True North Missionaries Journal

“Comfort, give comfort to my people” – Isaiah 40:1

This week I saw hope, I experienced humanity, I saw goodness, I felt love.
The heart breaking news that we are hearing and seeing the past fews days of what our brothers and sisters are experiencing in the Philippines is truly disheartening.
At work this week, a student came by to submit requisition papers for their club and then he asked me of my ethnicity, as he thought I was Filipino, and when he found out that I am, he immediately asked “Is your family okay in the Philippines?” Here’s a stranger asking if my family’s okay. My heart felt so much hope. Our family in the Philippines lives in an area quite far from the main areas that got affected and completely safe. This brief conversation with this brother, I truly felt God’s reminder of great hope in Him. My immediate family may not have been affected but the ones who got affected are still my  brothers and sisters in Christ. Then he continued saying, “Filipinos are good people. I know some Filipinos. Some of my teachers before were Filipinos. They are nice people.” We shared about the efforts being given to the Philippines, about the countries all over the world coming together to help another fellow country be restored, as he put it, “humanity is restored”.

The Lord speaks to us in many different ways each and every day. He can speak to us through nature, our families, our friends, everywhere, His messages are all around us.

“God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good.” Genesis 1:31
The world that God created is a good place and we are reminded to be good stewards of mother earth. Some question the natural change with the climate and the lengthy debates about environmental issues and climate change but the reality is we have already abused the earth’s resources and that is a fact. There are things that we cannot reverse but there are some things that we can still prevent, so let us start loving mother earth more and thanking the Lord for this beautiful world He has granted us to live in.
We are called to be stewards of His beautiful creation.
Let us love the environment because this is God’s beautiful creation,
a gift of life through nature.

“God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good.” Genesis 1:31
God’s people are good people. The help we are seeing happening all over the world gives us a glimpse of great hope. But what it also reminds us is the goodness of people. Everyone who God created is good. We need to remind each other that we are good people and of the goodness that we can do. Our very nature is good. There is this natural character in people’s heart to help and extend a hand and sometimes we just need to remind each other that we are capable of helping another and be good to one another.
Let us be good reminders to each other of the goodness in us,
with this let us be good to one another.
My brothers and sisters, you are so beautiful.
You are good.
never forget this
🙂

Let us continue to pray together and instill hope within one another.
There is hope.
Love is real.
Our God is with us.
Our Almighty Father loves us so much
🙂

My sisters and brothers
“Let your light shine” (Matthew 5:16).
Let us let HIS light shine.
God bless us always

and today, we pray the Luminous Mysteries.

 Oratio Imperata
Almighty Father, we raise our hearts to You
in gratitude for the wonders of creation of which we are part,
for Your providence in sustaining us in our needs,
and for Your wisdom that guides the course of the universe.
“We acknowledge our sins against You and the rest of creation.
We have not been good stewards of Nature.
We have confused Your command to subdue the earth.
The environment is made to suffer our wrongdoing,
and now we reap the harvest of our abuse and indifference.
“Typhoons, heavy rains and floods occur in increasing number and intensity.
“We turn to You, our loving Father, and beg forgiveness for our sins.
We ask that we, our loved ones and our hard earned possessions
be spared from the threat of calamities, natural and man-made.
“We beseech You to inspire us all to grow
into responsible stewards of Your creation,
and generous neighbors to those in need.
Amen.

Recently, I gave talks on the Catholic Family at five separate events for both CFC-Youth and Singles for Christ. I felt so honoured to be given the opportunity to do so because the topic is so personal to me.  I am blessed to serve CFC-Youth with my entire family, a “luxury” I know is not so easily available to all. Our house is literally our household. My parents are my household heads, and together we co-pastor the sector. My brother gets pastored in the same HH because his mission area is under the GTA West, and my little sister falls under one of the clusters that is under my current care.  I can’t praise God enough for aligning all our pathways so closely together at this time of our lives. Nothing fills my heart more. I cannot praise God enough for this.

Throughout the year, I’ve been asking myself what my stake in the mission is. My whole journey as a Mission Volunteer began with that question. It wasn’t until last weekend that I came to find that answer.

