By Victor V. Yambao

Victor V. Yambao, a retired Catholic school principal, appeared on these pages in November-December 2003.

Ring, O bells, hear them loud and clear
For today the Savior is born.
Let’s fill our hearts with all the cheer
Of greeting Him this yuletide season.

The Bethlehem of long ago,
Let it come into our hearts
That joy tiding melt the ice floe
Within our souls with love darts.

Come, Jesus, keep us in joyful bless
With you in manger as you sleep.
Lie down in our hearts in peace
That we will not fall down the cliff.

See Jesus in thy neighbor’s eyes
O,’ He is there, pleading with you;
Give him your love which never dies.
That is all he asks you to do.

Don’t destroy bridges but build them
From one kind heart to the other.
The Lord Jesus does not condemn -
His kingdom awaits you yonder.

Peace, love, in every family
Peace, Lord Jesus, give us today;
Peace, we pray, for our country,
Your gift to us on your natal day

Lord, in the darkening sky
Give to us your silver lining
Of hope with no sad tears to cry
Even as we go on living.

On this early cold Christmas morn
As our dear Lord Jesus is born
A MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you
And a warm HAPPY NEW YEAR too.

By Father Seán Coyle

In Ireland and Britain the robin redbreast appears on Christmas cards and decorations. This comes from Victorian times in Britain when mailmen wore a red uniform and delivered letters even on Christmas Day. The robin too is the only bird in that part of the world that sings right through the winter.

Father Aedan McGrath, who has appeared on the cover of Misyon, died suddenly at a family gathering in Dublin, his native city, on Christmas Day six years ago at the age of 94. He had been active right up to the end, working for the Legion of Mary all over the Pacific Region from his base in Manila.

Between 1950 and 1953 Father Aedan spent three Christmases in solitary confinement in a Chinese jail. One of his very few friends was a little bird that used to fly into his cell and about which he wrote the poem we publish here.

Father Aedan was buried a few days after Christmas in the Columban cemetery in Ireland. Many couldn’t attend because of an unusually heavy fall of snow over most of the country the night before. During the final prayers at the graveside a robin redbreast kept flying around, as if to say, ‘Farewell, dear friend, who took care of another one of God’s little creatures like me when you were in a cage.’ But that wasn’t all. As the coffin was being lowered into the grave I looked up and saw a flight of birds approaching in ‘V’ formation. As they flew over the cemetery one bird moved into the middle, making an ‘A’ of the ‘V,’ a heavenly flyover to honor a faithful son of Mary.

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Mt 6:26, RSV)

 

THE BIRD

By Father Aedan McGrath (1906-2000)
Composed during his captivity in China between 1950 and 1953.

I have one little friend within this jail,
Who comes each day to visit without fail;
And which he loves -- just me, or what I give
I should not like to be too positive.

He flies in through the outer window bare,
And nears my cell with eyes like twinkling stars,
He whispers 'Chirrup, Chirrup' from his heart
And promptly do I 'Cheer up' for my part.

His appetite for rice that has been dried,
And which must swell on reaching his inside,
did quite alarm me when I saw it first,
In dreading that my little friend might burst.

And when there is no rice, not e'en a bit,
I therefore do not move from where I sit.
He tries his best to make his presence felt
With antics that would cause your heart to melt.

He visits other friends along the line,
In case you think the privilege was mine.
But still I think he comes to me the most
-- Without intending to deceive or boast.

One day, I know not what gave him a fright
For I could not see anything in sight;
| But rushing in, his body all aquake|
He perched beside me for protection sake.

I often wonder what he thinks of me,
He must know I'm encaged and not too free.
For he comes very close beside my cell
And yet he feels that everything is well.

I know what I shall always think of him|
So free, so cheery and so full of vim:
Recalling Jesus and His words about
The birds and Man's sollitude and doubt.

'They do not sow and neither do they reap,
Nor gather into barns a stock to keep;'
And yet they fare so well just to and fro
Without a single care, God loves them so.

Ah ye of little faith: Christ's words were due,
For truly trusting souls are still so few.
Ah here's the bird again, how he trusts me:
'Dear God, please teach me how to trust in Thee.'

By Bernard J. McGuckian SJ

The author is one of three brothers who are Jesuit priests in Ireland.

St Francis Xavier

Last 7 April was the 500th anniversary of the birth of St Francis Xavier, generally regarded as the greatest Christian missionary since St Paul. He was born in the Spanish Basque country in the castle of Xavier, a word that simply means ‘new house’ in Basque. The public missionary dimension of his life lasted for ten short years ending with his death on 3 December 1552 on Sancian Island, situated a short distance from the Chinese mainland, about 64 kms from Macao. What happened in those ten years has become the stuff of legend – with one major difference to most legends: the facts were even more extraordinary than the stories.

One man, Francis Mansilhas, who testified on oath at the canonization process of the saint could not be accused of bias in his favor. He had been dismissed from the Society of Jesus by Francis Xavier. Yet this is what he said. ‘No man could have done what he did or have lived as he did without the grace of the Holy Spirit . . . for his life was more that of an angel than a man. At night, when he could find the time he would recollect himself and give himself to prayer and contemplation. He consoled people both by day and night, hearing their confessions and visiting the sick. He gave endless alms to the poor. He never kept anything for himself or for his own use. As much as one might dream this man might do as he did, and even more.’

To the ends of the earth

Francis Mansilhas put his finger on the nub of the matter when he said that the life of Francis Xavier would be inexplicable ‘without the grace of the Holy Spirit.’ The life of Xavier was ‘wind-assisted’ in every way. It was the wind that made possible his long apostolic journeys across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in boats that would be considered totally un-seaworthy today. But it was the Holy Spirit, the Wind of God, that drove him relentlessly to take the Kingdom of God to the ends of the earth. As the first European to get to Japan, he blazed a trail that would inspire thousands of young men and women in subsequent centuries to give their lives to bring the Gospel to Asia. It was the same Holy Spirit that raised him up to the heights of holiness and eventual canonization.

Kindred Spirits

As a child he was fortunate to be introduced to religion by a good mother and sufficiently intelligent as a teenager to go to the Sorbonne at Paris. He did well in his studies, ending up as a philosophy tutor after graduation, even finding time to become the university high jump champion. His life took a dramatic turn in 1528 when another Basque student, Ignatius of Loyola, arrived in the same lodgings. At, first Xavier had little time for the newcomer with a limp, sustained in the Battle of Pamplona eight years earlier, in which his two brothers had been on the opposite side. However after a short time, like most people who ever got close to him, Xavier found himself attracted to Ignatius. It was the beginning of a deep friendship that would lead to the establishment of the Society of Jesus, a shared desire to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth and to their canonization at Rome on the same day, 12 March 1622.

