True North Missionaries Journal

Taking it back to the BeeGees! How deep is your love???

Love. I’ve been in this constant “mantra” of trying to be more loving every day. A brother once told me that a good way to do this is to go back to this:

“Love is patient and kind;
love is not jealous or boastful;
it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrong,
but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.”

(1 Corinthians 13: 4–7)

He told me to replace the word, LOVE, with my own name. And the day I can say this passage using my name each time it says LOVE, then that’s when I know I can truly 100% wholeheartedly love. SO… here I am, thinking this is already hard enough to do, until I read the Gospel on Friday…

“‘and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.‘ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
(Mark 12: 30-31)

I thought loving required simply being able to just say 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 with my name, but NO. It isn’t just that. After reading this gospel, I knew that there is a greater call to Love…

If we are all children of the Lord, then we all carry a piece of Him. So to love God is to love ourselves too. But in saying this, to love God is to love all those around us as they too, are from the same Father. But as for me… to love is being able to say, 

Erin is patient and kind;
Erin is not jealous or boastful;
Erin is not arrogant or rude.
Erin does not insist on its own way;
Erin is not irritable or resentful;
Erin does not rejoice at wrong,
but rejoices in the right.
Erin bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.

PLUS I must say it in regards to not only my heart, but ALL MY MIND, ALL MY SOUL, and ALL MY STRENGTH, meaning my thoughts and ALL OF ME – not just my actions – must reflect this… through my thoughts, my words, my actions, and my being…

THEN I can say I know how to love.

I am NOT perfect. In fact, I am far from it. But what I can do is open myself up to His WORD to constantly allow Him to reveal Himself to me, the same way He has with LOVE… one step at a time… WHY? Because my journey with the Lord is a simple slow dance. It is not too fast, it is far from complicated. But it is SIMPLE. And He guides me gently in His arms all throughout. In all my daily trials and tribulations, He awakens me every time with one question…

“My child, how deep is your love?“

“How Deep Is Your Love”

I know your eyes in the morning sun
I feel you touch me in the pouring rain
And the moment that you wander far from me
I wanna feel you in my arms again

And you come to me on a summer breeze
Keep me warm in your love and then softly leave
And it’s me you need to show
How Deep Is Your Love

How deep is your love, How deep is your love
I really need to learn
‘Cause we’re living in a world of fools
Breaking us down
When they all should let us be
We belong to You and me

I believe in You
You know the door to my very soul
You’re the light in my deepest darkest hour
You’re my Savior when I fall
“You may not think
I care for you
When you know down inside
That I really do
And it’s me you need to show
How Deep Is Your Love”

Come Holy Spirit, fill Thy servant as You will,
Amen.

Friday night we had our CFC-SFC Teaching night.  The topic of the night was AnCOP, and how it’s so much more than just a sponsor program; that it promotes livelihood and health as well; through community outreach programs.  Being the AnCOP Representative for SFC this was a big deal to myself and my counter-part.  As anxiety and concern flowed through our minds as the people started flooding in, I couldn’t help but just say “That’s It…All in your hands now Lord”.

The night went amazing! We were able to get our message out, but what really stuck out was the willingness our Brothers and Sisters have to serving not just our fellow man through AnCOP, but here on a local scale.  We promoted our plans to Build the Church of the Poor by volunteering at local soup kitchens, community outreach programs and long-term care facilities, and people were eager to jump on board with us.  It was such an awesome feeling.

Did it end there? To my surprise it didn’t.  Last month SFC Winnipeg held their annual AnCOP fundraiser “LOVE NOTES”.  That was a success, but when we first counted the monies raised, after all expenses paid off,  we thought we were shy of our goal of continuing to sponsor 4 AnCOP Scholars.  We had our monthly AnCOP Core Meeting today, and did our final monies count, we discovered there were a few calculation errors and discovered we didn’t hit our target goal…WE SURPASSED IT!!!!!

SFC Winnipeg is now sponsoring 3 Grade School Scholars and 3 Post Secondary Scholars!!! All in Your Hands Now Lord is right!!! 

“Only a Life Lived for Others is a Life Worthwhile.” Albert Einstein

everything is Awesome,
Jerry

Well let’s start with saying sorry now for my bad grammar in my blogs. lol

 

For the last week or so I have been really thinking of what I was going to write for my first blog as a Mission Volunteer. For few days I thought about it and after those few days it slipped my mind for some old reason. Today was such a blessing even know I am not in California for Grace and Ian’s wedding. I am truly blessed I got to go to the CLP tonight. It was truly a reminder of who I am and why I am here.

I felt  God telling me tonight that I need to be more patient with myself and to wait on what God has planned for me. I would say the last 3 months has been a test of my patients and faith. Waiting on interviews and the email saying I have been accepting to the MV program.

