by Rhea Quemado, Program Associate for EPIC Ministry

May is the month of motherhood and the month in which we especially celebrate the motherhood of Mary. It was Mary who by her fiat or great “YES” became the Mother of God and assumed a special role in our lives, becoming our mother too. Not only is she a model of motherhood, but an inspirational figure to St. John Paul II’s famous term “The Feminine Genius.” According to St. John Paul II, the Feminine Genius includes the special qualities and capabilities that are inherent to womanhood, such as strength, gentleness, humility, beauty, intuition, fidelity, self-giving, acceptance, and receptivity. These are qualities that God calls us, especially women, to embrace. The Church sees in Mary the highest expression of the “feminine genius” and finds in her a source of constant inspiration.

When I was asked to do this reflection for the month of May, I felt challenged because I kept focusing on the aspects of motherhood, which I, myself, am not in that season. But I forgot about Mary’s role of being a servant to the mission through her motherhood to Christ and to us. Mary, by her obedience and faith, not only placed herself at God’s service, but also at the service of others, which was a service of love. In my present vocation, I am a Campus Minister at Chaminade University, Program Associate for EPIC, and a House Mom at the Mercy House, all of which I was called to for the service and love of others. Mary inspires me in her obedience to serving God. She reminds me that sometimes our “yes” may look different. Sometimes our “yes” is not only for a big decision; sometimes it's saying “yes” in the little decisions too. God utilized Mary’s desire, and her “yes”, to accept His will in her life, and sent her to communicate His loving plan for all of humanity. He does that with us too, utilizing us to communicate his will and his glory in whatever vocation we are presently called too.

God aligns our desires to his will. I love serving. I love ministering and supporting our young adults in college and our ministry in EPIC. Wherever you may be in your life, I pray that in this present moment, your will, like Mary, may align with God’s will and that you know you are exactly where you’re supposed to be. Sometimes we don't have that one great “yes”. But every small “yes” we make every moment of every day leads us closer to doing God’s will.

by Kainoa Fukumoto, founder of EPIC Ministry

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote a reflection for an EPIC newsletter. As I write this particular message, I'm sitting in a hospital room on the 90th day since my wife, Yvonne, was admitted due to a neurological autoimmune disease. Three months have gone by, and yet, very little improvement has been made with her condition.

My wife has, in so many ways, been the pillar of our home. I'm kind of just the comic relief. She took care of our finances, arranging our three daughter's extracurricular activities, and even though I'm the principal of the school, she's actually the one who made sure the girls kept on top of their studies. So you can imagine the adjustment our family has gone through without her around. On top of my responsibilities of being a principal, parish and ministry leader, and business owner, I functionally became a single-father almost overnight. And my kids were left without their mother.

Shortly after Thanksgiving, what I thought would be a short hospital stay turned into days, weeks, and now months. Due to the surge of COVID-19 during the holidays, hospital visitations were suspended, so we could not see Yvonne through the holidays including her birthday, our youngest daughter's birthday, and Valentine's Day. Our home life was turned upside down as I struggled to manage everything that Yvonne normally took care of, such as figuring out which bills weren't paid, how to sign-up my kids for swimming and gymnastics, and making sure homework was done completely and accurately (meeting Yvonne's high standards). Most of the time, I think I got things together, but other times, I was a complete mess.

Throughout these past months, I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support that so many have extended to me and the girls. So many people have shared their own testimonies of similar experiences, many of which were stories of perseverance. Friends and family have reached out and stepped in so that we never ever felt isolated or overburdened. It helped me to put things back into perspective. Even though we're going through all this, God still has a greater plan. God has not abandoned us. And there may be many blessings in disguise that come from everything we are going through.

As we prepare for this upcoming season of Lent, I often think of how God definitely has a plan. Lent is a time that we should purposefully and meaningfully look toward the Cross of Christ, and reflect on what it means for our lives personally. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16) God has always had a plan and that plan is one that is designed to bring us eternal life. By His own example, it's a plan that involves struggles, challenges, and trials, but it's one that will lead us to something much, much greater. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24) To follow Christ is to take up our crosses and follow him.

It is so tempting to just give up sometimes. Things are too hard and our cross is too heavy. But we forget that Jesus invites us to follow him. He didn't keep his cross, he transformed it! We're not meant to keep our crosses; his invitation to follow him is also an invitation to give our crosses to him so that he can also transform them. Don't give up; give it up to Jesus. He can take it. 

by Kainoa Fukumoto

Around this time every year, we often start asking the question, “what should I give up or do for Lent”. I already started asking this very question. There were certain years that I gave up meat, chocolate, coffee, and yes, even alcohol for the whole season. I’ve made Lenten promises to set aside time each day for intentional prayer, attend daily Mass, and go to adoration more frequently. I’ve also done other not specifically spiritual exercises such as limiting what I spend money on, limiting how I spend money, or unplugging from social media. All of these are great things, but I want to challenge us to something even greater this year.

This Lent, I’d like to propose something slightly different. Continue asking the question of what you’re giving up or what you’ll do differently, but challenge yourself to make it a little more “radical”. For example, if you plan to give up meat everyday, perhaps make an intentional effort every week to also personally reach out to and help feed the hungry such as the poor and homeless. If you plan to pray more, perhaps make an intentional effort to lead prayer at gatherings, such as at family events or ministry meetings, if you’re never one to do so. If you plan to unplug from social media, perhaps consider intentionally reaching out to, reconnecting, and actually meeting up with people who you haven’t kept in touch with regularly especially those who no longer come to church or who you may need to reconcile with.

