My assistant priest is leaving us by 1 October 2010. So, I planned a farewell outing with him and a few friends. All of us enjoyed ourselves. I hope he did enjoy himself too. We had dinner before proceeding on for bowling session. I also don't know why I felt very happy when I saw everyone with laughter. That was also my first time seeing my assistant priest laughing widely (though he may have done so in other occasions when I am not there). From this, I learn that happiness can be very simple as long as we put the good of others above us, as long as we truly love. It's also all about accomodating with love. For me, the dishes that they ordered were not to my taste. Nevertheless, my assistant priest and my friends liked those food. Though I was frank with them about it, I did enjoy myself with them. It was not the food that was important. It was all about spending time together as children of God. It's about the quality time that each of us at the table sacrificed to come together for such gathering when we could have done something else with others. One thing I should be thankful was my assistant priest has never put on the front of a priest who is too high up there for us to reach. In fact, I feel at ease with him when he is with us as his humility and simplicity make all of us comfortable with him. This is one of the faces of Christ that I have seen through him. All of us were crazy and had fun and be ourselves. That is why I also learn from him that humility is so important when it comes to reaching out to the others. It tears down the walls of pretension for others to be who they are. This is very important because for true transformation to take place within a person, he has to be honest and true to be himself so that those traits or skins that are not meant to be part of him can be melted with God's love for him to be closer to holiness. This will also help the people whom God send into his life to have a true picture of him and help him with his transformation.
One thing beautiful about the gathering last night was our age range was quite wide with the youngest being only 14 years old to the oldest in their mid 40s with the mix of married, singles and a priest and different characters. This draws to my mind that it does not matter how different the backgrounds of the people may be in a group or ministry, how different their characters, thoughts, etc. are, we share the same identity as the children of God. It's all about having generous hearts to accept that we are all unique as individuals as different parts of the body of Christ and yet we are all within the same body with Christ as the head. When it comes to the Eucharistic celebration, all are welcome with Christ in us as children of God through our baptism. When all of us are Christ centered, all of us, as different parts of the body of Christ, allow the Holy Spirit to work freely in all of us bringing us together within the group and bearing fruits to share with others with our different talents and gifts. Holy Spirit can work freely only when there is Love with the focus on God who is Love. However, if we choose to be self centered and go on our separate ways, we can never function as the body of Christ and division exists, leading to fights and conflicts which result in spiritual wounds and even death if the people refuse to see one another just as important as themselves to work together and love. 'My way' will only lead to 'no way' to holiness. Only Christ way will lead us to pass through the narrow gate to eternal life.
I give thanks to God for the gathering yesterday. Everyone's presence last night was a present to one another. I thank all of them for such wonderful time last night. Nobody, no matter how small he thinks he is, is unworthy. May all of us continue to be blessings to the others! We do not need to do anything big to share God's love with the others. In fact, sometimes, our very presence of be-ing to the others is a present to the others, just as it is not what we do to make us worthy of God's love. Rather, God loves me as my be-ing as a child of God created by Him. In this way, I know I will never need to fight for anything or do things just to earn God's love. It is not earned. I just know that God loves me as His child no matter what as His love for me is never dying for through Jesus, death is conquered through Jesus' death that leads to resurrection.
With Love,
Elena
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