Off to Africa...

  I leave for Africa tomorrow.  For about eight weeks I will be working with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in the country of Sierra Leone.  Explicitly, I will be shadowing a priest and organizing activities with the youth of the area, but truly the day-to-day work will be whatever God puts before me.  My little brother, Dan, will be heading to Liberia in June to participate in a similar mission.     

I wouldn’t have necessarily been the first to volunteer for this assignment.  In reflecting upon my imminent departure, I’ve realized just how much I gravitate towards stability and staying in that ever so lovely ‘comfort zone.’  In my high school yearbook, I wrote about how my future plans were to “attend a Florida university, get a great job, and start a family.”  Now, Blessed Mother Teresa cautioned us that when we pray, we must be SPECIFIC (I technically never asserted that I would have a physical wife…I figured that was implied).  Nowhere in that list or in my wildest dreams did I expect to be discerning a call towards the celibate life of a Catholic priest or that I would be a missionary in Africa.  I never anticipated that a ‘great job’ could entail being a physician of souls, or that I could participate in a spiritual fatherhood with a family larger than any biological unit could hope to contain.  Our lives don’t always pan out as we planned it, but our response to these ebbs and flows must be one of gratitude and openness to the mystery that daily knocks on the door of our hearts. 

I am also not a blogger, nor have I ever been comfortable sharing my emotions and thoughts with the World Wide Web.  And yet here I am.  I’ve been asked to blog about my experiences, to share these adventures with my family, friends, and the greater Church (as often as I have internet access, that is).  A dear friend pointed out to me the strength held within our names, and I’ve reflected upon my own name: Robert Angel—“Bright-Famed Messenger.”  I do not state this from a position of exalted arrogance or egoism, but from a growing understanding of the responsibility of that name.  I am a messenger, whether I want to be or not.  What I will be a messenger of—selfishness or selflessness, narcissism or humility, comfort or truth—is up to me.  

If I told you that I am without fear in the face of this mission, I would be lying.  This is AFRICA we’re talking about, and the lifeguard in me still likes to know how deep the pool is that I’m diving into.  But there is a trust deep within my heart that I can only attribute to the intercession of Mary, the Mother of our Lord, who faced the great unknown herself with a simple but profound affirmation:  “be it done to me according to Thy word.”  We'll never have certainty on this road of faith, but we must have trust. 

If much is being asked of us, it is because He knows that we can give much.  Every man is called to give totally of himself without counting the cost, to either his physical bride or to those lives that surround him.  We cannot hold back; we otherwise risk living an unfruitful life devoted only to ourselves.  I have been asked to preach Christ crucified, who is the power and wisdom of God.  I have tried to preach the Gospel as best as I can in my young adult life, using words when necessary…but perhaps the time for words is now. 

Thank you to all my family and friends who have accompanied me thus far.  Your prayers certainly give me strength when my own fails.  Enjoy the air conditioning, Vanilla Coke, and Maio Kart while I am away. 

May the Lord Jesus Christ guide my steps and fill my words with His power.  TTM

-Bob