Ignatius had a rare skill as a spiritual director, although without any formal training in spirituality or theology. He was noted for his gift of discernment. He was able to see the great potential in his young friend. Under his guidance Francis changed from being a normally ambitious young academic into an apostle on fire with love for God. This however did not happen overnight.

Search for Truth

Ignatius was later to say that Francis ‘was the toughest dough I ever tried to knead.’ Ignatius got Francis to think about the big basic questions of life in a spirit of prayer and to come to some decisions about them. Why have I been created? What are all the good things in the world around me for? Why did God become man? How does God deal with a human being? What should I do during the time given to me before I die? How can I know what is God’s will for me? How can I grow in love for God and others? Francis became more and more convinced that the answer to all these questions is revealed in the Scriptures. If we become docile to Him, the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth as Jesus promised.

The result of his reflections was that the life of Francis changed profoundly. He gave away all that he possessed, became a priest and devoted himself to such a punishing regime of prayer, fasting, penance, preaching, teaching, looking after the sick in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal that Ignatius had to use his authority to get him to moderate his zeal. This was not really a problem because he had learned from Ignatius the importance in Christianity of obedience to lawful authority.

God had other plans

On his 35th birthday, 7 April 1541, Francis set sail from Lisbon in obedience to a request from the Pope that a member of the newly-founded Society of Jesus go as his representative to India. It was the first of a series of epic voyages that would open up the East to Christianity. While out there he heard about Japan and made his way there. This put the idea of China in his head because the Japanese said that if his God was the true God, how come the Chinese had not heard about it! He decided there and then that he would have to meet the Chinese since they seemed to be so highly regarded by their neighbors. God had other plans for him.

While waiting to get a ship to the Chinese mainland he contracted fever and died on 3 December 1552. Although buried in quicklime it was soon discovered that his body was incorrupt. It has been kept in Goa, India, for the last 450 years and until very recently has been perfectly intact. Only within the last few decades has it begun to show signs of wear but not enough to prevent public exposure to millions of pilgrims every 10 years.

Each year the Novena of Grace in his honor is held from the 4 to 12 March, the anniversary of his canonization, in Jesuit and other churches around the world. The testimony of people over the centuries indicates that his powers as a wonder worker are in no way diminished with the passage of the centuries.

We thank www.catholicireland.net for permission to use this article. You can also find it athttp://www.jesuit.ie/sfx/  with other material on the saint, including a powerpoint slideshow.

You can find a video reflection on two Jesuit saints and one beatus in honor of whom 2006 has been a jubilee year at http://www.jesuits.ph/index.htm. St Francis Xavier SJ was born on Tuesday of Holy Week, 7 April 1506, Blessed Peter Faber SJ, six days later on Easter Monday; St Ignatius Loyola died on 31 July 1556.

By Leonides ‘Junby’ Saguisag Jr

Christmas with Filipino friends

Prior to migrating ‘for good,’ I spent my summer vacation, April and May 1997, in the United States, trying to get a feel for life there. It would be a little over a year before I’d finally migrate in June 1998. My reason for emigrating was really more of a ‘going along for the ride’ rather than an outright search for a ‘better life,’ as many other migrants have done. My maternal grandmother was already living in the USA then and had petitioned for my parents to join her. When my parents' petition came through I was a nineteen-year-old college student, finishing third year at Ateneo de Manila University, majoring in Computer Science. The opportunity to be based in Silicon Valley, the heart of the computer industry, was too good to pass up. So when I was granted a Resident Alien visa, the ‘green card,’ I took the chance that God had given me and emigrated a few months after I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in March 1998.

A different life

Helping my niece unwrap present Christmas 2005

Contrary to what many others might say, I never really considered life in the USA to be necessarily better or worse than life in the Philippines. Rather, I just found the way of life there to be quite different; some things were better or easier, but other things I thought were worse or more difficult. The thing I missed most was how we celebrate Christmas back home in the Philippines.

‘I'll be home for Christmas’

Judging by how rapidly booking for flights to the Philippines fills up for December - you need to book months in advance – it’s obvious to me that if there is any time that Filipinos overseas want to fly home, it’s to be with their loved ones for Christmas. Having spent several Christmases in the United States and contrasting it with my memories of how Christmas is celebrated back in the Philippines, I can certainly understand why.

A long time of preparation

‘It's the most wonderful time of the year,’ as the Christmas song title goes. Indeed, for those of us who have had the joy of celebrating Christmas in the Philippines, it truly is a wonderful time. In contrast to the United States, where people only begin to gear up in the last week of November, after Thanksgiving Day, we Filipinos start gearing up for Christmas once we hit the ‘-ber’ months. Once September rolls around we can expect to hear Christmas carols on the radio, which greatly disconcerts my American co-workers when Christmas carols start emanating from my office much earlier in the year than what they are used to, and malls will start decorating their displays with a Christmas theme. It’s not unheard of for people to start their Christmas shopping by this time.

A grand celebration

Filipinos in general enjoy celebrating feasts and fiestas and Christmas is perhaps the grandest feast of them all. Months before Christmas Day colorful parols start going up and in many homes the Christmas trees and the belens are also brought out of storage.  As a child I remember vainly wanting to stay in bed while my parents would wake me up early in the morning to join them in celebrating the Misa de Gallo. Now as a migrant away from home, I long for this and similar traditions like thenoche buena and going caroling with family and friends. Thankfully my relatives, like most Filipino families that migrate to the United States, do their best to bring some of these traditions with them. I believe this just goes to show how the celebration of Christmas is ingrained in the Filipino psyche.

A solemn celebration

Christmas also doesn’t quite feel as solemn in the United States as it does back home. Unlike the Philippines, where the celebration of Christmas is intimately tied to the religious significance of the birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas in the United States feels more like a commercial affair with the focus more on gift-giving and Santa Claus, rather than on the real reason for the season, the great gift of salvation in the form of the birth of our Savior.

