Toronto, ON. These first weeks of February have been an odd change of pace for me. Even though it has only been one month into the year so far, anyone close to me would know how busy my life has been all of January, and I honestly it took that long it to end. That is not to suggest that I dreaded the month, what I mean to see is that this month, with how crazy and hectic it has been I’d really rather say that it, wasn’t busy, but concentrated. Concentrated to how much love I was able to experience through every minute of this month. I may look at calendar, and see how every single day (save for most Sundays) have been jam packed, but at the same time I look at every section on it, and would rather thank God for those moments than complain. As the month went through, and the month got busier I was thinking more about how God has been trying to squeeze every single minute of this month to show me how much He wants to love me.
Being with God
Yesterday evening after office hours, I attended a Spiritus Via event, an Eastern Youth Ministry monthly assembly (1 Wednesday of every month, like clockwork) on the topic of identity. I was blessed to have gotten a ride from an SFC sister who worked by Jane & Steeles (really close to the CFC Office). While I was originally expecting to attend the event by myself, I ended up at Saint Lawrence the Martyr Parish for the event with Filo and her friend Angela.
One of the stories shared by the speaker, a Chaplain at a high school, was the hardship of bringing students to experience Adoration for the first time. As he was kneeling before Jesus and looking about the very empty Chapel, he began asking Jesus why the students weren’t there. Before Jesus, he received his answer: “Go and get them.”
Inspired at the moment by the Holy Spirit, he rushed to his office to grab a box of rocks. Standing at the Chapel door, he gave a rock to each student that was passing by – regardless of if they were Catholic or not, wanting to take the rock or not. He directed and instructed them to bring this rock, to bring their burden to Jesus in the Chapel. And within two hours, the Chapel was filled with students.
What a powerful experience it is, that in being with Jesus, I can receive His instructions to bring Him to those that need Him (which is everyone, let’s be real).
In not so many words, the speaker’s message was the following: Regardless of what we do, our identity will always found in Christ, as sons and daughters of God. The point of departure before going out and doing something for God, is to be with God first.
Being with God gives direction to our what we our doing.
Being with God infuses our daily tasks with grace and passion.
Being with God re-focuses our posture to love our mission.
But more importantly, when we spend time with God, He reveals to us who we are now, who He wants us to become, and who we will always be to Him in our journey to holiness.
Who I am now – A YFC FTPW (yes, even if I’m 30). I am called to be like Christ, and so I can actively go bring Christ to others. This is the YFC vision.
Who He wants me to be – A missionary no matter where I am. I know that I am sent (again – being first) with a mission to proclaim the Gospel. Only by grace and through the Holy Spirit, can I do so in many creative ways, to many different people.
Who I will always be – A daughter of God. I know that I have Father that is always loving me no matter what I do.
All in all, God is with us. This will never change.
How Am I Getting Home?
TORONTO, ON. It was as a Press Head for YCOM that I started developing a strong inclination for serving. During the first year of my first service, I had made it my responsibility to make sure that Pastoral Formation Track events were covered by Documentation, which ended up in myself going to events, a lot of them. At the time I was only 17-18, and I was traveling around the GTA for the first time usually to places and though transit systems I wasn’t familiar with, and all the while surviving without a job. Also cellular data also wasn’t something I started having until two years after, so I ended up having to save directions offline by screen capturing them from Google Maps with my bottom tier barely smart-phone, or going to a public wifi and using my laptop. I also don’t remember having a working music listening device at the time, (man, how did I survive). It was during this time that I think I first started becoming known for two things, one being the “YCOM Guy”, and two, inducing the phrase “how did Phil get there?”.
I bring all this up because I was reminded of what crazy and stupid lengths I would go to back then, when a few nights ago, when I was at a lonely bus stop, close to mid-night in the cold rain, half way home from Markham, where I just had a meeting. I was reminded of the being lonely, often times I was by myself for a majority of time I was traveling. I was reminded of the lack of agency I had back then. Even today, having a job, having travelled to the Philippines, and through Korea by myself, and through all preparations to be ‘mission ready’, I know there will be times in which I don’t have it all figured it out or I will not be fully capable of handling the situation at hand. Yet at the same time, I was filled with nostalgic joy, of being the YCOM kid that was just crazy for serving.
That was my life four years ago, and YCOM was was the service that brought out the dormant missionary spirit in me and gave me a tasted of what God had fully in store for me, and now with serving in a new way, as both Advocacy Head, and as an MV, I’m reminded of how I need a degree of reckless pursuit of God. Not wondering “How am I going to there?”, or fearing “How am I getting home?”, but having confidence in my God.
— Philip Isidro
A Million Dreams
I recently watched The Greatest Showman (an amazing movie that I think everyone should go see) which was a movie about P.T Barnum a young man who had great dreams of entertaining people and bringing joy to their lives. He came from a poor family but through his passion and dedication to his craft would eventually go on to become the creator of the modern day circus.
One of the stronger themes of the movie was P.T.’s desire to dream bigger, but it was also his downfall as his ability to dream eventually caused him to lose sight of what was most important in his life. This has also been the running theme in my own life, especially these past few weeks. As I step into the new year as a Mission Volunteer, YCOM Area Head, and a student in school, I have a lot of planning, and preparation ahead of me, a lot of dreams in sight. However, in these first few weeks of the new year, I have been in a state of Acedia, something my spiritual director likes to define as “just coasting”. I have many great desires and dreams, but when it comes down to it, I haven’t able to move forward or take action. I realize that the source of this was my lackluster spiritual life, as with the responsibilities piling up I had found little time to be still and pray.