I am truly blessed to be in this situation. Being accepted into MV program and attending the SFC CLP at the same time is amazing. The reason why is I am learning so much about myself in the CLP that I need to be better servant in the MV program. I am thankful for God for putting these two program together at the same time! So that I may grow up and still be young at heart serving the youth.

 

Two new journey to only bring me closer to God!

Thank you for the gift SFC Edmonton.

 

 

A very simple message that the Lord has been sharing with me can be summarized by St. Irenaeus:

The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of a man is the vision of God.

It’s been a week since arriving in the Philippines. I am still adjust to the culture, language, weather,  and living conditions. But the Lord never fails to speak to me in my vulnerable and uncomfortable (physically) state.There are several moments where the Lord reminds me of the joy that can be experienced when living out His will.

I’ve been blessed with many opportunities to have one on one’s with the brother Full-Time Pastoral Workers (FTPWs) assigned here in Metro Manila and even those assigned in the provinces. I was really affirmed that the Lord’s call to mission is personal and timely. Mission work is not an escape from the realities of life, but rather an opportunity to let God be first in my life. I have found an inner peace that can only come from the Lord because He is number one.

I am alive because Christ is alive in me 🙂

In the live recording of the song “I Never Knew You” the artist starts with an opening monologue – of sorts – in order to properly set the context for the upcoming song in which he asks, “why do we forget things?” Although the artist is speaking and singing within the frame of romance, he somehow manages to touch on a very real part of our shared existence.

“What is it about our humanness where we forget? We remember, we forget, we remember, we forget… and I think it’s just for the opportunity of enlightenment, the opportunity to awaken again and again and again, because it feels good… it feels good to remember our greatness.” – Jason Mraz

I think that ultimately, the way we express our natural inclination to outwardly reciprocate God’s love towards others – whether platonic or romantic – can be telling of the types of relationships we value.

– –

I’ve never really been one to journal, I never saw the point. I was the type of person who would fall on the flawed but lazily justifiable logic that whatever doesn’t stick with me in memory is just something that I can re-discover, and thus re-awaken to the revelation that it offers.

Basically I was satisfied being stuck in a loop, due to my horrible memory.

I was a Mission Volunteer in CFC-Youth for the better part of a year, and now that I’ve reprised the role in SFC, I feel that the Lord asking me not to simply re-live the experience with a different filter, but He’s calling and beckoning me to experience this community in ways that I was not open to in the past.

Remember, forget, repeat… if only to move forward bearing in mind the greatness of God in you, me and us.

Lord, I would love the chance to love You, like I’ve never known You.

– Jesse R.
” I Am, and We are Missionaries”

I have always been a firm believer that the Lord plants a desire in our hearts for us to know what He’s calling us to do. Although I still believe in this, I developed a twisted view of this truth for I have used it for selfish reasons. “This can’t possibly be what the Lord wants for me for I do not desire this”, or “I’m so good at this. I want to do this. This is what the Lord wants for me!”, are some of the words I fooled myself with. For a period of time, this is what I based my “discernment” on.

Now I definitely did not want to become a Mission Volunteer. It seemed very unnatural for me to put myself in a position where I know more will be asked of me. So that’s why declining to apply was a no-brainer. Now why am I here? Applications were closed and the Regional MV Interview just happened, but He kept knocking. I could not understand why after all the times I’ve said no, He still calls me. And that is when the floodgates opened (a.k.a. I bawled). He stirred my heart and comforted me to say yes. And because He wills it, He made a way. The next day is when the announcement came that applications are extended. Praise God!

Having this kind of mindset not only blinded me, but it also made me realize that I have been limiting the Lord. I have been limiting the Lord’s greatness to what I am comfortable doing, what I think I can handle, and what I understand. I, who am nothing compared to Him, a speck of dust, a mere human, dared to limit the Almighty! Sometimes I laugh with shame and disappointment at how arrogant I can be. But the Lord continues to humble me for He continuously calls me.

So what is my desire? It dawned on me as I reflected on the mysteries of the rosary. When in times of doubt and confusion, I look to Christ and Mary. What is it that they desire the most? Mary did not know the entirety of the Father’s plan but she still said yes with joy. Christ did not plan to suffer the way He did but He still suffered without complaints. They only desired to glorify God and show their love for Him. The suffering came with that desire. But so did joy, humility and peace. If I want to glorify God, there’s no other heart that I should mold mine to but theirs. 

Merciful Father, keeper of my heart. Let me desire only You. Not comfort, not certainty, not temporary satisfaction. Prune the undesirable in me, stretch my heart, detach me from worldly comfort. Be my only comfort and joy. Mother, my refuge and strength, intercede for me. Amen.