True North Missionaries Journal

”In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”- Romans 8: 26-27

Last Saturday was the Receiving of the Holy Spirit Talk for our Christian Life Program. I was assigned to deliver the talk for that session. It was the most peaceful talk I have given ever since I served in the community. Everything really went well and I really did not see that it will that calm and peaceful for the whole session. We could really feel that the Holy Spirit was with us the whole time.

Prior to that I was becoming anxious and worried about the day of the pray over session because this will be the first time that I will deliver talk 9. I decided to focus more on my prayer time and read the scriptures to understand more of what He wants me to do during the pray over session. I have decided to do the Angelus as well as the Rosary everyday and it really helped me a lot to focus on the vision the He wants me to see. Everything was working so well until Friday comes. Everything just comes and pour in at the same time. Then suddenly, I have problems at work and with the other service team leaders. Frustration started to haunt me again.

That Friday night I really couldn’t sleep so I decided to put myself into praying until I got tired and fall asleep, when I wake up it was very light and calm and all the things that worries me vanished. It was one of the best morning I had knowing that God is leading me that day. I did not know what happen but I do know that the Holy Spirit had touch my heart to remove all my worries. I know it is His work again in me. Then afternoon came, aside from doing the talk, I had also to oversee the CLP since our Couple Coordinator is on their CFC Conference but everything really went well, everybody cooperates and I did my talk in the best way that I could imagine doing it. Again, all I could says it that it is the work of the Holy Spirit. It was again another victorious day for us because we have once again become an instrument to send the message and power of the Holy Spirit. And we know that the Holy Spirit will be with us because he is always inside in each and everyone. May the Lord always Bless us always in our journey.

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.”- 2 Corinthians 2:14

In truth, if we want to invest our time with someone we love then we make it happen.

Similar to our relationships with family, friends and significant others, to love someone is a choice.  If you love someone, you will want to spend time with them and converse with them. It’s a choice you continually make.

Likewise, if we love God then we need to choose Him. Not just once, but repeatedly.  We need to choose to love Him and to know Him daily.  In truth, if we want to invest our time with someone we love then we make it happen.  To love Him enough to sacrifice an extra hour of sleep, give up a Netflix show or time spent on social media is a definitive action.

Recently I made the commitment to attend daily mass.  In the past, various friends and family suggested I should if I was truly serious about improving my prayer life and seeking Him fully.  I made various excuses from needing more naptime, busy with service or was focusing on my studies.  Yesterday marked the end of 3 weeks straight.  I can firmly say that the last 21 days have been the best in my life.  I have been graced each day in receiving Jesus.  This in turn has grounded me and has reminded me to put my trust in Him always.  In showing my love for Him and choosing to love Him in this way daily, He has granted me countless blessings in return.

Through prayer we speak with Him.

Through service we show our love to Him.

Through evangelization we share our love of Him to others.

Through the sacraments we spend quality time with and commune with Him.

I spent a couple of days with the Sisters of the Precious Blood this past weekend. My heart, mind, body and soul have been weary for awhile now. Being there, it turns out I’m more tired than I can admit to myself. Though I’ve been focused on accomplishing tasks I knew and felt are in service for the Lord, I still felt distracted and disoriented. I’m becoming a little too much like Martha.

I haven’t been in true silence with God in so long. I missed Him so much. The sisters were kind and warm. I felt at home. It’s good to slow down, be in silence, learn from the saints. My time this weekend reminds me of an old favourite, Vienna by Billy Joel. The song is saying you’ve got your whole life ahead of you, “slow down, you’re going to be fine. No matter what you do, be good at it, and whenever you get there, you get there.”

Slow down, you’re doing fine
You can’t be everything you want to be
Before your time
Although it’s so romantic on the borderline tonight
Tonight,
Too bad but it’s the life you lead
You’re so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you’re wrong, you know
You can’t always see when you’re right. You’re right

Slow down, you crazy child
And take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile
It’s all right, you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

 

Spending time with my loving Father is my Vienna and Vienna waits for me 🙂

Alodia

“If the world hates you, just remember that it has hated me first. If you belonged to the world, then the world would love you as its own. But I chose you from this world, and you do not belong to it; that is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you; ‘Slaves are not greater than their master.’ If people persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours too. But they will do all this to you because you are mine; for they do not know who sent me.” Jn 15:18-21

In today’s Gospel reading, Christ tells us that we do not belong to this world, but to Him. In the world that we face today, we are constantly challenged to conform to what it tells us. Whether it be at school, at work and even in our homes, as Christians we are and will always be challenged. However, Jesus invites us not to avoid persecution but to embrace it because we are His. We are very much used to this, being part of the Couples for Christ community, to swim against the current of the world and to persevere in doing so.

To stand firm in the faith means to go all out in loving God and in serving him with all that we got. To stand firm in the faith means to identify the aspects of our life that we can hold on to when we are tempted or discouraged, it means to stand on solid ground while the world we are standing in shakes. To follow Christ means to be ready and willing to carry our cross wherever we may go. For there is no crown without the cross. Because we are not meant to be comfortable, we are not meant to be like others, we are meant for Greatness.  Our destination is heaven.

Holy Father, may you grant us the grace we need to be strong and faithful. May you surround us with your unfailing love so that we may not only be able to face the world, but to spread your love to it so that they too may know the Way to heaven.

Amen

 

For if we can no longer be a witness in Christ, then we are dead in our mission.

I arrived early at mass today planning on reciting my rosary and spiritual reading. When I sat down, a fellow parishioner handed me a paper for the novena to St. Anthony. During the prayer you are asked to offer up your intentions. I paused for a moment and reflected that St. Anthony is known as the patron saint of lost items. I prayed that he would help me always to find my joy in Christ daily.

In recent months I’ve found it difficult to remain joyful when life was sour – I could no longer make lemonade out of lemons – and the monotony of daily life took it’s toll.  However, it was the reminder of a good friend that put me back on track. In order to be an effective missionary, one must be able to find joy in Christ each day. A missionary needs to reflect and find what inspires them. They must be ready to share and be a witness at a moments notice.  For if we can no longer be a witness in Christ, then we are dead in our mission.

Since that conversation, I’ve tried my best to be find joy in the small moments of each day and find Christ where least expected. To find humour when things are disastrous and ultimately entrust God after I’ve put in my best.

A small sacrifice in comparison to the offering of His death so that we might live.

At the end of a 10 day work stretch, I found myself exhausted, snappy and hangry.  The thought of attending Holy Thursday mass paled in comparison to the call of my comfy bed.

I knew I’d regret not going and found myself 30 minutes early while waiting on a friend.  Sitting there I started to reflect back on the previous Holy Thursday services I could remember attending through the last few years.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  Various churches, the various people and the various emotional states I was in.  I was not there just to fill an obligation, but to spend time preparing my heart for Good Friday.

The further I reflected, the weariness gradually faded and was replaced with anticipation to receive Jesus and spend time with Him in adoration.  Hours later I found myself kneeling in prayer again, meditating on another rosary.  I was saddened reflecting on how Jesus felt that night he was both abandoned and betrayed by his friends.  As he was preparing to die, he was alone.  HOW COULD THEY LEAVE HIM?!?  “You would leave me too?” was all I could hear in my heart.

I felt called to abandon all my worries, anxieties and hurts. I just needed to be with Him.  That is all He really asks of us sometimes. A small sacrifice in comparison to the offering of His death so that we might live.  When you can abandon yourself to that truth, all other things fade.