Don Bosco Philippines South Province

I woke up with my body aching all over. It seems the football game that we had with the aspirants yesterday was more than my body could handle. I have been out of the field for two weeks. The Baguio trip that we had certainly was fattening. I moaned to my fellow Brother Sami, “My whole body aches.” And he delivered the line that made me think the whole morning: “It means you’re alive.”

Pain most of the time is not welcome but it reminds me that I am still alive and kicking. The thought of pain sends shivers down my spine. I would be the first to run away at the thought of undergoing pain. The series of unfortunate events that silently happened to me during the past weeks did change my paradigm. It made me understand pain better. In order to grow one must embrace the pain that comes once in a while.

There are many forms of pain. The easiest of which is physical pain. The hardest to face is emotional pain. One thing I’ve learned is that the more you run away, the greater the pain will be. But with a courage that could only come from inside, you do a 180 and face the pain head-on, you’d be surprised to find that pain is just an invitation to live and experience life more fully.

Real men do hurt. It is only in our pain that we experience our humanity. We all are vulnerable (and this brings to mind one emo song I also like). In my pain I feel I am alive and from it I draw strength to move on, to forgive, and to love better than I have.

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