The Sisters Corner

Hello brothers and sisters! I am Sister Po-Yee Yeung. I was born in Hong Kong, SAR, grew up in Toronto, Canada, and studied in Arlington, USA. I entered the community the Servants of the Plan of God almost 6 years ago. I had been serving in an elementary and secondary school for children and youth with physical handicap, The Joy in the Lord, in Lima, Peru.

I’m Sister Cecibel, I arrived from Peru in February, with many plans and ideas for our service here knowing I would only be here for one year. Because of COVID, everything changed, now I can say this time with you has been a strong spiritual experience of prayer and service doing simple things, sharing smiles and joy with those I met, and praying for those I didn't. Some days ago, I received an important phone call from my General Superior. After a long conversation, she asked me if I wanted to serve in Ecuador next year, and I said Yes!

I knew I’d be here just for a few months, I knew I’d receive a new assignment, and I also wanted to go back to my country to serve the poor. Once again God surprised me, He fulfills and goes beyond my deepest desires! He wanted this before I did it, this is His perfect plan of Salvation for many and for me. And here I am! Again! Happy to serve the plan of God and go wherever He calls me to go and also feeling heartbroken, leaving behind my home, my parents, my brothers and sisters, because you, my dear friends of OLMC, have become this for me, even if we’ve never met or we had to keep social distance, you’re so close to my heart and I’ll keep you all in my prayers.

These past 4 months have been truly challenging because of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most common and certainly human experiences are fear, insecurity and anxiety. It’s precisely these kinds of situations that we experience that we can’t control things even if we feel a certain need to do so. This is a time when we need patience more than ever with ourselves and with others knowing that God is sweetly patient with us first. In these circumstances we have an opportunity to practice what we “already know”. Truths like: He has a purpose, He is a Good Father who is taking care of us, He is with us always no matter what. Perhaps it has been an opportunity where we realize that we truly need to grow in our trust in Him. If we think about it, it’s precisely one of the greatest occasions to actually grow. Let’s ask God to help us be patient and to transform this challenging and difficult time into a time where we learn how to trust in Him a little bit more. With deep and childlike confidence let’s ask Him: “I do believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk 9:24).

As Sisters who come from poor countries, we have been in contact with people in real need most of our lives. Yet we find that those who have less or suffer more are many times the happiest ones. Why? Because they have given their burden to the Lord and trust that He will give them what they need.

Who has not felt the burden that life can bring? (And that takes very different shapes.) Many times, we just spend too much time worrying and troubling ourselves about things we cannot change. Instead, we should give this weight to the Lord and ask Him to help us handle it.

In today’s Gospel there is a very powerful message for all of us that can be of comfort if we allow it to be. God allows us to receive pain, suffering and difficulties in different forms in our lives but He only allows us to carry the weight we can handle. We need to trust more in God and learn to walk more with Him in whatever is difficult in our lives.

t’s a natural experience to desire winning as most of us do not don’t like the experience of losing. Trying to live our faith can be truly challenging. We need to go through a constant conversion so it may change our way of seeing things.

In today’s Gospel we are invited, not to win but to lose, in order to win: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Jesus invites us to win by losing! Prior to hearing Jesus’ words we may ask ourselves: What and why should I lose? What will I find or win when I lose? Following Jesus certainly will imply losing many things in order to win greater ones: losing selfishness to win self-giving or charity, letting go of resentments to live forgiveness, give up trying to control things and grow in our trust in God to take control.

In today's Gospel the Lord mentions "not to fear" several times. Being afraid is a common feeling. Everybody has experienced fear at least once in their lives. We fear when we feel threatened by something or someone. There is also a good type of fear and is actually one of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: FEAR of the Lord; this is a type of fear that instead of drawing us away it drew us closer to God because we fear being away from Him.

What type of fear is the Lord talking here?

Obviously He is taking about the first one. "Do not be afraid" - He says, but, afraid of who? - Of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. God has created us and has given us a body and a soul. Sometimes it is easier to forget about the "soul part" and look more at the body part because is what we can see. However, the Lord is asking us to look a little bit deeper on what is really is important. He is asking us to see the world with different eyes, the type of eyes that not only see what we can touch or feel but the type of eyes that see beyond.

We have the beautiful tradition of receiving Catechumens and Candidates into the faith of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, which is a very significant liturgical feast to us. Those preparing to be received into full communion to the Church look forward to it the whole year. But this year, with the Covid Pandemic, those going through RCIA had to face the uncertainty of not knowing when their sacraments would take place. When we finally got the dates scheduled, we discovered that God really thought this one out.

Last Sunday six baptisms were celebrated during 5pm Mass. It was a beautiful ceremony where our Catechumens were Baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit on none other than at the Feast of the Holy Trinity.

It is always a great gift to be able to help those who are seeking to join the Church and receive their Sacraments. Never has the date for the Sacraments been as anticipated as this year. With all the uncertainty of the Covid pandemic, those going through RCIA were unable to receive their Sacraments at the Easter Vigil as is the tradition. We were just patiently waiting for the reopening of the Church. So when we finally got a date for the Sacraments, it was an occasion for great joy, as you can imagine.

Please pray for our Catechumens and Candidates who will be receiving their Sacraments and joining the Church during this month. June 7 at 5pm Sunday Mass we will have our Catechumens receive the Sacraments of Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation.