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Gathering with CLC
ExCo big family and for Đồng
Hành as a community. It’s an honor to have CLC ExCo visiting Gia
Đ́nh
Thánh Tâm (GDTT) at Holden on October 13, 2007. The joy is still here
as I’m writing this reflection. I hope this feeling will not fade away
as time goes by.
I joined GDTT as a
Đồng Hành
member four years ago and it changed my life completely. When I heard
that we would have visitors, I was overwhelmed with joy and
excitement. I still remembered a.Hoàng’s face, full of worries, not
enough food, not enough space
in the house to host that many guests. He was running back and forth.
He was even more anxious when he heard that ExCo ran out of gasoline
on the way to Holden!!!. Then, right away he was on mission to rescue
them with a spared gasoline container in the garage. He just reminded
Martha in the Bible when Jesus visited her house.
I had a chance to be
Châu Hoàn’s assistant, watch and do activity with the kids while
adults were meeting upstairs. I had my own children as well. Alan is
going to be 10 by December and
Winona
is 4 yrs old. There were 15 kids together. Everyone made one for
him/herself. This was the most peaceful time during which kids did
their work quietly. The process was time consuming as it took patience
and skills to complete a rosary. I had the opportunity to watch each
and everyone’s different facial expressions and I thanked God for all
his creations. As I watched the kids rehearsing for the skit, I had a
flashback of myself when I was at their age. The thought made me feel
so much younger at at heart.
When ExCo arrived we
had mass right away. Father John shared with us the “gasoline lesson”:
to be aware of the many opportunities presented to us while getting to
the destination. There were offer from father Paul and Mary (they had
offered to drive), the signal from the gas meter and the gas station
on the highway, but everyone (ExCo) was busy conversing. I thought of
my situation a few years ago when I believed I could overcome certain
things myself and was not trusting God. There were many opportunities
given by God to make my life easier, but I offensively ignored Him
until now. Despite all that, I thanked God for those dark days of my
life because without them I would never feel the love God had for me
and my family.
I’m thankful for all
the companionship. We shared conversations, smiles, hugs as if we had
known each other for a long time. As for the kids, they had as much
fun as the adults. I could see the next generation of Đồng
Hành in them.
Mai
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