Co-workers in the Lord's Vineyard

I just came from a conference of different lay missionary groups.  Together, these different communities form the CALM or Catholic Association of Lay Missionaries. The venue was in Taytay, Palawan. It was a weekend of bonding, learning, and loving the mission. All working for the Lord in His great vineyard.

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field (Luke 10:2)."

 Each of the groups has different approaches on mission. It's clear that the Lord molded each as such that they will cover the different purposes of evangelization. Some are focused on the youth, some for the whole family, some for the environment, and others for the poor.  Here are some of my realizations:

Overcoming Our Weaknesses through Others' Strengths. 


The Lord has blessed each community with a strength that can complement the weakness of other communities.  Not one community has all the talents and skills to build the global mission.  I have noticed that many groups have a deep understanding of different crucial topics for mission. There's a group that is strong on Missiology, others are good with Youth Formation and team building, another on the issue of Social Justice, one on Creative Evangelizaton, another on International Missions and Mission exchanges, some on Catechetics, another is strong in the Social Media evangelization approach.  What these groups have learned is a product of decades of experience and study and they are willing to share it. What a great blessing.  Reflecting on our immediate work and family surroundings, what strength do you have that can be of service to other's weaknesses?  What are the key talents and abilities of the people we are working/serving with, that can help hasten an area of our work that is slow moving? In our family, how can we utilize each others God given gifts to help achieve our family goals?

A Humble Heart for an Open Mind

Another realization is that we cannot have open minds if we do not have humble hearts.  There is a tendency for our cups to already be filled before going to a teaching, conference, or training.  We have to undergo the process of kenosis (emptying of one's self) so that the Lord can fill us with His wisdom.  A humble heart is the key to deeper understanding.  A humble heart understands the idea of emptying our mental and spiritual cups.  A proud posture closes the mind and wanes the interest.  The presence of the different lay missionary organizations gain abundance of wisdom by learning from one another.  Without humility, one will not bother to mingle and initiate conversation.  In our lives, do we pass up opportunities to learn from people who can enrich us?  How attentive are we during talks?


Faith Fascinates Us


Lastly, with pure faith, the work of evangelization and mission will continue to fascinate us.  Some of us are doing mission work for years. Whether as full time missionary, clergy, or simply as a faithful Christian.  We see many of our friends lose heart to continue in the mission. They become inactive, disillusioned, or victims of friendly fire.  Lay mission work is not easy. For many of us, it is not our full time job.  I have met many lay missionaries in the conference who also have secular work, but go full on with the mission. Faith will dictate that it is the Lord who commissions us and not men. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (Mt. 28:19)." When mission ceases to excite us or fascinate us, it is usually because of being distant from the Lord.  The farther away we are from Him, due to lack of faith and lack of prayer, the more we lose touch of God's exciting plan for the mission he has prepared for us to do.  How excited are you to do mission?  How far can your faith in God take you?


Let us therefore be generous with the strength God has given us. Strive for humility, so our open minds can gain wisdom. And be faithful for the work ahead of us is more exciting than we can ever imagine. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- (1 Cor. 2:9).  We are all workers in the Lord's vineyard, helping one another to achieve one goal, "to sum up all things under Christ (Ephesians 1:10)."

Open to Change

I just went to my bank and was surprised to see it all digitized. No more manual filling up of slips. No more standing in line. The service is faster and more efficient. But before appreciating the new system, I didn't like the change. I was already comfortable of the familiar bank scene. It took some time for me to understand the benefit of the new system.
How do we embrace change? Maybe these 3 O's can help.
1. Openness - first, listen to the new way of doing things and seek to understand the benefits. Being open will allow blessings to come in. A closed heart will keep us in one place, stagnant. The world around us moves, even at a faster rate than all previous generations. Even the Pope has a twitter account to embrace the benefits of technology in our evangelization.
2. Objectiveness - for ease of accepting the change, we have to understand the objectives. The objectives reveal the principles behind the movements. As long as you are agreeable to the objectives, you can even propose a better system, and be a source of the solution and not a stumbling block.
3.Oneness - disunity is a risk of change. So, we ask ourselves, "Are my reactions divisive or unitive?" We can espouse oneness by going back to our core values. This dictates our behavior and the things we value that should make us one.
Change must be managed. Transitions cannot be abrupt. The ushering in of a new way goes through testing, appreciation, as well as strong will. The Pharisees did not like the change that Jesus presented. But prior to His coming, prophets have already prepared God's people. John the baptist was to prepare the way of the Lord. The apostles had openness, objectiveness, and oneness in their minds and hearts. The Pharisees were already comfortable with the old ways. They were close-minded, short sighted, and divisive. And so, they missed the point of what the prophets of old were conveying.
The Holy Spirit will change us. "And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36: 26)." Let us then yield ourselves to the move of the Spirit. Be open to His change in us.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

