Crazy Beautiful

Slemon Park, PEI CLP
Slemon Park, PEI CLP

I am now in the Maritimes, with plans to have visits and conduct CLP whenever, wherever and whoever is available. We planned to cover 3 areas, PEI, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. We almost got left out by the plane, because we never heard that they changed gate and our names were already broadcasted 🙂 …from Halifax we drove to Prince Edward Island and right away started a CLP. The CLP went well for the weekend and while we were attending mass just before dedication of the new members, we manage to met some young adults in the church and we talked about CFC and its Christian Life Program and they were interested, they agreed to have the CLP. So right after we finished the CLP dedication ceremony, we drove to another place for more or less an hour to start another CLP. We finished the second CLP early evening yesterday and praise God, the first and second CLP was victoriously finished with inspired new members for CFC, HOLD and SFC.

We have born again participants who after hearing all the talks shared that they wanted to go back to the catholic church already. And when we conducted the other CLP, we found out that our participants were actually at time finding it difficult attending masses because of distance and they have no car (these are migrant workers). We shared with the Bishop when we had a courtesy call to him and added that others are actually inclined to go to other denominations because there leaders pick them up. The good bishop said right away that he needs the addresses of this places and he will inform the priests and asks some Catholics to pick them up to go to church. The bishop further said, “CFC is a blessing to the diocese, share CFC to all parishes!”

PEI Bishop 2
with Bishop Grecco of the Diocese of Charlottetown, PEI

Now, we are going to conduct Household Leaders Trainings. It’s funny because we can actually do it since everyone has no work now because there is a snow storm, so yes the storm becomes a blessing in times like these!

CLP O'Leary, PEI
CLP O’Leary, PEI

If there’s one reaffirmation of this trip so far, it is that, when it comes to mission we should seize every moment and opportunity that we can share Christ’s love. When we had the 2 CLPs, most of them shared how they were thirsty and hungry for Gods message. We can never wait for another day to conduct CLP, have one on ones, and assemblies because there are always people in need and one delay and one cancellation can have eternal consequences.

Tomorrow we will head to Halifax and so far this mission has been crazy beautiful because of a Crazy Beautiful God! 🙂

“Where my trust is…”

Philippines Week #6
Tuesday, March 11, 2014

 

 Yesterday, my trust was tested IMG_3424

Yesterday marked my 37th day

I’ve been in the Philippines for one month and a week

I didn’t realize it until today

Yesterday has past

But I will always remember it

I will cherish it

I am,

Standing today

This shows my trust in yesterday

Today,

I no longer need to trust in my yesterday

Because it has past

And because I will trust in what is to come

 Even

When I am tested.

Today, I was put to the testIMG_3440

I’ve been realizing what has actually been happening to me

I’ve been realizing what will happen and

I’ve been realizing that this is not the end

But just barely the beginning

Each day

Allows me to pray more

Each day

Has become a different challenge

But,

Another obstacle being surpassed

I am brought to face My Reality

My prayer

My family

My Jesse

My service

My heart

It beats for the Lord

It beats for Love

It beats in the sight of unexpectedness

I am placed where the Lord will test the trust of my heart.

Tomorrow, my trust will be tested IMG_3487

I do not know what tomorrow brings

I will never know where it will take me

I would not want to know

 Unless

It was given to me

I wake up each day

Realizing that I am living in my tomorrow

Which will then become my yesterday

It will always be a part of me

My hope in tomorrow affirms my trust

My love in tomorrow reassures my trust

My faith in tomorrow confirms my trust

In Him

 

Yesterday, my Trust was tested

Today, I was put to the test

Tomorrow, my trust will be tested

All day,

I will trust in no one but in the Lord.

Amen 🙂

Late But Just in Time

You know those days where you are expecting the day to go a specific way and then…

it doesn’t happen?

It was one of those days for me. I was expecting to go to work, hang out with friends before I leave for the Philippines and enjoy the company of friends. Well, didn’t happen. 

Instead I went to work, went home, waited for a couple hours to see what was up, and ended up going to late dinner with my two younger cousins.

It bothers me when my day changes even just a bit…But praise God it did.

I ended up bringing my cousins to adoration here at about 11:50pm. Pretty late for a young high schooler and an elementary kid.

