Author: Diane Dimacali

“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9

I think we’ve all heard of this prayer right here at some point of our lives. But what I thought was weird was that it kept resurfacing lately in my life.

O God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

“…grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change”

When really internalizing this line, it gives me goosebumps to simply come to a conclusion that I need to let go, and let God. I am the type of person to want to be in control and know what will happen next. My day is scheduled a specific way that I have time to react to any minor changes. But if something out of the ordinary barge in my schedule, a sense of anxiety of “omg what will I do now” resurfaces. Letting go that sense of entitlement has always been difficult for me, because it results in letting go to a possibility to something I have invested so much of my time in. But the Lord continues to reassure me that, He is all I need and to constantly refocus and fixate my eyes on Him.

“…the courage to change the things I can..”

Be not afraid, famous words of St John Paul ll. This phrase has been resounding in my heart the past year. Being courageous is not the absence of fear, but victory of it. I have grown to be thankful for my moments of fear and doubts and to be able to look at them as opportunities to grow in virtue and trust in God.

“..and the wisdom to know the difference.”

My heart has never been this disturbed to say these words in adoration the other day;

Lord, if its in your will, allow me to continue to desire it.

Lord, if this is not of you, please take it away. 

This scares me because it pushes me away from comfort. It pushes me away from what I’m used to. It pushes me to simply surrender and trust in God. It’s one thing to acknowledge to trust in God, and another thing to embrace it. To completely trust God, puts us in the posture of surrender, which can be difficult because to surrender can result to change. Change can only result to growth if we allow the experience to change us in a way that will lead us to Christ. Like St Teresa of Avila, may we be affirmed of this..

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be” – St Teresa of Avila

I pray the peace of Christ may disturb your hearts always.

Merciful Father, if its in your will, allow me to continue to desire it. Lord, if this is not of you, please take it away. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen. 

JMJ,

Diane Dimacali

“Let all that you do be done in love.”  – 1 Corinthians 16:14

It does not surprise me that in leading a life devoted to growing in virtues, I have deeply fallen in love with Mary’s Immaculate Heart. Today in adoration, I caught myself repeating the words, “Mary, help me love like you, help me love like your son,” as I stare in deep fulfillment of an image of Mama Mary embracing baby Jesus.

Through this moment, the Lord reminded me in my posture in loving God, loving others and in loving myself. I have the tendency to always ask myself, “Have I showed the Lord how much I love Him today?” But rarely do I ask myself, “Have I allowed the Lord to love me today?”

We cannot expect to love God and others, without loving ourselves. And we cannot expect ourselves to allow others to experience this genuine love from the Lord, when we too have not allowed ourselves to experience this love. And I feel like thats where I struggle the most. My stubbornness and resistance to vulnerability and compassion leads to an increase in sufferings and lack of acknowledgement in how loved I am by the Lord.

But its in finding humility in bringing these sufferings to the foot of the cross. And in realizing that it was never really about our capacity and limitations to give. Rather, our willingness to give of ourselves to the capacity that God has already given to us. The journey will be tiring at times, but its through the Lord sacrificial heart, is where we can draw our strength from. My brothers and sisters, let me tell you one thing, the mission is worth fighting for. Lets never tire in loving God, loving others and in loving ourselves. But most of all, lets allow the Lord to love us.

“I would create the world again just to hear you say you love me.” – Jesus to St. Teresa of Avila

Loving Father, help me run into your arms, not out of rushing the journey, but out of excitement for whats to come. Strengthen my heart so I can endure the obstacles and overcome the moments of fear and doubt. Ultimately help me to be able to love like You. Amen. 

JMJ,

Diane Dimacali

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.” – Romans 12:12

/To wait/ 

To stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or until something else happens.

Such a crazy thing, waiting, it can either highlight the virtues you have or the virtues you lack. And I know a lot of us pray for this specific virtue because its so hard to fully attain because you can’t just be patient and not attain the other virtues.

And of course, if we ask God for this specific virtue, He doesn’t just want us to be given the virtue but to grow in it. He gives us opportunities to grow in patience. Patience becomes a virtue when we choose to act on these opportunities.

Maybe waiting is God’s way of saying,

.. did you expect a complete sentence? We all did. But sometimes we don’t get the answers in the time we expect or will we ever in our life time. But how many of us can say, “that’s okay, I still trust you, Lord.”

It’s one thing to acknowledge trust, but another thing to embrace it.

And recently for me, I have been given that privileged to grow in the virtue of patience in the capacity that taught me to be still. Whether its waiting for something to arrive, waiting for something to be accomplished, to the gravity of waiting for our vocation to be revealed to us.

Have you ever wanted something so bad, that you couldn’t wait, or couldn’t afford to wait because you thought you’d be “wasting time”, and you want it right now?

I can confidently say I have. All the time.

“Lord, can I have it now?” “Lord, why are you making me wait, I’m ready now”

Waiting does not mean we only seek fulfillment after the fact. It means that we remain hopeful throughout the process of waiting. In waiting, we are sanctified. In waiting, we must strive for the posture of joyful hope.

There is so much beauty in the wait. We can only see this beauty if we are not clouded of the idea in our self wants and desires. The beauty comes in the form of virtue.

Eternal Father, make me a channel of Your unfathomable love and grace so that others may find abundant life and peace in You. Continue to grant me opportunities to be patient. May I always be reminded to turn to You through all my struggles and victories. Lord, Your love is flowing into me, and I’m ever so thirsty. My cup is bottomless and I can only desire for more. Amen. 

JMJ,

Diane Dimacali

“They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?'” – Luke 24:32

I thought I’d dedicate this post to everyone who the Lord specifically has chosen for me to journey with.

