Something beautiful for God

by Yas Jayson Sunday, October 21, 2018 1 palagay god of greater scheme people are people stranger's tide what matters most

(World Mission Sunday, 2018)

What does it mean to do mission today?

For the past week, I had the privilege to work with amazing people, sisters and lay, who direct the many and diverse Good Shepherd ministries in Asia Pacific region. Gathered in one place for five days are some of the maddest people I have met in my lifetime. There is Sr. Rasangi, frail looking and weighs less than fifty kilos, who lives in a small house by the sea so she can work directly with the fishing community. There is Sr. Aruna with her booming voice, lawyer by training, who has been championing better life conditions for the dalit women (the untouchables who belong to the lowest caste). There is Stella, fourth CEO in the span of two years of the programs in Australia-New Zealand and the only one crazy enough to be in her position for so long. There is Benedict from India, as big as Mr. Dursley, and Bimal from Nepal,  men with extraordinary passion in community development. And there is Sr. Lakana, with limited English in her vocabulary, working with sex workers in Thailand. From this group I remember my own colleagues and the sisters back in Philippines. We all have big dreams about the women and girls whom the society has forgotten.

We talked about how many of our ministries survive from grant to grant while some have been able to get by through diverse incomes and state funding. It is somehow true to say that the Lord gives us our daily bread, however decrepit some our shelters may look, we never lack what is necessary. God’s daily providence allows us to open development programs in communist states, operate hundreds of 24/7 safe homes and crisis intervention centers from Taipei to Colombo, free up thousands of girls from prostitution and trafficking in ports and brothels, hold demonstrations to assert the rights of disenfranchised, convince mothers that there is more to life when they dream bigger dreams, and live lives that are completely disposed to the invitation of God to be shepherds after His own heart. And the example of the sisters from the yesteryears who lived lives of constant openness and generosity have put a profound impact to me and many other lay people I have come to know as I continue working for the sisters since 2016. As I look at the faces in the room and count how many lay people have been working for the region, I am assured that the mission of the Good Shepherd started many years ago by a small daring woman in Angers, France by the name of Mary Euphrasia will continue on, with sisters or without.

It was Thursday when we went to visit the community of the elderly sisters in Negombo. The compound used to house the novitiate where they entered as young ladies full of ideals and had their training before becoming a sister. I could still see the fire in their eyes despite their infirmities. In a small room with nothing but a hospital bed, a mosquito net, a table, and few water bottles, I found Sr. Catherine, 86, who lays still and nothing but her fingers to move. For almost four decades she has been missioned to Khartoum, working with children and refugees. When she left Sri Lanka as a much younger sister, she told her superiors that the only condition she would go back is if in her physical weakness she is no longer useful to the mission. So Sr. Catherine have returned to her country only to do her final training - the arduous and beautiful process of dying gracefully. The circle of life for a Good Shepherd sister begins and ends in that novitiate. Nearby is a plot of land where many like her have been buried, their final resting place.

So if you ask me what does it mean to do mission today, it means living our lives so generously given to others that little is left of ourselves, barely recognizable, only to find final valuation in the loving gaze of God. It is not about living perfect vocations but living our chosen vocations with perfect intentions. It means being where the people are hurting the most, in places where truth is always subject to relative positions, in streets and corners of the world that need the assuring presence of the Good Shepherd who shares with our suffering and brokenness everyday.

To be a missionary today means to be broken and shared, only for God to make whole again.

If you are a missionary in any way reading this, thank you for your witnessing.