Compassionate Considerations

A prayer for an orphaned young Christian brother…

Posted on 14 December 2009

I was in Aklan for a Strat Plan meeting for the pastoral teams in Panay Island.  During the 2-day planning meeting, my mind was also consciously in NHV, Bulacan.  A week ago, the mother of a 16year old teen passed away. Now JR Rubio is an orphan.

I was expecting that the funeral would be around Tuesday or Wednesday.  But the relatives who arrived, decided for a sunday funeral.  The disappointment in his voice was very noticeable when I told him that I would still be in Aklan and would not be back until Sunday night.

JR Rubio was one of the camp scholars we had.  Last year for the summer camp, I asked him to help out in the Kitchen, a task that he gave with all of his heart.

A few hours after the death of his mother, I was able to call him and express my condolences.  In a soft tone of a voice – he narrated the surrounding events of his mother’s death and how they had been going through involuntary hunger in the midst of her mother’s sickness.

I cried after that call. I asked God why it has been so difficult for so many.  They had been eating only once a day – and he said, it was so rare for them to even have a kilo or rice in their house. They were starving when her mother died of the complications from her kidney disease.

During the strat meeting, I received more than 20 messages from JR.  And the messages were the same “Please pray for me!”…  since I was facilitating the strat plan meeting, I could not answer right away.  at 12:48am, he sent me another sms “Please pray for me…!”  I called his number right away and talked with him for awhile.  He was dreading the funeral the following day at 9am.

I was surrounded by very serene, pristine environment in Aklan, but my mind was alternating from the heartrending reality of an orphan’s life and the complicated pastoral assessments needed before the strategy plans were drafted.

I was thinking of him a couple of minutes ago when I got another sms with the same message “please pray for me!” -

I am writing this so that perhaps, one of you, would also join me in praying for JR.  He is a senior in highschool now.  After the traditional 9th day, his sister would go back to her job and the other brother would go on his own way..(another brother is in jail for possession of illegal drugs back in 2004)…and so in the coming days, JR who is already an orphan, would be totally alone.

Dear God,

I am too silenced by the pain that this young man is going through.  Bathe our hearts with your holy compassion – so that this teen orphan will find the strength through us.

Lord God, gently surround him with your peace.  Thoughts are racing through his mind and painful memories are running back and forth.  Perhaps a thousand questions and what-ifs are flooding his mind right now.  You, the GOD of all COMFORT, descend upon this young man now and embrace him.

Do not let him be afraid of the future.  Assure him Lord as you had assured so many orphans of your special and tender mercies for them.  Shower him with your encouragement and open the floodgates of your heavenly provision for him.

In the coming days when the support system is gone, please let him know that You have been there all along.

Give him your peace dear God.  Give him your strength.

Protect him from harm. Protect him from any undue influences that surround him in that very difficult place. Send people to guide him and to show your love for him.

It is going to be difficult for him.  This will be the first Christmas as an orphan so I pray that he would be surrounded by people that really care for him.

Instill in his heart the truth of the resurrection.  He will see his mother again. He will see his father again – and all these painful memories surrounding their deaths will also be redeemed by your wonderful grace.

I surrender JR to you.  I ask for all of these and many more for a young christian brother during this terrible time of grief.

May You be HIS ALL in all.

Thank you Father for your steadfast love and your endless compassion that surrounds us the moment we were conceived and even to our dying breath.

Through the tender name of Jesus, I pray.

AMEN