Remembering Christmas in the Philippines

 Junby playing Santa at his office Christmas party

When I first celebrated Christmas away from home in December 1998, I was struck by how different it all felt. ‘Where is the Misa de gallo?’ I thought. ‘Where are the puto bungbong and bibingka outside the church? Why is it that none of the decorations bring to mind the birth of Jesus Christ? Why does it all feel so commercial?’ These thoughts continue to haunt me whenever Christmas time comes around here in the United States and I contrast it with my memories of Christmas back home.

Though it has been many years since I last spent Christmas back home, I still look back on celebrations there as some of the best ever. I fondly recall times when I was still a college student staying at the dorm, waking up early so I could play the guitar and sing with the dorm choir for theMisa de gallo and afterwards joining everyone for breakfast. I happily remember many instances of going to Mass on Christmas Eve with my family, our noche buena afterwards, and giving thanks to God for uniting us on the day He came into the world.

The reason for the season

I believe that what I miss most about Christmas back home is that central to our celebration is our always remembering the real reason for the season: it is a time to remember the gift of Jesus Christ, our Savior, born into the world so that He might save us. Christmas is a time to give thanks not just for the gifts that we exchange with each other, but more importantly to give thanks to God for the more important things: the gift of life, the gift of salvation, the gift of our families, our friends, our loved ones, the people He has given to us. Christmas back home reminds me that the season should be a celebration of Love, the Love that we share with one another and with God.

Leonides ‘Junby’ Saguisag Jr is a software engineer by profession. He is currently based in San Jose, California, USA, and may be contacted via email at leonidessaguisagjr@yahoo.co

By John P. Mallare CICM

John P. Mallare, a seminarian, was born in BaguioCity and entered the CICMs in 1995. After his studies in philosophy and theology he was sent to Senegal in 2005 for his internship. You may learn more about the CICM missionaries at www.scheutmissions.org and atwww.missionhurst.org .

The author (extreme right, third row) poses with his students and fellow teachers in St Abraham School, Guédiawayé, Senegal

Never as a child did I dream of going to Africa. Like any other small boy, I wished to become a ‘normal’ journalist, doctor, engineer, or businessman. I never imagined living in a world outside the 49-square kilometers of my native city, Baguio. Moreover, the only things that I knew of Africa were that black people lived there and that the fiercest animals inhabited the place.

Truly, God’s ways were not my ways. God wanted to send me to the other side of the world, far from my family, far from what I imagined, far from what I wanted. God asked me to become a CICM missionary in Senegal. Many missionaries have written about the country, but there are always new things to be discovered, and experiences to be shared.

From Tourist to Resident

I arrived in August 2005. When my plane was about to land in Dakar, the capital, I noticed some ‘bizarre’ things down below: almost all the houses and buildings were white, and each cluster of houses was accentuated by mosques, big and small. Later, I realized that more than 90 percent of the people were Muslims, in sharp contrast to what I was used to in the Philippines.

At first glance, Dakar seemed to be like Manila, with slums, rickety vehicles, numerous roads and buildings being constructed, beggars and children all around. But within a few weeks I began to see the difference.Senegal is a country where poverty is very pronounced in cities and villages. The desert terrain and the dry climate add to the non-viability of agriculture and lessen the possibility of other sources of income; add to that a government laden with corruption. Fortunately, the political situation is one of the most stable in Africa. Muslims and Christians generally live together in peace.

At the time of this writing, it hasn’t rained for at least six months, to the relief of the population, because when it does, malaria-carrying mosquitoes begin their work. And, without exaggeration, they kill hundreds of people. In our parish alone during the rainy season, there were funerals two or three times a week, mostly of malaria victims. Sadly, many are so poor they can’t even afford mosquito nets or electric fans to chase the mosquitoes away.

It was in this context that I started here but have now stayed long enough to change my ‘eyeglasses’ from those of a tourist to those of a resident.

Creature from another planet

When  I was brushing up my French, the official language here, I would often travel by public transport and visit new friends. A common greeting, especially of children, is, ‘Bonjour, Tubap, donne-moi de l’argent!’ ‘Hello, white man, give me money!’ Then they ask if I’m Chinese or Japanese. In the beginning I tried to explain that I had no money and that I was a Filipino. But I got tired of correcting them, sometimes irritated, and tried not to mind them. Anyway, I thought, being a Filipino was a rarity here. I’m the only Filipino male missionary, with two Filipina Sisters, and no more than ten other Filipinos here. I realized that to the Senegalese I was a creature from another planet.

The school children

Last December I was asked to teach catechism in a nearby Catholic school. I initially resisted the offer, for three reasons. Firstly, I didn’t have much training in teaching. Secondly, the students, in Grade 6, were known as rambunctious and uncontrollable. I would have preferred high school or college students. One time when I was out walking, a group of school children greeted and surrounded me. I didn’t know that some were already opening my backpack and stealing from it. Later, I discovered that some of them were to be my own students! Thirdly, I was still trying to improve my French. I was already confident in conversational French, but teaching in the language was another thing. Yet, I opened myself up to the challenge.

The first day was a real catastrophe. I don’t know if the students learned anything, for I lost my composure and my memory, and mixed up my grammar. The following weeks, the children became uncontrollable. They were so noisy and would often go out of class. I wanted to give up, but the assistant director finally came to my rescue, gave me some advice, and I managed to keep going for four months.

Getting to know their stories

But the latter months were revealing. During and after class, students began to share with me their secrets about their families, their struggles with poverty, malnutrition, and even abuse. They would present excuses for not being able to accomplish this or that, and often it was the result of a problem in the family. It wasn’t rare for a Catholic student to have two Muslim parents, who might also be separated, most commonly because the father had other wives. In other words, they didn’t receive proper formation at home. I finally realized that that was my role, not just to be a teacher of catechism. They wanted someone trustworthy to listen to their stories.

Throughout my short stint as teacher, I tried to form the children with all my ability and with the knowledge I’d learned during my CICM formation. I shared with them the beautiful experiences I had with my own family, who taught me the proper values of life.

I guess the children are true companions for us missionaries. For me, they are innocent and tell the truth. They don’t discriminate between Muslims and Christians. They express what they see. They are objective and honest. Sometimes, they are more dependable than adults. For example, when I get lost in the streets, the children lead me home, and ask no favors afterwards. Of all the Senegalese people I’ve met, it’s the children who best remember my name. Before, I was to them an abstract person, as if I had no clear face, but now, when we meet on the street, they can put a name to my face and color, and that is ‘John.’