Be In a Tribe

I heard from one of the trainings I attended, "Birds flock, fish school, cows herd... people tribe." It is amazing what tribes can achieve. Needless to say, one of the greatest achievements of the Ifugao tribe in the Philippines is the creation of the Banawe Rice Terraces.
In primitive times, the rate of survival of a human being is increased if one belonged to a tribe. Going solo would mean easy target for the forest predators.
As a Christian, you cannot go solo. You need a tribe of believers, a community. "Be alert, be on watch! Your enemy, the devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8)." Our chances of getting to heaven increases with a community to encourage us, care for us, and teach us in our Christian living.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

A Life in God's Order

Prayer puts our life in order.  Often we are too busy to pray, thinking that the urgent things that rush us in the morning are more important than taking time to quiet down with the Lord. Many times we are too tired to pray, thinking that our bodies need to hit the bed because of the strain of the day's activities rather than be filled by the Lord.
When we are lured to this mentality, we will even become more busy and even more tired.  We forget that prayer, through our Lord, puts it in the right perspective.  So the lesser we pray, the more our priorities get out of order. This makes us busy with the wrong priorities, thus having more work.

When neglecting to pray and meditate, we only use our physical strength and neglect to tap the immense power of our spiritual strength. Our physical and mental abilities can only bring us to certain limit. But the spiritual strength that God gifts us through the Holy Spirit, can make us achieve what is impossible.  Jesus, being both human and divine, knew the value of prayer. In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12)


The connection of ourselves to Christ, exposes the deceptions of the devil that leads us to sinfulness and pride.  The lower we bow down in prayer, the higher the Lord lifts us up in our lives. He redirects us away from the evil's schemes and brings us forth to His path. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33).  If we are living according to the order that God wants for our lives, we shall truly experience the fullness of what God has in store for those who love Him.

Pearl Reflection

The CFC Pearl Anniversary week just concluded and we had 650 International delegates from 41 countries.  There were about 100,000 attendees during the anniversary day.  It was very inspiring to see brothers and sisters of different nationalities embracing one culture, the culture of Christ.  Couples for Christ is now 30 years old and in 114 countries worldwide.  We look forward to the next 30 years of community life and mission.  Here are some of my reflections:

1. In Reaching the Pearl year, the community also went through the same process of how a pearl is made. For a gem to come out, it had to go through many challenges, or in the pearls case an irritation process.  The formation of a natural pearl begins when a foreign substance slips into the oyster between the mantle and the shell, which irritate­s the mantle. It's kind of like the oyster getting a splinter. The oyster's natural reaction is to cover up that irritant to protect itself. The man­tle covers the irritant with layers of the same nacre substance that is used to create the shell. This eventually forms a pearl. from http://animals.howstuffworks.com/marine-life/question630.htm

Getting to 30 years is not an easy process. Yet, by God's grace he uses our challenges into the pearl of a community we see today.

2. We are brothers and sisters, regardless of race, nationality, and economic status.  As we immerse in the community, the love of Christ will be the language we speak.  We all share in the experience of His transforming love. 

3. The family is God's stronghold and the evil one will do everything to destroy it.  The work of strengthening family relationships to serve God and the poor is of great importance. In the words of Christopher West, "If one wants to take out the Church at large, one will first take out the Church in miniature."  The family is the domestic Church, the Church in miniature.  If we are to defend the Church, we must defend the family.  If we are to build a society of genuine justice, peace, harmony, and dignity we have to uphold to values and beliefs of the Church, starting with the family.  A Christ-centered society starts with a Christ-centered family.  Further Christopher West says, "the nucleus of the family is the love of man and woman."  This affirms the work of Couples for Christ in its 30 years of upholding the vocation of marriage and family life.

We now journey from Pearl to Gold.  A new generation arises, born from the love of the community's pioneers in mission.  Onward CFC!