True North Missionaries Journal

When they heard this, the disciples fell on their faces, overcome with fear. But Jesus came up and touched them, saying, ‘Stand up, do not be afraid’. And when they raised their eyes they saw no one but Jesus.
– Matthew 17:1-9

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of the Transfiguration. During which three apostles, St. Peter, St. James and St. John, saw Jesus appear in His glory, foretelling of what was to come. A short glimpse of what was to be permanent after Jesus would be resurrected and His ascension to heaven. But imagine, at the short glimpse of this glorious vision, the apostles fell with fear. When we come face to face with God, seeing Him in His fullness, in all of His glory, we will fall of fear. We are fearful because we are crippled by our own humanity, seeing that we are nothing compared to God’s glory. That feeling of unworthiness? Yeah, we feel that at times. Some of us quite often.

A fear that cripples because we focus way too much on the suffering, just as the apostles were fixated on the thought of the suffering of the Passion, we put all our marbles on the feelings of aches, sufferings, shortcomings. As a result, we forget and overlook that 3 days after the Passion, was the Resurrection! And you see, the Lord never lets us remain in that state of fear and always gives us hope, just as He gave hope to the apostles through the Transfiguration. As if He was saying, “Look ahead! I will not leave you ever!”

We hear the phrase, “Do not be afraid”, quite a lot in the Bible. But what I find most beautiful about this instance was how Jesus went to the disciples and touched them. It affirms me in how personal the Lord is with us, that He won’t just resort to a simple utterance of words but actually will go to you wherever you are. And as He is there, He will touch our very lives. And it is a touch of assurance, comfort, care and love. Knowing how much more we can give, however, He will challenge us and ask us to stand up against all odds, against all uncertainty, against all obstacles, to stand up and have faith. Do not be afraid, He reminds us.

When we take that step, and stand up, on that solid ground which is God, we only see Jesus. Meaning, we are not distracted by the human-ness of our existence and all the limitations it has, but instead see the divine power of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Just like St. Peter walking on the water, once he saw the water, once he noticed the stormy winds, he began to sink. And after Jesus had ascended to heaven, this was how the martyrs and saints continued to proclaim the good news. This is how we must be as well. That it is normal to be fearful because that fear acknowledges that we cannot do any of this alone and thus encourages us to seek Christ. For once we lose our focus on Jesus, we will begin to sink in our problems and never seem to find a way out. But my friends, that way is Jesus Himself. For He is the Way, the Truth, and Life.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, may You grant us a deeper faith so that we may have hope through everything. And may we look solely to You.

AMDG.

#ONRouteToHeaven

It’s 6AM. I woke up this early, I think my body thinks its time for work. But let me tell you, God is good. ~

I am amazed and grateful with how much the Lord has been there for me, especially in the past year. To give you a summary…I entered my second year as an MV and sector youth head. I finally became active in all my discernments, not just for mission. Conducted Windsor’s first camp in almost 3 years. I attended this year’s YFC International Conference. I went to the Philippines without my family for the first time ever. I served as program head for the Eastern TNC, a first for me as well. Lived as a Montreal-an for two weeks. Lastly, I finally took that next step.

I have this tendency of putting so much on myself, especially when its about an unfavourable outcome. There was so much to look forward to, but then a detour comes along. Initially, I had felt crushed that it didn’t go my way. But, I am reminded that it was and is never about my way taking precedence over God’s. And so, I knew for a fact that this setback will lead to something even greater.

As I look back on these victories, on these God moments, on these moments of grace. I can’t help but be in awe of how much it was God’s doing and not my own. To finally take that next step, took me so long just to even lift a muscle, but then for all of it to happen in 6 months? Thank You. To experience the fullness of this community, you need to go to ICON, that’s what I’ve always thought. And somehow I was able to go. Thank You. To conduct the program at ETNC, to conduct the camp in Windsor, to see growth in the sector, all of it not because of me. Thank You.

As I look back, I also remember the setbacks, the detours and struggles through each victory. Times where I felt like giving up or running away. Times of self-doubt. But time and time again, I moved forward hoping in the Lord. Literally, everything I did was surrendered to the Lord. I knew I could not do this by my own will, but His alone. Rather than seeing these setbacks as “No”, the Lord revealed to me that they were more of “Not yet” and He wanted to test my patience and trust in Him. And my goodness, was it worth it going at His time.

Thank You, Lord. No matter how many times I repeat it and say it, it will never be enough to express how grateful I am for all You’ve given me. I entrust to You these last 5 months, and of what is to come.

AMDG.

#ONRouteToHeaven

 

“The story of Mary of Magdala reminds us all of a fundamental truth,” Pope Benedict said. “A disciple of Christ is one who, in the experience of human weakness, has had the humility to ask for his help, has been healed by him and has set out following closely after him, becoming a witness of the power of his merciful love that is stronger than sin and death.”

Made in the image and likeness of God, our hearts and our being, in their very core, lies the desire for holiness, to be closer to our Maker. With this desire, we also recognize that it is going to be a constant struggle. Nothing good ever comes easy, they say. What Pope Benedict said resonates to every sincere Christian who struggles for holiness – it is in human weakness and humility that we cannot do anything without Him. With His grace, we allow the Lord to transform a heart of sin and pride to a heart that seeks and follows Christ’s example and God’s will.

How often do we bring our sins, doubts, fears, failures, hurts, personal demons and our own imperfect hearts to the foot of our Saviour, to be healed? Do we wait until we are completely broken? Do we offer them up everyday? How much of our weaknesses do we let the Lord conquer instead of us dwelling on them alone?

How often do we gaze upon our Saviour and realize that it is our sins and wickedness that brought Him there? How often do we gaze upon our God whose love is so overwhelming that it defeated death itself?

In our weakness and fears, when was the last time we looked at the cross, like Mary did?

In God’s victory and faithfulness, when was the last time we followed closely after him, becoming a witness of the power of his merciful love, like Mary did?

St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us!

Alodia

It is always said: “Let go of the past and move on.” I will never forget my past. My past is a testimony of God’s faithfulness, generosity and love.

I grew up in an imperfect family. My Mom had to work overseas to provide a promising future for us, as she had the opportunity to do it. My Dad had to stay with us kids to take care of us. As the years went by, our family started to lose sight of that promising future which we hoped for. My dad became enslaved by drugs. My Mom had to endure the pains of being away from her family, most especially from her husband who she should be supporting and walking hand in hand with in those difficult times, in hopes of still providing that promising future for our family. This was our situation and our struggle for 21 years and that was my life before Singles for Christ.

I must have lived in fear, uncertainty, mistrust, and hopelessness with that kind of life our family had. In some degree, yes. But really, looking back and remembering it all, there is only one thing that remained true: the faithfulness of our Lord. He has always been the generous, caring and loving Father that He is. He has become my Provider.

Finance was always a struggle especially having a family member addicted to drugs. There will be times we won’t have decent food to eat at the table. There will be times we would have to talk to the Principal and hand in a promissory letter so that we can take our periodical exams just because the money that is supposedly for our tuition fee was used for something else. My Mom sacrificed a lot and worked hard to provide for us but still we found ourselves struggling.

We struggled, yes. But God continuously and faithfully provided for us. He blessed us with loving, understanding and generous “Inay” (my grandmother) and my uncles and aunts who have helped us in those challenging times. We never starved. We had good education.

Growing up to be a good person and a God-fearing Christian must be impossible in my family setting. Again, it was a struggle. But I realized, it was not impossible. I would have been a school dropout or another drug addict as an influence from the family I grew up with but the Lord in his faithfulness and love never let that happen.

The Lord has blessed us by helping our parents provide us a very good Catholic Education. From kindergarten to finishing university studies, I have attended Catholic Schools: Our Lady of Caysasay Academy and University of Santo Tomas. I grew up in prayers, obedience, faith, and most especially service. The Lord provided for me an avenue to enhance the talents that He has given me and at the same time share them to others. It was at school that I have honed my passion for Music by serving in the choir. It was at school that I have learned to continue to respect and obey my parents even when it is difficult. It was at school that I have learned to fervently pray for our family. It was at school where I grew in reliance to our Mother: The Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Caysasay, Our Mother of Perpetual Help, and the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary.

The Lord has also blessed us with persons who are strong in their faith and are genuine in their love and care. Out of the many people who were instruments of God’s love was my Inay. Being a widow left with the care of her 6 young kids, she endured and remained faithful to the Lord. Having a son who is addicted to drugs and having grand kids greatly affected by the unfortunate family situation, she remained a strong foundation where we took refuge. Her relentless prayers, scripture reading, attendance of mass, and service had led us closer to Christ. I would not have known Christ if not for my Inay.

These are just a few of the many instances when the Lord has shown his faithfulness, generosity and love to me. He has been faithful in so many ways or I should say faithful in every way. He has healed my dad. He has brought our family together. He has brought me to where I am now. He has brought me joy like I never felt joy before when Jesus offered and initiated that personal relationship with me.

Now the question is: “What else should I be fearful about? Have I not truly seen yet what the Lord has done for me? When will I fully trust in the Lord?” This will be my journey. This will be my discernment as I walk with him in pursuit and discovery of my vocation and the fullness of mission.

