Dear brothers and sisters,

Pax et Bonum!

I was browsing through one of my favorite blog, written by Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston. In one homily at the Mass for the altar server during the past week, he mentioned this beautiful quotation from St. Augustine of Hippo, "Without God, I cannot; without me, God will not." To me, this describes how important it is to work together with God.

I remember a story about a man who rows his boat in the middle of a lake. The right paddle is called "Prayer" and the left paddle is called "Work". When he rows the boat with only the right paddle or the left paddle only, he finds himself turning around an endless circle; he could not move forward. It is only when he rows the boat with both paddle that he could move forward.

It is the same as our lives. We could not have only the work life, nor could we have only the prayer life. But we need to have both. Without God, we can do nothing. But without us asking from God for every grace that we need, He will not give.

This also applies to our lives as a missionaries, ambassadors of Christ to everyone we meet. We are all sent to proclaim the good news to all people, to be the ambassadors of peace to everyone we meet. Without us, God will not do anything. You cannot say the prayer, "Thy kingdom come," without making yourself available for the missions that we are all entrusted in.


Yours faithfully in Christ,

Adhika Lie
17th ExCo
Publication Officer
"To make our home in Jesus"