COMING HOME
On March 28, 2020, Pope Francis has been an icon of that call to be one, to pray as one, that longing for presence amidst life’s struggles, as he said blessing in that ample yet empty place of St. Peter’s Square in Rome. It was the most depicting scenario and probably most thought about by many in the name of compassion and communion of humanity. On those days, our hearts were one in supplication, in a common prayer, for the well-being of humanity!
Most if not all, tried to survive the solitude and seclusion, the challenge of coming home to one’s very core! It was a good time to face the single surface of one’s room, one’s home. No matter how many of us sought cure, medical helps and even entertainment, yet the call of silence and fear was there.
Few years back, hardly do we see so many images or expositions as in our days. Everyone engaged in the devices can now be easily reached when sought on social media. Hence, classes were made ready or were then made possible by the systems astoundingly created during the quarantine periods of our lives. No one was left out without any class, even amid cough and headaches! In our community, we were not spared. We dealt with both demands of classes, reports during struggling times with the virus in us. It indeed was a trying time but, we survived.
Most people nowadays, work far from home unlike during the pandemic periods where works and reporting were generally online. Today, we are back to the normal, “the very future” we dreamt to reach, sought and prayed for during Covid-19 pandemic. To say, that future is now! This is the promise of a new beginning that God bestows. The prize for the steadfast faith in His plan and providential care. This is what to affirm what St. Paul says in Rm 5:3-4: We glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Coming home to our community is one of those moments where we see a future in God’s genuine love for humanity. Indeed, right after the constraints and restrictions of the virus era, we were blessed and still are with His everyday surprises. The community has been graced with a large, a multi-generational and multi-cultural member in Zamboanga. Each has a different “way to be” as a missionary so to say.
The Claretian fathers, the Provincial Superior himself, visited us after the ordination of the first ever Claretian from Myanmar (Fr. Jimmy Saw, CMF) who worked in the parish where we belong. He journeyed with us too on those tough days. True that, we were all struck and tested, but we are healed to continue the journey of missionary help where the Church need us most.
Missionary journey after all is comprised of inviting each one we meet to come home to oneself, to the community and to the Church where Christ unites all unto Himself.