Four days until the Feast of John Bosco

"It is enough that you are young for me to love you." (St. John Bosco)

Considering the sensitivity of our time and our current situation, such saying could be misinterpreted, but for me it reveals the secret of JB's holiness that I am so drawn to.

- Unconditional love. You can compare notes with me: in any relationship at all, the more unconditional love exists, the more meaningful and fruitful that relationship will be, the longer that relationship will last. JB's love for the young creates saints at early age, creates rapport between him and his students that lasts beyond his life time and his geographical location. God is not mentioned in this quote, but if you're on the same page with JB, you'd understand this is the very good news that Jesus wants to communicate to everyone: it is enough ... for me to love you.

- "... that you are young ..." Face it, if you are an adult, loud noise, rowdiness, spontaneity, immaturity, carelessness, etc ... are not something that you are naturally attracted to, unless you see it as the whole-package deal - you love the young, you love what comes with them. It doesn't mean you endore those traits; it only means you accept the young people in your life for who they are. What comes with young people is also the pure enthusiasm toward goodness in life, the passion that they seek for and instill in what they do, ... The late Pope John Paul II once said that young people were not the future but the present of the Church. JPII had the same heart that John Bosco had. If you embrace the goodness of the present moment, you will embrace the beauty of young people.


This saying of John Bosco is enough for me to work on for my whole life. I have to come to God regularly to ask for the grace that can purify my heart to love unconditionally; I have to learn the charity that enables me to accept people for who they are, then I believe the unconditional love of God will do the rest, whether it is through me or through anyone or anything else.


Watch movie about St. John Bosco on youtube

The joy of road trips

A couple close friends gathered at my house one night, and after having some food and drinks, one of us was crazy enough to come up with a suggestion to do a road trip, and the rest was crazy enough to enthusiastically support the suggestion. First we thought of going to Florida, which was at least 5 hours away, but then we decided on Savannah so it would be a little closer, 3.5 hours. One of the guys went back home to borrow his mom's van so eight of us could be in the same vehicle, and while doing so he also picked up another spontaneous guy. While waiting for the van to come pick us up at my house, some of us, including myself, started having second thought. Is this a good idea? One girl had a business meeting at 12 noon, and I had an appointment at 10 the next morning. All thoughts of common sense popped in our heads: the driving would be tiring, especially when it was at night; we would have nothing to do since the beach was closed at night, and no restaurants or other attractions would be open that early in the morning; the appointments that people had the next morning ... But since we had decided, and some were just too excited about the spontaneity, we just kept going with the plan.



We left my house at 1:30 in the morning. The middle bench was pulled out so there was more room for people to sit on the floor to play cards. The music was on and loud. Fun conversations were flying around. Typical fun stuffs of a road trip. But they didn't last too long since it was between 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning, so one after the other eventually fell asleep.



At 4:45 am, we made it to the beach and we were dead tired. We walked around the beach, took some pictures, enjoyed the stars that became so clear in the total darkness of the sky and the beach. We also tried to walk in the water but since it was too cold we quit immediately. After less than an hour, we were on our way back, but not before being the first customers of the day to a local McDonald. Needless to say the general atmosphere in the van on the way back. There were only two drivers for the whole way, and the rest were sleeping. The business meeting had to be canceled, and my appointment was postponed. We made it back to my house at 10 am.

When saying goodbye, someone said through his yawning, "Well, it's been fun, but the next time you suggest something like this, I'll beat the crap out of you."

And everyone laughed, but their eyes were only half way open. Everyone was just too tired.



A pointless trip, some may say. Pure craziness, and pure youthfulness, all spontaneity. Seriously, seven hour driving in the night and early morning for less than an hour taking pictures in the dark, and having McDonald breakfast! Just pointless and crazy. Even I couldn't believe myself being part of this adventure.

But the value is in the road trip itself. It is in the "on the way," in the journey, in the process, more than in what to do once we reach the destination. We will continue talking about this crazy trip for a long time after the event. The next time any of us eight sees each other, it would take only a small reminder of the trip: Savannah, road trip, etc... for us to have a good conversation, "remember that night ...?"

I grew closer to my friends. We have one more shared experience. It doesn't matter what we got to do at the beach, we were together on the way there, and we were there together, ...

Being present to one another through it all, that is what it's all about.

Christmas 2008