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What I Learned After Burying My Mother

By Fr. Flavie Villanueva, SVD

I buried my mother 11 days ago.

After days of feeling hallow and not knowing how to go back to my usual life, I started going through her stuff.

She left detailed instructions on how to share her personal things to particular special people.

My 83-year old mom took time to write the name and a note for each one amid the pain she was experiencing.

Mommy Celia (2nd from left) was also a regular reassuring presence at the Center.

I realized this is what it means to offer “love without boundaries.”

This is precisely the kind of “kalinga” we strive to offer in the Arnold Janssen Kalinga Foundation Inc. (AJFKI).

It’s the kind of compassion that knows no time nor boundaries.

Something so radical is simply impossible to sustain; on mere personal effort, it will get crushed by the sheer weight of persistent and intense human suffering.

But then it dawned on me that “kalinga” is an expression of one’s faith.

In AJFKI, we reach out and love the ones who need it the most.

They are the marginalized, the outcast, the sick, and the tormented. 

The call to recreate has to begin with our faith, the same faith that Jesus possessed when He called the first disciples.

He didn’t look at their appearance but more at their need and craving for meaning.

Jesus saved, redeemed, and recreated them with His love—and these 11 fishermen went on to build the Church that would reach the ends of the earth.

Like us, when we have been recreated, it’s inevitable that we also recreate others, unconsciously empowering them in the process. 

May this maiden issue of Kalinga Pages be a regular venue where we share our stories of recreating, empowering, and loving.

Our Lady of Banneux, pray for us!

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