A few weeks ago, I went to a mass of celebration for Sr. Corazon Beboso, FMA's 40th Anniversary of Religious Profession (Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco). Sr. Cora is one of my super learning models. Her youthful and energetic heart is always a booster drink for my soul. “Yes Lord, Yes Lord. Yes Yes Lord… Amen, Amen” is her favorite song. I would guess she has sang this song at every single event I have attended. And, we celebrated her “YES” to the Lord for 40 years. Fr. Michael Pace was the main celebrant of the Mass. He described Sr. Cora as a living “tape.” (So, she is a “Walking Tape”? Is this a new TV series? Is it on Netflix too?) He continued explaining: Tape is invisible but it does the job well! This is the perfect metaphor for Sr. Cora. In the church, I could not even count the number of people from different nationalities who were attending the mass. She truly did the job, sticking people together well! And, on top of it all, she is invisible. Invisible? In today’s world, most of us are hungry for recognitions. The number of “likes” or “retweets” in the social media world, the number of awards, the number of hats, titles …  all are dominating our lives. Are they bad things? Not necessary! Look at Olympic games, we are all like to watch the games and appreciate the athletes who took lots of time to practice. We always recognize their perseverance. My sister gave birth to a baby girl earlier this year. I still remember my facial expression when I first met her. I had to show her the cutest face I've ever made in my life, smiling so much. I used words I could never say at work. I said to her: wow-ho, yeah-ye-yeh, you are cute, what a beauty… I used all kinds of beautiful words. My only goal was to make her smile back at me. So I did everything I could and gave her all my encouragement just to get her feedback. When we see that little kids have successfully completed something, we will normally give a lot of encouragement! However, how often do we encourage adults? Most of the time, we are so selfish that we never compliment other people. Some of us even try to look for a bone in an egg! We want to tell other people that we are good by criticizing or putting other people down. Some people will give fake compliments just to receive something in return. The worst thing is that it is actually a cycle! Person A does not give compliment to person B because person B did not ever give compliment to person A, then Person A will criticize person B in order to raise person A up, then Person B will do the same, then person A again, then person B, then person C may involved, then rumors come up…ah! It is because we are all hungry for recognition. Then we go on Facebook, Twitters, Instagram, Snapchat… all kinds of social media applications to get praise, love and likes from other people. In fact, it is super easy to stop this. Sr. Cora gave us a very good example. She knows that her job is to stick people together. The ability for her to do is a gift given to her by God! So, because of God, she can do it. In this case, we do not really need recognition. That’s why she always sing “Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Yes Lord!”.

“Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, look!-your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets.” Luke 6:23.

Of course, we know there will be our reward. We will get our reward eventually. Secondly, we do not need to be selfish when giving compliments!

“After all, we do share in God's work; you are God's farm, God's building.” - 1 Corinthians 3:9.

We are instruments of God. When God sees we are doing good, He must be very happy and will definitely encourage us. God gives us ours brothers, sisters, friends, family, co-workers or your enemies to support them, to give them hope and to love them. God did not create us humans for competition. We did not need to have an interview before becoming God’s children. We do not need to fight for it. We are all called to be His children in the first place. So, we should definitely encourage each other, be a supporters of each other and be the Tape of the World! Celebrate the Year of Consecrated Life with Sr. Corazon Beboso, FMA : Let's say Yes to the Lord!

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Billy Chan, a former radio host and motivational speaker,  spent the past ten years working with youth in Montreal. He enjoys using humour to illustrate his relationship with God. In his blog, you will find reflections on his experience with youth ministry and his special way of working with youth today.