remember to smile

Bom dia, Bonjour, Buenos dias or a bit of Hong Kong Cantonese and Annyeong Haseyo. I had a very international-communication experience at the school that I stayed and everywhere I went. All of us were speaking in different languages but we were communicating with the language of love, that's how we understood each other during the World Youth Day. I have not posted anything on Blogger since Jan of 2019. I do not know how or where to start now. I had written some very nice posts which I loved those ideas very much like, marriage proposal, speech and sharing for my wedding banquet and a funny sharing for my church's programme. I didnt publish all of these here, it was because all these writings needs a bit of acting and audiences' interaction.

Grand Opening of JMJ Lisboa 2023

Welcome Papa Francisco

Stations of The Cross

This was the 3rd episode of my Worth Youth Day. I had journeyed these three different episodes with my most beloved Papa Francisco. I always felt good and happy whenever I was living in a same city with Papa, it felt like the love was in the air and that's the air I needed to breathe in. I liked the messages which Papa delivered to the pilgrims, it was very clear and simple. I was very moved to see the way Papa proclaimed the words of God with strength, his passion for work has been burning in his heart, its not easy at his age to do so. The phrase "the church has room for everyone Todos, Todos, Todos" is still repeatedly playing in my head." "You not come here by chance, God call you by your name." The Pope said. Message from the Vigil Night was the one I loved the most, "we need training everyday, yes everyday." Papa said. I was touched by this message, I felt like it was a calling of don't stop trying and don't give up." Another message that I loved was "help them to get up." Its like help those people who are hurt and in need. Sometimes I find that its not easy to help a person; not everyone will accept or open their hearts to me.

Lady of Fatima

We took a Rede Expressos bus to Lady of Fatima on 4th of August 2023(Friday morning). We caught the bus at Oriente Bus Station which was one of the main Portuguese intermodal transport hubs. One of the outdoor shop was selling coffee at this bus station, it felt like heaven drinking that coffee before we hopped on to the bus. When the bus departed, we were sitting beside a few bishops and priests from New York. We said prayer together along the journey, it filled my heart with joy by saying those prayers. After one and a half hour, we finally stepped in the name of Fatima. The Lady of Fatima's square was so large before the gigantic Sanctuary of Fatima. I was having a goosebumps because I was standing underneath a clear blue sky and the Sanctuary of Fatima was right in front of my eyes. It was a dream came true for me. I loved everything about Lady of Fatima, the miracles, the story of the three children and the spectacular view. I said my prayers at Chapel of Apparitions it was where they celebrated the anniversary of Lady of Fatima. After venturing here and there, I had come to the main objective of coming here. At first I was a bit shy to do it but my friend said this was what you came here for, it was walk on my knees on the path of penitential. The path was quite long and there were some small sharp stones on it. It was so painful when I was going through it, those pains reminded me of the Carrying of The Cross of Jesus, the painful journey that Jesus walked through just because he wanted to rescue us and give us lives instead of death, straight away I teared up, how great Jesus love was. It also gave me a lot of healing by doing this. I entrusted my intentions through this Path of Penitential. Now, I would like to share a testimony here. One of my intentions that I asked Lady of Fatima to intercede was I wanted to change a new job which I had been asking this for three years and my prayer was finally answered, I had successfully gone through two interviews and that company decided to hire me last month. I had been going for many job-interviews these three years that's why I mentioned at my previous post(in the beginning). Many of them turned me down, left me hanging by not answering me yes or no, some of the interviewers(NOT ALL) were very arrogant and disrespectful. One of the interviewer raised his angry voice when I refused to disclose my current company's private and confidential info, he got angry and scolded at me when I answered his question wrongly. Another interview, a woman looked down on me and made me felt small just because I was working in a local company, all these matters gave me so much hurts and disappointments. Without God's grace I did not think that I could move on from all these rejections. From these incidents made me think that God wanted me to pass an exam, and this exam was all about Be A Man With Patience. I feel that sometimes what we need is patience and this is what we are very insufficient of. Some people have been praying for 5 years, 20 years or even longer, the answers may not come on time but while we are waiting, it train us not to up and continue to persevere. To be frank I am a very impatient person but I can see and feel that God is training and changing me with these uncomfortable-situation/zone. Bishop Robert Barron said: "God wants his disciple to be a deep-person instead of shallow-person." I believe God knows what is the best for us and when is the right time to put it on us. Unpleasant circumstances may occur sometimes but all will be a stepping stone and it wont last long.