Prayer is the gear that drives us, it’s is our connection to God. When we try to take on the world without first making time for the Lord we will always fall short. Often times I will tell myself that I didn’t have time to pray, but the reality is rather that prayer wasn’t a priority. When we enjoy something we make time for it, rearrange our schedules and our lives so that we can be a part of it, but when it comes to prayer we often find excuses. This weekend at our Regional Leader’s Retreat we were blessed to have perpetual adoration, and during my time with the Lord in reflection, I was reminded of the joy and peace that comes with prayer, and the beauty of making it a priority.
With scheduled shifts for prayer and adoration, I rekindled the love and joy of prayer. Although waking up(or staying awake) until three in the morning for my adoration shifts wasn’t easy, it was a reminder that prayer needs to come first, and my relationship with God needs to be a priority. In order to be better like Christ, I need to spend time in prayer with Him. I pray that I may continue to journey with the Lord, to work with Him in prayer, and deepen my relationship with Him, so that I can make these dreams a reality.
Keegan
Already Done
TORONTO, ON.
When I have to do anything along the lines of leading a worship or giving a talk, or just knowing that there is something to work on later, it usual occupies my mind while I work and commute. This was true for better part of this week. With having an RLR to prepare for as both part of secretariat and being a session leader, and seeing that I would be working nine hour days all the way up until the event itself, I already knew this was going to be a long week.
As the tiredness, caffeine and stress began to pile on there came I point when I was just burnt out from exhaustion. Even now, when I consider myself “done” with the week, I find myself struggling to finish this post. I laugh at myself now, because the session I was leading was about this very struggle I went through. Getting to a point where we are so worn out to the point where we can’t do anything, when we say “I can’t do it”, that God says “Let me”. I began this week and looked at my calendar, seeing how full it was and how much work I would have to do, while this whole time I was working on a session God was giving me the answer in my own life.
If there is anything I have learned from this week, and something I want to do moving on, is to pause and look around, not only when at times of rest when I am most at ease, but at times when it feels most chaotic. We are blessed to be living in the very moment in the we are. We don’t have to worry about the past because God already took care of it, the future we entrust in God, but here in the present, the Lord is actively working before our eyes. We become so preoccupied with what we have to do, that we forget to see what God has already done.
— Philip Isidro
Perfect Time
I am the girl who’s not comfortable making letter, essays or any reflection that has be publish in the public eyes. I get so caught with what others would say about them
But there is one thing God has been reminding for quiet some time now, and that is, His Perfect Timing for everything.
This past few months, I’ve reflected on how great Our God is and how he places us in situation where we need to be in this moment.
When I reflected to this year alone, I knew it was His plan for me to have what I have now in my life at His own perfecting time and not mine — through my school, my relationship with people, my service and especially my work.
This week it made me realize how he kept reminding me of His perfect timing. And that I need to share this to other and be reminded by this as well
We live in this world where we are so caught up with our plans our own timeline and our wants
But there is more greater than that. And that He has much greater plan for us.
It’s just soo fitting how Christmas is coming too
And that is such a perfect timing for us to let go and let God.
To trust in him with our own plans and There is wonder in waiting for His Goodness and His coming 🙂
AMDG
Charis
Breaking Through the Threshold of Comfort
Hello All!
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
-Joshua 1:19
I was never one to step aside from my comfort zone, until I felt uneasiness in this comfort. This break of rhythm bothered me enough to being open to different aspects of my service in the community. I was a newly transitioned member of CFC-Youth into Singles for Christ and not once did I feel the urge to continue on in this new ministry. I felt a weird calling through a friend to go on an international mission to Trinidad and Tobago. I found myself attending online meetings with people of higher calibre, wisdom, and experience. Not really paying attention to these meetings, I often dozed off thinking about how I’m going to survive a week with these people. After a few of these meetings, I boarded a plane to a place I have never been to, to serve with people I have never met in person.
Being a very shy, and anxious person, I had the hardest time looking forward to meeting these new people. I even instructed a brother to promise me that he will never leave me alone with the new people because of the fear I had in meeting them. It was in this promise of the brother where everything began. Instead of following through with his promise he ended up throwing me into the deep end and got me to follow him as we introduced each other to the group of missionaries. I began following him and mimicking every introduction adjusting only to my name and where I was from.
The next day, the same brother avoided staying beside me and opted for a seat with no space beside him. This forced me to actually sit with someone new and meet other people. At this same time we were all reminded of the tasks that we had been discerned for to complete during the conference. I was lucky and got only one task, to lead a recollection, while others had multiple tasks overarching each other. I had my heart set on doing my part and stepping aside to witness the conference. It was here again where the brother began stating my abilities to the leaders and other missionaries and from there I had added another role to the conference.
In my first two days on mission I was challenged so much to step out of my comfort zone. It wasn’t until now, where I realized that although the brother was the one physically pushing me past my comfort zone, but it was the Lord. The Lord was simply calling me to break out of my comfort zone to experience the mission to its fullest. For me not to confide in the easiness of comfort or to set sail onto still waters but instead to journey alongside my fellow missionaries in this uneasiness.
In Christ,
Cristopher Sy