Author: Apple Lacbay

This is how the story of my Tuesday started…
I was working at the reception desk at school and the next receptionist did not show up for his shift. I was unsure with what was happening, if someone got replaced or a mix up with the schedule happened. I then called our executive administrative assistant to see if there was a mix up. I updated the other receptionists and one promptly responded and offered to take the rest of the shift. Financially I would gain more if I kept the hours but nothing can replace our time spent with God. Hours and time with the Lord is just priceless. Our Great Father arranged my day so that I can meet Him. This is just one part of my colourful Tuesday.

My school is very close to the many churches in downtown Montreal. This day, I decided to walk to St. Patrick’s Basilica to catch the 5:15pm mass. As I made my way to the church, all I noticed were lines and lines and groups and groups of people walking endlessly, walking rapidly. Sometimes whenever I am walking or whenever I am in a crowd of people, my mind start to wander and I start to wonder. “What are the stories behind their lives? Who are they? Where are they going?”
The people we travel with each day, the people at the bus stop, fellow pedestrians, everyone -“What’s their story? Where are they going? What’s their destination?”
I continued my way and people are just walking so fast, too fast. I asked myself, “Why are they walking so fast? Why are we walking so fast? What’s the rush? Is there a deadline? Are they late?”
Then as I crossed the street, just a few meters before me, I saw a guy standing straight, staring intensely at something or someone in front of him, he was wearing all black, standing next to a tree with his arms in front of him and his palms locked together holding something I don’t know what. I couldn’t see what he was looking at because of the sea of people in front of me. Then when I got close, I saw two taps on his right shoulder. But all I saw was the hand. Then I saw the guy who tapped him in the shoulder. The first guy as it appeared to be is a guy begging for some change or rather fishing for some change as he had a made-shift fishing rod with a can at the end of it. As I got closer, I saw the two men still in conversation with each other, a connection from one human to another.  Both men had smiles on their faces and as I got to be really close to them, I saw the guy who tapped say a few more words towards the guy begging with his hands still on the others shoulder. He nodded and smiled and continued his way. I don’t know what he said to the guy asking for change but what I saw was compassion and love. Soon after, I realized that this guy who stopped to speak to the beggar was someone I have seen before. He was dressed in very simple clothes and neutral colours, he has dreads and he is pulling a wheeled bag that seemed to be a case for a percussion instrument. I remember seeing him a few weeks ago. He was walking with other percussionists and was walking with something that you can’t ignore: POSITIVE ENERGY. He was exuding JOY. After that brief moment, I continued my way to church. I even looked back to look at the brothers again. I thought to my self, “What did he say? Who is he?” And someone on the street (even though he was saying the name in vain), I heard, “JESUS CHRIST!”
But the answer came at a perfect timing that I asked the question. (MIND BLOWN!!!)

I know my story is a long read but I simply wanted to share to you my Tuesday.
Another day that I was reminded by the Lord and witnessed Him in my surroundings and within the people I encounter. A calling that we have in our ministry, “Young people being and bringing Christ wherever we are”. We are called to receive Christ so that we may be like Him. To welcome Him, so we may welcome each other through Him. To seek Christ, so that we may see Him in others. To love Christ and to love Him, so that we may love like Him. We are called to be followers of Christ every single moment of our lives to every single person we encounter. May it be a smile, a look in the eye, a nod, an acknowledgement that we acknowledge another person’s beautiful existence. To acknowledge each other that we see each other in the light of Christ. Rooted at the core of Ignatian Spirituality, to Find God in all things, in all beings, experiencing God each day, seeing Jesus Christ each day. “When we learn to pay more attention to God, we become more thankful and reverent, and through this we become more devoted to God, more deeply in love with our Creator.” (Ignatian Spirituality)

Jesus Christ is very much alive here and now. He is with us in the present. He is with us in our earthly journey. He is within us if we truly search within. He is within others if we choose to see Him. To be Christ and bring Christ to others is our calling, a calling to experience heaven here on earth, a calling to love. How can we say no? How can something so beautiful be ignored?

 Our Saviour, may we continue to see you, Lord Jesus Christ, in each other and in all things, to see with joy and delight, to see with compassion and love, to remain patient and understanding, to remain humble and loving. We pray to be more like you each day. Thank you my Father. Thank you my Saviour. This we pray in your most Mighty and Holy Name. Amen.

