saint – True North Missionaries Journal

Today, God Made Me Laugh

If you ask certain people, they’d say I’m funny. (I don’t agree with them) If you ask other people, they’d say I cross way too many lines. (I agree with them) I’d say I’m one to enjoy a good laugh, even if it meant to be at the expense of others. (I’m sorry to those whom I do it very often to. You guys know who you are. We’ll talk soon.) But there are certain issues that I rarely laugh about, in fact if a certain topic is brought up in a certain way – my emotions flare up and I go berserk. Well maybe not berserk-berserk, but you get what I mean. The topic of God is one.

About two years ago I was introduced to the concept that humour, joy, and laughter are part of a healthy spiritual life through a couple of books by Fr. James Martin, SJ. (One of my favourite priests/authors) To be honest, when I read about that subject, I found it to be sketchy. How can an all powerful, almighty, all knowing God be funny? Well Fr. Jim did an awesome job in making me understand that it was indeed not just a possible but a very certain reality that God is a God of joy.

Fast forward to a few months back, I was able to read a book by Matthew Kelly – The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic. It was really a practical guide on how one can be a better Catholic. Of course, so I can “look like I know my stuff” – I tweeted one of the lines that spoke to me. Little did I know that it wouldn’t get sent. So when I was cleaning my twitter drafts, I saw this there. So I decided to tweet it yesterday.

So I was a bit surprised while I was on my way to the office to get a reply from somebody I did not know. He said this.

Twitter___KevinMuico___bracealmighty__RobinGrainger____

My first reaction was to flare up. Who the heck is this guy. Why is he saying that what I quoted was crap. So I did a quick search on google, a found out that there is a Matthew Kelly from Britain who has a 90s show. So I responded that I was quoting a different guy, and I don’t believe that the quote was crap. And it escalated quickly.

As I was walking to the office, I was already thinking of ways to defend the faith in 140 characters – well less than given that I needed to tag these two guys. My emotions were high. Then I said to myself, that verse is familiar. So I looked it up and it was…

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. – Matthew 11:28

And I burst into laughter.

Today is the feast day of St. Philip Neri, the patron saint of humour. Both of the guys “mocking” me (well they said they were mocking the TV show) were actually british comedians. And the verse capped it off – I don’t bear the burden of defending what I believe to be true. God can defend Himself. In fact theology and philosophy will point this out to be true. I come to God so I can rest in the One who loves me.

God was doing a prank on me, if I was actually listening to Him during my prayer time this morning. If I was looking to the Saint who found way to holiness through joy.

Today’s Gospel says:

You also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. – John 15:27

I am called to bear witness to the gospel, the good news. If I am not joyful, then the medium hinders the message. The message is love – and in, with, and through it – we find faith, hope, peace and above all joy. Today I found joy in a weird circumstance. But it is still joy found in the Lord.

Saint Philip Neri, we take ourselves far too seriously most of the time. Help us to add humour to our perspective — remembering always that humour is a gift from God. Amen

PS. You can read the rest of the conversation here: https://twitter.com/KevinMuico/statuses/470666370322280448

Blessed To Be Broken

Sometimes I wonder was it ever necessary for me to experience all my sins – and all the aches it has caused. Today was one of those days.

I look at my life, and I began to imagine – what if I made all the right decisions in life? Wouldn’t life be much better now? Without the all the pain, guilt, and scars?

I guess the biggest thing would be the pain I’ve caused other people, directly and indirectly. They would have been much better off sans the pain I’ve caused them.

Today was the same day God answered those questions. He put me to focus on these words at mass.

While they were at supper He took the bread, and gave you thanks and praise. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and said, take this all of you and eat it: this is my Body which will be given up for you.”

I’ve always wondered why there was a need for the priest to have a big host when he would just end up breaking it and just consume a small part of it. He could have used the normal host, the ones the congregation usually receives. It’s much more practical and efficient that way.

Now, it makes much more sense, a bread that is too big for one to consume that it must be broken, so that others may also be blessed to partake in it. This is how God intended the Eucharist. The breaking of Himself so that others may live. This is how God gave himself through the cross, so that we may have life everlasting.

But how about me, I am not God. Whenever I am broken, I am just divided into more insignificant pieces. Yet this is where God comes in. He uses our brokenness and fills it up with His wholeness. This is the economy of God. Where one’s insignificance brings about an infinite value to those who gets to know our witness.

Through God, our test becomes our testimony. Our mess, becomes a message. Our trials to triumph. And above all, victims of sin into victors over sin.

Want more proof? Look at today’s first reading, that is the same Saul who would later be named Paul. One of the greatest Apostles of Christ was once its greatest persecutor.

St. Paul, pray for us that we may accept the mercy of God that is unwavering, encompassing, and overflowing. Amen.

Red!

I’ve always looked forward to Eucharistic Celebrations where in the priest wears red vestments. When I was still in university, I looked forward to the Holy Spirit mass at the start of the school year because all the jesuit priests would be wearing their red vestments. To me it breathed life to a rather nerve wracking start of school.

It wasn’t until a few months ago that I read a book, that red vestments are also worn during the celebration of the feast day of saints who were martyrs. So every time a feast of a famous saint who died a martyr would come up, I would try to make it to mass.

Yesterday however, I was tired and really feeling a bit under the weather. The past month has been non-stop in terms of mission and travel, and frankly I just needed to rest my weary body. I was kind of lazy in going to Church because I already had a long day, and I had another meeting that night. But by the grace of the Lord, we were given a ride going to Church. So we were given a chance to go to adoration first before we went to mass.

During the mass however, I experienced something I’ve never experienced before. The moment I saw the red vestments of the priest during the procession, I felt that my heart was being crushed and I was overcome with sadness and grief. And throughout the mass, I was wondering why it was so.

I wanted to cry, but no tears came, the grief came from within. A sadness that could not be quenched. I already knew that it was the Feast of St. John the Baptist because of my prayer time earlier in the morning, but hearing the gospel acclamation of the beheading of St. John – it was as if I felt the hearts of those closest to him, his friends, his family, even the heart of Christ when they all heard the news of his death.

I even was asking the Lord during the whole time of why St. John the Baptist, and all the other martyrs (including the two Filipino saints, Lorenzo Ruiz and Pedro Calungsod) had to die if they followed Christ. It just did not make sense. Isn’t following the life of Christ supposed to bring peace, hope, and joy – not suffering?

It was only during the Eucharistic Prayer when the priest said:

Take this, all of you, and drink from it; for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant; which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

That the pain in my heart was eased and I felt embraced by Christ himself. If Christ has to bleed for us, so that we may come to know Him. It is also by the blood we bleed out that Christ will be known in us.

How many times have we chosen to stay silent when we needed to speak out? How many times have we chosen to not do anything when action was needed? How many times have we bled for Christ?

Lord, may the blood You spilt wash away the sins of the world and bring to life, us, who are dead and dying. Amen.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

The Lost iPhone

Last April, right before I was about to go up on stage to lead the closing praisefest for the 20th International Leaders Conference (ILC) of CFC-Youth For Christ, I asked a fellow missionary of mine to hold onto my iphone because I did not like the idea of having a few things with me going up.

Right after the praisefest when all the missionaries came up the stage to announce the venue for next year’s ILC. The brother holding onto my phone tapped me and asked me if I had the phone with me. I said no because I was on-stage and haven’t talked to him since that time. He told me that he may have lost my iPhone. I just told him that it was okay.

Two things came to me at that moment.

One, I was at peace with the detachment with the phone. If anybody knows me, is that I like my gadgets. And I do take care of them and don’t want anything to happen to them. Losing them would have been a nightmare. But at that moment, in fact even up to now, I am not fearful of losing my phone. I have found something greater which I am afraid to lose, God.

Two, Saint Anthony de Padua. Saint Anthony though known to many as the saint for finding lost things, has been a saint that I haven’t been acquainted to. I only know him from the conversations I have with friends who bring him up as a saint they pray to when they lose their house keys or car keys. At that moment when my friend told me that he lost my phone, at the back of my mind I shot a prayer to Saint Anthony and asked him if he can work his thing and get me my iphone back. But I never really gave it another thought simply because I was already surrendered to the fact that my phone was lost.

When everyone already started to make their way home, I was making my way back to the quarters where all of the missionaries stayed, a sister-missionary pulled me aside and asked if I lost an iPhone. It was weird because I did not tell anybody that I lost my phone. And I told her, yes, and she asked if my phone was white and had a huge crack (another story), and I told her yes. She suddenly smiled and said her Coordinator found an iPhone, in fact my iPhone, and was trying hard to return it to the owner.

