Author: Rayah Realista

My favourite mass of the whole year is the Easter Vigil Mass. It’s a beautiful evening and truly fit for the most glorious resurrection of our King Jesus. The lighting of candles, the story of our salvation read during the liturgy, the Psalms…everything about this mass is absolutely beautiful.  I couldn’t help myself from smiling during the readings and through the Eucharistic liturgy because I kept hearing a whisper in my heart….it was like the Lord repeatedly said “I love you” in all of the readings.

Last Saturday, our Auxiliary Bishop, John Boissoneau, celebrated mass with us. Not only this, there were 6 individuals baptized and 2 additional souls confirmed into our Parish family at St. Charles Borromeo! The whole mass was 3 hours long, but I spent those 3 hours in anticipation, joy, and awe of God’s beauty and glory.

It is such a blessing to witness re-birth. The true joy I feel whenever someone chooses a life with God can never be taken away from me.  Baptisms always remind that the joy I feel when another person chooses a life with Christ, is just a fraction of what God feels for me when I choose Him.

Tomorrow, I will have the blessing of witnessing and serving at the pray-over session of a mission SFC CLP in Durham.  The mission always reminds me that not everyone sees things the way that I do. Satan has twisted how many people view Jesus, the Church, the gifts of Joy and Love. The misconceptions and lies about God and His love for us runs deep in our society.

The reality is that there is a great need for Love in the world. The Good news is that Love Himself is greater than our most urgent needs.

So, I’ll carry this God given joy with me as I go about my life in Truth. Even if I struggle to do so, my tiny hope is that this joy will be enough of a light to infect other hearts.

A.M.D.G.

 

On Monday afternoon, I was in the east end of GTA to meet with my co-worker. We decided to go to a mall so we could catch up. When I left the mall, it was raining pretty heavily so I ran to my car and left right away to go to my next client. I didn’t want to be late because of traffic.

Later on in the evening, as I was approaching my car so that I could go home, I saw the injury. My car had been hit, dented, and scratched. It wasn’t a small injury. If I had been the one to hit something, I would have felt and heard the accident. Someone hit my car, while it was parked, and didn’t leave a note.

My first reactions and thoughts (in order or occurrence) were shock, anger, hopelessness, and “How could this happen – now of all times?”

I drove home in shock and anger. I arrived home, took pictures, and took in the total damage. I knew I was angry and the only thing I could really do was pray and ask others for prayers – so I did. However, peace of mind didn’t come to me right away. I went to bed frustrated at the reality of my circumstance, angry at the dishonesty and carelessness of others, and hopeless in finding a solution. I felt so powerless.

When I woke up the next day, God revealed and reminded me through Isaiah 49: 1-6 (the first reading of Tuesday’s mass) that He knows that the reality of life is messy. He knows that I’m hurting and struggling, but because of this I have been chosen to love the dishonest and the careless.

I am right in the middle of this messy world where the light of Christ is obscured by the hurt we inflict on each other. In my mess, I have the options of despairing in my emotions and wallowing in hopelessness, or exposing His light in my darkness.

Don’t get me wrong…I am worried about my situation. I am human. Therefore, I am allowed to feel the fullness of the damage done. It’s okay to hurt and to feel it! What’s important is the action that follows.

I may be hurting, but my trust and faith in God’s love for me, pushes me to make a decision.  God is the strength of my heart. Therefore, I choose to be a light despite the dark of my suffering.

“And now the Lord says,
  who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
    and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honoured in the eyes of the Lord,
    and my God has become my strength—
he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
   to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to restore the preserved of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Isaiah 49: 5-6 (RSVCE)

A.M.D.G.

Most people don’t know that I’ve been living on my own for about 1 and a half years now. To make a long story short, my mom was let go from a really great job and struggled for 6 months to find comparable employment in Toronto. The answer to our prayers at the time was found in Estevan, Saskatchewan, which is where she was able to find security for the present and her future retirement. My dad followed her 6 months later and was also able to find a much better job in the same company as my mom. Meanwhile, I made the decision to stay in Toronto because I was finishing my post-graduate certificate program and someone needed to stay to take care of the house.

At the time before my mom and dad moved, my relationship with both of my parents was strained. I was growing up and had my own plans, which didn’t always mesh well with what they had in mind. It wasn’t like we didn’t love each other anymore. Our relationship as a family was going through “growing pains” because slowly but surely I was becoming more rational, logical, and independent. I could make decisions that they didn’t agree with, but had to accept, because I was an adult.

Truth be told, I know that God called my parents to move to Saskatchewan for two major purposes. First, He wanted to bring my family closer in love through Christ. I cherish my parents so much more because I don’t see them often – every word and minute counts! Second, God loves me too much to let me grow in pride. I used to think that I could get through life with my own strength because I knew I was smart and strong willed. Now I know that living independently requires living in dependence on Christ.

Learning to live on my own is the hardest thing that I have had to do so far. I continue to struggle financially, with loneliness, and being disciplined in balancing all aspects of my life. However, it is in my daily struggle to live a full Catholic life that God shows me that He loves me, He is taking care of me, and that He has my life right in the palm of His hands. 

A.M.D.G

“but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
[2 Corinthians 12: 9-10]