God bless us always brothers and sisters.
Peace and Love,
Apple
🙂

Remember that song from Sister Act 2, “Joyful Joyful”, it’s so good (i love this song!!!). In my own opinion, it’s impossible to not groove to this song. Even if you want it or not, this song will make you dance; dance for JOY! I mean you will simply be lured to the song and sing your heart out and find yourself dancing to every beat (even with your eyes closed =D). It may be a song from a movie but for me if you sing this song with all your heart, you may just find yourself worshipping joyfully to our Great God.

Our loving Father only wants us to be joyful. For the past couple of weeks, the Lord has been reminding me to be joyful, to be truly joyful because I can, we can. From the Gospel reading last Saturday, the Lord continues to affirm this message of JOY “…ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete” John 16:24.
He is our source of Joy.

We are created to be joyful people with joyful souls, joyful hearts and joyful spirits. We are joyful beings. We have been created by the One who created JOY, who is our source of great joy, the One who is JOY.
HE IS JOY!
We have been told time and time again that we are created in the likeness of God and if He is a joyful God, as His children, we are also created to be joyful. We are destined to be joyful.

“…ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete” John 16:24
This verse is calling us to be true bearers of joy, true bearers of Jesus. We are called to ask the Lord for anything and everything, to offer up to Him every single bit of us, every emotion, every feeling, every experience so that He can truly take care of us. He is asking us to offer ourselves to Him, to ask Him for His great mercy and love, and mostly, to allow ourselves to joyful. If we rely on our beautiful God and be faithful in His ways, how can we not be joyful? To be in His presence at all times means being in the very midst of joy.

Father, may we always be able to rely on you at all times, that we may be able to offer ourselves to you and let you takeover our lives. May we allow your Spirit to fill us up to the fullest always and forever so that we may be able to be one of joyful spirit. Father, You are our only source of true and eternal joy. Thank you.
We love you. Amen.

Let us also remember that we are also called to share this great joy with all our brothers and sisters.
So, don’t be shy and show those pearly whites, SMILE and spread the JOY, His joy.
Let us be joyful. Let your beautiful heart shine 🙂

God bless us always.
Peace and Love and Smile,
Apple
=D

We sin, we have sinned and we will continue to sin. It is hard to admit that we are weak and we easily fall into sin. But this is definitely not our destiny. To be back with our Father in Heaven is where we are destined to be. Our Lord God is so much greater and His mercy simply overflows that He overcomes our sin. Only through Him and our complete surrender to our Lord are we only able to let go of our sins.

Sometimes, it is so easy for us to overlook our sins and not see the consequences of it, especially the sins that we are not even aware of. An incident happened to me this week that asked me to truly humble myself and admit my fault and be truly sorry for what I did. I found myself so humbled before this person I truly love. Sometimes it is hard to apologize for things that we are not even aware of. Pride can overpower and more hurt can be done. But at this very moment that I was being corrected by someone so dear to me, I did not dare to defend myself and pretend that I did not do anything wrong. Seeing this person before me hurt so much, truly and deeply hurt, I did not question the fact that I really did something wrong. I fell into tears and I apologized over and over again. Then, I too felt the hurt of my very own sin. Seeing someone who is truly dear to you be in so much hurt and the hurt was caused by you is simply unbearable. This person I speak of is my mom. I jokingly, sarcastically said something that hurt her and I was not aware of it. I couldn’t bear seeing her hurt and all I wanted was to win her back again. A few minutes later we reconciled and oh how simple and easy are parents to forgive their children. She came to me and said in Filipino “Ohhh, love na ate” 🙂 She came to me with a smile and approached me with a hug. I was wrapped by the warmth of her forgiveness. I was humbled and I felt truly loved.

This same week one of the universal prayers of the faithful was “For a willingness to admit our faults and turn eagerly to God to seek forgiveness”. It had already caught my attention. It is not the usual prayer that we hear being said publicly, but it is something that we really need, so personal, so true. Every time I said this prayer, it kept striking my heart. After the incident happened, the incident and the prayer stirred in my heart. I was reminded of myself as a sinner, when I sin before our Father, sometimes I am not the one to admit the fault, maybe my fault did not occur to me or maybe I was not truly repentant. Maybe I was not aware of my sin or I did not see the graveness of it or possibly even because I do not see someone in front of me physically in a state of being hurt. I was reminded of the many times that I have hurt the Lord and was not able to ask for forgiveness truly from my heart and I realized how truly our loving God loves us so much. We do not see God hurt physically, He does not reveal Himself in a state of being hurt. He loves us so much that He does not even want us to see Him hurt when we hurt Him because He also does not want us to be hurt. We are hurt by our very own sins but our Great Father in Heaven is so quick in forgiving His children. It truly hurts to see someone whom we truly love be hurt especially when it is caused by us. This week, I truly saw God in my mom, so easy to forgive, so easy to love, even when hurting. Forgiveness, true forgiveness leads to true freedom, it leads to love.

