movie was even made for it. But then, I find 2012 another year of grace, another year to make things new, to make life new for myself and for the people around me. As well as that 2012 may also be a year of changing, forgiving and having bigger faith.
I was inspired by the article of Fr. James Martin SJ (oh you should have known how I wanted to date this guy and just listen to him talk) entitled 12 Stupid Things Not-to-do this 2012 that I decided to make my own list. So here you go.. The things Not-to-Do…
- Judge. Honestly, I fail in the “no-judging” category of life. So, this new year will be a year of looking deeply into one person’s intentions, perspective and point of views. I need to be more understanding with the people I am with.
- Compare. Doing this just leads me to despair and to my number one in this list. As I continue to compare myself to other people, I am just seeing myself more of not as how God created me. I need to learn how to appreciate my own skills and talents and use it to the fullest for God’s perfection to grow and show in me.
- Be Impatient. This is one of my biggest battles. I am so impatient. I always thought that being patient is a gift to just a few people and I am not one of those who get to have that gift. I have accepted that. But now, once again, it’s time to learn to be patient. To wait for the right moment and the right time.
- Be an “Emo.” Not to be overly dramatic and all. I should learn how to control my emotions at all times. Situations in life could happen and I will give myself a 5-minute silence period before reacting to any situation.
- Fail to Love. Every moment is a reason for us to give love. So I should not fail to recognize each moment of grace.
- Miss Prayertime. I’m guilty. Every time that I am tired, I get to miss my moments of prayer and just assures myself that my life or what I did is my prayer. Moments of silence and times where we dedicate ourselves to the Lord are the moments also that He can use to speak to us. The times where He could direct our lives in the way He wanted to.
- Complain. Haha, I love to do this. I love to complain a lot. No other explanations, 2012 will be a better year if I won’t complain. Oh, I needed help here.
- Miss Sunday Masses and Holy Days of Obligation. Again, no explanation needed.
- Be Difficult. People are not perfect. I am not perfect, but I should try to be an “easier” person rather be a “somebody.”
- Be an Ass. Give others a break. They have their own lives too. People have different struggles too (just like mine). So rather than being an ass and being selfish, I will be more understanding and loving.
Whew! Trust me, this list is one of the hardest to write. Write your own not-to-do list too and am sure 2012 will be a better year for all of us.
Happy Three Kings! Happy New Year!
Life’s little instructions
I’m supposed to blog on how, since I was little, I wanted to be a princess.
Wearing those fancy gowns and parading those golden shoes.
Exploring the castle grounds with my lovely black horse.
And finding that perfect prince and live happily ever after.
But…
Suddenly, I found this…
A short note about life’s instructions. Living the life without much flair but with too much joy.
So, I don’t need to be a “princess” to be a princess after all…
because at the end of the day…
a princess.. if you must say..
He has appeared
What is your idea of God?
Reflecting through Christmas, God has been my savior, my miracle, my healer. He has been a friend throughout this year. Too many miracles has been granted to me. Too many answered prayers. Literally answered prayers. Those simple prayers that could actually brighten your day like.. ”Lord, let me have some ice cream.”.. or “Lord, let me see the Pope closely, let me enter those guarded gates.”.. Those simple answers that could awe you. He is a miracle. He has appeared.
Being back home in my province this Christmas day is just a manifestation of His one big miracle of love. Just being here, with my family. Sleeping-watching tv – mall hopping – eating – resting and even budgeting to have great meals is simply a blessing. Getting to reflect on everything that is happening into our lives and into our world, being here, with my family, un-perfect as it is, will always be a sign of God’s love and miracle. He could do everything. He is a miracle
Reading through Pope Benedict’s Christmas eve homily stunned me on the difference of our idea of God through how God appeared to us..
Formerly, people had spoken of God and formed human images of him in all sorts of different ways. God himself had spoken in many and various ways to mankind (cf. Heb 1:1 – Mass during the Day). But now something new has happened: he has appeared. He has revealed himself. He has emerged from the inaccessible light in which he dwells. He himself has come into our midst. This was the great joy of Christmas for the early Church: God has appeared. No longer is he merely an idea, no longer do we have to form a picture of him on the basis of mere words. He has “appeared”. But now we ask: how has he appeared? Who is he in reality? The reading at the Dawn Mass goes on to say: “the kindness and love of God our Saviour for mankind were revealed” (Tit 3:4). For the people of pre-Christian times, whose response to the terrors and contradictions of the world was to fear that God himself might not be good either, that he too might well be cruel and arbitrary, this was a real “epiphany”, the great light that has appeared to us: God is pure goodness. Today too, people who are no longer able to recognize God through faith are asking whether the ultimate power that underpins and sustains the world is truly good, or whether evil is just as powerful and primordial as the good and the beautiful which we encounter in radiant moments in our world. “The kindness and love of God our Saviour for mankind were revealed”: this is the new, consoling certainty that is granted to us at Christmas.
God, oh God. You are pure goodness, You are pure love. You granted us with your presence this Christmas. You appeared into our lives. A baby, A child. In all purity. In all the Child’s weakness, it became the strength of Love. The great light, the armor – A Child.
