Author: Queenie Basilio

Often times when we encounter problems, we ask God why it happened. We throw Him questions like, “Why is my life like this?”… “Why is my family broken?”… “Why did you make me with this body instead of that one?”… “Why are so many people dying of starvation?” — yet again we forget that He is God. He is all powerful and He is the answer to all these questions. Instead of asking God all these questions, why don’t we ask ourselves, “What have we done to fix these?”…”What have we done to make our lives better?”… “What have we done to unite our families?”…”What have we done to allow others to see us as children of God?”…”What have we done to help feed the needy?”– What have we done? What have I done? What have you done?

Father,
I abandon myself into Your Hands;
do with me what You will.

Whatever You may do, I thank You:
I am ready for all. I accept all.
Let only Your Will be done in me,
and in all your creatures –
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into Your Hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to You
with all the love of my heart,
for I love You, Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself,
into Your Hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for You are my Father. Amen.

“Ask and you shall receive.” —  The Lord really showed me the true meaning of this last Friday.

It’s Friday morning. I remember the night before, I asked the Lord to please grant me patience in everything that I need to do…. and praise God He did…of course..in HIS OWN WAY. It was a very typical Friday morning — I woke up, got ready for work and left the house for work. Literally, as soon as I got on the train to head to work, (fyi, the train was supposed to be an express train), the ambassador announced that the train that I am on is not gonna be an express one but an all-stop one. So instead of being able to get to work in 30 mins, it’s take me about 45 mins to an hour. I’m not gonna lie, I was a little upset already cause I feel like I was gonna be late for work.. but at that point, there’s really nothing that I can do. And then, I thought, that’s it..but no… the train took longer that expected, people got too impatient, the train became so packed, people started complaining, etc… and of course, I was one of them… scared of getting late for work…I became really upset.. although I kept telling myself it’s okay…I can’t help but to become more upset…. And then finally, we reached Union Station.. It takes me about 15-20 mins to walk from Union station to my work place. Literally, I was rushing out of the station, then for some good reason, every single person in front of me was just walking so slow… I was about to complain again, but then I remembered what I prayed for the night before… PATIENCE… and literally right when I remembered this, I just laughed at myself and told myself “It’s okay… I think I failed the test.” I’m pretty sure, the Lord was just laughing at me for there I was asking for patience, but not being ready to be really patient. Ask and you shall receive….quite literally.

So many times have I lacked patience. So many times have I prayed that the Lord would just give it to me now..not later..but now. Countless times have I complained…not being able to wait for the Lord’s time. A very simple morning for me, but the Lord truly gave a powerful message. As St. Teresa of Avila said, “Patience achieves everything.”

The Lord calls us to be patient — Patience with Him, that everything we prayed for and all of His plan will happen in His time. Patience with ourselves as Lord is patient with us, to realise that His grace is more powerful than our weakness, and to admit that most of our life is patiently stumbling along with His help. And finally, patience with others that we may be more understanding and would have that childlike trust in the Lord and all His plans.

I was reading a book and came across this beautiful prayer. I know most of us know the first few parts of this prayer..

God, give me grace to accept with serenity, the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it, trusting that You will make all things right, if I surrender to Your will, so that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.

Praise God!

I feel like I’ve been very busy these past few months. Literally, right after the year started, I was very busy. I thought I had time for everything, but little did I know, I didn’t have much time for Him. There were so many instances where He was asking me to make more time for Him. I remember a couple of priests told me to either spend 15 minutes in silence with Him, or just spend more time with Him. Did I listen? Maybe on the first couple of days. Then what?    I was distracted again. I was a little too worried of what’s happening around me, from getting a new job to all the RYC preparations. I felt like I was just surrounded with all worldly noises that I couldn’t hear His voice anymore…or more so, I didn’t give enough time to listen to Him anymore.

