I worked in corporate for years, and not only handled the finance work, I also headed a project to implement an integrated system from front to back office, as well as linking it up with the accounting system. I loved my job, I was passionate to build a good internal control system. I believe it is suitable for my personality…… until one day I felt God call me to respond to His unconditional love, by serving full time in Fondacio. 

Without much hesitation, I entered the discernment process and responded to the mission after I cleared with my discernment. I started my full-time mission in Fondacio in mid-August 2016 after World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow. I remember the Pope’s message during Virgil: “There is another, even more dangerous, kind of paralysis in life. I like to describe it as the paralysis that comes from confusing happiness with a sofa.  In other words, to think that in order to be happy all we need is a good sofa.  

■       A sofa that makes us feel comfortable, calm, safe.  

■       A sofa like one of those we have nowadays with a built-in massage unit to put us to sleep.  

■       A sofa that promises us hours of comfort so we can escape to the world of videogames and spend all kinds of time in front of a computer screen.  

■       A sofa that keeps us safe from any kind of pain and fear.  

■       A sofa that allows us to stay home without needing to work at, or worry about, anything.  “Sofa-happiness”!  That is probably the most harmful and insidious form of paralysis, which can cause the greatest harm to young people. “

With the Pope’s message that I received before I embarked my mission, I always reminded myself not to remain where I am or be too comfortable with what I am doing. To always challenge myself and not to remain on the “sofa” too long. Thus, I accepted the challenge to set up Young Lives in Kuala Lumpur even though it’s easier and more convenient for me to just be a Finance Director for Fondacio Asia, taking care of all the finances of our projects in Asia. 

At that time, I did not have much idea how to start ‘Young Lives’ besides reading some write-ups and other materials. In the midst of searching for material, I read Evangelii Gaudium. Two paragraphs  touched me deeply:

It was true, I was incapable of feeling compassion to the others at that time. I always thought I could be exempted because my life was so busy with office work, community missions and my parish ministry. With my past busy life, I lost my compassion for the people around me. I was indifferent to the situation of marginalised people. I was not particularly concerned about them or their experiences. Without realising it, one part of the humanity in me was lost, slowly died…. 

I always feel grateful that God used Young Lives as a vehicle to transform me, from self-centred to more compassionate to the marginalised. This realization has motivated me to desire to reach out to the people like my past self. My dream is that many people can have the opportunity to touch their inner self, the true self through Young Lives, so that their lives will be more wholesome and integrated.

There is a saying, ‘No one is too rich to receive and no one is too poor to give’. For me, Young Lives is a bridge to connect different groups of people to encounter and to exchange life experiences. We enrich each other as we share ourselves with others.