May we continue to be humbled before the Lord and always seek His mercy through Him and in Him alone. Thank you for loving us oh Lord.

For a willingness to admit our faults and turn eagerly to God to seek forgiveness, we pray to the Lord – Lord, hear our prayer.

A Prayer for Help
[Psalm 57]

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful,
because I come to you for safety.
In the shadow of your wings I find protection
until the raging storms are over.

I call to God, the Most High,
to God, who supplies my every need.
He will answer from heaven and save me;
he will defeat my oppressors.
God will show me his constant love and faithfulness.

I am surrounded by enemies,
who are like lions hungry for human flesh.
Their teeth are like spears and arrows;
their tongues are like sharp swords.
Show your greatness in the sky, O God,
and your glory over all the earth.

My enemies have spread a net to catch me;
I am overcome with distress.
They dug a pit in my path,
but fell into it themselves.

I have complete confidence, O God;
I will sing and praise you!
Wake up, my soul!
Wake up, my harp and lyre!
I will wake up the sun.
I will thank you, O Lord, among the nations.
I will praise you among the peoples.
Your constant love reaches the heavens;
your faithfulness touches the skies.
Show your greatness in the sky,
O God,and your glory over all the earth.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Mary, Help of Christians.
Pray for us.

God bless us always brothers and sisters.
Peace and Love,
Apple
🙂

This week was pretty eventful and the Lord never ceases to show us His great Love, always.
I cannot even thank the Lord enough for everything that He continues to show
and let me experience. There’s just so much to share. =D

A few things I learned this week 🙂

Certainty.
Last weekend, I spent yet another wonderful and blessed weekend with the Salesian sisters. It was my second time joining them in their “Come and See”. We were five participants who attended this weekend. So blessed to have witnessed other young women in their journey with the Lord. Speaking to the sisters, they speak with so much certainty and truly they have lived this all their lives and through their vocation. Hearing their stories, their journey on how they became sisters is just a true blessing in itself. I feel that in my everyday life, I am faced with many uncertainties or rather I choose to be in a state of uncertainty but I guess this is part of my human nature because I do not know it all and I am in no capacity in knowing it all. And that is fine. But after hearing the sisters, it became a wake up call for me that I should not be living with any uncertainty at all because our God is True. By speaking to the sisters, they approached their vocation with great certainty, assertiveness, aggressive even if you will. For the Lord, they are willing to jump out into the deep because they are certain in their faith that the Lord will always be with them wherever they will go. There was not a hint of doubt in their hearts but rather their hearts were full with what is the Truth. They were so sure because they know that our God is certain, He is without doubt in His children. He is our Truth.

Contentment.
Is it really hard to be content? In our day-to-day lives, I feel that our world has become a world of discontent individuals. And I myself am guilty of this also. Nothing is ever enough. When you have little, you want more, when you have enough, you still want more, when you have much, you still want so much more.
MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE.
It is so hard to satisfy us.
The simplicity of the sisters simply reminded yet again to be content.
To not linger on what we don’t have (not only materially but in all aspects of our lives) but simply to cherish the things that are overflowing in our lives. BLESSINGS. We are showered each day with many blessings in our lives and all we need to do is to be content. Our Lord God is certainly more than enough.

Trust.
Just Trust in the Lord.
If we truly believe in what we say that we are in the great hands of our Lord,
then why do we sometimes hold back with our full trust in Him.
One thing that I can say that I continue to witness in the sisters is that they simply whole-heartedly trust the Lord. They do not need to say it, in their being you witness it.

Joy.
Ohhh man, the Salesian sisters are ever oh-so-JOYFUL!!!
I mean they just are! On the last day of our weekend, a sister in Christ and I shared how much we love the movie “Sister Act” and what do you know, the sisters love it too! One of the Salesian sisters plugged in her iPod and we were blasting songs from “Sister Act” and singing with the sisters as we were doing the chores. I am in complete awe (always will be) in the sisters’ capacity to always be joyful. They choose to be joyful because they know that they can and because they know that our God only wants us to be full of joy. He is our joy. They are joyful because they find joy in the Lord, always.

