I can still recall the three-year-old me dancing to “Tell the World of His Love” every after Sunday masses with my siblings, my father serving as a lay minister, and my mother as a choir member. Every year I am excited for Easter because I will be one of the angels to shower the Risen Christ and Mama Mary bougainvillea petals. Every year I count the days before May 1st because the daily afternoon catechism and flower offering to Mama Mary starts.
I am grateful that I grew up always being in the parish. Thanks to my parents, I grew up understanding the importance of serving the Lord. All those years that I serve in the parish, I learned about God and our faith. I know details about the life of Jesus, of Mary and saints. And slowly as I mature, my relationship with God also matures. But I never thought our relationship can be deeper than that.
Being in the community of Couples for Christ, paved way for a deeper relationship between me and God. From the households, assemblies, retreats, conferences, all those gatherings taught me how can I be more personal with God in my prayers, in my life. Then eventually, I started wondering how it is to become a missionary. I kept this thought to myself for years because I have a dream to become an engineer. I have a dream of helping my family financially and I choose to proclaim that ANCOP really answered the cry of the poor after graduating as one of their scholars. Plus, I never stopped serving in the parish, more so I invited fellow YFC to also serve the church as well. And this has been my escape from God, knowing that I have been serving the Him all the days of my life.
But when God calls, even we ignore Him many times, He will never get tired of calling us until we respond to Him. For a few years, I worked in a multi-national company as an engineer and God tried to disturb my desire many times in different ways. Yet, I still ignored Him until I can’t take it anymore and openly prayed to God that He will just let me help my youngest sibling graduate and I’ll be ready to discuss becoming a missionary with Him.
Lo and behold, in the year my youngest sibling will graduate, that is also the year that I fully transitioned to Singles for Christ. What I knew then is that I will continue serving the Lord. To where and how, that is what I need to clarify with God. I desire to become a fulltime missionary for Youth for Christ but being in the parish and a Singles for Christ is also a way of serving the Lord.
But God, with our deepened relationship throughout the years, revealed to me His promise through a song I’ve been singing for so long, “For I have seen, and touched Him risen, to all the world will I proclaim His majesty, with joy I sing to tell His story, that in our hearts may live His memory.” He made it clear to me through this song and through my prayers that what I will share to the world especially to the young people is His greatness in my life, being one with the Catholic church. That all the things taught to me since I was little will be shared to more young people.
I miss serving in the parish and I have been praying to which parish ministry will I involve myself being assigned to a different diocese. But one thing is for sure, and this is what my parents imparted to me. That from the day I was born, until the day I die, I will serve the Lord. Wherever I am called, I will always be one with the Catholic church.