As CFC-Youth our vision is:

but because we are a family ministry we should not forget that ULTIMATELY we are fighting to bring forth the same vision as Couples for Christ. That is,

That’s it. Right there. That is my stake in the mission- that I come from a family that has been united with and through Christ. I belong to a family that fights for a future full of hope. I belong to a family that serves together so that others may find Christ in themselves and in the very place they come from- a home.  I want every person I meet to experience the wholeness that we have found through Christ. I want to help the youth not only desire for heaven, but to realize that they can bring heaven to their families.

I was affirmed of this calling to unite families last weekend. My dad shared, through tears, his own revelation on the importance of families at the GTA year end planning.

“When we focus on the big picture, it can be so overwhelming. There is always so much to do. So much going on all the time. We can lose ourselves in the process. But if we break it down, what you see is actually the family. That’s it. That’s actually what we are all working towards. This is why we do, what we do in the community- to see families in the Holy Spirit renewing the face of the earth.”

How many times a day do I bring all the blessings and thanks back to God? How much time in a day do I set aside for Him?

So many people say that life, itself, is a blessing yet cannot give 15 minutes in 24 hours to honour praise Him in personal prayer. Isn’t it that the more He blesses us, the more things there are that we have to be thankful to Him for? I, myself, have been guilty of not thanking Him enough… There have been times where I’ve put aside my prayer time or other opportunities to thank Him. Sometimes, so much so that a day can go by when I think of praying in an hour or two, only to find myself delaying it, and delaying it to the point that the day is basically done.

The Gospel for today (Luke 17: 11-19) really stood out to me, especially in verse 17:

“Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
(Jesus says, as he speaks to the ONE leper that returned after cleansing ten of them)

It stood out to me because it made me realize that priorities always change. Being human, (as we grow) our ways our inconsistent. Our priorities our inconsistent, but our Lord remains constant. His love is constant, everlasting, and never-changing. From the moment I came into existence in my mother’s womb, His first and every thought from that point onwards was, “How can I love her more?”

As my mother awaited my birth, He protected me and provided me with a haven in her womb, keeping me comfy, safe, and soothed.
As I was born, He breathed life into me, and nurtured that life in a family.
As I grew and fell into ways of sin, He didn’t take away my life; He loved me still, providing me with an opportunity to repent and be forgiven, renewing His Spirit in me each and every time. He made me understand that when I die in sin, He brings me life in His Spirit.
As I fall asleep each night, He chooses to wake me up to a new day, giving me life each time.
And even in physical, human death, He sacrificed His only begotten Son to open the gates to heaven, so that I may have eternal life.

Out of choosing to always love me, He chooses to give me life. 

The least I can do is give Him that love back… in my prayer time… in my relationships… and in the world He has blessed me with that cries out for His love each and every day.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
Our Lady of Guadalupe (patroness of Cebu), pray for our brothers and sisters who are suffering from calamities, and all the souls of our loved ones who have passed in the Philippines.

Come Holy Spirit… fill us as You will…

All that I am
Sings of the God who brings new life
To birth in me
My spirit soars
On the wings of my Lord

My mission.

We all have a mission. Jesus had a mission. Mary had a mission. We are baptized into a missionary Church. The Catholic Church is a mission. The mission is personal. The mission is real. The mission requires all of you. The mission He has revealed to me, I now recognize is His way to use me to build up His kingdom, to make His glory known and to spread love to others.

Like fire struck my heart, in the most gentlest way, our God speaks and His voice transcends my being. Today, I thank our Most Generous, All-knowing God for revealing to me His personal mission for my life. As if all my days were made for this purpose. As if who I am, the charism He gifted me, who He created me to be, was for this.

Our mission was born in the Father’s heart. The mission was written in my heart all along.

My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and be glad. -Psalm 34:2

Often times I surround myself with tasks. In itself, busyness can be a positive and productive thing but it should not come at the  expense of our relationship with the Lord. The Lord wants more than a successful event, or hours of labour  to build a set design. The Lord wants us. All of us. He wants to speak to us, take care of us and love us.

Moving forward, I will make a stronger effort in my personal prayer  time. No more shortcuts. Not what’s convenient for me but rather what is best for me and my relationship with God.

