I still have one week to bask in the beauty that is the Philippines. I’ve been trying to capture all of the moments that I’ve experienced but so much has happened that I will need a good while to process. I think I’m ready to come home but I’ve come to realize that at the same time I am home. The Lord is so perfect in his timing that I was not only able to attend ICON but it also happened around the same time as my grandmother’s 1 year death anniversary. I was able to spend time with my CFC-Youth international family but with my actual family as well.
Today I got to visit my aunt’s convent in Pasay, the Little Sisters of the Poor. The huge complex is open to and home to the elderly as well as the poor who have nowhere else to go and no one to take care of them. It was both humbling and beautiful to see the joy in the faces of the sister while they are serving these people. My heart was also so filled with joy (I actually cannot think of any other word to describe it) from the fact that my aunt who took care of me since I was born has answered a greater calling to a special life of service with this loving community.
I love talking to sisters because 1: they are so happy to see you (I’ve never met a nun who was like “great another random person visiting”) 2: they don’t judge you (any situation you are in they laugh is off with a “psh don’t worry you aren’t the first person to be experiencing that) 3: they share so much (whether it be an experience, some wisdom, food, a prayer, or most of the time a joke) even if they don’t have much. We talked about everything and anything, from vocations to God’s perfect timing. We touched upon how the sisters were present for my family during my grandmother’s funeral. This touched my heart so much. Being halfway around the world I was not able to mourn with my family and yet these wonderful women were there to embrace, support, pray and mourn with my family.
We took some time out of our touring and talking to the seniors to step into the chapel. As I prayed and reflected, I couldn’t help but look at the altar in some sort of familiarity. The altar looked like the altar back in my parish in Toronto. Yet it wasn’t, but at the same time it was. We visited so many different churches and chapels in the few weeks we were here but the feeling of home is the same in each of them. The realization that no matter where the Lord placed me, in His house whatever language was being spoken the same thing was happening. On the altar His love and mercy is poured out in the Eucharist.
It was the same for my family. Even though we are halfway around world, the love I felt from them in the few days we were able to spend together was like it hasn’t been 20 years since I’ve seen them. The familiarity in the way we speak, in the way we joke, in the way we eat (most importantly) is as if it was only last week I saw them.
The same can be said for the community CFC-Youth community. Seeing 10,000 youth from around the world singing the same songs knowing that we all shared the same covenant was such a surreal feeling. But that sense of home and belonging was felt with every person I met whether they were from Philippines or another country, a full-time pastoral worker or a member that just joined a few months back. We know that we are all hoping and praying for the same thing, that no matter where we are, we are bringing Christ with us.
Lord, continue to remind me that where ever You may take me, whatever You may call me to do, to know that I will always find a home in You.
Amen.
Abby