LIVING WITH PASSION IN MY HEART!

Two weeks of 2012 has already passed by. It is 2.00 a.m. Saturday as I sit here  thinking of all the things I want to do besides the work I already have. Often i get asked by friends, "Don't you think it is long enough serving in India? Is it not time to come back to your own life back home?"   It is something I really thought about in great depth since November 2010 in my mind. However, my heart reigns supreme - I still feel strongly God's call to serve here.

I believe that I need to understand and know the "pulse"  of society so that whatever I do, it is truly reaching out to a need others have for their spiritual and faith journey. It is easy to live in a cocoon here in this retreat centre. In fact, it is also easy for those of us serving here to fall into a trap where we think we know what is needed because thousands of people come to our retreat centre each week. Having spent years observing and listening to people who come here, I am even more convinced - to reach out like Jesus did to everyone He met, we cannot be satisfied only reaching to those who have come here to attend a retreat and whose lives have been touched. How do we help them to  remain close to God when they return to their homes all over the world? What about the millions who have not heard of this Centre or the mission's international outreach ministry or of Divine TV - the 24-hour Catholic Gospel Channel that is also available online across the world? From the thousands of emails that come in, one thing is clear...there are many people who feel lonely, desperate, in despair and fear and have many worries - they NEED to know of Christ's Message of Love, Hope & Peace and know they are not alone. God is with them! What drives me is  - "What can I do to help them know?" 

There has been a burning question in my heart from the very first time I came to attend a retreat in Divine in 1998 - "Why does the world not know this place - Divine Retreat Centre? Why don't Catholics know if it is the largest Catholic retreat centre in the world?"  I too was totally clueless about this retreat centre. My elder sister had passed away suddenly the year before. All I remembered was my Mum asking me a few years earlier that there was this place in Kerala, India that some church friends of hers had mentioned was a really powerful Prayer Centre and she wanted to go there. Yet out of the blue one day, for some reason, it came back to my mind as I was driving, and I asked my Mum. To say that she was speechless is an understatement! She looked shocked because she only mentioned it once when I was working for an airline in Hong Kong a few years back. Well, God works in mysterious way and as God says, "I alone know  the plan I have for you..." (Jeremiah 29:11)

This one question remains burning in my heart even till today. Now I know even more deeply how much this mission is touching and transforming lives, uniting families and giving youth and adults alike a firm purpose in life - to live joyfully for Christ! The charitable works of Divine Trust to care for 3000 of the most marginalized, sick and abandoned members of society has truly captured my heart. Whenever I go to any of these homes, my heart is filled with thankfulness that the Vincentian Fathers here have the courage and the love to  provide a loving home and refuge for all of them. One only has to be in India to know in what state of abject poverty and rejection they would otherwise face in their communities. I have never seen poverty as what I have experienced in India. It is mind-shattering.  I can never go back to the days that I just would enter shopping centres or a hotel each week and not blink an eye spending a few hundred dollars in just a couple of hours. Yet here, with  just S$100 a month,  we could feed and look after an orphan, an AIDs patient, a mentally iil patient or a terminally ill aged person! 

That is what drives my passion till today. I know that help is within reach for those who have plenty to just stop a moment and give a little to those who have nothing. One would not even miss the S$100 as we spend it on frivolous things. Yet here, the S$100 makes a difference between a loving life or a miserable death. With internet banking, there is no difficult steps to reach out to help. Yet, we often get caught up in the world. I know many friends who have very good intentions but they get caught up with their careers, their fitness regimes, social networking and even church activities - they forget that the poor cannot just wait for the season of goodwill - Christmas - to be remembered!   As St. James asked, "What good  is there in your saying to them, 'God bless you! Keep warm and eat well!'- if you don't give them the necessities of life?" (James 2:16)

This is a commitment not just to those who are working in the outside world. It is also what is expected of every one of us who serve in ministry. I do not believe there is anywhere in the bible where Christ exempted Himself. His followers shared everything -  "The group of believers was one in mind and heart. No one said that any of his belongings was his own, but they all shared with one another everything they had." (Acts 5:32). It is not enough to preach and sing for God - that is a gift of the Holy Spirit  totally unmerited that our Lord gives to a person. What we are returning to God  should be the "Fruit of the Holy Spirit" - "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control" (Galatians 5: 22-23)  

Caring for the poor is not an option - it is our Christian call. If our church or mission runs charitable homes or activities, do  we know specific information about it, have we seen regularly  the works  first-hand so that we can  openly share the financial needs of these Homes or charitable activities with other friends to help? Most people are kind-hearted. If they know a worthy cause, they will help regardless of race or religion. All of us belong to the human race. We need to dare to speak up and bring the change! 

We cannot leave it to just something we do once a year to make ourselves feel good - that we remembered the poor! We are supposed to offer one-tenth of all we have to God - it is not just about our monthly salary and bonuses; we can offer our time, our skills, our talents, our network of friends - to make a CHRISTIAN difference in the world. As this year starts, perhaps it is a good time to really reflect how we can help others.                                 

The trouble with most of us is we think we should not interfere but just do our own "giving" quietly. I fully agree that we should give quietly - not expecting partiality or any special treatment (which should not be encouraged either!). But we must remember what St. Paul wrote to St. Timothy: "Command those who are rich in the things in life not to be proud, but to place their hope, not in riches, but in God, who generously gives us everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and share with others. ( 1 Timothy 6:17-18)

I found the YouTube video below very uplifting and challenging - "INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES BY FAMOUS PEOPLE ". May it speak to your hearts too!

"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together."

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu