When I was asked to share at West Cluster 2’s Discovery Camp, I found myself being brought back to my past… my journey from the very beginning of my life, up until now. A lot of things have happened to me when I was young, and as a cause of those negative things, I began to live a negative life. I got into relationships in which I thought were love, but inevitably, a life of sin only led me to one realization… I didn’t know myself, and I didn’t know love at all…
Those years passed, and as I grew, I began to understand who I was more. Years later, I entered a relationship that I can, up ’til this day, say was one of the greatest blessings. I was with a man who could accept me for everything that I am (with my past included), and respected me enough to love me beyond my “no,” to the physical temptations in the relationship. In fact, he honoured it, and gave his all to pursuing that lifestyle in our relationship. It was a relationship that most people would give a lot to have.
Many reflections back, I shared about how my trip to the Philippines changed me. We were exploring the different areas in Philippines, enduring bucket showers with cold, unheated water, and day by day, we were constantly switching from one home to the next, sleeping on the floor, on a cot or whatever else was there. And it was in this that the Lord challenged me …
“You think this is mission? Endurance is not mission. Mission is about living. If I called you right now, with only the very things you have with you today, would you drop everything else to serve Me?”
“Yes Lord, I WILL.“
Coming home, little did I know that the test of that very question would follow me back home. I found that literally everything was being show to me at a new light. I was finding calls to balance all the areas of my life (i.e. family time, service in the CFC Youth Community, etc). What I didn’t see coming was having to give up the one relationship where I truly felt the real love of a man. There was nothing wrong with our relationship… we weren’t arguing at the time… we didn’t hurt each other either… ALL I KNEW WAS THAT THERE WAS A GREATER LOVE AHEAD…
I FOUND REAL TREASURE…
WHAT IS IT?…
At first, I thought the greater treasure was the relationship I was entering with the Lord… the very relationship I was giving up the man I loved for… I thought God was the greatest treasure, but it wasn’t until that day I walked into Camp Samac… that moment I saw my friends, listening to me and supporting me with smiles at the back… that moment I saw all the youth listening with hearts wide open for the Lord… And it was also the moment I came home to my family at 1 or 2 in the morning, only to be attacked with true, genuine and affectionate hugs after being away for only 2 days… It wasn’t until this weekend that it all clicked… the GREATEST TREASURES I HAVE ARE THE VERY THINGS I HAD FROM THE BEGINNING…
The greatest friends, the greatest family, the great and endless opportunities to share the love of the Lord to the youth I serve daily, the Church, the Sacraments… everything and everyone around me IS THE GREATEST TREASURE I ALWAYS HAD. The difference is that I never noticed that it was real…
The very thing that suddenly made all of this REAL TREASURE is that God met me, waited for me, and continues to journey with me to SHOW ME SO INTRICATELY the treasure I already had. The treasure that is greater than a love… a relationship with the Lord.
REAL TREASURE IS NOT JUST THE LOVE I HAVE FOR THE LORD OR THE LOVE HE HAS FOR ME; REAL TREASURE IS WHEN THAT LOVE IS REVEALED THROUGH EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING AROUND ME. IT IS THE TREASURE SEEN IN SEEING AND FEELING HIM IN THEM. IT IS WHEN THAT LOVE IS NOT ONLY IN MY DATES WITH THE LORD, BUT WHEN IT IS IN EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE AROUND ME. THAT IS THE GREATEST TREASURE…
And of course… when we have this much treasure, what do we do? As a child of God, riches are not meant to be kept for oneself, but they are meant to be shared with everyone else. And it is for this very reason that I saw my YES, once again, to the call of Fulltime Pastoral Work, if that is what He wants of me… so that the world may know the true value of REAL AND EVERLASTING TREASURE… HIS LOVE… a love that shares, a love that changes and a love that might even bring new things… a love that grows in faith, peace, hope, and joy…
*** Back to the basics: LOVE is not EXCLUSIVE, n’or is it SELECTIVE, it is INCLUSIVE of everyone and everything, always…
May He always be praised!