Perhaps the most radical part of committing to this is a sacrifice of our time. To be a true follower of Christ (a.k.a. a Christian) requires us to give Jesus our whole heart and lives so that He can transform us and mold us into a more perfect creation of our Creator. In order for us to allow that to happen, we need to sacrifice our own desires and especially sacrifice our time to Christ so that He can be ever present in us, and we can be Ever Present In Christ (EPIC). This year, I challenge you to a more radical Lent than you ever had before, and I guarantee that Jesus will radically change you when Easter arrives.

On this day every year, I think about my first trip to Rome. Those of you who will be joining EPIC on our Italy Pilgrimage 2020 will be visiting and seeing some of the world's most impressive churches and incredible works of art. Rome is stooped in so much history and culture that it's very easy to get lost in it all.

One evening, a small group of us decided to have a nice dinner at an unassuming little Italian restaurant off the Piazza Navona, blessed with a great view of its 17th-century Fountain of Four Rivers (also one of my favorite fountains in Rome). After placing our orders, I decided to take an evening stroll around the piazza while waiting for our food to arrive.

I didn't walk too far when I heard a very familiar song faintly playing off in the distance. I couldn't quite place it immediately, but I decided to follow it. As I neared the music, I found it led me to a beautiful quaint church that I never noticed in previous visits to the piazza earlier in the week (and by "quaint," I mean in comparison to the other churches in Rome; this church was still probably twice the size of OLS).

Lit votive candles lined the steps up to the church's vestibule. As I ascended the steps, the music became clearer and clearer. Upon entering the church, the first thing I noticed was it was full of young people! I had been traveling on this pilgrimage with people three times my age, so this was a welcome sight. They were all kneeling, and when I looked up at the altar, I realized this was a Eucharistic adoration. Immediately, I found a pew and joined them in adoration.

The music played on and on. It was then I finally realized why the music had sounded so familiar to me. They were singing praise and worship songs, like "Here I Am to Worship", in Italian! The music, Eucharistic adoration, and the candle-lit atmosphere was already enough to lift my spirit to a new high, but something pulled me closer to the altar.

On a little plaque, I found out that the church was dedicated to St. Agnes, who I knew nothing about. Luckily, there was a book in the back of the church that spoke about this 3rd-century saint. St. Agnes was born into a wealthy family and blossomed into a beautiful young girl who caught the eye of many high-ranking suitors. But even at a very young age, she declared that her heart belong to Jesus.

During that time, Christianity was illegal. Many people tried to force her to denounce her faith until finally she was threatened with death. Still, her faith held firm. There are several legends that surround her end circumstances. When some men attempted to rape her, an angel protected her innocence. When they tried to drag her through the streets naked, her hair miraculously grew in order to keep her from being exposed. When they tried to tie her to the stake and burn her alive, one account says the fire couldn't start, while another account says the flames parted and didn't touch her. She was finally beheaded by the sword.

The one detail that stood out to me, however, was she was only 12 or 13 years old! The faith she possessed at such a young age and through a tumultuous time was inspiring. I could see why so many young people were drawn to her church, built on the place where she was said to have been martyred and her remains kept under the high altar. During her martyrdom, witnesses commented on the radiant joy that shone from her face.

I didn't want to leave. I felt that same deep joy for Christ swelling in my heart. I'm sure I could have easily stayed there all night, but I thought my dinner pals would worry about me and I didn't want my dinner getting cold, so I went back to dinner. But after dinner, I returned to St. Agnes. And a couple other times during that trip, I returned again and again, and I was sure to return during my second trip to Rome.
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Today is the feast of St. Agnes, patroness of young girls, chastity, and rape survivors. There were many grand and captivating places in Rome, such as St. Peter's Square and Basilica or the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, but none captured my heart quite like St. Agnes on the Piazza Navona.

This small church is one of my biggest inspirations to looking forward to our pilgrimage in 2020.

by Mark Paul Albano Pilar

“He must increase, I must decrease.” A lot of us have heard it and some us have worn the clothing brand “HE>i”. We hear it and we wear it, but can we actually do it? Now what I mean when I’m writing this is, “can we deny ourselves of the worldly things so that God can increase in our lives?” For example: Can we stop scrolling on social media for an hour so that we can pray the rosary? Can we stop buying unnecessary things and use that money to buy a meal for a homeless person? Can we stop the occasion of sin through some of these worldly activities? The truth is a lot of us will have second thoughts right then and there in that exact situation and continue to bask in the pleasures of the world.

If we continue to bask in the pleasures of the world, how can God increase in our lives?

About a month ago, I said “yes” to the Exodus 90 challenge with a fraternity of men. Prior to this challenge, I’ve noticed that I have not been praying the rosary daily, going to adoration weekly, and even not praying in the morning or at night. I’ve felt like I was losing my faith in God and putting more of it in social media, buying unnecessary things, engaging in sinful acts, and just being passive with my faith journey. This was all because I put God on the back burner. Fast forward to present day: because I said “no” to the world and “yes” to God, I’ve noticed a huge difference in my prayer life--God being my top priority--and being more positive in my personal life.

Now you may be thinking that you have to do Exodus 90 or Nineveh 90 (for the women) to have God increase in our lives, or you may be thinking “it’s too hard” or “no thank you”.  You don’t have to do a long 90-day challenge; we can all make some sacrifices such as putting down our phone for an hour and go to adoration, eating no meat every Friday, not going on social media for an hour a day, etc. There are many opportunities to deny ourselves so that God can increase in our lives, but we must stop having these second thoughts and put God as a top priority in our lives.

In the Gospel of Luke (9:3), Jesus gives instructions to the Twelve Disciples before they take off on their mission to spread the good news: “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic.” This does not just show obedience to Jesus, but it also shows the denying of their worldly things so that they can carry out the mission.

Let us deny the things of the world, take nothing for the journey, and let God increase in our lives so that we may be able to hear him in the silence of our hearts and carry out the plans He has for each one of us.