Author: Angelo Saludo

Probably you have heard this song, “Lead Me, Lord” by John D. Becker many times during mass. Well, I heard it once more during mass a while ago and I felt like its lyrics never ceases to speak so much about our own desire to be on the side of what is good, true and beautiful. It puts into words what our soul longs for when our physical body betrays it. The lyrics goes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, longing for their Lord,
for God’s coming kingdom shall be theirs.
Blessed are the sorrowing, for they shall be consoled,
and the meek shall come to rule the world.

Refrain:

Lead me, Lord, lead me, Lord,
by the light of truth
to seek and to find the narrow way.
Be my way; be my truth;
be my life, my Lord, and lead me, Lord, today.

Blessed are the merciful, for mercy shall be theirs,
and the pure in heart shall see their God.
Blest are they whose hunger only holiness can fill,
for I say they shall be satisfied.

Blest are they who through their lifetimes sow the seeds of peace;
all will call them children of the Lord.
Blest are you, though persecuted in your holy life,
for in heaven, great is your reward.

Lead us Lord by the light of truth to seek and to find the narrow way. Amen.

Everything In Its Time

Ecclesiastes 3:11 say, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

When 2013 was about to end, there was so much anticipation as to the announcement of who will be endorsed for fulltime mission. Emotions runs from excitement to anxiety and I felt like moved back again 10 years ago when we were training for fulltime missions. It was the first formal training, so everything I guess was experimental, you can say we were the guinea pigs. I remember after the training, questions were running into our mind but no one can answer. The thing is we finished the training but there was no word if we did passed or not. We didn’t have exit interview and no one said the definite decision only that they said we would know it soon. We went back to our area with question hanging in our mind, it took almost a year before an official letter came that we indeed passed the training and that we are officially fulltime.

It was funny because I did have some questions, but I guess I was so focused on the mission in my area that even if months had passed, I did not even bothered about that “official letter” thing at all. I felt like with or without it I am a missionary and I was so convicted about it.

Sometimes I wonder am I still that same courageous man who answered the call 10 years ago? With battles  fought, I got scarred both in and out. And now, I am even scared at times when a brother or sister say, I want to be fulltime. At the back of my mind, do you really want it? I mean, mission is fun, I never had been so happy in my life than in mission. However, joy does not mean no pain. All these years I will say as the song “Everything In Its Time” written by Corrine May, “There are a thousand reasons why I should give up but I’m stubborn in the things I believe.”

So is this your call? God knows and you know. And in between the fulfillment of that call, we fall in silent adoration to God knowing His will be done always in His time.

Here are the lyrics of that song:

Sometimes I wonder what lies ahead
How long till my hunger is fed
They say it’s hard to make it in this part of town
So many people on this merry-go-round

Some folks try astrology
Some turn to crystal balls
To find an answer,
To get through it all
I just fall on my knees and I try to pray
In the silence I can hear Him say

The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold on to patience and watch for the sign
Everything in its time

I often feel like I’m two steps behind
Somebody must have moved that finish line
There are a thousand reasons
Why I should give up
But I’m stubborn in the things I believe

The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold on to patience and watch for the sign

’cause maybe there’s another plan
One I still can’t see
A little surprise, like your love in my life
Funny how time changes how we see

The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold on to patience and watch for the sign
Everything in its time
Everything in its time

Mission, family, calling, whatever vocation of life, God makes all things beautiful in His time.

After all these years of mission, there were plenty of times when I felt tired, dry and empty and so it is now, it comes sometimes occasionally and sometimes frequently. These kinds of thing make me question why am I here in the first place? Why am I in mission? What if I live a different life? Tiredness, dryness and emptiness really drive us closer to the question that matters in life, whether we like it or not.

Affirmation, consolation and blessings of course come along, unexpectedly most of the time. But the questions linger on… and so I’ve learned to live with it and came to the conclusion that sometimes questions are much better than having answers. There are things that are beyond my understanding and to accept it is to “understand” itself.

However, though questions persist, life and mission itself continues. And I found that as long as I continue my life and mission, answers do come along the way.

So is this journey worth walking for? As long as I am with God and my life is for God, I believe I am on the right direction and the journey is more than worth walking for.

Mission after all is for others more than self and so while we question, we continue the mission, we fight the good fight and run the good race, because as G. K. Chesterton said, “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”

Archbishop Fulton Sheen in “Seven Words of Jesus and Mary: Lessons from Cana to Calvary said, “Never forget that there are only two philosophies to rule your life: the one of the cross, which starts with the fast and ends with the feast. The other of Satan, which starts with the feast and ends with the headache.”

As we end the year, may we end with the feast, knowing that after all been said and done, God was good to us for the entire year.  And as we start the new year may we start it with the full knowledge that there will crosses ahead, however carrying with Christ makes it redemptive.

Lord allow us to finish strong and grant us the grace start  right. Amen.

This month is my last month of service in CFC Youth. I look back with gratefulness to the God who found me in my drunkenness. I don’t know where I would had been if He did not picked me up. God had brought me to places far beyond my imagination, from the seas of the Visayas to the South China Sea and all across the Pacific to the Atlantic… who knows in the Indian Ocean as well, and the Arctic and Antarctic… 🙂 God is good! But more than places, God had brought me back to my senses, to the good that is in me and in the end brought me back to His embrace. Can there be more beautiful than the journey towards self and discover the God who created you beautifully?

I am forever grateful to You O Lord for the gift of CFC Youth. May You continue to bless it with leaders of integrity, passion and excellence. May You bring it to greater heights and allow it to reach to as many young people that it can. May Your grace fills the hearts of each and every leaders and members. Amen.

“There will come a time, you will need to learn how to pastor yourself.” These were the words I remember from one of my FTPW leaders when I was still in my first years of full time mission. It came more real to me when I was assigned in different areas, alone. Some YFCs would ask me if where I am and I would reply that I am in the bus on the way to another province. * They would then ask if who I am with, and I would reply, “I, my backpack and my bible.” And, I would laugh at it at times remembering how I was actually enjoying the mission. Yes, there were times that it was difficult, because I need a partner in mission and I need some guidance from at least someone near. However, such things never happen all the time.

The reality of fulltime mission is that there will be times that we will just be alone, (Though we are with Christ). It is in these times, when no one is there to affirm me that the bible in my backpack becomes my best affirmation, mass and adoration becomes my greatest consolation and the rosary in my pocket becomes the best thing to hold on to when no one else is there.

Missionaries can never be spoiled brats, always in need of one on ones, and constant affirmation from mentors and other missionaries. Yes, we need those things, but we need to stand alone in Christ. We should be able to stand up, live up to our faith even without others pastoring us all the time. We need to work out, read spiritual books, watch, learn and pray.

*I was assigned as region head and island head in different areas in the Philippines. There was only one region head, no mission partner.

To be a missionary is to be real and not someone who just live in dreams without being in the reality of the world. A missionary will always be on a bed of roses… with thorns on it. The more I am in self-denial of this fact, the more I will suffer more than I should. The realization and acceptance on the other hand, will bring joy and fruitfulness in my life.