When we look back and reflect on where we were 10 years ago, or 5 years ago, or even a year ago, did you ever expect to journey with the people who you are currently surrounded by?

The Lord works in the most mysterious ways, intentionally placing certain people in our lives, unknowingly how long they will stay and their purpose in our lives. Growing up, it was always quality over quantity when it comes to building friendships/relationships.  I struggled in going out of my way to build new friendship because I decided to build up walls instead. I feared vulnerability when it comes to being open to others. I had the mentality to keep everything that I was going through to myself because it will either just burden them or they wont fully understand.

With the Lord’s endless grace, He continues to remind me, its through these encounters with others where we will experience God’s presence and intimacy the most! And it’s crazy to think that your encounter with someone else, whether how small or how grand, you have already made an impact towards their journey towards sainthood.

So, to all the people who constantly chose to love me despite how difficult it was to love me, to those who pretty much dragged me towards the crucified Christ because of my stubbornness, to those who simply just believed in me, this is for you.

Thank You.

Thank you for allowing me to experience the Lord so fully from the way you embody Christ. Thank you for reminding me to constantly choose to fight for the mission, to fight for sanctity because its simply so worth it. Thank you for choosing to love because it has allowed me to always choose Christ.

To whoever is reading this, may you understand the gravity of your YES to Christ. Its in your YES, that may lead others to also say YES. Its in your YES, that has allowed others to see a glimpse of heaven. Its in your YES, you unknowingly have saved a soul. Because someone decided to say YES to Christ, I too have chosen to willingly say YES to Him.

Almighty Father, I can’t thank You enough for all You have given me. Thank You for blessing me with the brothers and sisters You have chosen to specifically journey with. And thank You for always reminding me how immensely loved I am. May I continue to be a light for others, so that they may fully experience Your love for them. Amen. 

JMJ,

Diane Dimacali

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” – 2 Corinthians 5:21

The mission will change you, if you allow it to change you. 

And what I mean by that is, one cannot go back to their old ways when they have fully experienced Christ. 

So during this year’s ICON in Ilocos Norte, Laoag, our Canadian delegation were given a challenge from our delegation heads to think of our most personal valued item that we brought on this trip …and give it away. Whether that was to give it away to someone in the same delegation, someone you just met or someone completely random. And already, I knew what the item was, and it broke my heart a little that i was called to give it away. It was my small wooden cross given to me by a sister I really look up to, and I always kept it with me wherever I go.

Side note: Before the trip I was even hesitant to bring it because I was afraid I might lose it.. 

So I ended up giving this cross to a sister in my Social Actions group. I felt I was called to give it to her from the way she openly and willingly shared about her crosses to me. At the moment I gave it to her, I was at peace. I was at peace knowing it’s in good hands.

Then surprisingly the next day, the same sister comes running to me in the morning before praisefest and says, “Ate Diane, this is for you” and hands me a rosary. Honestly, all I wanted to do at that moment was cry because of how good the Lord is.

I entrust my cross to Him through this sister and He offers His full self to me in a form of a rosary. Through this encounter, I am a witness of God’s faithfulness with faith being our solid ground. Our foundation. Our stronghold. And the beauty of faith is that it’s both personal and communal. Personal in a way that the Lord speaks to us in the way we understand best. Communal in a way that we are never journeying alone. We are journeying with one another. We are journeying with Christ. He gives His whole self to me, I cannot but give my whole self to Him.

Gracious God, You are so good to me. You never fail to remind me of how immensely loved I am. Allow me to be an instrument of Your endless love and mercy. Please grant me the strength to keep running, running to Your arms. Amen.

JMJ,

Diane Dimacali

“Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong. Your every act should be done with love.” – 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Try this. I want to ask you to stand up, and have your arms spread wide. And keep it there.. are you feeling tired yet? 

Hold it. A little bit longer. 

Okay how long has it been? 1 min? Okay, 5 more mins.

Okay you can put your arms down now.

That my  brothers and sisters, is a fraction of how I was feeling throughout my whole trip. Obviously, the longer we kept our arms up, the more tired we felt. The moment we were asked to keep it up longer, the more we complained. And that was me on this trip. The moment I felt tired, gross, sticky, hot, exhausted, is the very moment the Lord asked more from me. And all I kept saying was, “Lord, there’s nothing left. What more do you want?”

Until one worship where I was compelled to open my eyes and realized that I was literally in front of the crucifix, as it stood in front me during one worship. And all I can do at that moment was cry. Not out of sadness, but out of just overwhelming love He has for me.

I dare you my brothers and sisters to say “I’m tired” in front of the crucified Christ. I dare you to say “I can’t do this anymore” as His arms are stretched wide on the cross. You simply just can’t. As I look at Him, He just stares back at me, and he looks at me with the eyes of love.

This international conference for me was a reminder of my posture in service. It was a reminder of my willingness to sacrifice for the mission. This trip revealed to me that our Lord does not call us to mission when we are most capable and most available, but rather when we are at our weakest and most desperate for Him.

So I challenge each and every one of you, the moment you are starting to feel tired of service, the moment you are starting to feel burnt out, the moment you just feel like giving up, I dare you to look at the cross. And make your eyes meet with the one who loved us first. Because how beautiful is it, when the eyes of the lover, meets the eyes of the beloved. 

The Lord’s love and faithfulness is my solid ground. 

“We hold on to the cross as a reminder that God loved us first; that God loves me. Never let go of this love because this our solid ground.”

Heavenly Father, thank You for the many reminders of Your love in the mission.  I will fight for Your life, I will long for Your peace. Amen. 

JMJ,

Diane Dimacali