Surprising Grace

In the past weeks, I have often felt as if I was living in two worlds. When on the phone with family and friends in Singapore, while listening to international news, or joining in various prayer events against COVID-19, I am in a world where anxiety over the COVID pandemic is front and center, with its grievous toll of thousands dying alone, overburdened health systems, and the valiant sufferings of frontliners. This is a world of masks, hand-washing, daily case number updates, and - thankfully - inspiring acts of kindness between people. Some of the people around me in Metro Manila, though, live in another kind of world. I became acutely aware of this on the first day that we were locked down. Jose (not his real name), a homeless man whom we knew, rang the bell. I had never seen him so terrified. The local officials were asking him to get off the street or be arrested. But where could he go? The street was where he lived and collected recyclables for a living. He needed rent mone...

This reflection by Afra fcJ was inspired by the FCJ Constitutions, #276. I can only change myself….      What I cannot accept about others           reveals aspects of me that I haven’t fully accepted      What annoys me about others and my surroundings           speaks of disharmony inside me that calls out for balance      What triggers my disproportionate behaviours           points to brokenness within me that needs healing      What inspires me about others           awakens my deep desires      and what are my deep desires           but God’s desires in me, and for me? I can only change myself. The time for conversion is today,      is now. I don’t have to wait for tomorrow      because there is always something I can change about my...

Here I am again at the airport in Manila, waiting to fly back to Singapore for a visit. Being here again reminds me of the times I have been here before. The first, while on the way home for a visit after my first 6 months in Manila living with the sisters -- a time of much fear and struggle as I found myself bereft of all the externals that had seemed to make up my life before. The second, a year later, on the way to start my novitiate in Indonesia -- a more hopeful time when I was sad to leave the roots I had begun to grow here, but looking forward to a new adventure. The airport has changed. Back on my first visit it had just been ranked the worst airport in the world, but now this terminal has undergone a facelift. While the outside still looks the same, the inside is now modern and bright. I can't help but think that it is a metaphor for my own changing -- inside. I haven't had many of the common external milestones by which to measure progress -- a job promotio...