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Those who were not my people, |
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Three things happened during our planning retreat at the Franciscan Retreat House in Lamlukha that I consider to be further signs of God’s call to Couples for Christ to inaugurate its mission ad gentes. These were: first, the sharing made by Pats; second, the singing of Christmas carols to the AIDS patients; and third, the raising of the question about evangelization in Thailand at the end of my final talk. As I reflect further on these, I become even more convinced that God is now calling us to found the new CFC Ministry of Aquila and Priscilla that will reach out to those who still do not know Christ. My brothers and sisters, as you are all aware, for the past two issues of the second series of Letters of Aquila and Priscilla, I have been sharing with you my reflections on a possible new ministry for Couples for Christ – the Ministry of Aquila and Priscilla – which will focus on the evangelization of non-Christians. As I reflect on this even more deeply, the words of St. Paul to the Romans come alive: As indeed he says in Hosea: “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people’, and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved’. And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called children of the living God” (Rom 9:25-26). Here Paul combines verses from the books of the prophets Hosea and Isaiah to indicate that God’s mercy is not only for the Jews but for the Gentiles too. Paul tells the Romans that God wishes those who are unworthy (“not my people”) to become the privileged ones (“my people,” “children of the living God”). I noticed that we were all deeply touched by the sharing of Pats. That was why we sang a solemn song immediately after his sharing. I believe that the Holy Spirit inspired Pats to share to further confirm God’s call to CFC to mission ad gentes. Allow me to quote a few lines from what Pats had written: “About three weeks ago, I opened my email at the office and there was this email from Bro Jun – Letters of Aquila and Priscilla, vol. 2, issue no. 4. I printed it and started reading. It was about establishing a new ministry for the evangelization of non-Christians. After I finished reading it, I was surprised to find myself crying profusely. I did not understand what happened to me, but I found myself crying for about 2 to 5 minutes. I tried hard to control myself when one of our clerks came in. After the clerk had left, I experienced a deep feeling of peace and joy. Before I went home that afternoon, I read the Letters of Aquila and Priscilla again. I was surprised to find myself crying even more loudly than earlier that morning. I stopped crying only when my driver knocked at my door to tell me that it was time to go home. I placed the Letters in my bag. A few days later, I read Letters again, and once more I could not control my emotion and I again ended up crying hard for reasons I could not fully understand.” My brothers and sisters, the sharing of Pats gave me an even greater determination to continue writing Letters of Aquila and Priscilla and to continue advocating for the establishment of a new CFC ministry for the evangelization of non-Christians. As we are all aware, it is not a simple matter to decide to launch this new ministry. The CFC elders will have to carefully and prayerfully discern God’s will because any decision to proceed will have serious implications. After all, Christianity is nourished by the blood of martyrs. Mission ad gentes will require hard work. It will mean the endurance of great difficulties. It will entail sacrifice and suffering – and yes, even martyrdom. This is the way God wants it to be. Christianity after all is founded on the rock of Calvary. Christianity emanates from a Cross, from a King who wears a crown of thorns. Are we ready for it? In the same compound of the Franciscan Retreat House were several small buildings for the care of dying AIDS patients. Our decision to take a short break to sing Christmas carols to these patients was among the high points of the retreat. It was the first time for me, and I guess for many, to actually see AIDS patients who were all near death. They looked so thin, fragile and shriveled. Some had open sores on their lips. But the Filipino Franciscan nuns continued to lovingly care for them. They provided these terminally ill patients who had been rejected by their own families and by other hospitals with clean beds, good food, adequate medical care and, most of all, compassionate love and care. We could see in their smiling faces, though devastated by the AIDS virus and other accompanying illnesses, the joy that they felt while listening to the Christmas songs. But I believe it was not so much the songs that touched them. After all, we did not really sing that well. And since they were Thai Buddhists, they neither understood the English songs nor had a very clear idea of what Christmas and Christmas carols were all about. I believe they were touched because they felt that there were people who still cared for them – they who were already dying and rejected by society, even by their own families. What raced in my mind while we were singing to them were the following questions: Would they receive the grace of being baptized as Christians before dying? How many more AIDS victims would die without knowing Christ? I also thought what wonderful work these Franciscans were doing! Would CFC ever be able to raise enough resources to establish similar facilities for the care of the destitute and the dying? Would CFC ever be able to evangelize these thousands of AIDS victims in Thailand? Would they ever hear the Good News that they too were God’s own people, that they too were children of God, because Jesus also died for them? The following day, as I ended the final talk, exhorting the community to even greater service in the coming year, Jun Tabeta, who was absent during the previous day, raised his hand and asked the question: But in Thailand, there are very few Catholics that could be the target of our work of new evangelization. Should not CFC also evangelize non-Christians? Not having heard the sharing of Pats, and not having read the earlier issues of Letters of Aquila and Priscilla, Jun’s question struck me as being inspired by the Holy Spirit. Here was another person who was wondering about exactly the same thing that was preoccupying my mind during the past few months! It was a fitting conclusion to the retreat. It was as if the Holy Spirit was saying – yes, proceed with your plan to reach out to all those in mixed marriages (Catholics married to Buddhists) for this would signify the beginning of CFC’s mission ad gentes. My brothers and sisters, on 22-24 February 2002 we will have our third Strategic Christian Life Program for couples in mixed marriages. In Bangkok, there are many Catholic Filipina wives married to Buddhist Thai husbands. Let us invite all of them. Let us hope and pray that this would signify the inauguration of CFC’s mission to evangelize non-Christians. Like the psalmist, let us pray that: All the ends of the earth will worship and turn to the Lord; all the families of nations will bow low before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, the ruler over nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; all who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage (Ps 22: 28-30). This Christmas as we welcome the Child of Bethlehem, as we kneel before the “infant wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger,” let us pray: Jesus Emmanuel, you have come and the angels sing. Let the star of Bethlehem shine once more today to guide and gather your people in Thailand as it guided the wise men towards you. Amen. |
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