NEW BLOG UPDATE- MARCH 28, 2006

Juan Pablo has asked me (Isabel, his aunt) to update his blog letting you all know how his formation progresses. I will do my best to convey his words but I want you to know, and please bear with me, that “some things” may be lost in translation.

Juan Pablo is already in Tijuana. He has been accepted for entrance at the Missionaries of Charity Fathers along with three other candidates. He arrived in Tijuana on Tuesday, March 21st and started his first stage of formation on Saturday, March 25th. Nevertheless, from day 1 Juan Pablo and his brothers started their “work” by visiting with those living in the sewer system and by taking them food and the word of the Lord. On Juan Pablo’s own words, “Now I am starting to understand what the dark hole really means.”

As you know, before his journey started, we, (his mother, 3 aunts and 1 uncle, and two cousins) had the opportunity to share with him 5 days in New Smyrna which will be always cherished thanks to his love and testimony.

Please pray for Juan Pablo and for those who devote their lives to serve in the name of the Lord.

"The harvest is plentiful,but the laborers are few;pray therefore theLord of the harvestto send out laborers intoHis harvest."(Lk 10:2)

MC LAND!!!

ENGLISH

Happy feast of the Annuncination of the Lord!
I AM HERE!!!! today, March 25th, 4 of us will be received as a candidate for the MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY FATHERS by the co-founder of the order, Fr. Joseph, MC who is celebrating 28 years of priesthood today!!! :)

Please pray for us and for another 2 brothers who will be joining us soon!

Missioners and Honduras, i miss you and love you! United in the HOLY EUCHARIST!
AARON, WE ARE WAITING AND PRAYING FOR YOU!
ALY, happy birthday in advance, and await your song by snail mail!

BLESSED BE GOD FOREVER! IT IS GOOD TO BE HERE...SO GOOD TO BE HERE!
THROUGH MARY TO JESUS...ALL THE WAY!!!

IT IS TIME

Toma mis manos, te pido
Toma mis labio, te amo
Toma mi vida, Oh Padre tuyo soy, tuyo soy!

ENGLISH

After 4 days in Florida with my mom, 3 aunts, 2 cousins, 2 uncles, 2 awesome cats and unexpected encounters with Jesus in thirsty hearts and in His beautiful creation, i am ready to travel to the desert! Well i am not ready, but i believe that is better this way because i can only trust and ENTER IN!


This is my last post before TIJUANA, so please pray for and with me. May God's Will be done!!!

I will not have e-mail access (finally!!!) so please write me to the address in San Diego, California and check the blog every now and then for updates from my family.

BE ONLY ALL FOR JESUS, BE HOLY! -Madre Teresa
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ESPANOL

Despues de varios hermosos dias en la Florida con mi madre y otros familiares, gatos y encuentros cercanos con Jesus en los corazones sedientos y en la belleza de su creacion ha llegado la hora de entrar al desierto y confiar en que Dios continua haciendo lo imposible!

No tendre acceso al internet (por fin libre!) asi que por fa escribanme a la direccion en San Diego, California y chequeen el blog de ves en cuando para ver actualizaciones de mi familia.

Oren por mi y conmigo para que se haga la voluntad de Dios y podamos estar sensibles y conformes a ella!

SEAN TODO SOLO PARA JESUS, SEAN SANTOS! - Madre Teresa

TRANSITUS

ENGLISH

I am in New Smyrna Beach, Florida...transition is tough! God's Grace is sufficient!
But what could be better for Lent, than to exit a place so fond to my heart, to literally enter the Desert of Tijuana and surrender completely! Not a clue how that is supposed to happen, but somehow it is taking place and Yaweh-Jirah, God is providing! :)

i wanted to thank everyone who has supported me in the last years, since my conversion began, and specially to thank every soul that lifted prayers and every body that worked to give me financial support in the mission of Honduras. i want to invite you to continue doing so (www.missioners.org).
I cannot express what i wish to my brothers and sisters in Honduras...but i think you guys know my heart, and i think it is better to listen to God than to me go on and on and on!
The lessons learned are powerful firewood for the little stove of our heart, which longts so much to burn for Christ and His Gospel, and so we must choose to not look back and dive into the holes of Jesus suffering and know Him, Love Him and Serve Him, in every little thing we do...because our days are made up of them. The extraordinary will come every once in a while...but why wait! Give all, now!
Blessed be the Name of Jesus!

ESPAÑOL

Estoy en New Smyrna Beach, Florida...la transición no es fácil, es muy dura! La Gracia de Dios es suficiente!
Pero, ¿Qué podría ser mejor para la Cuaresma? Salir de un lugar tan cercano a mi corazón, para entrar literalmnete al desierto de Tijuana y rendirme completamente! No tengo idea de como se supone que lo haré, pero de algún modo esta pasando -¡Yaveh-Jirah, el Dios proveé! :)

Quiero agradecer a todos los que me han apoyado en los últimos años desde que comenzó mi conversión, y especialmente a cada alma que ha elevado oraciones a Dios y cada mente y cuerpo que ha trabajado para apoyarme economicamente en la misión de Honduras. Los invito para que lo sigan haciendo! (www.missioners.org)
No puedo expresar lo que deseo a mis hermanas y hermanos en Honduras...pero creo que ustedes conocen mi corazón, y que es mejor dejar el silencio para escuchar a Dios que seguir escuchándome a mí...hablar y hablar...y hablar!
Las lecciones aprendidas son leña poderosa para el pequeño horno de nuestro corazón que desea con todas sus fuerzas arder por Cristo y por su Evangelio; así que debemos escoger no mirar atrás y entrar sin miedo en las llagas de Jesús sufriente para conocerlo, amarlo y servirlo en cada cosa pequeña que podemos hacer...porque nuestros días se componen de esas oportunidades. Lo extraordinario llegará de ves en cuando...pero para qué esperar! Dalo todo ahora!
¡ALABADO SEA JESUCRISTO!