Long story short, we all sat together, in front of our Father, and just prayed together. I don’t know what they were praying for, or if they even understood what was going on in adoration but what I do know, was that the Lord was working. 

It affirmed me of my duties as an older brother, a son, a friend, a role model that is reflecting the works of Christ to others…

After we left, we were just sharing with each other what we thought of what just happened and the thing that struck me the most was something so simple, but so beautiful.

My youngest cousin (Elementary school) asked me what the code was for the adoration chapel…In fact he kept asking me when is it open etc etc…I finally gave in to telling him the code.

What he will do with it? Only God knows.

But praise God. It was a bright and clear affirmation of what I am called to do. To  be and bring Christ wherever I am. 

A little late with my family, but just in Time. His time.

Deo Gloria 

“Yes!”

My favorite joyful mystery is the Annunciation and one of my favorite prayers is the Angelus because I have doubted myself many times and it’s meaning is so beautiful to me.

When I say “yes” to doing something that I may not feel capable of or like doing, be it CFC-Youth service, chores, or giving someone a ride this story of Mother Mary always affirms me and reminds me of how great God is. In this story story He always reminds me:

  • When my Mother said “yes”, I dwelt within her, I do the same in you. Do not doubt what I can do through you.
  • My Mother’s “yes” brought Me. It brought love and salvation to the world. Imagine how much of Me you are bringing to others when you say “yes”.
  • Your “yes” is a continuation of my Mother’s “yes”. You become one with her and participate in the salvation of the world.
  • My mother walks alongside you.

Only by the grace of God through Mother Mary have I been able to say “yes”. Only with the virtues she provides can I be able to carry on strongly and joyfully in the mission of my home, CFC-Youth and everywhere else.

Totus Tuus

So be it

How fitting that on the Solemnity of the Annunciation I am prompted to recall the yes’s I have given to the will of God, in particular with this new path of discernment. Unlike Mary, of course, my yes was not so easily uttered.

Too many times have I deliberately ignored the Gabriels in my life, opting for messages of comfort rather than challenge. However, all of the greatest calls of God require the greatest sacrifices. In fact, any call from God, big or small, will demand less of self and more of Christ. So when I had spent what felt like years wrestling with the message of the Lord to simply open wide the door of my heart once and for all to becoming a mission volunteer, I, like Mary, was “much perplexed” (Luke 1:29). Actually, I was more petrified than anything else. There was nothing more frightening than coming face-to-face with the will of God. There was nothing more dismantling than recognizing the nothingness of myself and the everythingness of God, and if that weren’t enough, having to then acknowledge that even in my nothingness He still yearned for me. Wow. How could it be that in all of my resistance He still pursued my heart? It was precisely in these moments of prayer that I experienced my own intimate annunciations.

It became clear to me that I simply needed to stop dismissing and start discerning. I needed to stop fighting the Spirit. I needed to submit – not with a heart of defeat but with a heart of trust. After all, no one was ever left dismayed after saying yes to Christ, not Noah nor Moses, not Peter nor Mary – every yes to Christ is a yes to life and life to the full, at that.

Of course there are still moments where I am overtaken by doubt towards God’s will and power in my life, but I am comforted in knowing that if God can make fertile the barren (Luke 1:36) and bring divine life to the Virgin (Luke 1:35), He can do anything for me and through me, so long as I cooperate.  This is the most difficult part of it all. Cooperating does not only require a free and faithful yes, but a yes that says “I accept any circumstance”, “I embrace every cross”, “I lay me down”.

My fiat to the mission volunteer program, among all the other changes in my life with graduation, job search, and relationships, is but an act of giving to the Lord what rightfully belongs to Him – myself. It is a sincere yes to give this path it’s due amount of discernment before shutting the door completely (as I’ve already prematurely tried to do, to no avail).

I am not convicted, at least at the present time, of any outcome of this yes besides emerging from the program a more faithful daughter of God, ready to do whatever He wants for me. With Mary as my model, I simply want to make myself His handmaid and bring Christ into the world. My yes for the Lord to use me for His glory is captured precisely in the words of Blessed John Henry Newman:

“God has created me to do Him some definitive service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission…He has not created me for naught.” 

