Faith tends to grow when we are out of our comfort zone

Photo by Ruben Hutabarat on Unsplash

Faith tends to grow when we are out of our comfort zone. Born and raised in Hong Kong, I went to the States for my graduate studies. In spite of my education in Catholic schools, I considered myself a seeker in the spiritual realm, and I have been searching through my graduate years, going to church but at the same time, I also engaged in new age practice. In the end, I learnt the hard lesson from my over openness to experience, and I accepted Christ as my saviour in 2007, but I still felt a void in my faith.

In Shanghai, I felt the calling of Christ to become genuinely Catholic, and I no longer felt like a wanderer. Father Warren was my mentor in faith. He always offers deep but gentle answers to challenging questions about faith. I learnt from Father Warren that we ought to ask questions about our faith, or else it would have been a blind faith. While the Catholic faith was always under attack by the regime, I felt that the persecution helped our faith to grow stronger, in retrospect. It has been a blessing that I am able to witness the amazing work of other believers, in response to the suffering of others. My fellow believers said that they would have been more lukewarm in faith if they have remained in their comfort zones.

Later in the journey, as a way to give back to the Shanghai community, I started the grief ministry and a book club on faith. I do feel that the Chinese people are susceptible to spirituality, as most Chinese are aware of the spiritual world, and they are interested in issues of life and death.

Isabel, Madrid, Spain, March 18, 2018, Sunday