Let me tell you, there is NO POSSIBLE WAY we could save this family! Yes, we could give them food and medicine, but we all knew that was just putting a bandaid on a gaping wound. This family needed a SAVIOR, and in a big way!
 |
| Four adults and two children lived in this shack with no running water and no electricity. |
This May, their father Irenao, already unable to walk, suffered a stroke and lost complete use of his right arm and leg. During his hospitalization, their mother, mentally handicapped and partially blind, attempted to care for them, but the results were distressing. Louie and Fe began visibly regressing.
We tried hiring a friend to provide daily home care....
We considered searching for a orphanage or institution that accommodate the whole family...
We wanted a long-term solution to ensure that the children and their parents would be provided for, especially considering that someday there may not be missionaries here to care for them. Seeing that we were powerless, our prayer came from a place of real need: "God, save Your people!"
AND HE ANSWERED!!!!!!!!
My friends, our God is a real God who does real things for real people in the real world! And just when we began to lose hope, Jesus came and brought His light to the darkness of this family's plight.
Our missionary community met together with the family's extended relatives who live on the other side of the island. They are a loving network of aunts, uncles, and cousins who had agreed to care for Irenao until he recovered. But our main purpose of meeting with them carried much more weight.
We asked if they would be willing to take in Louie, Fe, and their parents: to clean, feed, and care for each of them. For life.
After those last words fell from our lips, we waited, scanning their faces to see how they might respond. They themselves are poor, living in a small home on the side of a mountain, but we could see the love they had for one another and the generosity they had already extended to Irenao.
If you were in their place, what would have been your response?
How often Our Lord asks a simple favor of me, a little sacrifice, and I refuse Him. Not wanting to submit myself to unnecessary discomfort or inconvenience, I turn away or leave the task to someone else.
I am being honest when I say that I still have so much to learn from the poor. Because my friends, after just a moment of discussion and all-around nods of approval, this family said yes!!! Yes to opening their home to these four souls in need. Yes to the coming decades of service. Yes to the dirty work, the heavy lifting, the smelly tasks.
They said yes to love.
 |
| Smiles all around! Fe and Louie with their dad in their new home. |
 |
| Praising the Lord during our meeting with the family! |
We are still praising God for this miracle, and now I must beg for your help. We are committed to continue our financial support for their daily needs: four hungry mouths to feed, diapers, and transportation to physical therapy cost about $65 per week, or $260 per month.
Please, please consider donating monthly to provide for this family!! They so desperately need your support and your prayers! Our Lord Jesus has such a special love for them, and I believe that you too will receive great blessings from Him for your generosity on their behalf.
You can donate to my mission fund at rebeccatilyou.fmcmissions.com -- just write "Louie and Fe" in the comments box.
For more on this story, you can read my teammate Melissa's post here.
How great is our GOD!!
Dear Catholic Crusader,
ReplyDeleteFive hundred years ago in 1517, Martin Luther made public his 95 complaints against the Roman Catholic church (hereafter, RCC). Today, we shall do likewise, with another 95 reasons. However, in this critique, we will exclusively fixate on the nucleus of all Catholic doctrine called, Transubstantiation. This teaching is built on the premise that when the priest utters “This is my body” over bread and wine that the “combustible” syllables of these four words ignite with such power and energy that, unbeknownst to our cognizant senses, the substance of bread and wine miraculously change (“by the force of the words” says the Council of Trent; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1375). They are then abruptly replaced with something else entirely; namely, the very body, blood, soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ in some mysterious form which leaves only the outward appearance of bread and wine (i.e., the color, shape, size, taste, weight and texture -- or "accidental" properties, remain unchanged in objective reality). It is claimed that the supernatural power that creates this miracle on a daily basis, 24 hours a day in Masses worldwide, “is the same power of Almighty God that created the whole universe out of nothing at the beginning of time” (Mysterium Fidei, 47). The question is: does the sacred rhetoric of Jesus lead us to conclude He intended it be recited like a magician recites his incantations? (Reason 6, 74). That at the recitation of these four words, the world is obligated to be transfixed on Transubstantiation???
We should think that a rollercoaster of 95 reasons against this doctrine should at least pique your curiosity, let alone make you wonder if, like the calmness of a ferris wheel, you can so calmly refute them. The issue is far from inconsequential, since it’s claimed our very eternal destinies are at stake. So while sensitive to the fact that many are captivated by this doctrine, we are persuaded that the theological framework of the Bible conveys a persistent and vigorous opposition to this theory. God's word tells us to, "study to show yourself approved" (2 Tim 2:15) and we have indeed done just that.
The almost “romantic fidelity” to Transubstantiation springs forth from the opinion that consuming the “organic and substantial” body of Christ in the Eucharist is necessary for salvation (CCC 1129 & 1355; Trent, "Concerning Communion", ch. 1 and “Concerning Communion Under Both Kinds”, ch. 3; Canon 1; Mysterium Fidei, intro). Our burden here is to safeguard the gospel (Jude 1:3). If a religious system professing to be Christian is going to demand that something be done as a prerequisite for eternal life, it is vital to scrutinize this claim under the searchlight of Scripture and with “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16). Proverbs 25:2 says, "the honor of a king is to search out a matter". We shall do likewise.
Determined to test all things by Holy Writ (1 Thess 5:21; Acts 17:11, 2 Cor 10:5), the following 95 reasons have been compiled to an extravagant length to provoke you to consider the cognitive complexities of this doctrine which we conclude are biblically unbearable. We are so convinced the Bible builds a concrete case against this superstition, that we will not allow the things we have in common to suppress the more urgent need to confront the differences that divide us, such as Transubstantiation. We are told this issue directly impacts our eternal destiny, so it must not be ignored. The Lord Jesus came to divide and conquer by the truth of His word. He said, "Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division" (Luke 12:51-53).
For the full essay of 95 reasons, kindly e-mail me at
Eucharistangel@aol.com