I just finished reading a book written by Nami Mun. Miles From Nowhere is about a character named Joon, a Korean immigrant who lives in the Bronx in 1980’s. She has very problematic family, her father is a drunkard and her mother fallen into mental illness because of the infidelity of her husband. At the age of thirteen, Joon is caught into lonely life starving for love and attention from her parents. She really feels alone and unloved and these pushed her to left her parents and their home. Trying to be independent, she ended up fallen into series of tragedies in her life. She found herself in an escort clubs working as a prostitute, at an early age she struggles against drug addiction, she committed petty crimes and ended up selling cosmetics and newspaper in New York avenues. Her teenage life is ruined. She really felt hopeless but during these series of tragedies and hopelessness she meet several people who has profound effect on her life. One helped her to survive, other journeyed with her to recover from drug addiction and later loved here, slowly she found herself again, loved.
Joon’s story is a reminder to all of us that we do not journey life alone, but sometimes we feel so. Remember what God has promised you(Deuteronomy 31:6) and if you see others who are in the same situation, do not hesitate to open yourself on the possibility of service because the core meaning of our Christian life is service.
During the last suffer, Jesus mandated all his apostles and all Christians to love one another (John 13:34). But how do we love? Jesus answered this on the washing of the feet when He took the office of a slave (slave washed the feet of his master) that reminds us that service is a gospel of love in action. In Good Friday Jesus has shown the exact meaning of love by obedience; when he surrender himself to the will of His Father. We also felt the greatness of God’s love to us when He gave His only begotten son to redeem us from sin (John 3:16), Christ’s crucifixion is the perfection of this love.
My life and my God
While I contemplate on the Passion of Christ I think it also defines the meaning of life. Many people ask what we are here for? Where Am I going? What will I do or suppose to do? These are valid questions of anyone who has reason. In the Passion of Christ we saw different lives; Pharisees, Sadducee, and scribes who were the greatest teacher of law and philosophers that time- were all gone and perished. But those humble servant who followed Jesus footstep with indomitable heart of service remains relevant in this world today. We see that a life of obedience and service is a life well lived. There are million people who walked on this earth and many of them perished unheard. We learned from them that the certainty of life is death, that we mortals are going to die anyway but in the course of living, often ask ourselves how will I measure my life?
St. John of the Cross said that at the evening of our life we will be judged by love (Ala tarde dela vida te examinaran en el amor). Christ taught us that love can be best interpreted by service.
Resurrection
Like in the story of Joon who managed to scrape against odds because people has been kind to her, Jesus Resurrection reminds us that there is hope a midst desperate situation. It is a constant reminder that tragedy can be defeated by hope, darkness by light, and lies by truth. For me, this is the message of Jesus in the celebration of His Passion, do not loss hope and if you have brothers who are in verge of losing, try to be in service to him and out of love offer him the wholeness of yourself like what Jesus did in the cross. Amen.
Note to Self 