God has appeared – as a child. It is in this guise that he pits himself against all violence and brings a message that is peace. At this hour, when the world is continually threatened by violence in so many places and in so many different ways, when over and over again there are oppressors’ rods and bloodstained cloaks, we cry out to the Lord: O mighty God, you have appeared as a child and you have revealed yourself to us as the One who loves us, the One through whom love will triumph. And you have shown us that we must be peacemakers with you. We love your childish estate, your powerlessness, but we suffer from the continuing presence of violence in the world, and so we also ask you: manifest your power, O God. In this time of ours, in this world of ours, cause the oppressors’ rods, the cloaks rolled in blood and the footgear of battle to be burned, so that your peace may triumph in this world of ours.
A week ago, I feel devastated. My laptop was stolen from me. It was stolen in our office, one of the safest place I know. I didn’t know how to react, I tried to laugh at it. I even tried to make jokes. But somehow, it came to my realization that I was okay, God has been working in me, He has not allowed me to be attached to material things. The lost of my laptop was not the cause of my sadness, but the delays of the work. Reading my emails and things-to-do was actually the one that brought me to tears. I was attached to my work, my missionary work. It has been my life. And delaying it or even not being able to do it was just plain.. sad. But looking at the other side of it, I believe God allowed me to rest. I was able to sleep early. I was able to have more coffee and conversations with my friends. I got to communicate more, to be more passionate. I get to be more innovative and resourceful in finding ways just to continue with His work. And with that short moment, I get to grow and be more dependent on Him. On His love. And am sure, pretty soon, He will provide me with the things I need. Just like Advent, I will wait for His appearance.
Also, a week ago, thousands of people died in Mindanao because of the the typhoon Sendong. It was another devastating moment in the Philippines. Some of our fellow missionaries were also affected. It pains me every time as I see hundreds of families crying during media interviews. Watching them on news and updates makes us all weak. These are the moments that aside from packing bags and sending donations, it’s time for us to pray more and let God do the rest. The typhoon’s effect maybe the darkest hour to the ones who lost their loved ones, but we continue to pray that eventually they will see the light. May we not yet understand everything that happened, but surely, God will always let us see the light on a new day.
Seeing the picture of the Nativity makes me realize how great the love of Our Father is to us. Seeing Mary risking her very life and integrity. Seeing Joseph risking his reputation. These two people who risked and said “Yes” to bring the greatest reason of Love to us here on earth is pure goodness, pure light. They may not understand God’s plans then but still they trusted.
Today, anyone wishing to enter the Church of Jesus’ Nativity in Bethlehem will find that the doorway five and a half metres high, through which emperors and caliphs used to enter the building, is now largely walled up. Only a low opening of one and a half metres has remained. The intention was probably to provide the church with better protection from attack, but above all to prevent people from entering God’s house on horseback. Anyone wishing to enter the place of Jesus’ birth has to bend down. It seems to me that a deeper truth is revealed here, which should touch our hearts on this holy night: if we want to find the God who appeared as a child, then we must dismount from the high horse of our “enlightened” reason. We must set aside our false certainties, our intellectual pride, which prevents us from recognizing God’s closeness. We must follow the interior path of Saint Francis – the path leading to that ultimate outward and inward simplicity which enables the heart to see. We must bend down, spiritually we must as it were go on foot, in order to pass through the portal of faith and encounter the God who is so different from our prejudices and opinions – the God who conceals himself in the humility of a newborn baby. In this spirit let us celebrate the liturgy of the holy night, let us strip away our fixation on what is material, on what can be measured and grasped. Let us allow ourselves to be made simple by the God who reveals himself to the simple of heart. And let us also pray especially at this hour for all who have to celebrate Christmas in poverty, in suffering, as migrants, that a ray of God’s kindness may shine upon them, that they – and we – may be touched by the kindness that God chose to bring into the world through the birth of his Son in a stable. Amen.
No other words
Mercy is the thing, the deepest thing that has been revealed to us by God. A mercy that cannot fail.
From the voice of Thomas Merton.
No other words.
Pin on the Good stuff
I love pinterest.
It makes me feel good. Everytime I need a new idea, i go to pinterest. Everytime I feel a little lonely, pinterest can be a source of simple joys.
So, let me share to you some of the good stuffs I pinned today. 
1. Books, box and shelves. I fell in love with this one. There are lots of old, tattered and destroyed 
books. I get sad to see those.. but I felt delighted when I saw this.
2. Advent & Gingerbread. Awww. sweet.
3. Piggy Soaps. Would you just not glow when you see this? Cute idea for a Christmas gift.
4. And just something to make you smile.
Just when you think you don’t have enough…
I woke up this morning thinking I don’t have enough. I don’t have enough skills, I don’t have enough money, I don’t have enough happiness to share today. I just felt a little “lonely.”
Ahh yes, missionary life has and will never be full of “highs.” There were a lot of times, too, when we also felt the meaning of these words: loneliness, pain and struggles. Yes, we are also humans.
But surprisingly, every time I think of these “human” struggles, and every time I get to really be honest with God and ask Him, “Lord, how can I give more when I only have this?” or “Lord, I feel so lonely today. How can I bring happiness and peace to others?” … He surprises me with things such as…
Simple joys. He surprises me with miracles. He actually provides miracles (not only a cup of Mango Jubilee Ice Cream). Trust me, He provides way more than this.
So, read up people! When you feel you don’t have enough but you want to give more and love more… Just tell God. Be honest. Let Him know.
And the best part of how God loves: I got to have an amazing dinner, a sweet dessert, a car to take me home.. and yes, a driver. For free. Plus, I got to share the ride with a friend.
I just love how God surprises me. Now, I’m savoring the moment.
Today, He just treated me like a princess, just when I thought I don’t have enough.
