Last
Sunday, February 10th, Father Mike talked about
conversion. With the Gospel being about the Apostles catching more
fish than they had expected, he used the letters of the word “FISH”
as a very suitable acronym for conversion, meaning Fascination,
Invitation, Sense of Unworthiness, and Humble Submission.
My
friend, JC, who is a fellow servant in the Feast Mall of Asia Music
Ministry, recently shared his own FISH story and posted it online.
His story inspired me to write my own.
FASCINATION
I
first heard about the Feast from my mentor, whom I fondly call Mommy
Val. She had mentioned it quite a few times that she attended the
Feast on Sundays, saying once that when she brought her daughter (who
was my age), the talk was very appropriate for her. I was intrigued,
but back then I was more than content having my Sundays to myself.
Yet, part of me was curious about the talks because Mommy Val
mentioned Bro Bo Sanchez quite a few times during our training’s
lecture time with my fellow dance scholars every Saturday.
INVITATION
I
was all set to have an entire 4-day weekend to myself for Holy Week
of 2014. Then a couple of weeks prior, Mommy Val invited us scholars
to Bo Sanchez’s Holy Week Retreat. Only 5 of us showed interest. We
spent the Holy Week like an actual retreat, with just 5 of us staying
in one house, and then we joined Mommy Val and her family in PICC in
the mornings for the retreat. My first Feast was huge, because it was
the Grand Easter Feast. I was enamored by the talks and the worship.
Watching the worship team sing with such passion, I was inspired, and
I told myself that someday, I will be where they were standing.
SENSE
OF UNWORTHINESS
Even
after I left my position with the scholars, I continued going to the
Feast. I didn’t care even if I went alone. I realized that the
talks were things I needed to hear, when I was quite used to hearing
only things I merely wanted to hear. I was helping myself by still
bringing myself to the Feast every Sunday, even though I was at my
low points. Ever since I changed paths in 2015, I felt as if I had no
direction, so I kept going to the Feast and there I would feel
refreshed and inspired. Whenever I felt lost, it seemed as if the
talks pushed the right buttons.
HUMBLE
SUBMISSION
After
my somewhat random beginning as a servant-actor back in 2015, I am
still serving, now as part of the music ministry, mostly with the
Feast Mall of Asia Chorus. My growth in the ministry had been quite
challenging, because looking back, I knew that one of my first
objectives to serve in the music ministry was out of mere vanity when
I was starting out. I gradually realized that everything happens in
its own time, and things may not turn out as I had expected. I had
not been elevated as expected when the opportunity came 2 years ago.
He gave me an even bigger task--to learn how to lead, and to learn
how to make new leaders as well within our ministry. And hey, as it
turns out, God had a different reason to put me up on that huge stage
that I was looking at during the Grand Easter Feast 2014. It had come
full circle when it was also for the Holy Week Retreat, not only once, but twice (hello, Mary
Magdalene 2017 and Mother Mary 2018).
So, what’s your FISH story?
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