True North Missionaries Journal

“Young people, being and bringing Christ wherever they are”

Although we are in this community, are we staying true to what this community stands for?

 For me, my parents never forget to remind me when I’m not living out the CFC-Youth life. Although difficult at times, I am thankful for this constant reminder. When I was younger, I used to store different parts of my life in separate compartments. The me at school was different from the me at YFC events. I would swear, I would party, but then on weekends..where was I? I was raising my hands and closing my eyes and telling God that He was my all. Carrying two lives was heavy.. It took years for me to really be and bring Christ wherever I went, especially when I had friends who were self-proclaimed atheists.

Both people within the community and outside the community easily call each other out when they see someone being a hypocrite. If you look at yourself from an outsider’s perspective.. would you be able to see Jesus? But what if He is in your heart but in your tweets are profanity, swearing, and disrespectful words towards your parents? As an areahead, it hurts me to see this.. but brothers and sisters, it hurts God even more. Our actions when we are with people in the community are weighed less than our actions outside it. It is easy to pray and to speak of God when you are at a General Assembly on Saturday morning because you are with like-minded people.. but what happens when you leave that assembly?

Do we regress into being just another person of this world?

We are not of the world, we are of God…

Today Erin and I arrived at the CFC office around 8am (pretty early hehe)
so we decided to do some cleaning.. vacuuming, dusting and a little organizing.

Cleaning– reminded me of what my mom use to (and until now) tell us to get us to clean..
“Like your bodies, the space you use and dwell in is the temple of the Holy Spirit. how can you invite Him to stay in such a dirty place? Anak, cleanliness is close to Godliness”

Which is true.. like our bodies that need a bath daily, like how our souls need cleansing on a regular basis.. so does our rooms/surroundings/place of dwelling
it first starts of in our rooms 🙂
then it spreads to our whole house
then it spreads out to other rooms in other venues even if the place is not ours.. we were/are still part of that place..
then it spreads out even more the world as a whole.. Greeneration!

Atehs and Kuyas, how can we invite the Lord if we’re not fully prepared and we’re a complete mess po?
I am guilty of postponing a good “cleaning session” because either busy, lazy or “I just did it 2 days ago”
Let us strive to always have our place(s) clean and prepared.. ready to welcome our Lord in 🙂
#wastemanagementcommittee FTW (hehe ;P)

“make ready your heart, make ready your home.. Prepare..”

I’m currently enjoying a leisurely and somewhat business-oriented trip in good old BC, and within the course of a week, the Lord has chosen to reveal himself in ways that I would have never imagined.

I came to BC for an interview with their Catholic school board and to possibly fulfill my dream of becoming a Catholic schoolteacher. In the last two days, I spent a good portion of my time applying to numerous Catholic schools in Vancouver, hoping to find a job and possibly getting my foot in the door.

My original intention was to submit as many resumes as I possibly could and desperately try to rub elbows with every principal I encounter. However, when I applied to the first school on my list, something had deeply moved my heart.

When I entered that first school and encountered my first principal, the first thing I did was observe my surroundings: the students, the teachers, the atmosphere, the physical environment… everything! It’s a bit difficult to explain, but I felt such a strong sense of love in my surroundings and in the interactions that I had witnessed. What I saw before me was a community so rich in faith and so deeply rooted in Christ that I was in awe.

As I continued to visit different schools, the feeling of awe never waned, as each school had such an apparent and unique Catholic identity. What began as a business trip became a beautiful journey of encountering Christ and his greatness in different, yet equally beautiful ways.

Oh dearest Lord! I Thank you for revealing yourself to me and for strengthening my resolve as a Catholic educator. Please guide me so that I may never lose sight of my purpose, and I pray that you may always teach me to be confident in the educator that you have moulded me to be

 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” – Matthew 17:20

I find myself difficult understanding what the Lord says at times.  I know that we don’t have to understand everything, but you can’t help but ask him more and more questions.  I see you can also lead yourself to doubt and begin to feel lost.  This usually happens when you start to rely on your own strength.  Well, our Lord really knows our hearts and when you feel lost or questionable, it seems that He knows we are lacking in faith.  

Why does he refer to a mustard seed?  Its because it is such a small grain and when grown properly, it can grow into large bushes.  So does this mean our faith is like a mustard seed, and when it is grown properly by our gardner (Jesus) our faith grows? YES it does!  All He wants from me is to have faith in Him, in the people He sends infront of me, and to trust that He will be there to help me.  

Lord, I ask for more faith.  Amen

@itsmetimmm

Remember that song from Sister Act 2, “Joyful Joyful”, it’s so good (i love this song!!!). In my own opinion, it’s impossible to not groove to this song. Even if you want it or not, this song will make you dance; dance for JOY! I mean you will simply be lured to the song and sing your heart out and find yourself dancing to every beat (even with your eyes closed =D). It may be a song from a movie but for me if you sing this song with all your heart, you may just find yourself worshipping joyfully to our Great God.

Our loving Father only wants us to be joyful. For the past couple of weeks, the Lord has been reminding me to be joyful, to be truly joyful because I can, we can. From the Gospel reading last Saturday, the Lord continues to affirm this message of JOY “…ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete” John 16:24.
He is our source of Joy.

We are created to be joyful people with joyful souls, joyful hearts and joyful spirits. We are joyful beings. We have been created by the One who created JOY, who is our source of great joy, the One who is JOY.
HE IS JOY!
We have been told time and time again that we are created in the likeness of God and if He is a joyful God, as His children, we are also created to be joyful. We are destined to be joyful.

“…ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete” John 16:24
This verse is calling us to be true bearers of joy, true bearers of Jesus. We are called to ask the Lord for anything and everything, to offer up to Him every single bit of us, every emotion, every feeling, every experience so that He can truly take care of us. He is asking us to offer ourselves to Him, to ask Him for His great mercy and love, and mostly, to allow ourselves to joyful. If we rely on our beautiful God and be faithful in His ways, how can we not be joyful? To be in His presence at all times means being in the very midst of joy.

Father, may we always be able to rely on you at all times, that we may be able to offer ourselves to you and let you takeover our lives. May we allow your Spirit to fill us up to the fullest always and forever so that we may be able to be one of joyful spirit. Father, You are our only source of true and eternal joy. Thank you.
We love you. Amen.

Let us also remember that we are also called to share this great joy with all our brothers and sisters.
So, don’t be shy and show those pearly whites, SMILE and spread the JOY, His joy.
Let us be joyful. Let your beautiful heart shine 🙂

God bless us always.
Peace and Love and Smile,
Apple
=D

 

“Enjoy what God has in mind for you.”

As an avid planner/over-thinker, this line stood out to me a like sore thumb to me at Mass yesterday.  No wonder, that there always comes a point in my “questions of life”  that I hit the great wall of Unknown…the Answer is actually in God’s mind!

And whatever the Answer is, it’s quite beautiful.

Continue reading The most Beautiful of Minds