In a few hours my phone was returned to me. Looking back on that event, I would have totally understood if my iPhone was “God’s answer” to someone’s prayer. They might have needed the money if they sold it. It was in a venue filled with 9000+ people and with the event closing, more people came in and that would have been the end of that. Again counting the number of people present there, it would also have been easy to step on my phone and break it some more rendering it useless. But counting the number of possibilities that made the return of my phone impossible, it still came back onto my hands. A miracle yes. A little nudge from above that someone is also looking out for me.

Since then I’ve had a special affinity for Saint Anthony, and he has never failed ever since I started to ask for his help. The day I lost my phone was the same day I gained an awesome friend.

I have also started to pray for bigger things that are lost in my life. Knowing Saint Anthony, he’s looking out for me so that I may enjoy the same thing he is enjoying now, communion with God.

Saint Anthony de Padua, pray for those who are lost that they may find the One that they have always looked for. Saint Anthony de Padua, pray for us.

The Three Apostles

Yesterday I found myself in the Oratory of Saint Joseph in Montreal. A year after I said yes to becoming a Mission Volunteer, a month after I became a Full Time Pastoral Worker – finally ticking off all the major areas where CFC-Youth is present in Canada. And while the whole basilica is beautiful inside and out with amazing architecture, art, and history on it’s side plus the Holy Eucharist being inside it; you can never really go wrong. And while the hundreds of pilgrims were doing there thing, I found myself glued to three fixtures that were grouped together. It was the three statues of Saints Jude Thaddeus, Mathias, and Peter.

For the longest time, I’ve had an affinity to these three apostles. In fact, it’s safe to say that they have been my friends since day one.

Saint Jude

Saint Jude Thaddeus, the forgotten apostle, because his name was close to that of the traitor is in fact the patron of hopeless causes. Out of the three he was the latest I befriended, but had an immediate click with. He found me at the time when I was preparing for my licensure examination for Chemical Engineering in Manila. I had to cram 5 years worth of knowledge, formulas, concepts in Math, Chemistry, and Chemical Engineering in 6 months for a three day exam – I deemed it impossible. Doubt, laziness and a host of other things crept up that led me to breaking down quite a few times before and during the exam. But praise God, Saint Jude prayed for me and I passed. In the bigger picture, I do consider myself a hopeless and lost cause. Yet here I am, a missionary for one of the biggest lay organizations of the Catholic Church.

Saint Mathias

Saint Mathias was the outsider who found himself cast into the inner group. When Judas was gone, they needed somebody to fill in his place – and in a stroke of luck (literally, his name was casted from a lot of a hundred or so), he became part of the twelve. Being the non-canadian for the first batch of Mission Volunteers in Canada, and the only non-canadian trainee for full time pastoral work from Canada – one can say that I am in fact an outsider. Me being a Mission Volunteer was not in my plans when I moved here, but through God’s grace and calling – I’ve taken a step further in Full Time Pastoral Work.

Saint Peter

Saint Peter, the rock, was not whom Jesus loved the most. In fact the gospels say that it was St. John whom Jesus loved the most. Saint Peter was the one who loved Jesus the most. He was the first one who would always jump out into the water to meet the Lord even if it meant walking on water and almost drowning. He was the one who wanted to serve the Lord first in all things, but he was also the first one to deny him – he did so three times in one instance. But the Lord did not give up on him, he in fact was called to something greater – to be the rock of the Church – our first pope. More often than not, I have denied the One whom I love the most – yet still He calls me. He still loves me and gives me more chances than I deserve.

The Three Apostles

I could go on and on about how I can relate to these apostles, but the amazing thing is that they were grouped together somewhere in a church thousands of miles from where I was born. And to see them together, praying for me all this time brings me to tears and above all – amazed that God loves me so much to take three of His best to pray for me and lead me to where I am.

They all went to the ends of the world to proclaim the Risen King, and here I am in Montreal – the last of the big mission areas of Canada that I haven’t been to an affirmation of the mission in the Three Apostles.

Saints Jude Thaddeus, Mathias, and Peter, Pray for us. Amen.