I used to work in the Philippine Stock Exchange and during the market slump in 1997, the company i worked with transferred me to the Special Projects Department to look into some other good businesses to go into. I left Manila in 2000 because my soul was restless. I don't know what to do yet and so I planned to go into law school. While waiting, i worked with the local station of the largest national media network ... still my heart and soul was not "in synch"!
That was my state when my aunt asked me to volunteer and share my time helping this Non-Government Non-Profit Organization (NGO/NPO) where she volunteers. Prior to this, I had NO idea what an NGO/NPO was! But before I knew it, I was hooked into my volunteer work and eventually became a full-time staff handling Economic Development for the communities we work with. It was, pardon the cliche, a Total Paradigm Shift for me! But i never felt more at home with a job as i do with this one. Never loved a job at all until then!
the JOB eventually became, not a job anymore... it became my life, my devotion, my own personal mission! This piece by Bishop Bienvenido Tudtud, somehow put into words what stirred me into this direction...
When we are too well-pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
because we dreamed too little,
When we have arrived in safety,
because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, O Lord
When, with the abundance of things we Posses,
we have lost our thirst for the Water of Life;
When, having fallen in love with Time,
we have ceased to dream ETERNITY;
And in our efforts to build the New Earth
have allowed our vision for the Heavens to grow dim.
Stir us, O Lord
To dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas, where storms shall show
Thy Mastery
Thy Mastery
Where, losing sight of land, we shall find the Stars
In the name of Him,
Who pushed back the Horizons of Our Hope
And invited the brave to follow.
- Bp. Benny Tudtud, Dialogue of Life & Faith, 1988
(Bishop Bienvenido Tudtud is known as the prophet and apostle of Inter-religious Dialogue in Mindanao, Philippines... read more of him here: Bishop Tudtud by Fr. William Larrouse,MM)
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