But praise God for He didn’t give up on me. Last Thursday, I was heading to our Tech Rehearsal for RYC. I was so stressed. I worried too much. He knew that I would not spend more time with Him, so communicated to me through SILENCE. I was crossing the street, when all of a sudden, I saw a baby looking at me and smiling at me. Literally, prior to encountering the baby, I had so many things on my mind..but when I saw him, all I can say was, Thank you Lord! The smile that the baby gave me was just a reminder of the Lord for me. That everything’s gonna be okay. I don’t have to worry. He didn’t say a word, but with that little smile, He made me realise so many things. He showed me how important it is to spend time with Him. He made me realise that He misses me as much as I miss Him.

What’s funny was right after RYC, I completely lost my voice. It’s the first time this has ever happened to me – to have no voice at all. Up until now, I still don’t have one. But Praise God! I feel like He’s telling me, “My child, now just listen.” He’s probably like, there, you don’t have choice but to just listen. And I am not gonna lie, I’ve never felt so good to just listen…to just be quiet..to just spend more time again with Him for in silence, He truly does speak.

Lord, please teach me to listen more to Your voice rather than the noises of the world. Allow me to have more open heart, mind, and soul for your humble servant’s here to listen. Amen.

Yesterday, a sister of mine approached me and asked me a question. Her question was, “What does fire mean to you?” In that very instant, I can only think of one answer (in fact, I silently told myself my answer) — love. All I can think of is love. Love is fire. My fire is love. Then, it hit me, I feel like the Lord is asking me, “What does love mean to me?” More specifically, what does love mean to me personally?

Three days ago, I wrote a message for someone. Funny enough it was about love. Little did I know, that message was actually for me. Three days after, I realised what the Lord was trying to tell me. I can’t fully remember what exactly I wrote, but it goes something like this:

“Love is sacrifice. Love is self-giving. Love is compassion…. There are many meanings, but remember that I am God. I am the Lord. I am love. I am your mission…. I called you to finish your mission. Your mission is Me. Your mission is love. You are called to love.”

And there goes my answer, Love is my mission — to love in my own little way.

To love Him the way I know how to love Him. To love Him in a very personal way. To love Him first, more than anything else. To love Him without hesitations. To love him without any ifs and buts. To love Him by loving others more than myself. To love Him by being that fire to light the world.

Fire can consume anything and anyone in just a matter of seconds, and so does love. God wants us to love that way, love like a fire. From the very beginning, the Lord just wanted to love the whole world — to let us feel His burning love for each and everyone of us.

I believe that every single person in this world has that fire, and the Lord gave us the free will to ignite that fire. But just like fire, when we immerse ourselves into it, it could be just very painful. Our mission could be very difficult. We can lose hope, we can lose faith, but it is through these difficulties that we are molded to be like Him. Like a brother of mine once said, through our doubts, we find faith. In faith, we find hope, and in hope, we find love. And once we found it, it’s not meant to be kept, but to be shared. That’s just how love is; that’s just how mission is.

At the end of the day, it is up to us if we want to be that “fire” that would consume the world. Do we want to be that fire that would spread the warmth of God’s love to the world? Can we be that fire? Are we ready to be that fire? Are we ready to fully accept our mission?

Lord, please help me to be that fire. Please give me the courage to accept my mission without any hesitations. Allow me to fully devout myself to You. Please use me to spread Your love to the world. Amen.

Everything happens for a reason, and His very Own timing. Sounds so cliche, but it is true. I was definitely able to experience this all throughout the year. I remember I was praying inside a Church few weeks ago, I was asking the Lord for so many things. My list of request just went on and on and on, but then He gave me this answer:

It’s already November and it’s almost the end of the year. I’ve been recently reflecting on the things that happened this year. Last night, I was talking to a sister and I was telling her how busy it was this year. To be honest, I couldn’t believe how I was able to go through all of that. There was even a point (or many points this year) when I told myself, “I don’t think I can do this.” I am so overwhelmed by the things that were happening, but praise God because I am here today and still joyful in serving Him.