They remembered my name

 John P. Mallare CICM

Their stories are often hidden and unheard. But once they began to share, and I was prepared to listen to them, I started to learn. In the end they became my teachers.

Dear Luzia,

 Greetings from St Vincent de Paul Mission Liukui Taiwan!

 Thank you so much for giving time to read my reflection on the March/April issue of Misyon.  That was my sharing on the occasion of my Silver Jubilee.

  Your letter is very interesting.  Thanks for being so open to share your thoughts and feelings regarding my reflection.  Yes, God’s movements in the lives of people is a mystery, and a mystery, sometimes will confuse you, if your thoughts and feelings are ‘focused’ in the confusion itself.  But if you are open to it, you inquire, you search, you ask, just as what you did, then you will find the answers to your questions, and you will be at peace and will feel happy about the confusing issue, isn’t it?  I don’t know if I make sense to you. What I mean is “Be happy and thankful with what God has given you.”  or “Be thankful with what you are because life itself is a free gift to us. Remind you, that God is love, he loves us despite our sinfulness. Don’t think that God punished us, because we are bad, or we are not doing well in school or at home.  What he wants us to do is to acknowledge our failures and shortcomings, be sorry for them and try to change to be a better person.

 You were asking about God's call or vocation.  Well God’s call is manifested in different ways, that sometimes you will not notice that he is there calling you.  but if you are in touch with yourself, with your feelings and with what is happening around you, there you will find him calling you. I can share with you two examples. First:  When I was young (high school years like you) I used to go with my mother to the market to but our food supply.  One item that she bought was wrapped in an old newspaper and in that old newspaper was a picture of two nuns, one was taking care of a bed-ridden old man and the other was taking care of the children in the orphanage. Mind you, that this picture caught my attention and I said to my mother, ‘Ma, thanks be to God that there are good-hearted people who take care of the old people and orphans.’  For me, this experience is very symbolic and meaningful. God use the very simple thing, the newspaper and my mother to let me know that he is somewhere there calling me.  That is what I mean with ‘To be in touch with yourself and with what is happening around you.” the second example is: The Presence of a Sister or Sisters in a school can be revelation of vocation which the young girl is carrying within her.  She sees in the life of a Sister what she herself can become.  She thus discovers God who is the center of the life of the Sister and who, perhaps, can become the center of her life.

 Daughters of Charity Filipino Missionary working overseas have chances to go toFrance, Rome and other countries for an International Meeting and also for other Asian countries for a community retreat or community meeting.

 Luzia, I hope through my simple sharing I answer your questions especially the one on vocation if not ask the sisters in your school or your teacher in your Christian Living Education class, ok?

 

Once again, thank you so very much for your letter and be assured of my prayer for your and your family.  More power to your studies.

Lastly, give my regards to the sisters, your teachers and to your classmates.  Tell them I am prayer for them.

 Truly yours,

Sr Ma Adoracion de los Santos DC
St Vincent de Paul Mission
65, Wenshing Street, Liukui
Kaoshiung, Taiwan

OF LOSING AND GAINING

By May R. Sicat-Saquing

How sweet it was to reach 30! With a very loving and supportive husband who greeted me with aHappy Pearly White Birthday banner, 30 shots of firecrackers, a choir and my pearl-set jewelry (hidden in a cake), what more could I ask for?

I was born at 11:40am via Cesarean section on 5 May 1975. I told the people around me that I’d be one of the luckiest persons on earth when I turned 30 on 05-05-05. Indeed, I was.

To my great surprise I got a new job assignment and was very grateful to be trusted by the school administration. I had the chance to be a part of the training pool in two regional training programs for teachers here in Region 2. I was nominated by my colleagues to be the school’s representative at an award-giving ceremony by Metrobank Foundation honoring outstanding teachers in the country.  I reached my tenth year in my school. Could I ask for more?

But there was more to ask than what I had received. There was a moment when I hoped I could exchange some of my fortunes to cover up for my losses.

If only I hadn’t lost my brother, Julius Caezar Sicat, stabbed to death one night shortly before he was due to be married. I couldn’t bear the pain of seeing him after that incident, pain I’m still recovering from. If only I hadn’t ended some friendships because of lack of communication. If only I had a baby by my 30th birthday.

My pearl year was indeed very memorable.  It made me a stronger person. I had my first taste of going over my life during this year’s Lenten season. I had a flashback of how I’d spent my 30 years in this world. I thank God for extending my contract in St Mary’s. I had pains. I had joys. I lost some, gained some. Now I realize, above my greatest desire to begin a family, I have to submit everything to the One above. I’m writing this reflection, before my 31st birthday. I hope I can have a better relationship with the Creator. Thanking Him is not enough. I hope to become a better person. I don’t intend to be good this year in exchange for a favor. I’ll just take things slowly and thank God for all the trials and graces He will shower on me.

My 30th year taught me to be a more mature individual. I learned to wipe up the spilled milk after I’d cried over it, and to fill another cup. I’m looking forward to another decade of challenges and deep in my heart I know that being more mature now, I can fight the battles of life successfully.

 

How does it feel to be in your eighties?
With gaze steady on the dawn of eternity . . .
With failing eyesight that dims with each passing day . . .
With deficient hearing that strains to catch some words . . .
With arthritic fingers that still produce wonderful works of art . . .
With toes deformed with rheumatoid arthritis . . .
With unsteady steps that wobble in measured pace . . .
With diabetes, scoliosis, emphysema to bear with . . .
What a ‘wreckage’ after 81 long and fruitful years!

But all these will once again shine
And gain their former luster
Once on the eternal shore
In the embrace of our Triune God
Resting in His bosom will glory
The precious ‘PEARL’ for all eternity.

From a cloistered contemplative missionary, the following is a sharing to all fellow missionaries, my musings during my encounters with the Lord in silence, solitude, and prayer.

We commemorate Christ’s birth in the flesh – He has become ‘Emmanuel!’ God-with-us, truly and really in the Eucharist. Here we renew daily the ‘CHRIST-event’ – Christ being born anew each day, each time the priest consecrates the bread and wine and they are changed into Christ’s own flesh and blood. Mary is present in each Christ-event – for Jesus is flesh of her flesh, blood of her blood. She gave birth to Him who is our Savior. She was the first to utter that Name which is above every other name, the Name that is to be praised from the rising of the sun to its setting, the ‘bloody Name’ that brings salvation. CHRISTMAS is the great feast of our Redemption, a call to save others and to be saved ourselves. It is ‘birthing’ anew our ‘en-Christed’ life, to abide in the true Vine, JESUS, so that we can bear fruit, rich fruit that remains. Christmas is birthing Christ’s attitudes, Christ’s thoughts, Christ’s words, and Christ’s deeds.