––
O Holy Spirit, spouse of Mary, discipline my heart to say “yes” without delay. Let my “yes” be given freely, without bitterness or resentment. Keep me from asking why but instead asking how. How, O Lord do you desire to use me today? How, O Lord can I please you today? I know that your requests for me will never be easy – it will be life changing and self-sacrificing, just as it was for the young Virgin. Whatever it may be, give me the heart to trust in the Father’s divine will and the feet to go with haste to do what I’ve been asked. O that I could bring Christ into this world as Mary did!

 

Ave Maria, gratia plena.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Annunciation of the Lord, Mary’s fiat to conceive of the Saviour of the world.

I had coffee with a brother from CCO (Catholic Christian Outreach) one day. I remember that when I was still in CFC Youth way back then, I led the camp that he joined. I also remember that a couple years later, after not having seen him or heard from him, I led a worship at a Campus Based GA that he came out to. He approached me afterwards and told me that it was like coming full circle and he thanked me for the worship that I led that day.

Anyway, since that GA, we would randomly meet up for coffee at Bamboo Cafe near Joyce Station and we would catch up with one another and how our lives are going. So when we had coffee for the first time since that GA, it seemed like we just talked the whole day about anything and everything – music, art, our faith life, sports (which was rather a short conversation since I don’t know much about sports). He told me something that will always stuck with me. He honours the community for our devotion to the Blessed Mother which is something that he constantly strives for now in his prayer time.

Mary has always been a big part of my prayer life but I never fully embraced her importance until this conversation. See, we always ask for her intercession because how can a Son say no to His mother? Jesus is not exempted from that. Her intercession is very powerful.

Mother Mary, thank you for your yes to carry the Saviour of the world. Thank you for continuing to intercede for me. As I journey into the beginning of the yes I gave in serving as a Mission Volunteer for Western Canada alongside my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, please continue to intercede for us at your Son’s right hand that the mission of the True North continues to persevere and grow. 

The Father has great plans for the True North. Let us continue to grow in love and service for our God. Let us continue to say yes to whatever the Lord has planned for us, whenever and wherever He may be calling us.

Ave Maria, gratia plena. Dominus tecum. 

Last Minute Service

Last minute-ness in service has had its tendency to pull some strings in me at times… But when I look back to the past year, I can’t help but feel amazed at how the Lord has provided…

RYC 2013…
Sports Praise 2013…
TNC 2013…
Making history at RYC 2014…

…and all of it was so last minute.

Often times have we complained about the “last minute-ness” of things, complaining, whining, feeling frustrated, judgmental, disorganized, etc. But looking back to the victories of these events and the impact it has made for all of those were able to attend PLUS SOME, how can one complain?

Lent has been an amazing experience for me this year. A lot of simple (yet deep) reflections have come out of journeying with Christ in His Passion… and yes, believe it or not… it even comes in comparison to last minute service.

His Passion began in last minute-ness as well. Our Father revealed to His Son that his time was coming only about an hour before it would begin. In the Passion, he even prayed to his Father, “Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me;” and he knew that it had to be done for the sake of our salvation, “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” An angel then appeared before him, strengthening him for what was to come.

Jesus accepted his cross at the last minute, without complaint, knowing that despite of the trials and tribulations that lay ahead, our Father would be with Him and that there was a plan. THIS IS THE SAME ATTITUDE WE ARE CALLED TO REFLECT. A “yes” without complaint… without conditions… without remorse… but with complete and wholehearted Love. In his Passion, the Son of God said YES to a last minute death. Upon reflection, I’ve come to realize that we must also be as loving and willing and humble to say YES to a last minute death – the constant call to die of self for others, always, for the greater glory of God.

In understanding this, I now understand one more thing. Last minute service, if done and accepted rightfully, can hold no burdens or complaints because to serve (the way we are taught through Jesus and the cross) is to love. And in the words of Blessed Mother Teresa, “Love means sacrifice. And sacrifice, in order to mean something, must have a cost.” Last minute service, as I’ve experienced, brings about an unexpected victory, ALWAYS. So I pray that I will have the strength to ask myself daily, “WHAT IS THE COST?” All I know is REAL LOVE IS PRICELESS…. and if to serve is to love, then already, I know this is answer that will continue to lay out and prove true in faith – with the guidance of my Father – EACH AND EVERY DAY.  

Totus Tuus.
Totally Yours.