mission in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand June 2006

PHILIPPINES

I flew from Los Angeles, California on May 29th to Manila, Philippines. After meeting so many Pilipino Catholics in so many countries while Missioning these last seven years, it was an honor and a joy to be able to visit such a blessed country. It is rather unique to find the Philippines as a true Catholic jewel in the midst of a true ancient pagan continent. Philippines shines in the midst of it, because it has received Christ with obedience and observance to sacred tradition and to the Hierarchy of the Church, in spite of so many years since the Spaniards left, after evangelizing them. They remain faithful to Christ and the Catholic faith. You find small groups of protestants here and there, rather isolated and mostly embracing newly convert Asian foreigner and confused Philippines who didn't grow up in solid families. New age is a force that like in many Catholic countries throughout the world, is appearing to be threatening, due to the lack of knowledge as to what it really is. The whole universal Catholic church needs to be evangelized in this regard. But in general, I was very confident about the Philippine's faith. I met with a very generous and kind family who welcomed me and introduced me to different prayer groups in the city. I met brother Anthony and his community in the outskirts of Manila. They gave me a warm welcome and introduced me to their very anointed work of charity where they host an orphanage, nourished by a number of monks who devoted their life to mission with the abandoned children; some of whom were picked up from the trash as babies.
The work is so immense and so beautiful, that words will not suffice by any means. I can only tell you, that it will humble the most proud one.
I met with the charismatic and after five days in the country I left with the commitment to come back soon to continue with a much larger mission throughout the country. One thing in particular that I highly admire about Asian Catholics, is the reverence they have in the temple. At the moment of sharing the peace during the celebration of the Eucharist, they bring both palms of the hands together to their chest and bow to the person on the right and the one on the left, acknowledging the peace without a word, but in a very solemn way, making you aware of the sacredness of the whole celebration, keeping the mystic of the sacrifice alive. This being one of the many other particulars of their ways of venerating.
It has been to me very difficult to be part of masses in North America, where at the moment of sharing the peace, the whole church turns into a social gathering where what is sacred is no longer there and people become so important, that the greetings could extend for a while, interrupting the sacredness of the sacrifice.
It was a very uplifting experience to visit Philippines and I'm looking forward to my next mission there God willing. IT was agreed with brother Anthony to form a group of my mission Pilgrims of Love for the continent of Asia, a missionary group, to be sent throughout the continent to evangelize.
Please pray for this courageous country, so that they maintain the faith in spite of these times.

MALAYSIA June 06

After Philippines, I flew to Malaysia, to Penang and then to Kuala Lumpur. A beautiful country run by a Monarch with a democratic parliament. I must say that even though it is a Muslim country, I didn't feel that the Christians there were under religious pressure, persecution or oppression, as in some other Muslim countries. Thank God!

The Catholic population is very small. The church is wealthy due to the fact that Catholics there are mainly middle class and are well off financially. They are converts from Buddhism and Taoism mainly. I found these converts and especially the new converts, so hungry for Jesus and Mary and all the treasures of the Catholic faith, that it really inspired me and gave me a lot of hope for the conversion of Asia to Christ.
The Lord Jesus showed me with great clarity how it was that these people were chosen by Him to be the missionaries that will enter China in a very large way to evangelize them. They are all of Chinese descent and they all speak mandarin or Cantonese. They know the Chinese culture well and will be able to fuse themselves with the people there making the missionary work much more effective that that of a westerner. The Spirit of the Lord Jesus is at work in a very large way in that continent and I can see how it will rapidly spread throughout the land, now that the Chinese are free to come and go out of the country as they please.
I was able to preach at the Immaculate Conception Church in Penang, two nights in a row and spoke in different prayer groups. It was a very anointed opening of a mission that already began and it looks as if the Lord Jesus will keep it on fire for a good while to come.
Please keep in your prayers all of these Catholics of Malaysia, they really need your prayers, so that they will have the courage to follow the calling of the Lord to go and take the Gospel to the main land.

THAILAND June 06

I united in prayer with the missionaries of the Golden Chain of the Holy Rosary from London, England who were on a beautiful and powerful mission to pray for the suffering souls of the tsunami victims. We were Missioning in those countries around the belt where the tsunami struck. It is devastating to see the decadent and immoral life of Thailand. They are living a business sexual life, where they sell to tourists their little children and there are so many moral issues in the country that one will need a great treaty to present it. Catholics need to be brave and evangelize these poor souls that are in great danger of eternal perdition. Thousands of souls were trapped by the tsunami, unprepared and without having the least knowledge of God. The missionaries of the Rosary Golden Chain went throughout the places where they felt many suffering souls needed prayer. We all have to pray for those souls and make sure that we place them all at the foot of our Lady's intercessory prayers, so that our mission as a Eucharistic family in Christ is fulfilled.