This is what Christmas means: to live its deeper significance and to take in the mystery of Christ in our daily life. All the glitter of external preparations cannot reveal its inner meaning. A contemplative goes beyond, digs deeper and lives the mystery of this great CHRIST-event. Then Christmas is not only celebrated for a day, or even for an octave; it’s a prolonged celebration, a continuous birthing process, a redeeming and transforming mission, accomplished by the Holy Spirit if we allow Him to ‘overshadow’ us like Mary. Then our consecrated virginity lived under the shadow of His Love will be fruitful. We shall birth new deeds of love and holiness, we shall birth new members of His body, the Church; we shall birth a new peace and unity, for our separated brothers and sisters.

Our fruitfulness in virginity depends on our abiding in love – in the true Vine – JESUS CHRIST. Let us remain in His love, a love that is virginal and at the same time, universal. This is indeed a fruitful virginity like Mary’s. Then, like her, we are inserted and immersed in every CHRIST-event – whether it is the Birth of Christ, or the Passion of Christ, or the Death of Christ, or the Resurrection of Christ. Each CHRIST-event is a mystery we can live in our own consecrated life, then each moment becomes a ‘Christed-moment,’ another Christ-event lived with Mary is the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of the Father. For us, missionaries, CHRISTMAS is EVERYDAY because we live and share, we love and care as CHRIST, who is EMMANUEL – God-with-us, in us and among us.

By Savio Angelo Sanchez SDB

Traditional dancers from Lise Oalai 
and the Moveave tribes

I received the missionary cross on 27 April 2004 from our Regional Superior. Our Provincial Superior assigned me to Araimiri, in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea. I noticed the different reactions of people to this news. Many wished me luck. Some were surprised. Others promised that they would pray for me. Others again warned about malaria and ‘cannibals’! Some were afraid I wouldn’t last because of the tough life and also because of my physical health. But I still obeyed my superior. Besides, I had volunteered to go to the missions. So, armed with the prayers, support and encouragement of my confreres, friends and loved ones, I headed for PNG.

Grateful at 25

Araimiri is the cradle of Salesian work in PNG, the first group from the Philippines arriving there on 14 June 1980. Since then, many more Salesian missionaries have come. Last year we celebrated the silver jubilee of our presence there. We work in six schools, three parishes, two formation houses and one retreat house – in five different provinces. We now have a small band of professed Papua New Guinean Salesians. Don Bosco is more and more becoming known in the country because of our education apostolate and work with young people. The national director of the Liturgical Catechetical Institute is a Salesian priest. Our former Superior Delegate here is now Bishop Francesco Panfilo SDB of the diocese of Alotau-Sideia in PNG. We have many reasons to be grateful for the fruits of the hardwork of our confreres for the past 25 years.

We are present in two places in the Gulf Province, Araimiri and Lariau. In Araimiri we have a boarding school and a parish. Our students, all boarders, number about 80 girls and 160 boys. Many are unable to pay. They come from distant villages in the Gulf and many are really poor. In the Gulf ofPNG, there are only two secondary schools, a government one and ours.

Period of Adjustment

I had to get used to many things when I came to Araimiri, such as multi-lingual people with dark skin and kinky hair. Our students come from seven or eight different language groups. I had to get used to riding on a dinghy everytime we went to town or to our mission station in Lariau. I had to get used to the irritating and painful mosquito bites. I had to get used to garden food like kaukau – sweet potato/camote and sago, flour-like and extracted from sago ppalms, the staple food of the people in the Gulf. I also had to be ‘creative’ and inventive in cooking with the meager ingredients at hand. So many things I had to learn on the missions!

Finding my niche

The welcoming of Fr Pascual Chavez SDB, 
Rector Mayor of the Salesian Society

I now began to appreciate reggae music too although I still missed our OPM (Original Pilipino Music) songs and Filipino pop music. Being musically inclined, I began writing songs with a reggae beat in the Pidgin language. It makes me happy and proud when our Bosconians appreciate my music. We began singing my compositions in our Eucharistic celebrations at school. All students, Catholic and non-Catholic, attend our school Masses and sing the songs I wrote! I believe this is my own way of sharing in the work of evangelization besides teaching for 30 periods each week in the school.

Unexpected encounters

PNG is the ‘Land of the Unexpected’! This certainty of the unexpected poses many inconveniences and challenges. Indeed, life is tough here, as it is in any other mission. Just yesterday, our big generator bogged down. And we have to be patient when we can’t use certain appliances in the house. The generator is our only source of electricity. We rely on it even for our carpentry and machine shops. There are some nights when we really have to go back to our candles, lamps, torches and flashlights!

In the space of four months this year we were ‘rascalized’! We lost the battery of our tractor, the two batteries of our truck, the two speakers, amplifier and CD/cassette player in our convento, and quite a large sum of money from our store. Our students also lost some of their things. It is indeed more painful and sad when the very people we serve in the parish, in the school, in the community, are the ones doing this to us. It is disheartening when people are ungrateful. But the mission goes on . . .

Added to this litany of inconveniences and challenges is the constant threat and inevitable attack of malaria. I had a terrible attack a few weeks ago as did two of my confreres. This is the ‘baptism’ of every missionary in PNG. What an experience!

Finding Christ

And the litany can go on . . . But I’m certain that the Spirit of the Lord hovers over this place and continually calls men and women with BIG hearts, those whose hearts are BIG enough to give – their time, their energy, their talents, their very lives, to bring Christ to the people here in the missions. Christ was already here awaiting our coming. And indeed, He is here! For without Him, we can do nothing. We are able to survive the tough life on the missions insofar as Christ continues to remain with us and insofar as we continue to remain in HIM.

Here in this remote, isolated place in the heart of the bush, I have discovered the joy of living in simplicity. Here I’ve experienced the pain of separation and detachment from ‘civilization’ and the fast-paced city life I was accustomed to. Here I’ve learned to value the things that really matter in life. Here too I have witnessed the wonder of God’s grace and the miracles that unfold that I wouldn’t notice if I were in another place.

