Little by Little (with a Mop)

I am feeling sleepy and tired this morning as I dragged myself to the dorm to do my chores. The mop seemed a ton heavier than usual. The will to clean is as dry as the late-summer June air enveloping me. This is one of those days when you feel the "drag". Cleaning the whole floor area seemed like an impossible task. It would take forever.

I racked up my brains to find some inspiration to fight the dull air. I remembered that in moments where facing a great challenge seems impossible, in this case mopping the dorm floor, it takes little by little to finish the job. Heavy as it seems, I took the mop by the handle and painstakingly mopped the floor. It took forever it seems but as I went on and on, I saw how much progress I have made.

Sweat fell like torrent in the humid dorm room. Back and forth, back and forth, I went on and on and on. I began slow but as looked at how much I have done already I picked up the pace and five minutes before the bell rang, I finally did the impossible. Whew! It was a tough job to begin with, a challenge to keep on, and self-fulfilling to accomplish.

Life is just like that. There are things that seems impossible to start but we have to start doing it anyway. After all, a journey of a thousand miles begin with a simple step. Experiencing the "drag" may discourage us but keeping the will to go on will begin a positive cycle that will build on the previous step how little it might be. Sooner we will be shocked to find ourselves flying through life in swift and bounding leaps.

Maybe when we feel a little discouraged, we should pick up a mop and start cleaning.

It is the Lord who Calls

I was just talking with the KOA of Majada under the Acacia Tree fronting the chapel while waiting for the tricycle ride back to the Post Novitiate when a van stopped and opened its window. A lay minister was inside inviting to give me a ride back to the very door step of Don Bosco. I was quite happy to oblige since it would save me the hassle and around P20.00 of fare.

We had a good chat with the lay minister as he was driving. He was sharing to me his experiences of serving the parish for some two years already. He had a colorful life. He wasn't very keen in participating more in Church at first, in fact he was evasive to invitations. Not until he had a turn in his life that he opted to serve as a lay minister and bringing God to the people.

It is really the Lord who calls, not us who choose to be called. He calls whoever he wills. Among the Salesians, there are engineers, dentists, and accountants who suddenly dropped their tools of trade to answer the voice from within. It's a mysterious and personal encounter that makes a 180 degree turn. Vocation is a personal, unmerited, and unique gift of God to a person. It comes from the Latin word, vocare, which means 'to call'. This call, surprisingly takes on many forms and many paths. We only need to listen well.

All of us are called by the Lord. I pray that when we hear the call we would answer it with faith and trust.

The Good Communicator

The Solemnity of Mary Help of Christians brought me many blessings. A very good confrere and friend, one that can really inspire you and worthy of emulation and imitation, Bro. Donnie Duchin Duya, SDB, gave me a book regarding Salesian Social Communications. As I read through its first pages, I felt a rush of inferiority. With my current standing now, am I worthy to become a Salesian communicator? What is really the essence of communication?

I remember my high school studies in Oral Communication where our great teacher, Ms. Regiene Sarana nee Ynclino, first introduced us to the model of communications: sender-message-medium-receiver-feedback. The model is enough for basic presentation. However, we have come to know that even the sender is a message himself. The advertising industry tells us that delivering the message is all about impact and imprint.

The Christian viewpoint of Communication involves a deeper level of understanding. We model ourselves after Christ, the perfect communicator. Jesus is the Message and His whole life became a message to us. From womb to tomb, He perfectly delivered the Father's message to us. He is the Perfect Communicator. For us to become a good communicator, there must be a seamless integration and identification of message and life, of the exterior and interior life.

This is crucial for us Salesians who want to make a difference in the Social Communications field. As we strive to evangelize the media and make ourselves present to the young even in the internet and the web, we must become the message ourselves - the message of Christ.

So, who is the good communicator? Certainly, it isn't limited to public speaking and media production skills. A person who can speak well in front of people or do a full-length video documentary all by himself fails at communications when he can't deliver the message. Nor is communication limited to delivering the message faithfully and clearly. I believe the good communicator is able to send the message across and transform the receiver to become the message to other people. Communication must have a transforming and transcending power.

This reminds me of stories of how people can inspire others without saying a word. Even a person's presence is enough to touch the hearts of men. Here lies the challenge. A person must embody his own message to such a degree that even his own presence broadcasts it powerfully breaking through the walls of interpersonal distance. Let it be that a young boy look at a Salesian and see Christ and Don Bosco in him.