An Honest Glace Into Community Life

Many people have been asking lately, "What's the best part of being a missionary?" Prayer is an obvious answer. When I take a look more deeply into missionary life, the only thing that I can think is how the hardest thing, yet my most favorite part, is living in community.



We are 7 strangers ("picked to live in a house"...wow, flashback!) from different backgrounds, different exposures to our Catholic faith, different families, for some of us...different countries. We all have different goals, different needs, different wants and desires. We've got different annoyances, reactions, sensitivities, understandings, levels of patience. Some are extroverts, some introverts. Some are musical....well...all of us are musical in some way. Some are vegetarian, some love meat. Some have got accents, some pretend they can speak with an accent (which makes them really just sound like a little old cretin). Some dance like they are at an 8th grade punch bowl gathering in the gym, whereas some dance like Elaine from Seinfeld. Even in this litany of was makes us different from each other... we do have a common ground.



We pray together-every morning, every night and different times thru out the week. Our faith is key as to why all of us are here. We love youth ministry. We don't know everything there is to know about Jesus or our Catholic Faith. We don't know all there is to know about ourselves.



It's the latter that makes community life hard at times. Why do I expect someone to treat me a certain way when I can't figure out, for myself, how I need to be treated? Why is it that I get so impatient with certain people or situations, that I just shut down...or give the "face"? What are those "faces" that I give? Why do I care so much of what someone thinks about me? Why do I need approval? Why do things fly out of my mouth that can potentially hurt someone?



Maybe the question I need to ask is "HOW" instead of "WHY". How can I be a better roommate? or friend? or daughter? or sister? How do I handle being in a situation that makes me uncomfortable because it brings up my past? How do I love better? How do I comfort you? How do I let people know what's really going on inside of my heart? How do I go from tolerating something to loving them because of....



I have a feeling these are not just my own questions. I also think that this doesn't just pertain to missionary community life. I think this applies to everyone. I may be wrong, but I can tell you this: whatever I learn from this experience, I pray, I'll be transformed and be a witness of this kind of love when I get back home.



Peace and Love!