“When I said, ‘My foot is slipping’, Your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.” –Psalm 94:18

Its an amazing blessing to be able to lead 2 camps. It’s very humbling…most especially in the seeing the service team at the beginning of their walk in faith. Immediately I was reminded of when I first served…and to see the change of how much more passion and joy there is in such simple gestures of loving people you have never met, I’m not gonna lie. I was overwhelmed. Not in any stressful sort of way at all, but just with the simple message that,

“No matter what, you can rely on Me to work through them.”

And there it was. Sure, I lead a camp again, but it was only made possible with the help of the Lord. It’s inspiring. Being accountable for the foundations of the youth’s faith…its such a blessing to know there is a future in being a missionary…because it helps our communities grow…and it helps the world know His name.

Deo Gloria

(Saturday, November 9, 2013)

When I pray, recently, especially in worship, I find that I am always brought back to this passage. And honestly, I could never fully, 100%, comprehend it…

“Those who survive her  will recognize that nothing is better than fear of the Lord, and nothing is sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord.”
– Sirach 23: 27

All I knew was that above all fears, my fear of the Lord must go above all because it is the only fear that does not repress anything, and it is the only fear that brings blessings, graces – “rewards”, some might say – and growth. But I never fully understood what it really  FULLY meant to me until this weekend. At the end of worship, I was once again brought back to this passage. I didn’t know why, but I knew that He was calling me to share it. But right when I was about to go up, an Ate went up ahead of me, and I was so affirmed through her share. I realized what it meant to me right then and there… Fear of the Lord, is fear of the what is unknown, and this brought me to one of the recent revelations that God has been etching into my heart, lately:

There needs to be suffering so in survival and perseverance (with the Lord), there waits a greater victory.

Suffering is not always physical and emotional. All suffering, in one way or another is personal and spiritual as well. In my case, my recent sufferings have come from endless thoughts about whether or not I’ll be endorsed, or if I’m heading in the right direction because a few other people have been trying to convince me to go towards another direction, or even just with thoughts and worries about those I love, and so on and so forth… THE LIST COULD GO ON! Then I realized, I need this.

How dull would life be if everything was handed over to me on a silver platter each time? If I take these thoughts, worries – all my suffering now and before – no matter how big and how little, and lift it up to God… So long as I take the time to die from my pride and always bring it back to Him, what follows will always be sweet. I realized that in a weird inexplicable way,  my sufferings are bringing me closer to a greater salvation.

FEAR OF THE LORD IS FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN. And He doesn’t reveal everything to me not because He doesn’t love me, but BECAUSE He loves me. He doesn’t want to hand everything to me in a silver platter so that I can enjoy everything and rejoice in everything. More-so because He wants me to journey through all of it with Him… It is through learning to bring it back to Him that everything becomes that much more joyful!

It’s kind of like cooking. Honestly. I would prefer eating a lasagna I made myself, rather than eating a microwavable frozen dinner version. No matter how similar the two are, the one I cooked would bring me greater joy because I out effort into it… I had to try… and when I when I panicked because I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right, I looked back to ultimate blueprint of a dish… the recipe… And to me, that recipe is God.

I will never know everything… Only God does. And when I suffer and have all these thoughts (of doubt, worries, etc, or simply not knowing), I praise God that I am diving into the unknowns because not knowing is what pushes me to move forward to the only one who truly knows… GOD. In doing this, I submit myself completely and wholeheartedly  to the Lord, and it is through this that I grow stronger in Him.

When I do this, no matter what I don’t know, there is a sense of inexplicable peace in my heart, and although all my questions, doubts, concerns and such are not all being answered, there is a difference. He manifests in me and that is why fear of the Lord brings us to a greater salvation. It isn’t because of fear, but because of the strength gained from that fear that guides me to listen to His voice alone, and abide by His commandments, which leads me to a sweeter victory each time. Although I don’t know, I am at peace, and it is this very peace that tells me that He is here. That this is what He wants for me (despite of not knowing exactly what “this” is). He is loving me, taking care of me, and embracing me…

“Those who survive her  will recognize that nothing is better than fear of the Lord, and nothing is sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord.”
– Sirach 23: 27

Come Holy Spirit, fill me as You will…