By Fr Aedan McGrath (1906-2000)

Composed during his captivity in China  between 1950 and 1953.

I have one little friend within this jail,
Who comes each day to visit without fail;
And which he loves — just me, or what I give
I should not like to be too positive.

He flies in through the outer window bare,
And nears my cell with eyes like twinkling stars,
He whispers "Chirrup, Chirrup" from his heart
And promptly do I 'Cheer up' for my part.

His appetite for rice that has been dried,
And which must swell on reaching his inside,
Did quite alarm me when I saw it first,
In dreading that my little friend might burst.

And when there is no rice, not e'en a bit,
I therefore do not move from where I sit.
He tries his best to make his presence felt
With antics that would cause your heart to melt.

He visits other friends along the line,
In case you think the privilege was mine.
But still I think he comes to me the most.
— Without intending to deceive or boast.

0ne day, I know not what gave him a fright
For I could not see anything in sight;
But rushing in, his body all aquake
He perched beside me for protection sake.

I often wonder what he thinks of me,
He must know I'm encaged and not too free.
For he comes very close beside my cell
And yet he feels that everything is well.

I know what shall always think of him
So free, so cheery and so full of vim:
Recalling Jesus and His words about
The birds and Man's solitude and doubt.

‘They do not sow and neither do they reap,
Nor gather into barns a stock to keep;'
And yet they fare so well just to and fro
Without a single care, God loves them so.

Ah ye of little faith: Christ's words were due,
For truly trusting souls are still so few.
Ah here's the bird again, how he trusts me:
‘Dear God, please teach me how to trust in Thee.'

WAGING A 21st CENTURY SEA BATTLE THROUGH OFW LEADERSHIP

By Norma Hennessy

We thank Attorney Peter B. Payoyo for permission to use this article, which first appeared in the January – May 2006 issue of Parola (the Tagalog word for ‘lighthouse’), the newsletter/magazine published by the Philippine Seafarers Assistance Programme (PSAP) www.psap-parola.org/, a 25-year-old non-profit foundation based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Captain Roman Alcantara was in command of the MV Mawashi AL Gasseem, a livestock carrier, when it was arrested in Adelaide, Australia in March 2005. The ship, with its 69 mainly Filipino crew, had actually been sailing the previous month without any provisions. The ship was arrested after a Danish company, OW Bunker and Trading, sued for non-payment for fuel.

Captain Roman Alcantara

At the time of the arrest, the crew had not been paid their wages for many months. Their families had also not received their monthly allotments. An offer of assistance to the crew was initially made by the Maritime Union of Australia. But Captain Alcantara carefully declined, fearing the repercussion of getting his crew and himself blacklisted in the maritime industry in the Philippines. He had hoped that the ship’s Kuwaiti owners would settle matters eventually.

However, the owners, through their agent in Australia, soon issued orders to stop all disbursements and transactions on the ship, in practical effect abandoning the ship and the crew. It was then that Captain Alcantara, after consulting with his men, took up the offer of assistance from the Maritime Union of Australia. The MUA, with the help of the ITF in Australia, provided the sailors with legal representation, the Holding Redlich law offices, based in Melbourne.

For the next six months, during court litigation, Captain Alcantara and his crew remained onboard and dutifully kept their daily tasks of maintaining the ship in tip top shape. In the meantime, OW Bunker  and Trading was initially ordered by the court, on humanitarian grounds, to provide for the basic fuel maintenance of the ship and the medical and food provisions of the crew.

The long wait for the court’s final decision proved to be a real ordeal for Captain Alcantara and his men. The crew were confronted with every kind of bleak uncertainty: their voyage, their welfare, their careers, the future of their children and their families. Stranded in a strange place, they did not even have the money to buy telephone cards to call their loved ones back home.

The prayers of skipper Alcantara were slowly but surely heard. The Apostleship of the Sea of South Australia, headed by Richard Lloyd, lent a compassionate hand to the crew. Soon, news of the abandoned crew spread to the Filipino community in Adelaide, who rallied all kinds of support for Captain Alcantara and his men. Masses were celebrated on board the vessel, barbecue gatherings, bus trips and picnics were organized for the crew, and many of them were invited to private homes for meals. Cash donations were also collected for telephone cards.

Finally, after seven agonizing months, an Australian Federal Court rendered a decision in September 2005 to put the vessel up for sale and, from the sale proceeds, to pay the crew’s wages. To the crew’s relief, the court also ordered the repatriation of some 35 crew members.

More good news was coming for Captain Alcantara. Owing largely to the good maintenance of the ship, the vessel was sold at an auction in October to the best of four bidders, the Liberian-based Hijazi & Ghosheh Company.

During the sale proceedings, the new owners had insisted that the ship was to be captained by the same Filipino shipmaster but crewed by Pakistani recruits. But setting aside his personal advantage, Captain Alcantara bargained instead for the rehiring of the old crew, or at least the employment of Filipino sailors.

At the end of the negotiations, the new owner not only rehired all the Filipino crew, including those who were repatriated earlier, but also agreed to improved conditions and a better compensation package for the crew.

On 5 November 2005 the vessel officially started operations under its new name, the MV Al Mawashi. On the same day, members of the Filipino-Australian community, the Philippine Community Herald Newspaper, and the Apostleship of the Sea, presented a special plaque, Gawad Dangal Pilipino-Australia, to Captain Roman B. Alcantara, Jr, in recognition of his exemplary leadership. For their remarkable conduct, a Parchment of Appreciation was also given to each member of the crew.

The vessel, re-born under the command of Captain Alcantara and manned by 69 Filipino sailors, left South Australian waters on 23 November.

Note by Attorney Peter B. Payoyo, editor, Payola: This article was contributed by Norma Hennessy, a correspondent for the Philippine Community Herald Newspaper, Australia, at the request of Parola. Norma’s coverage of Captain Alcantara’s travails and triumph was also featured in the editorial page of the Philippine Star, ‘A hero from a land of heroes’, BY THE WAY, Max Soliven, 2 Jan. 2006. Ms Hennessy, author of ‘A Journey in Antipodean Land (Filipino Heritage in Australia)’ is also a distinguished Filipina artist. www.hennessyinfolink.com.au READ MORE

The story below is a common one, explaining the meaning of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas.’ Some say it is purely fanciful, an enduring example of an ‘urban myth.’ Whether or not it has any basis in fact, each of us can ask ourselves if we’re familiar with the Christian truths it is said to allude to.  And the carol can be great to sing, especially with youngsters!

