DIVINE VISIT: Through My Sister's Eyes

It’s been three years since the last visit of Pope Francis’ in the Philippines and up to now it remains a meaningful experience for me and I am so grateful that God made use of Pope Francis as an instrument to touch the lives of the Filipinos.

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With this, I have come up with an article that I pray will constantly remind us of the message God has given us through Pope Francis. When things get tough, look at the Cross. Look up to Jesus.

This reminds me of the verse in Hebrews,

“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” - Hebrews 12:2 New International Version (NIV)

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We should not forget that all of the hardships we have experienced and we continuously experience is incomparable to what Jesus experienced at the Cross. And if there is someone out there who can clearly understand what we feel during our lowest times, it’s Him.

We should learn how to cry. In this competitive world, we were taught to be brave and oftentimes being brave means not having to cry. But on the contrary, the Pope challenged us to learn how to cry because, according to him, only when we too can cry about the things we and others have experienced can we come close to answering the hard questions in life. Know the importance of being one with the poor and needy.

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One thing that I really like about Pope Francis is his high regard for the poor. He always reminds us to journey with them just like what God has instructed us to do – walk with those who are in need. We have much to learn from the poor because they are the ones who have experienced a lot of difficulties in life and they, in a way, had a taste of the suffering of Christ.

Everyone must be given equal opportunities regardless of their gender.
During Pope’s meeting with the young people in Manila, he noticed that there’s only a very small representation of girls who spoke for the youth. This only shows that we still need to improve on giving importance to what others can do regardless of their gender or even age, color, or religion.

"To think. To feel. To do."

This is my personal favorite. I love how the Pope challenged every one of us to make use of our minds, our hearts, and our hands. This also reminds me of my devotion a couple of months back when God revealed to me my ultimate goal in life – to be an extension of His ears and listen to the cries of the world, to be an extension of his hands and reach out to the poor, and to be an extension of His feet and journey with those who suffer.

Give love and, most of all, learn how to receive love.

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This quote from Kovie Biakolo definitely says it all, “We become defined not only by the love that we give, but also by the love that we are willing to receive”.

“Real love is about loving and letting yourself be loved. It’s harder to let yourself be loved than to love. That is why it is so difficult to come to the perfect love of God. We can love Him but we must let ourselves be loved by Him. Real love is being open to the love that comes to you. The love that surprises us. If you only have information you are not surprised. Love surprises because it opens a dialogue of loving and being loved. God is a God of surprise because He loved us first. God awaits us to surprise us. Let us allow ourselves to be surprised by God. Let us not have a computer psychology that makes us think we know it all. All answers on computers – but no surprises. The challenge of love. God reveals himself through surprises. (Pope Francis, 2015)”

On behalf everyone who believes in the Lord, thank you Pope Francis for allowing yourself to be an instrument of God. We will definitely pray for you.

And most of all, thank You, Lord for allowing us to experience and encounter You. We will be forever thankful for everything that You have done.

My prayer is for You to keep the flame of faith burning inside of us forever and always.

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From my Sisters blogpost: https://itsabbieautifulworld.wordpress.com/
Image Source: Crying Lady
Image Source: The Cross