¡Viva Cristo Rey!
upon arrival to the new mission post.
Well here I am again sitting in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. I’ve spent many a days’ here dropping off, picking up and flying out. I’ve always enjoyed this airport and have had many divine appointments here. This time as I sit in front of Gate E27, flight 5940 non-stop to Monterrey, Mexico there is a new feeling. I’m ready to go but slightly nervous of not knowing what’s to come. I already miss my family terribly but am exited to see my brothers and sisters in Mexico. I know this is where Jesus wants me to be and the promptings of the Holy Spirit are strong. I must go! I have to go! How can I stay and do nothing when whole nations are hungering and thirsting, not just for food and water but for the hope in an eternal home and that there is a God who loves them with an everlasting, infinite, and passionate love. Pope JP2 cried out repeatedly (almost 20 years ago) in his encyclical “Redemptoris Missio” that the mission of the church is “urgent”, and that “we must commit ourselves whole-heartedly to its service.” Jesus is calling me. I must respond!
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” – 2 Corinthians 12:9
As I sit in the terminal I think to my self, “In less than three hours I will be in Mexico”. A rush of emotions comes over me. “How can I do anything? I am just one little person. I’m only 20years old. What makes me qualified to take on such an important task. This is what the church refers to as her ¨greatest and holiest duty”. I feel so small, so insignificant. Wait…. the truth is that, I am. It’s ok that I feel that way. It’s important to recognize that none of this is possible without the grace of God, because the temptation is to think that I have done any of this by my own abilities or talents, or that it’s me who this mission depends on. No! It’s not my mission. It’s the mission of the Redeemer. Whew! That is a great thing to know, because it takes so much pressure off of me.
I often hear it said that ¨God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. ¨What qualified David when he took on the giant? Or Joshua when he led the Israelites across the Jordan River? Or Peter, when Jesus gave him the keys of the kingdom? Or Mary, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her asking her to mother the Son of God? God calls us and because he has called us we are qualified. I would be lying if I told you that I understood this completely. God’s ways are so far beyond what I can understand or comprehend. Every time we think we have figured Him out we have only but scratched the surface. We must have faith! Without it we can do nothing.
So Yes! I will take a leap of faith and be docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirits, doing all I can the best I can, leaving the rest in the hands of God. I know that it won’t be easy, Jesus never promised that. What He did promise was this: “I am with you always, to the close of the age.”-Matthew 28:20 THANK YOU FATHER! Thank You for calling me to be Your missionary son.