What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the ‘partridge in a pear tree’ have to do with Christmas? From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. [Editor’s note: most restrictions had been lifted before 1829, when the Catholic Emancipation Law came into effect in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church.

Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality, which the children could remember. The one giving the gifts,‘My true love,’ is God.  

1.The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ.

 2. Two turtledoves are the Old and New Testaments.

3. Three French hens stand for faith, hope and love.

4. The four calling birds are the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

 

5. The five golden rings recall the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament. 

6. The six geese a-laying stand for the six days of creation.

7. Seven swans a-swimming represent the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit: Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy. 

8. The eight maids a-milking are the eight beatitudes.

9. Nine ladies dancing are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control. 

10. The ten lords a-leaping are the Ten Commandments.

11. The eleven pipers piping stand for the eleven faithful apostles.

12. The twelve drummers drumming symbolize the twelve points of belief in The Apostles' Creed.

The four ‘calling birds’ are ‘colly birds’ in older versions in England. ‘Colly’ is an English dialect word for ‘black’ and the blackbird is a common songbird in England. The five ‘golden rings’ are simply ‘gold rings’ in some versions. Some say that the ‘golden rings’ refer to coloring around the necks of birds such as pheasants, which would fit in with the bird them of the first seven verses.

This is fact:The First Day of Christmas begins on the evening of Christmas Day and continues till the evening of St Stephen’s Day, 26 December. The Twelfth Day of Christmas begins on the evening of 5 January, ‘Twelfth Night,’ and ends on the Feast of the Epiphany, 6 January.

Isn’t it ironic that in the country that boasts, rightly or wrongly, to have ‘the longest Christmas celebration in the world’ we’ve reduced the Twelve Days of Christmas most years by observing the Epiphany, Ang Tatlong Hari, a great missionary feast, on a Sunday instead of on its proper date. However, this year Epiphany Sunday is 7 January, so we get a ‘bonus’ day!

By Gracia Kibad

(L-R) Columban missionaries Gracia Kibad, 
Carla Petautschnig and Susy Tramoloa

Gracia Kibad, a Columban lay missionary from Bauko, Mountain Province, has been in Ireland since 1996.

‘Why Ireland? Is there mission there? Do you think there is a future for the Church in Ireland?’ These are some of the questions people asked me. I received comments such as, ‘You’re great to leave your family and come this far to do what you’re doing’. 

Reflecting on my experience, I’m convinced that there is mission in Ireland more so than anywhere else, for mission goes beyond geographical and cultural boundaries. For us who come here, we discover what mission is for us.

What does it mean for me to work in the Church in a so-called post-Christian society? It is a Church that has a long tradition of sending missionaries to us Filipinos. Now they are receiving us. Over time, the concept of mission has changed and so too the manner in which it is done. Missionaries now engage and immerse themselves in the people and the reality in which they find themselves.

Personal call to mission

I feel compelled to respond to the call of mission. I desire to follow God’s call. I’ve never dreamt of doing great things. I believe that this calling springs from God’s inviting me to give witness to my Christian values. Sometimes it’s difficult. It seemed daunting to face the risks that went with answering the call. Deep in the recesses of my being I felt that no one could stop me from responding to it. It was something that had been there and it was time to let that desire burst forth so that it would bear fruit. Leaving my family and friends is one thing, but leaving to face the unknown has been very challenging.  

I came to Ireland with very little expectation. What I know is that I came because I was responding to a call.

A change in perspective

My initial sense of being in Ireland was revulsion. The consumerist way of life of the people made me angry. To me it was deplorable. Coming from a country where so many people are poor and a country burdened by world debt, I initially disliked living and working in Ireland. I had a notion that they didn’t care about us in developing countries like the Philippines, so why did I have to live here among them and be generous to them. This may sound silly. Of course, individual citizens are not the culprits. It’s the global economic system which prevails that I’m angry about.

I had to convince myself that while ‘Third World’ citizens are ‘victims’ of the global economic system, the citizens in developed countries are ‘victims’ too, victims of a consumerist, materialistic lifestyle. This is a challenge that people in the West need to face. I realized that mission has to penetrate this reality, too. 

Thus I needed to grow out of my own preconceptions to be true to God’s call.  I needed to work on my anger so as to understand the situation I found myself in. If I was to witness to my Christian values, I needed to understand the underlying issues to be able to focus on my vision and mission here.

Lessons learned

In the two parishes where I was assigned, I got involved in working with young people, the Travelers(people living a nomadic life), the elderly, prayer groups, liturgy groups and migrant workers. Working with a variety of people young and old, Irish and foreign, has been very enriching, indeed life-giving. It also gave me a good grounding in the knowledge of the reality of Irish society and the Irish Church.

My experience of cross-cultural mission has taught me to let go of my notions of how things should be, of the structures I knew that worked. Basically, I had to let go of what I knew and enter into a new way of doing things, of relating with people. I had to allow myself to be surprised by the newness of the situation I was in and to be open to encountering those who were different from me. 

I have gone beyond my prejudices towards the so-called ‘First World’ to a better understanding of its people and where they’re at. Certainly, there’s a need for God’s compassion anywhere, and it’s needed here. My compassion as a missionary is called for. In a very small way I’ve tried to do something, hoping that I’ve made a little difference in the lives of those I’ve met and worked with.

Bearing fruit in the mission field

I am growing in my faith and I can only thank God for this. I’ve grown out of my childish notion of God, who would be there and wipe my tears away, making everything okay. Now in my adult life, I have experienced God in a different way. While God is still there to wipe my tears away, God is present in my weeping, in my loneliness. God is always there to see me through my trials and my joys.

I find strength in the mission enterprise of the Columbans in their work for justice and peace, dialogue with other faiths and their work in caring for the earth. I believe in the work they do. Being a part of this enterprise I feel that my vision is nourished by the Columban charism. (‘Enterprise’ OK).

Loved by the Lord of the service

I discovered that I don’t have all the answers in this life, and it is good to know that I don’t. Otherwise I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to struggle with others and the realities of their lives. I would not have had the experience of resurrection, no chance to have asked questions and thus no desire to search for answers.  There would have been no moments of feeling vulnerable and helpless and no experience of just being with people where they’re at.

