Sanctuaries

[Date Created: July 12, 2012]

by Mark Lawrence Cruz

The work of GK entails a lot of heart work. The demands on each missionary’s skill and time are tremendous but they pale in comparison to the demands on the heart and soul. Because this is mission work, it’s never just about skills and talents. Because this is mission work, what we give is never enough. But because this is God’s work, what we give is always made whole and perfect.

Each day we are reminded of the massiveness of the battles we have chosen to fight. Each day, feelings of inadequacy and personal fears are constant temptations. But I’d like to think that this family of GK workers has persisted and prevailed for 17 long years not because poverty has slowed down or shrunk, but because we have found our sanctuaries along the way.

Gabaldon

During this month’s Recollection, USec Mari Oquinena reminded us that sanctuaries are places where we find our truest selves. Sanctuaries are places where our imperfections are not liabilities but opportunities to grow. Oftentimes, we enter our sanctuaries broken and wounded, but each time we come out renewed and refreshed.

Gabaldon through the years

The first place that comes to mind is my home village of GK Kalayaan in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija. This is where I discovered GK and where my destiny took a turn that led me to the best that life has to offer. Above all, in working for the families who lost their homes, this is where I rediscovered my God. “To love another person is to see the face of God”— this was the kind of encounter that I had. In Gabaldon I forged a new relationship with my God — a holy encounter found in serving the least, the last and the lost.

This encounter was a prelude to the many great things that followed, because it was in Gabaldon that I met some of the most extraordinary people I’ve ever come across. I also encountered the next best thing to rediscovering my God: There in Gabaldon, I found my wife. Since then, we have continued to serve and love the families of GK Kalayaan and lately, even my daughters have taken up the cause. My 5-year old daughter knows that “Gabaldon” is the answer to the question “Where did Tatay and Mommy meet?” This never fails to make my heart burst in joy and gratitude: Knowing that my family’s life is tied to the lives of the residents in this GK village. This community is sanctuary for me and my family – where we trace a huge part of our history and where we go to remind ourselves of who we are and why we do what we do.

The community reminds us of who we are and why we do what we do

Walking Sanctuaries

If places like Gabaldon are sanctuaries where we meet our God, people and relationships are what lead us to God. This beautiful truth I discovered in working with so many patient and loving teachers, guidance counselors, spiritual directors, and a whole lot of Titos and Titas from the community and from GK.

GK Area Coordinators during the monthly recollection

But recently I have been discovering a new breed of mentors—mentors who are just my age or a lot younger than me but have been entrusted with wisdom and passion beyond their years. Rarely do they dispense advice (as would my older mentors) but their very lives and daily work speak powerfully of the message that they hold in their hearts. They soar so high in their love for God and the poor that I often forget we are contemporaries and they appear like giants in my mind. Be it that they are giants but their feet and hands are never far from the ground. Their humble work and passionate service tell me of how huge one can become if one commits to a vision beyond oneself and surrender to a plan not of one’s making.

Finding a new breed of mentors among the young

There are many things that make me grateful in GK, but serving beside these walking sanctuaries is one of the things that I am most thankful for. Their intense faith keeps me believing, their deep respect makes me humble, their sincere humility gives me integrity, and their undying energy has always inspired me never to give up.

Being a Sanctuary

This month’s Recollection invited us to recall and be grateful for our own sanctuaries but more importantly, we were reminded to become sanctuaries for each other. For one like me who has found a sanctuary so many times over, I had to ask myself a difficult and powerful question: Do people find sanctuary in me? Do I play a role in helping people discover their best selves? More importantly, do I lead people to God?

Making this a reality in my life and work is one of the greatest challenges that I eternally try to measure up to. And I pray that the Lord allows this to happen sooner rather than later in my life. But I totally leave that up to Him and the many He’ll send my way.

We challenge the impossible because life is difficult for the poor and we exist to end this difficulty

The work of GK is never easy and it never will be — ease and comfort were never part of the GK equation. We are here because life is difficult for the poor and we exist to end this difficulty. But difficult as it may be, it is never wanting in grace and gratitude because in serving the poor, we find our best selves and encounter God in ever deepening ways. In this work, there is no lack of sanctuaries because each day that we go out there to dare the difficult and challenge the impossible, we make true these words:

“Now you are no longer strangers or guests, but fellow citizens of the holy people: you are of the household of God… In him, you too are being built to become the spiritual sanctuary of God.” — Ephesians 2:19-22

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Gawad Kalinga is not a charity, rather, it's an organization that aims to end poverty by building sustainable communities. Every first Tuesday of the month, GK workers gather for a Recollection to be reminded of the spirit and values behind GK and the reason behind everything that we do. Last July 3, 2012, USec Mari Oquiñena spoke about finding our Spiritual Sanctuary and being molded to become a sanctuary for others.

You too can take part in the work of Gawad Kalinga and become a sanctuary to the people around you, especially the poor and neglected. To volunteer, click HERE.