Lord let this be my song:

Ever faithful
Lord of Lords
Your promise never fails
And Your word never fades

In your splendor, You chose to give Your all
Paid for my sins, died to save my soul

Your undying love for me Lord, now fills my life
You’re all I’m living for and all that I long for

I’ll sing to you this song and worship You
Give you all my praise till the end of my days
These hands I’ll raise, as I surrender all for You Oh Lord will forever be my God

When thunders roar and oceans rise
I won’t be moved
And won’t be shaken
For I know and I am certain
That You my God will be there

I’ll sing to you this song and worship you
Give you all my praise till the end of my days
These hands I’ll raise, as I surrender all for You Oh Lord will forever be my God

I will let go of the past but will never forget of the Lord’s faithfulness and great love. I will move on, more so, move forward trusting in his faithfulness and firmly holding on to the truth that the Lord will be with me wherever I go.

To the mission, here we go! Amen.

 

In Christ,

Aldin Francis

 

Walk in LOVE, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.-Ephesians 5:2

Its a well spent week for me because of SHouT. Theres a lot of learning about myself and my discernment, the things I really wanna hear and discover about my self and my journey. But during the whole week, theres one activity in shout that really open my eyes and give me realization, the R.A.K (Random Act of Kindness). Our full time worker send us to a place where we can do some act ok kindness, its in South Gate Mall. Me and my partner talk about doing it outside the mall so we ended going to train station but we came up to an idea of giving some heart figure with words about how God love us. We went to dollar store to pick up some items that we can use in our plan, then we start writing and walk around the mall and outside the mall.

The words on the heart and stars is a reminder of Gods love, how He never leaves us and some bible verse still about Love. The idea is to remind every body that even though we are so busy and pre occupied with lots of things in this world we still have God who never leave us and continue loving us no matter what.

I thought that its going to be easy but its not. Its not easy because people ignore me most of the time saying they have lots of things already to carry.So my realization is that in life even though its already Jesus going close to us we still sometimes ignore Him,  that to realized that He is not going to be an extra baggage but someone who can help us carry those burden we have.

 

The challenge to myself is to spread the Love that I received from God and share it to my brothers and sisters. I should see Christ in every people I encounter everyday . Its not gonna be an easy task, but a fulfilling one, reminding people that no matter what happen in life , theres someone who will always be there loving us and want us to be close to Him.

 

Heavenly Father, in a world that you build in Love, give us the courage to spread and show this Love to our brothers and sisters. May we always act in love and use us to remind not only ourself but everybody that its you who first love us.Thank you for the unconditional love, that you died on the cross to save us. We continue to surrender ourselves to you as we seek you more and more.AMEN

 

LOVE,

Mark

 

 

Yellow card: bad things that I want to unlearn and let go; My sins and past mistakes.

Red card: good things that I have been doing and that I want to keep doing; My passion, purpose and service.

Blue card: new good things that I want to learn and do; My aspirations, plans,  and adventures; Those new skills and knowledge I want to acquire.

Those were the three cards I was holding on to in front of the bonfire at the Music Camp while being guided by our couple coordinators into a healing prayer. After a long day of fun, worship, inspirational talks, music workshops, and team building activities, we all participated in a healing session in hopes of becoming the “Totally Empowered Ablaze Musicians” that we are called to.

We are asked to pick the yellow card first, where our sins, shortcomings, past mistakes, and the other things that we want to let go and be healed are written. After praying over it, we were asked to let go of it into the fire. It was freeing. It was an easy let go. Wrong things that we have done and that which we really want to get rid of are in a way the easiest to let go.

Then we were asked to raise the red card. It was the card that contained the good things that I have been doing and that which I want to keep doing. I contained my service to my family and the community. It contained my passion for music. It contained the progress I’ve been having at work. It contained almost all the best things that has been happening to me. It contained my discernment to pursue and follow our Lord.

They asked us to burn the red card. That was a very difficult decision to do. Will I let go or shall I keep it?

Letting go of the good things happening in our lives is like losing control of everything. We always have the inclination to have control of our lives and when the Lord comes and asks that He takes control, it becomes very difficult to let go. I struggled but in the end I took courage and humility to surrender.

The only card left is the blue card. I was left with nothing but hopes, vision of a better life, things new, and trust in the Lord that He will take care of everything and that He has great plans for me. Then the burden of letting go of the yellow and red cards became less and less pressing. I am hopeful.

“In Him alone is my hope. In Him alone is my strength. In Him alone I will justify. In Him alone I’ll be saved.”

Amen.

 

Aldin Francis Canobas