T MINUS...

HELLO DEAR CHILDREN OF GOD THE FATHER!

 

i have dates now!

i will leave Honduras on Wednesday the 15th of March!

 

i will be in the US, somewhere in Florida with my mother and some wonderful family for 5 days.

I will fly to San Diego, California on the 20th of March, Godwilling and enter Mexico by land!

 

Candidacy with the MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY- FATHERS begins on the Feast of the ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD, March 25th, 2006.

 

Please e-mail me if you can before this date, or else you might never get a reply.

MY ADDRESS IN TIJUANA WILL BE:

 

JUAN  PABLO RODRIGUEZ M.

MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY FATHERS

2498 ROLL DRIVE     PMB-815

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

92154

 

MAY THE JOY OF THE LORD BE OUR STRENGTH!

PATHWAYS OF LIFE

There i was in the car with Daniel Hinckley (my mission dad), husband of Michelle and father of Juan Pablito and newly born Emmanuel! They are volunteers for the Franciscan Friars down here and my beloved friends. So Daniel asked me about the spirituality of the MC Fathers, requesting me to write him a detailed letter once i arrive at Tijuana, sharing all about the spiritual affairs of the order. So i have been thinking about it, and i realized that the mystery in which Blessed Mother Teresa was submerged, the infinite thirst of Christ, is a Divine Revelation and it would take many lifetimes to begin to understand it...but Mother Teresa isnot a saint because she received this revelation, but because she became a channel of the Grace of God and she responded to it by living the message of Redemption, accepting the Cross of suffering and dying in life for Christ and for the poor.
Even though we might not understand the immensity of the Love and Mercy of God, we can touch it and receive it, so that we may live it and give it. It is a Love that produces Thirst; a Love that quenches Thirst.

"God's passionate love for his people—for humanity—is at the same time a forgiving love. It is so great that it turns God against himself, his love against his justice." (Deus Caritas Est, 10; Benedict XVI)

So much Love, even capable of reducing y humilliating itself to the smallest of things created, and the more despised and not appreciated: poverty, thirst, hunger...bread? Such powerful myestery, such abominal Love makes iself possible to be lived because it was translated to a human language through Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh:

"...the mystery of the Cross: so great is God's love for man that by becoming man he follows him even into death, and so reconciles justice and love." (Deus Caritas Est, 10)

For Him who cries out "I Thirst" we now have an answer in the Divine language, translated into the living and active love of charity.
"If i speak in the tongues of men or even angels, but i have no Love, i am nothing but an empty metal, a crashing cymbal." (1 Corinthians 13, 1)
It is not necessary to have all the words, since only 2 were enough to express how we ought to live and die: I THIRST.
All human beings experience thirst, both physiological and spiritual thirst, which allow us to relate closely to the Lord Jesus on the Cross and in the distorted face of the hungry and thirsty for love.

"(No one) can sympathize who is "outside" the suffering of others. "Crucifixion with Christ," through zeal and work, andself-denial, will wnlighten others by reminding them that Our Lord carried His scars with Him to Heaven. When, therefore, He lays His hand affectionately on any heart, he leaves the impression of His nails." (F. Sheen, "The Priest is not his own")

To enter the mystery that lead Mother Teresa to be holy, means to enter, once and for all, into the very life of God in our own suffering humanity and to RESPOND with the Love that moves Heaven and Earth, but it is pronounced with hands of Mercy and compassionate smiles. When we speak this language the meaning of suffering is truly transformed and Heavn is shaken!

"The sick will be assured that their sufferings are not a punishment for their own sins so much as an opportunity to join in reparaton for the sins of the world." (Sheen)

In the case of Daniel and Michelle, as well as all married couples, the call to parenthood is implied and it is not necessary to seek dramatic or exhuberant ways of responding to the cry of Thirsty Love. They respond each day in their very home, loving in the smallest actions their little helpless babies who, just as the poorest of the poor, would die if we were not fulfilling our duty. This is the means for their sanctification and their proclamation of the Gospel!

"Am i not to drink that cup which my Father Himself hasappointed for Me?" (John 18, 11).

Father, mother, son, daughter, missionary, priest, doctor, engineer, street sweeper, student, teacher...does it really matter? YES! but not in the way the world believes. Each one of us has a specific call, but it only makes sense as a call within the universal call to holiness...on whatever side of the Altar you are on Sunday.

"For this is the will of God, your sanctification...But as touching the charity of brotherhood, we have no need to write to you: for yourselves have learned of God to love one another." (1 Thes. 4, 3&9)

In even the smallest things we do today, let us seek the Thirst of Jesus in the poorest of the poor, so that we may respond with love and we will not allow the opportunity to offer Him our hearts, soul and body to drink pass by.

"Anyone who needs me, and whom I can help, is my neighbour." (Benedict XVI)

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us!
John Paul II, pray for us!