Author: Vince Licerio

Sometimes grace is violent… sometimes God wants His life in you so much that it’s going to come in ways that mean you’re going to suffer. Not because He wills it but because He permits it. It says in Hebrews “I will shake you.” And I will shake all created things until all that is left is what is uncreated, what is unshakeable. Put simply — ‘Sometimes I’m going to let you suffer. I’m going to shake you free of all those things that you’ve put in place of my grace, in place of my life in you, until all that’s left is my life in you. Until all you can cling to… is me.

Simply put, our calling to be missionaries is a commitment to give Christ all that we are and all that we desire.

True love, requires unconditional sacrifice.

It’s hard..and in the short days of this year, nothing has gone according to plan.

But I trust this is who I am called to be. Despite the difficulties of every day life, draws near eternal happiness.

 

Lord, hear our prayers.

Deo Gloria.

 

Dear God,

Thank You for the for the familiar experiences of Your presence in my life. Lately you’ve brought something back into my story where I am very vulnerable and very sensitive to…I pray I am handling it the way You want me to. Allow me to continue to grow with You, and allow You to work in me whatever way You want. 

Allow me to use my time with You in mind. 

Amen. 

“Are you going to do what is right or what is easy?” 

Deo Gloria

So I was able to fly out to my mission area up north in beautiful British Columbia for the Prince George Diocesan Youth Conference with my mission partners. Allow me to share with you some revelations/sensitive moments during the time there.

Being a Catholic has allowed me not only to be alive, but to also experience what it means to be fully human.

Revealing ones child like sense of joy, reveals a genuine foundation of being able to accept and give love.

You trust in me, so it is through your prayer and our conversation that I too, trust in you.

This what it must be like to really live. I was pretty much to myself this mission trip, but it really was because I think seeing the fullness of mission in a way where it was completely foreign to me, but yet there was a certain peacefulness in serving in the unknown with everyone in the same mission to output love.

I love what we missionaries of our community are called to do. I am affirmed even more so that this community has so much to offer to our church and even to the world.

Deo Gloria

Our Lady of Victory, Pray for us.

What better gift to give your family, your friends, your future wife, your future kids than for you to become a saint. Work vigorously against your defects, and do your best to improve as a man of God each day.

Deo Gloria

Thank You. I am very affirmed after a conversation with a close friend living in another country at the moment that the life I am living is a life where God speaks in a very unique way. That in my travels, I am called to a strong interior life. I am called to move not just into but with mission. Though I can be impatient, feel lonely and worry, I trust in the Lords plan for me. His plans for mission, for my vocation, and for the desires I wish to align with. 

Between me and You, I offer up my steadfast petitions, with the close request of intercession from Your mother and St. Joseph. 

Amen.

 

Deo Gloria

It’s always sad when you see someone leave your life especially when it’s a close friend or loved one.

Agree?

Well, the Lord revealed to me otherwise. I’ve been blessed with a household that I can surely call home in a group of friends I’ve been able to travel with, share victories with, explore vocation, laugh with, joke with, cry with, but most importantly, share my love of the Lord with.

Meet the Klondike kids.

This is our last photo as a household for now. This is Tanya. Someone I consider a close friend of mine that I hold dearly in my heart as a true sister of Christ. She is moving away to further allow the Lord to work in her life, completely. We shared stories on how different we all are, but yet how much the Lord has allowed her to pierce our hearts with an arrow sent to by the Lord as an affirmation of His love. I’m not gonna lie… A lot of tears were shed…but definitely not out of sadness or sorrow, but of overwhelming joy that though we will be separated, we are always United in Christ. That one of our closest friends is surrendering her all to everything the Lord is asking of her…

So I reflected…what an affirmation of what it is like to physically witness true complete trust in the Lord. To see someone do that…it’s truly as if you are staring at a reflection of Christ…

I sit here thinking.. I’ve never lost a friend like this before…

but praise God that it is in this way, we are affirmed the Lord is working, and we are obediently responding. It reminds me of the story of Abraham being asked out of obedience to offer to the Lord his loved one as an offering. I feel as if us (the brothers in our HH) is being asked of the same thing as Abraham. What came out of obedience, came blessings. The prayers for lifting up our dear sister to the Lord will be not different. I am affirmed that in Him bringing us together in a life long friendship to physically separate us in such a short time, was for the purpose of being together again…This time in true prayer, and eventually home bound to heaven. How beautifully you work in our lives Lord.

Trust me, it’s hard…I’ll say it again…I’ve never lost a friend like this before… But I’m glad that what will never be lost is our unity with Christ, with prayer, and offerings.

Thanks for the time we were able to spend together. How beautiful is Your plan. Lord, thank you for your never ending love. Bless our sister Tanya as she moves with Your spirit in which ever way you ask of her. Allow our bond as a household be strengthened by the promise that we are always united by You. You, are enough of us. Amen.

Deo Gloria

Dang…someone cutting onions in here? Not gonna lie, I had quite the time writing this on my phone while in bed, reflecting.