Love.
I firmly believe that through the religious we can truly witness the great mystery of the most Holy Trinity. I see them so in love with Jesus and how proudly they claim that He is their Spouse. And every time they share this, I know that they share this with great love and great understanding of what the love that they are proclaiming. They are so in love =D And when they come before our Father in heaven, they do not forget to be His child in His presence. Their obedience and respect and much love for our Father is so inspiring in the way that they present themselves in His Most Holy Presence. Their works, the way they move, they breathe, they speak, they cook, they share, they play, they love, it is certainly through the movement of the Spirit.

Faithfulness.
The sisters’ faith is so strong that nothing, I firmly believe nothing can bring their faith down. Their authentic and real faith in our Lord will never waiver. Each word of prayer that they utter, the breaths in between, they say it with so much confidence in our Lord. In prayer, I witness their faith and I can say that their faith in the Lord is so real and true and even when it is shaken, they remain to be faithful. I am ever thankful to the Lord for allowing me to witness to something like this.

Fidelity.
A couple of the sisters are celebrating their anniversaries and one of them is celebrating 40 years as a professed sister and the other sister is celebrating her Golden Year of being married to the Lord. They speak about being Jesus’ Spouse with so much love and joy and you can truly hear it in their voices and see in the way that they say it that they are so much in love with Jesus. It seems like they grow so much more in love with Him even each day of their lives. The sister celebrating her Golden Anniversary excitingly shared about their anniversary, “I’ve been married for 50 years with my Spouse, Jesus” and she said this with a twinkle in her eye. LOVE.

Peace.
The sisters live with such great peace in their hearts, their minds, and their entire being. I guess that’s why they all look so young =D It’s like they’re glowing too. It is just like the great peace when someone has returned back home, a place where they feel safe and secure, a place where they are happy. The sisters’ have so much peace in their hearts and it’s like they will never be stressed. It is true, “My heart is restless until it rests in You” and I truly see that in the sisters each and every time.

This week has truly been an awakening week; awakened my senses, my faith, my mind, my heart. I pray that I will continue to yearn for God and nothing else. I pray that I will always remember that “I am His child and He is my Father”.

[The title of this reflection is “Stay cool and keep smiling”. Yesterday, I came over to one of the Salesian sisters house here in Montreal to have dinner with the sisters and one of the sisters told me just before I left, while hugging me “Stay cool and keep smiling” =D It was really simple but it truly brought joy in my heart and a reminder that it could be just that simple because really all we need is God. He’ll definitely keep us cool because He’s the coolest and He always aims to put a beautiful smile on our faces. He created smiles didn’t he? Now, let’s be cool and show ‘em pearly whites =D]

Stay cool and keep smiling everybody.

Mary Help of Christians, Pray for us.

God bless us all always.

Peace and Love,
Apple
=D

 

 

15	When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
16	A second time he said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
17	He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
18	Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go.”
19	(This he said to show by what death he was to glorify God.) And after this he said to him, “Follow me.” – John 21:15-19

Last Sunday, a missionary Jesuit Priest from the Philippines celebrated the masses in my parish. He was invited by someone from Montreal who once visited his area in Palawan in the Philippines. The montrealer told him that he should come to Montreal to share the work that they do. During his homily, he went through the different parts of the Gospel and explained it in a way that is easier for the masses to understand . Personally, I was really touched by his homily because I truly felt that it came from his heart. He even had a long pause at one point during the homily as he started becoming emotional because he said that he was really personally touched by the Gospel. The bible verses above are the last part of the Gospel last Sunday. This was the part where Fr. Lito became emotional. Inside the church, you could also feel that the whole parish was sharing the same emotion with him. He said that when Jesus asked Simon Peter if he loves Him it is not to insult him or question his love but simply a reminder. Simon Peter’s response to Jesus that he loves him and repeatedly said so three times as the Lord had asked him is Jesus’ way of reminding him on what Simon Peter’s love for Him entails. Jesus asked him to feed His lambs, tend His sheep, feed His sheep, and at the end the Lord God tells Simon Peter,
“Follow Me”.

