A Call to Missions -
Broken and Hungry for Love
For most of my life, I sought love and approval from those around me. In fact, I can confidently say that my desire for those things put me on a path that lead me through trials and made me who I am today.
Those trials have made many view my family as broken, unworthy of any kind of earthly love much less divine love. The sad thing is I believed all that was true, I believed I was broken. But it is truly amazing how God can mend the Broken. How he can love the most unworthy of His servants. My family and I remind you, we are sinners. We have done nothing to deserve his love, a love he pours out over us relentlessly. Our Lord’s understanding of love and the worth of his people is priceless and commands a certain respect but more so creates a longing for an intimate relationship with him. His love for us demands a proper reaction from us and that reaction should be a true desire to know him; to be closer to the one who loves us so unconditionally.
St Thomas Aquinas boldly stated “The actual effect of the Eucharist is the transformation of man into GOD”. St Thomas knew something I had not known before. He knew that when we seek Christ within that tiny white Host during Holy Communion. Christ himself will most certainly be there, veiled and concealed in the host. He knew that eyes could not see, and the unbelieving souls that approached the host could not have ever know it was truly Christ, but it is Christ that sets a fire that is set within our hearts. A desire that we would truly become one with him and know of his, no strings attached love for each of us. The past is the past. Unconditional love; that is what he has for each of us. That is the missing link to our soul. My soul had been starving for all those years and my heart was in need of his unconditional love, in order to find fulfillment in my Faith, religion, and life all together. I had to come to terms with that fact. God loves me and my broken family unconditionally and only He can fulfill us, no other love of flesh can do that. The Eucharist truly transformed my family into one with him.
A little less than 2 decades ago, I, as an adult, became Catholic; receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ for the 1st time in my life. I honestly had no Idea that God would place on my heart the desire to know him & everything about the wonderful Catholic Church and her teachings. I had no idea he would use our brokeness to help others see his healing powers.
We find an amazing peace and strength only our God could give to my family and I. An amazing peace that allows us to recognize that he is calling us out of the boat and into the water just as we heard so many times in the Gospel reading found in Matthew 14: 22-33, with Peter saying…… "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" Just like Peter, we too have been tempted to stay in the boat out of fear and doubt, but Christ is there with open arms asking my family to trust in him and to just stay focused on him. He is asking us to have confidence in his love and his forgiveness and to get out of the boat and follow him to the ends of the earth.
God is calling my family into a life among the poor and to many this might sound unheard of or foolish. Corinthians 1:18 says “for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power God.” He truly saved us, He has softened our hearts and for over two years, has mended the broken pieces in preparation to send us out. My family has heard his call for us to live our life in a radical way, among the poor. To live among the poorest of the poor; to totally surrender to His will and to look to Him and beg of him to supply all that we need. To tell those who have not heard of his miracles, that He waits to perform for them in their lives. To tell how he can make the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk. To tell how he wants to love them. To tell how he will never ever break their hearts. To tell how he has been waiting for all of us, for over 20 centuries in the tabernacle as the great St. Josemaria Escriva points out. To tell how he just wants to love us unconditionally & to fill our hunger. Two thirds of the over 7 billion people living today have never been introduced to Jesus.
In the book written by ST. JOHN PAUL II, called MISSION OF THE REDEEMER it says “NO BELIEVER IN CHRIST, NO INSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH CAN AVOID THIS SUPREME DUTY: TO PROCLAIM CHRIST TO ALL PEOPLES.”
We are very grateful God has called us to become Catholic Foreign Lay Missionaries among an amazing mission team known as the Family Mission Company based out of Abbeville Louisiana. Over the last year, we have sold or given everything we have away. We take only what fits in our suitcases and the words of our Lord with us to some of the darkest corners of the world to proclaim His good news. We embark on this not so glamorous, but oh so glorious call to a life in foreign missions this September. After our three month training has ending, in early January we will be assigned a country where we will live among the poor and will journey with them as we seek the face of Christ among them and share in our love for our Catholic Faith with in their communities.
He has healed, He has called, and each day he continues to renew us, and in response my children and I have been undergoing a divine transformation; by detaching ourselves from the world’s materials as He transforms us into beggars for the Gospel. We have detached ourselves from our possessions and will live on the providence of our mission partners in order to serve the poor and live in solidarity with the poor. Though poor ourselves, we will live lives of generosity to the poor, showing a preferential option for the poor, as the Church teaches.
Romans 10:14-15 it says “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?” As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove
than the hunger for Bread” Mother Teresa
Follow the link to become one of our much needed mission partners delcastillo.familymissionscompany.com
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