These encounters became occasions of affirming my own uniqueness. I had to learn to receive, since it is also in receiving that I learn to give. Perhaps the little that I give would make a difference in someone else’s life. I found that there is joy in giving and receiving. As the adage goes, ‘We are not so poor as to give nothing nor so rich as to receive nothing’.

I also realized that listening is such an essential dimension to being able to understand others, otherwise dialogue would seem futile and understanding impossible. To listen is to have an open heart and an open mind. There can be no authentic listening when we are so full of ourselves for there is no room for others in our hearts. 

As I look back at my experience in Ireland, my heart is filled with thanksgiving to the God of many surprises, who asked me to leave the familiar and embrace the unknown. Through cross-cultural mission, I feel God constantly affirming his love for me through the people I come across.

Dear Father Sean,

After all the periodicals we had in school, I managed to read the Misyon Magazines that the school is providing. Reading them was not a mere obligation or a responsibility for me but a mission personally. An article from the youth’s page entitled “Searching for a Best Friend”, completely brought me to a halt and pause for a while. The writer found her best friends and it was none other than Jesus. “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

It often occurred to me the feeling of being left out and neglected. Maybe it’s because of me being too possessive of my friends. I have a lot of friends in school or simply I know a lot of people. I allow myself to make friends with other people and learn how to deal with them. But I never had the usual relationship with a best friend. It’s not in my social life to have one. But if time tells me I won’t miss the chance.

When I was in First year high school I belonged to this group of friends who were my classmates back then. We look up to each other at the Mahogany trees after classes. I had four close friends in the group and we ate together during breaks. When I’m with the two people would always call us two towers because I stay in the middle of my two tall friends while walking and I was the smallest. Then, my second year came we were still together except for some who left. I always told myself that I’m never leaving these friends I have because I know this will last. Jesus will always be there for me. “I-O rocks!” my friend would say. Now, I’m already in my junior year very few were left. I thought of bringing them back but I realized that I don’t have the right to choose friends for them. So we had separate “tambayans.” A friend made me realized that our friendship could still go on even if we hang out with other people and stay at different tables in school. She was absolutely right because I ran after her when I was having the most painful problem and she was always there all through out. My time with I-O will always be a memory to me and it will remain forever.

In class, I always had the best times life can give because life showed me a different world. I lost and soon after gained friends. It just happened that I began hanging out with them though I look very different from them. But if it were really called friendship they would love me for who and what I am. The painful part, which I never intended to happen, is not being with my other barkada I had all the time. It was then I realized why some left the group. I guess that’s what life is. I see myself staring at our table empty. How I wish I could bring back the memories I had with I-O now and see what a big difference it can do.

Letting go of the peer pressures, I tried to see things in a positive way and continue playing this game of life. I hope to look for friends I’ll treasure and have the best times with them. In Jesus, I’ll continue living the life that God gave me. This is what High School is all about- this is life.

God bless and more power!         

Sincerely yours,

Marie Jeanne Therese M. Apacible

3- Humility

St. Scholastica’s College, Manila

By Sr Sonia Sangel FdCC

Sister Sonia, who has written from East Timor in these pages before, was in Dili from 17 to 28 May. She was ushered back to safety in Baucau, where she’s based, by the Portuguese military.

On 23 May Dili, the capital of East Timor, was racked with violence, automatic gunfire, grenade explosions, the burning of houses and looting, with claims of rebel-related groups attacking and threatening civilians, and killings. The Timorese army, which had retreated to its barracks after incidents in April, returned to the capital and tried to get things under control, brutally killing many as they did so, however. The police headquarters and then one of the army headquarters were attacked and many police, soldiers and civilians died. It seemed at one point that the police and the military were fighting each other.

Despite the arrival of troops from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Portugal, the turmoil and violence continued to escalate. Most of us living in East Timor found it hard to understand why things could disintegrate so rapidly to this point. Most of us felt that we had woken up into a nightmare we couldn’t escape from.

Threats on people’s lives, the burning of houses and looting continued daily. Most crimes occurred at night. Numerous neighborhoods in the city were under constant automatic gunfire and grenade explosions. People from the western part of East Timor sided with the two rebel groups fighting the Força de Defesa de Timor Leste (F-FDTL), the official Defense Force of East Timor, which seemed to be aligned with the eastern part of this small country.

People’s Refuge

Since then many people have flocked to Catholic churches, schools and convents. Our four Canossian houses and schools in Dili were filled to the brim with refugees. It was as if a mass exodus of families came running to us for shelter and security.

The Sisters, having experienced the political disturbance and violence of 1999, knew what to do. Some stayed with the people to keep them company as well as to remain as their shields and protectors so that no one could touch or harm them. Others led people to pray the rosary continuously, begging the Lord and our Blessed Mother for peace and order. Quite a number of young, brave and courageous Sisters stayed at the gate to take people in and send men with firearms and long bush knives away. The communities started to light candles and to pray, taking turns in adoration.

We stayed with our people

While many of the UN and NGO workers and volunteers, including the Canossian Volunteers, were evacuated by their respective heads, the Filipino Consul twice arranged for planes to evacuate Filipino workers back to their homeland. We missionaries were also offered a chance to leave if we wanted to. With little hesitation, the three of us Filipina Canossian Sisters, Violeta San Miguel, Mila Carpena and I, remained firm in our commitment to stay with our Sisters and with our beloved Timorese whatever might happen. This was the time when with strong courage, we testified to the gift of ourselves which we had given to God for the mission, and which we would never take back. We would stay united with our Timorese brothers and sisters in season and out of season!

Yet, I cannot but ask how this could ever happen and why?

So many people in East Timor still struggle to feed themselves and their families on a daily basis, living hand-to-mouth. They asked for shelter and food after the total destruction of 1999, when Indonesia’s army of occupation left. Last year was the fourth consecutive year of drought, leaving many people hungry. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) earlier this year put out a report stating that East Timor was South East Asia’s poorest country. Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri publicly made fun of this and stated, ‘There is no hunger in East Timor.’ Many people still live as squatters in make-shift shelters made of burnt corrugated iron from the 1999 destruction, but the East Timorese government had money to buy expensive modern weapons.

Before, people lived peacefully side-by-side as neighbors, but now are threatening each other, hunting each other down and burning each other’s houses. How could this ever happen?

Let’s pray for East Timor

In my prayer for East Timor, I pray for the leaders of the country that they may stop giving