How much do we really love our Lord?
How far are we willing to go?
Are we ready to feed His lambs,
 to tend His sheep,
to feed His sheep?
Are we ready to follow Him?
Are we ready to love Him?

         Fr. Lito said that this same incident happened to him and this is the reason why he is where he is right now. God asked him “Do you love me?”. This question, he answered without hesitation, “I love You Lord, more than these”. At that point in his life, he was already in the midst of his career as a Civil Engineer, but he felt that he was longing for more. He then went back to the Philippines and entered the seminary. As he was sharing this, and throughout the whole Eucharistic celebration, he looked so happy. He seemed so joyful and content and very much at peace. His face and entire being radiates his love for the Lord. He is so in love with the Lord.

Fr. Lito also shared that in service we need to smell the same scent as the people that we are serving. We need to smell like them. We need to be one with the people we are serving. We need to be with the people we are serving. We need to eat what they eat. We need to live as they live. We need to breathe the same air that our brothers and sisters are breathing. If they breathe God’s Spirit, we should also breathe the same Spirit.

This whole Mass was such a great experience for me, reminding me of who I am as a daughter of God. I was moved. The times that I would feel that I am unworthy of His love; He affirms me oh so quickly. There is no need for me, for us to ask, “God, do You love me?” because I know that His answer is eternal and will never change. “I love you my child” I pray that whenever God will ask me, “My daughter, do you love me?”, that I will be able to answer this question with all my heart, each time without fail. I pray that I will always be able to answer God’s love without hesitation, rather always with full conviction.

“Lord, I love you. I want to grow more in love with You.”

 

Have a wonderful day brothers and sisters.
God bless us always.

Peace and Love,
Apple
🙂

“Radiating Christ”

Dear Jesus,

Help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Your Spirit and Life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being
So utterly that my life may only be
A radiance of Yours.

Shine through me, and be so in me
That every soul I come in contact with
May feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up,
And see no longer me, but only Jesus!

Stay with me and then I shall begin
To shine as You shine,
So to shine as to be a light to others;
The light, O Jesus will be all from You;
None of it will be mine;
It will be you, shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise You
In the way You love best,
By shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching,
Not by words but by example,
By the catching force,
The sympathetic influence of what I do,
The evident fullness of the love
My heart bears for You.

Amen.

– Mother Teresa

Last Sunday I was able to attend the Family Ministries General Assembly.
It is always refreshing to see all the ministries together and hear the beautiful sharings from each ministry. As usual, the GA started with an opening worship. It was about the third song (if I am not mistaken), when we started singing “Love One Another” and for some reason I started feeling emotional. I became teary-eyed. At one point during the song, the worship leader, Tito Charlie (CFC Montreal Head) said to everyone, “Brothers and sisters, let us love one another. We are one community.” Our Area CC, Tita Eileen, held my hand, then I also held the hand of the sister next to me, Shenna 🙂 As hard as I tried to hold my tears, they just started flowing. I couldn’t understand what I was feeling and why I was crying. I’m sure it wasn’t of sadness but I was uncertain where this gush of emotions was coming from. Then we sang the chorus once again.

I give you a new commandment:
Love one another.
As I have loved you,
you must also love one another.
This is how they will know
that you are my disciples.
If you love one another.

I started tearing even more. I felt repentant of how I have been towards my brothers and sisters and asked myself, “Have I truly loved each and every one of my brothers and sisters?”. “Have I shown love to the person next to me in the bus? How about the other student next to me in class? My coworkers? My family? My friends? Everyone? Do they know that I am His disciple?“ This whole world is our community and we are one.

Then I realized, how much love I truly and undeniably have around me, how much love I have received in my everyday life, how much love I receive everyday and how my much love I know I will continue to receive. I started to feel unworthy but the Lord, at once not even a second, reassured me of my worth of His love. He gave me hope that I am capable of loving with all my heart and that I will be able to do so with great sincerity. After the GA, I heard mass at my parish, St. Kevin’s, it was the Divine Mercy Sunday. During the homily, Fr. Muthu shared to us that in the day’s Gospel, the Lord greeted peace to his disciples three times.

Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Jesus brings us peace, His Divine Peace, each and everyday. He unceasingly brings peace in our hearts only if we are sensitive enough to receive this gift; only if we allow ourselves to receive this peace each and every moment of our lives.

