People you meet in the morning

Yesterday on my way back to Sihanoukville from Phnom Penh, I missed the 7:15 bus. Since I still had half an hour of waiting time for the next one, I decided to take my breakfast in one of those open air stalls just beside the station.

Just then a shoe shine boy accosted me but seeing that I was wearing rubber slippers, he quickly excused himself. I thought that if I were wearing leather shoes or sandals I could have parted with some of my money for this boy who was honestly trying to earn a living. But there was no need for that since another man next to me employed his services and he started on his early morning work just beside where I was eating my bowl of noodles.

Then an elderly man on crutches approached me and begged for some money. I didn’t seem to care because I said to myself that although he was physically handicapped, he could still earn a living doing something other than begging. Fortunately for him, the couple sitting on the next table offered him some loose change.

Now I was really feeling uneasy with myself.
I remembered one of those sayings: “If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.”

Suddenly, a monk appeared in front of me barefooted and dressed in his worn-out saffron robe, carrying an umbrella in one hand and a begging bowl on the other. Without thinking twice, I took out a few riels to put in his begging bowl.
That night I slept soundly.

Had I lost this opportunity for almsgiving, I’m afraid I might have ended up praying to You: “Lord let your face shine on me…” and You would have answered: “Three times I approached you and you did not recognize me. For whatever you do to the least of these, you do unto Me.”

Move, moved, moving (again)

I’m moving to another community again. I’ve been given my new obedience (assignment) - Poipet by September. Funny, I haven’t finished unpacking and now I’ll have to pack them up again. People keep asking me how I feel about moving...

Well, I think that moving can always have a significant meaning to any person. To the fearful it could be threatening because things might get worse. To the hopeful it could be encouraging because things might get to be better there. To the confident it could be inspiring because of the challenges one could meet.
But I’m not telling what it is for me -to keep you guessing.

Foxes have holes and birds have nest, but You have no [permanent] place to lay your head. Why should I be any different if I long to follow You?

Can you spot the difference?

Last Christmas I took this photo of three Dominican Sisters together with some Filipinas. The picture was taken after the Mass in the makeshift church since renovations started in the main church. Today, after six months of adaptation here in Sihanoukville, I once again took their photo with the same Filipinas (with some additionals) this time in front of the newly-renovated church right after we finished the Mass. Can you spot the difference?

The religious habit is actually the symbol for poverty. During the middle ages (when most of the mendicant orders started) the habit being the same for all in a particular monastery or convent saw to it that no one was richer or poorer than the other brothers or sisters. Ironically, to have a religious habit made today costs more than the average man's clothes. Anyway, habit or no habit, Don Bosco once said: "It is not the habit that makes one a religious but virtue."