“And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.” – Ephesians 1:19

God is powerful. He is the Almighty. He is the source of our strength. Surely, when we believe in God, we do believe all these, but most of the time we are faced with situations that makes us question this. We often see ourselves asking, “Do I really believe that His power rests on me, and am I worthy of this? Can I do this?”

God’s power is greater than any power. It is limitless. It shows no boundaries. We do not have to strive or question ourselves to have strength for it has already been given to us. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus said “Behold, I have given you power…” We need to believe this. We need to believe that our strength does not only come from us, but from Him. Yes, nothing is impossible with Him, but through Him, (our) impossible is nothing.

“‘Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. – Isaiah 54:10

The Lord gives us strength because He loves us so much. He said in the book of Isaiah that no matter what happens, His love will remain. This is just such a good reminder for me that even though I am thrown into the fire, I know His fire of love will be embracing me. He loves us so much that He would do anything for us. When we feel weak, He would give us strength. When we are troubled, He will provide peace. When we are down, He will lift us up. When we lose hope, He will be our light. When the whole world turns away from us, He will be there by our side; embracing us with His love. He will do all of these for us, but we need to allow Him to do so. We need to open our hearts to Him. He created us to know Him, love Him, and centre our lives on Him. Let us love Him the way He loves us.

Psalm 63:1-5 O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory. Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You. I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise You. Amen

“…the soul being stripped of every attachment or entanglement in order to be utterly simple and naked before God….means to teach us simplicity of the heart, which is not daunting but joyful.”

Stripped of every attachment = stripped of sins.

I was reminded of the story of Adam and Eve. When they disobeyed God and ate the apple from the tree, they hid because they felt naked and embarrassed. They put on clothing to “hide their sins.” On the other hand, when Jesus died on the cross, His clothing was stripped off; thus saving us all from our sins. These two stories sum up our struggle with sins. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, we are saved from sins: we became “simple and naked” before God, but because of our human nature and weakness, we tend to fall into sin again and again and again; thus “clothing ourselves” over and over again, hiding our true beauty.

I know it’s hard to not fall into sin. In fact, we sin every day, no matter how big or small it is. But the Lord loves us so much that He gave us opportunity to be stripped off sins again: through reconciliation. But just because the Lord granted us the sacrament of reconciliation does not mean that we can just keep committing sins. The Lord continues to remind us to try to not fall into temptation. We shouldn’t have the mentality of “I will just commit this sin now because I can just go to confession tomorrow.” No, just no. If we have this mentality maybe we should consider reflecting on our lives again. Sacrament of reconciliation is a sacrament of purification of the heart, it’s not a sacrament of “so I can just get rid of my sins and I can sin again,” because if that’s the case, then we really are not reconciling. One of the analogies that I often hear about sins is the analogy of reconciliation = taking a shower. Going to confession is like taking a shower because it cleanses our souls. We want to take a shower because we wanted to be cleansed not because we wanted to get “dirty” again. It’s hard to avoid temptations, but the Lord calls us to TRY our VERY BEST to not fall into sins: to be stripped of our sins – to live like how Christ lived. How beautiful is it to be “simple and naked before the Lord.” How beautiful is it to come before the Lord without hesitations and being embarrassed. How beautiful is it to come before the Lord with nothing, so He can fully fill us with His love and compassion.

“…which is not daunting but joyful.”

How many times have we been scared of going into confessional because sometimes we are embarrassed of our sins or we are afraid that we might be judge or unaccepted? I did and I still do. But in fact, there’s really nothing to be afraid of, because if we truly are repenting, then our hearts should be joyful about it. There’s nothing to be afraid of purification and healing. In fact we should be the most joyful after a confession. I always remember that very light and happy feeling I feel every time I go to confession. It’s amazing. Instead of being daunted, we should be dauntless in living like Christ and reconnecting ourselves to Him.

To die to oneself and live like Him. Be nothing so we can be filled.

“Let nothing perturb you, nothing frighten you. All things pass, God does not change. Patience achieves everything. Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone suffices.” – St. Teresa of Avila

Praise God!