Sunday. Good Morning

Ending of Missioning Mass

Dismiss

5th Aug 2023. Saturday Afternoon. Sunny weather. Around 40 Degree Celsius. From Oriente Bus Station, we walked three hours just to enter the Field of Grace(Parque Tejo). We walked, stopped and waited and walked again. It was an uneasy journey due to it was hot and stuffy. when we reached our zone C09, we needed to look for a "blank space" to lay down our bags and mattress(sleeping-bag). It was so difficult to find a empty space due to we were in a sea of people of 1.5 million. The field was like a dessert, the sand was flying around non stop due to the strong wind, the good thing was we did not feel the summer heat anymore but we were going to bury by the sand anytime(just kidding). Vigil Mass started at night. It left me a very beautiful feeling in my heart. its hard for me to describe my feeling here. the stage and those performances were so fine, sound system was crystal clear in every zone. The following morning we were awaken by DJ Padre Guiherme's club-hits. everyone was laughing and dancing because it was so out of expectation. Final Missioning Mass ended in 2 hours, it was time to say goodbye to those pilgrims who were standing around us. We exchanged souvenir before we went our separate ways. We did exchange a lot of international-souvenirs during the previous days as well. After we came back from the field as survivors. we moved to a big school in the late afternoon. So many pilgrims over there and all came from different countries, it was very eyes opening. I felt great and honor to talk to so many different people. I loved the feeling of staying in the previous school and the big school, it was so happening and filled with people. I felt regret because I forgot to take picture of the school-happening-scenario. I wish I could have more time at the school, talk more, take more photos and exchange social media contact with those pilgrims who were staying there also. The morning of 7th Aug 2023, I woke up early to say goodbye to everyone, maybe I felt that that was the proper way to end the JMJ. It was hard for me to say goodbye, my heart was feeling very heavy. We had our last breakfast at the school before we went our separate ways.

My final night at Lisbon Baixa. I didn't drink much. I just felt that there was something I hadn't done yet, it was pack some food for the homeless man. I always remember Mother Teresa say, never leave without making anyone happier. During the world youth day, a homeless man came to me and asked for food while I was half way having my dinner. I was kind of shocked because he raised his begging hands at me which was quite close to my face. I poured all the food onto his naked hands, after doing that I felt regret because his hands were very dirty at that time. I should have put the food into my pizza bag and gave it to him. Back to the final night. After finish venturing Baixa. I went back to my hotel and packed some foods for the homeless man. I gave away my mattress(sleeping-bag) as well, this sleeping-bag has journeyed with me to Krakow, Panama and Lisbon, and I thought that It was time to give to those who needed it. Hope that the sleeping-bag could keep the homeless people felt warm and loved.

Boarding Pass

And another one, catching the return-flight was crazy. The check-in's queue took me one hour and my given boarding-pass did not state the boarding gate number. After checked-in at terminal 1 I went to terminal 2 by terminal-bus and the check-ticket-guy over there scanned my ticket and said that this belonged to terminal 1; I rushed back to terminal 1 immediately. I was running like a Mission Impossible Ethan Hunt but without a clue which was the correct way to go. Eventually I arrived the boarding room at 3:57PM, the departing time was 3:55PM, the reason I managed to board the plane was because my flight was delayed for an hour, thanks God. The journey of flying was all good, a New York Lady kept talking to me when I was on the way to Paris, we shared about our experiences in Lisbon. A stewardess shared about her working life as a stewardess to us, she was so kind due to some of us were going to miss our connecting flight as our aircraft departed late just now, she asked those passengers to remain sitting until the few of us(the rushing ones) got out from the plane. She said "all you need is run." I only had 20 minutes for this transit and yes I managed to board the plane by running from domestic terminal to the international terminal in CDG(Paris) airport including the immigration checking passport and body progress, the experience was like I just escaped/survived from hell. During my flying time, I thought I would have some me-time to reminisce my World Youth Days in Lisbon but it came out a young Syrian lady kept talking to me, I placed her meal on her desk when she fell asleep and she did the same to me when I fell asleep, she kept asking me to look at those scenery(creation of God) when we were flying by Turkey and telling me about her student-life. It made the time passes by so quickly.

Eventually, I love and miss the school life. I didn't have enough time to talk to those school-friends. I loved the common and similar things that we did together. Ate the same breakfast at the same time. Slept on the floor. The most thrilling thing was shower and shiver outdoor with the cold breeze provided with ice cold water; I would always say to the one who was showering next to me, "very cold right?" All these memories left me with joy and laughter. This JMJ for me was like an adventure and I super loved it, it was just like an action movie. Catching my return-flights with all kind of silly-dramas Ran after the midnight Carris Bus and Metro Train. Three hours walk into the Field of Grace(Parque Tejo) in a summer weather with 1.5 million pilgrims. Sometimes life can be very stagnant and empty, this JMJ gives me life a new reboot. Thanks God for giving and having me for this trip. Thanks my friend and family members who helped me. Thanks Lady of Fatima, it's because of her my prayer was answered. By the way, the Fossil watch the I wore to Lisboa is still running with the Lisboa time, I dont feel like changing back to the local time so just let the good memories stay there and continue to roll.