“Love one another as I have loved you” – A truly beautiful commandment that our Lord God has given us.  A commandment asking us to be good, to be beautiful, to be loving, simply to be GOOD. But why is it hard? We make it hard. Instead of just letting our hearts be free and do what it is naturally capable of, we take control of it. We are created in the likeness of God, and that includes our hearts, then how can we question its goodness and its ability to truly love.

This week, I have been truly reminded about this commandment. I am not perfect and I know that I might fall but I know that our Lord God will continue to remind me that I am loved and that I will continue to be able to love as long as my heart beats…as long as my heart beats for Him 🙂

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.
– Mother Teresa

Mother Mary,
please obtain for me from the heart of Jesus,
the source of every good,
a heart that is able to truly love.

My brothers and sisters, I pray for peace in your hearts as well and that you may continue to experience and feel God’s love in your lives and also to those who are dear to you.

…let us LOVE anyway.

God bless us always.

Peace and Love,
Apple
🙂

 

 

Two weekends ago, I had the opportunity to spend a wonderful and truly blessed weekend with our brothers and sisters in Singles for Christ. It was the “Covenant Orientation Weekend”. I am ever thankful to the Lord that He allowed my weekend to be free and be able to attend and do my SFC CO (finally!). I was then invited to speak about our calling as “Champions of the Poor”; on how to love and serve our less fortunate brothers and sisters. It was a truly humbling experience for myself to be reminded on what it is that we are called to do.

During the session, I shared about an incident that had happened to me a couple of weeks back. I was on my way home, waiting for my metro to arrive, when there was this sister, unhesitant in asking each person if they had some change to give. I was eating an orange, she looked at me, I just smiled at her, nodded, and that was it. It was about one minute until my metro arrived. The few seconds of what just happened flashed before my eyes. “She was looking at my orange. She was looking at my orange.” It might sound funny but this was all I could think of. My metro came and I froze. I couldn’t move. “My metro’s here!” I told myself. But then, I stayed. My metro left. I looked around if the sister was still there. I saw her by the escalators, and then I decided to come up to her and I asked her, “Are you hungry?”. Her face lit up, and she said “Yes”. I told her that I didn’t have any change with me but we can go to the café just upstairs. She then asked me, “Can I get a sandwich?” I told her “You can have anything that you want”. She was almost running heading to the café. She went ahead to the sandwich corner. She then asked me, “Can I have this?” Showing me her turkey sandwich wrap and a can of coke. (I wanted to tell her to maybe just get water because it’s healthier hehe) But all jokes aside, she showed me once again if I what she had in her hands were okay. She wanted to get my approval for the food that she was about to eat. I paid for her food, she took them and told me, “Thank you. Merci. Bonne journée. Have a good day”. I went back to where I was to wait for my metro and I saw the sister again. She was showing the metro performers the food that she had on her hands and started eating with a smile.

My metro came at once but as fast as the speed that the metro was travelling, the memory of what just happened did not leave my thoughts that fast. I had to process what had happened. This truly struck me straight to the heart. As a student, I may not have a lot but I know that I have more than enough. (No one is too poor to not share. No one is too rich to not care.) It hurts to know that the sister in the metro had to ask permission if she could even eat. She even had to ask permission on what she was allowed to eat. She was willing to eat scraps and on the other hand, we are willing to give her scraps. This is simply unjust. We are called to bring humanity and self-respect to our brothers and sisters from all walks of life. We shall do it with much joy and great hope in our hearts. As Mother Teresa had said “God loves a cheerful giver. If you don’t go to the people with a cheerful face, you only increase their darkness and their miseries and their sorrows”. We are called to remind each other of the majestic masterpiece within us. I recalled the moments that I may have neglected my brothers and sisters in Christ, purposely or not. We are called for a mission to love but I am guilty that there may have been moments in my life that what I did may have been an act of omission of love. Each moment of our lives, we may have passed our less fortunate brothers and sisters. We are called to be more than just passers by. We are called to do, to share, to love, to live and give life. This sister reminded me of my calling as a daughter of God, a sister in Christ. We are called to pray for each other, acknowledge each other, love each other, to bring life to one another. Let us not let any time pass. Let us do the work and claim and proclaim His glory. Let us remind each other constantly and incessantly of our worth as God’s beautiful masterpieces.
We are called to be and bring Christ wherever we are.

One of Mother Teresa’s colleagues shared, “She didn’t look at the masses of people, she looked at one face, one smile, one heart, one person at time.” Let us do the same!

God bless us always.
Peace and Love.

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen