Philippe de Rosen, cicm
Missionary in Belgium

When Jesus spoke, he often had something in front of him to use as teaching material.

The exegetes hypothesize that at this moment, he saw people destroying an old bread oven and scattering the waste in the ruts in the road caused by erosion. Hence his remark at the end of the sentence: "When salt has lost its flavor, all it is good for us to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men."

In fact, in Jesus' day, bread ovens were made from blocks of earth mixed with salt from the Dead Sea; these blocks acted as refractory stones: they had noticed that the salt allowed the heat to accumulate in the oven and then, with the fire removed, to bake the loaves without burning them.

Through baptism, Christians receive the fire of God's love: if they have the SALT of faith within them, they can welcome the fire of God's Spirit and radiate it around them.

Salt lost its power to welcome fire, so the ovens were destroyed. However, it could be used to consolidate paths damaged by erosion and trampled underfoot by people, as Jesus says in the Gospel.

Let us keep the salt of faith, and we will radiate around us the Love that God has placed in our hearts (Mt. 3:17: liturgical translation). In the past, salt was also used to preserve food, when we did not have a fridge. Salt preserves.

Salt can also be a sign of fidelity, of incorruptibility (=something that does not go to waste): the Bible speaks of a Covenant of salt.

Salt also gives taste to food: Christians are called to give taste to life, to provide that essential touch to life in society: the gift of self, the service of others. Through love we will transform the world.

Message on the Internet (2003)

Copyright: Association Apostolat Sainte Thérèse

"I'll use an example to show how our ignorance of the Palestinian environment makes a parable obscure. I'm talking about the parable of the SALT: "You are the salt of the earth" (Mat 5:13) and in another form in Mark 9:50 and Luke 14:34-35: "You are the salt of the earth, if the salt loses its flavor, with what shall it be salted? It is good only to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men".

"If the salt loses its flavor!" Do you know of a salt that is no longer salty? There is no such thing; what does it refer to? And why say this salt is thrown on the ground and walked on?

In general, the Fathers of the Church did not know well Palestine. They were Greeks and had a profound contempt for "barbarian" civilizations. They said a lot of things about salt: salt is what preserves food; it's what prevents it from rotting. In the end, we never understood what Jesus meant when he said: "You are the salt of the earth." And then, some thirty years ago, a Swiss sociologist went to live in a small village in Palestine, in the Hebron region, to carry out a sociological study of the customs of Palestinian Bedouin life. One day he came across some children trampling along a path, breaking salt slabs and trampling the salt underfoot.

He asked them: "What is this salt? - It's the salt from the oven", they replied. [In Aramaic, "salt from the oven" is more or less the same word as "salt from the earth" because "oven" and "earth" are more or less the same word arsa.

The scholar said to them, "What is this salt from the oven?" - Ah well... it wouldn't burn if we didn't put any salt in it".

In Palestine, there is very little wood, and in the Arab villages, the fuel most used for cooking is camel dung. But I wouldn't advise using camel dung for heating because it burns badly. They also use salt, but not ordinary salt, salt from the Dead Sea, which is very rich in magnesium chloride. Our sociologist took one of these pieces of salt and sent it to a friend of his who was a chemist so that we could study the salt and see to what extent it could help combustion. They discovered that it was a catalyst that made it possible to make fire with things that burn badly, with much less wood than is usually needed. According to the Bible, burnt offerings were sometimes made with 12 bulls at the Temple in Jerusalem. You can imagine how much wood was required [ And the ritual for the holocaust says that the victims must be "salted" for the fire (Ez. 43,24. Lev. 2,13) ], so that it would burn with less wood. And St Mark tells us that: "every man shall be salted for the fire" 9, 50 - cfr TOB note c

"Salted for the fire". What does this mean? It makes sense when you realize salt was used to facilitate combustion in Palestine then. You will also remember that Jesus said: "I have come to set fire on the earth; what do I want but for it to burn? (Luke 12, 49). If you put that in the background, what does Jesus mean when He tells us: "You are the salt of the earth"?

Well, it's one of the most beautiful definitions of apostolate: you are the catalysts. The fire is God's action, it's the Spirit. The task of the apostle is not to be the fire but to be the one whose presence allows the fire to spread to propagate. He fans the fire. That's what the apostle is. He's someone whose presence allows the fire of the Spirit to take hold and the word to spread. I've developed this example at length because it seems to me to be very instructive of what archaeology and the study of the environment can contribute to understanding a parable that was a closed letter to us".

Through baptism, Christians receive the fire of God's love: if they have the SALT of faith within them, they can welcome the fire of God's Spirit and then radiate it around them.

Salt lost its power to welcome fire, so the ovens were destroyed. However, they could be used to repair paths damaged by erosion and were therefore trampled underfoot by people, as Jesus says in the Gospel.

Let us keep the salt of faith, and we will radiate around us the Love that God has placed in our hearts (Mt. 3, 17: liturgical translation)

God has placed his love, his fire, in us. How can we nurture it? How can I be the salt that allows this love to shine forth?

Jonel Dalimag, cicm
Missionary in the Philippines

Ongoing Formation sessions are already part of the tradition of the CICM. These are extraordinary occasions for confreres to share life and experiences as religious missionaries. These are also suitable investments for the Congregation in terms of animation, formation, and spiritual renewal. (This is a current reflections inspired by an ongoing formation I took part two years ago.)

In October of 2022, I participated in an Ongoing Formation Session organized by the General Government. With the theme "Cast into the Deep" (Lk. 5:4), the OF Session 2022 objective was to rekindle, revitalize, and deepen one's missionary vocation and spirituality. It was an invitation for self-aggiornamento amid the fast-paced changes in the world accelerated by the advances in sciences, information technology, and social media. This self-aggiornamento and renewal are rooted in our charism, spirituality, mission, and history and are well described and recorded in our beautifully written documents. Ongoing Formation is also an invitation for us to return to our documents. William Wyndaele, cicm, once wrote: "We do have our own wells for a CICM spiritual life, for a CICM spirituality. What we need to do is to drink from our own wells."¹

The theme of the 3-weeks OF Session was itemized into weekly themes: To achieve the goal of renewal and self-aggiornamento The first week carried the theme "Speak Lord, you servant is listening" (1 Sam. 3:10). The second week went on with the theme "You are the Salt of the Earth" (Mt. 5:13); and the third week took off with the theme "New wine, new wineskins" (Mk. 2:22).

Speak, Lord, Your Servant is Listening

As religious missionaries, we often limit our understanding of God's voice to what is written in the Bible. When we take time to listen to God, we tend to only focus on passages from the Bible. Sometimes, we even concentrate on just one word or phrase. This method becomes so ingrained in us that it's our default setting whenever we engage in spiritual listening. This habit takes away from the missionary aspect of listening to the Lord speaking to us through human stories and the voices of nature. As missionaries, we interact with people regularly, and God speaks to us through their stories. In turn, we convey God's message to others through our own experiences.

During the first two days of the OF Session, Bp. Prudencio Andaya, Jr., CICM, D.D., the facilitator, led a recollection on the theme Rekindling the Fire and Living Out the Call Today. He emphasized the power of storytelling and story-listening in rekindling the flame of mission and living out our call in today's world. He highlighted the significance of stories in expressing the way and mind of God, linking people across generations, and ultimately connecting everyone to God. He suggested that our stories and God's stories are original experiences, and our 'image and likeness' may reside as part of the same story.²

As CICM Missionaries, we take the Incarnate Word as the model of our charism, spirituality, and mission. We are constantly reminded to embody the cultures, stories, struggles, and joys of the people we serve. Our Kindling the Fire of 1974 emphasizes the shift from an ideal of a monolithic Church to one that unites different local churches in unity and tends towards greater incarnation. In CICM, the mission is defined as the joint participation of all faith communities in God's liberating action in history. The purpose of the mission is not the Church itself but the coming of the Kingdom in the world. Every ecclesial community has a historical vocation of service to the world, inspired by the Gospel and faith in the coming of the Kingdom of justice, love, communion, and peace. The Church writes history with them by working with diverse peoples to build a better world as God desires.³

In our missions, the concept of incarnation manifests in various missionary attitudes such as integration, solidarity, unity of heart and soul, community, internationality, interculturality, and multiculturality. The Acts of the 9th General Chapter in 1981 emphasizes the missionary attitude of integration as an essential element of our mission and spirituality:

“We are of different nations, but we meet each other from within the people among whom we live. It is to these people that our behavior and missionary deportment have to refer in order to make our integration as complete as possible. This demand implies that we go beyond the limits of our history and of our own culture. We should do everything possible to foster in ourselves an attitude of openness and listening that would allow us not only to give, but to receive as well, to go beyond our ways of thinking and to accept situations where we depend on the people and the local situation. More and more, we should deepen the implications of a real communion with the poor, of sharing their life style and willingness to be evangelized by them.”⁴        

Indeed, the Lord speaks to us through the stories of the people we encounter, the events we witness, and, of course, through the Sacred scriptures.

You Are the Salt of the Earth

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." (Mt. 5:13). If salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? The answer is ongoing formation!

Ongoing formation sessions are an integral part of life in CICM. These sessions are not just about new ideas and trends in religious missionary life. They are primarily opportunities for individuals to reflect on their personal journey and the mission of the Congregation. The goal of ongoing formation is to strengthen the essence of our missionary vitality so that we do not become "good for nothing and be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men."

Life is a journey, and our mission is also a journey. At some point, we may feel exhausted along this journey. There are times when life becomes unbearable due to excruciating pain, energy-sucking boredom, purposeless decisions and actions, and meaningless daily routines. When this happens, our natural inclination is to give up. Giving up means becoming complacent with life despite losing vitality and creativity. As we grow comfortable with this meaningless and purposeless existence, we fail to recognize the invitation to delve deeper into life, its potential, and opportunities. We lose our 'saltiness'."

The call to cast into the deep is not appealing anymore because we become too comfortable with life on the seashore. Life on the seashore is more appealing and relaxed because there are fewer risks or dangers, and the constant beauty of the shore, the smooth sands, and the waves wipe away all the footprints of our difficulties or problems. We feel good when the waves in the sand wipe out the imprints or traces of our problems. It gives us temporary relief. However, deep inside us, the loss of meaning and purpose is slowly sucking our energies, opportunities, and potential. The will to live meaningfully, be relevant, and make a difference in other people's lives is wiped out in us.

When life is too comfortable, we risk losing our daring to go the extra mile. Our fear of losing our security, comforts, and familiar routines in life deprives us of the joy of venturing into the unknown, the unfamiliar, and the undiscovered part of who we are. We discover more about who we are when we challenge ourselves to risk throwing ourselves into the deep, unknown, and unfamiliar place where we have no security other than our faith. We need to be disrupted by the ordinary and familiar things that we have always been doing that give us comfort and security. We need to be disturbed in our plans to see other options for us that we might have avoided for so long. "Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life."

Let us not allow the comforts and securities in life to put out that flame or spark that has been with and in us. It is always tempting to stay where life is so easy. However, the fire of mission, service, love, and faith in us demands that we go beyond comforts and familiarity and journey toward the unknown and unfamiliar part of who we are. We need to journey within ourselves to rekindle the flame that sparked when we decided to take the path of the vowed life.

It takes a lot of courage to cast our lives into the deep, to go the extra mile, to do more, and to test the limits of our potential. Courage is indeed tough to gather and muster. However, if we are to be relevant in today's world, that is, to be the salt of the earth and make a difference in other people's lives, we need to muster that courage to cast into the deep. We get to know ourselves more by casting our lives into the deep. In facing our own demons, our darkness, and our issues, we get to find new directions and relaunch our lives with the best version of who we are. Duc in Altum is a journey to our deepest core. This journey allows us to revisit our motivations, inspirations, aspirations, values, and principles. In casting ourselves into this journey, our only securities are our HOPE and FAITH that overcome our FEARS and HESITATIONS. Others cannot do it for us. We must do it ourselves.

New Wine, New Wineskins

With time, our religious missionary vitality and intensity of service and dedication diminish, fade, or wane. We feel exhausted due to the monotonous life cycle of the mission. We feel drained of energy because we do not see any newness in our actions. We are not fruitful anymore. When we are in that situation of being unproductive, often, we tend to continue doing what we have been doing for so long without putting any meaning, significance, or relevance on it. We do them just for the sake of having something to do and not for the sake of the mission. Hence, self-aggiornamento is necessary. We need 'new wines in fresh wineskins.

Lifestyle wine and wineskin

Duc in Altum calls for disruption or a distraction of what we used to do. This Duc in Altum journey demands the attitude of LETTING GO, letting go of our comforts, securities, routines, plans, and projects to allow ourselves to discover more about life and its purpose and meaning. In letting go, we discover true FREEDOM, which fills our lives with purpose and direction. Freedom is discoverable when we break the trappings and chains that hold us from moving on. There is no freedom when there is fear of judgment or penalties. Freedom is a lifestyle. There is true freedom when we live a lifestyle that allows our energies and potential to flow freely and spontaneously. When we do things just because they are obligatory or because we want to impress our superiors, then we are not free. When we do things just because we fear that other people will judge us for not doing anything, then we are not free. However, freedom becomes a lifestyle when things are done as the spontaneous expression of who we are and what we are. LIFESTYLE IS MISSION! "Arise from your sedentary lifestyle to care for your brothers and sisters and bear witness to the Gospel of joy" (Pope Francis, April 22, 2022). "It is striking that even some who have solid doctrinal and spiritual convictions fall into a lifestyle that leads to an attachment to financial security or a desire for power or human glory at all costs, rather than giving their lives to others in mission. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of missionary enthusiasm!" (E.G. #80).

Love wine and wineskin

The beauty of casting ourselves into the deep is that we discover that the deepest core of who we are and what we are is LOVE. "Faith, hope, and love…all three, but the greatest is LOVE." We let go of things because we love them. We are free because we love. We hope because we love. We expressed our faith because we are loved. Love is not just an emotional thing to be felt but a commitment, a conviction, and a disposition to be lived, witnessed, and put into action. LOVE is MISSION! Love as a mission is not limited to our relationship with ourselves and others. Love as mission encompasses our relationship with nature, the living and the dead, the spirits around us, and the GREAT SPIRIT (the Creator). Love allows us to see the face of God in the faces of other people who are different from us. Love will enable us to recognize God in nature, in rivers and mountains, and lead us to act according to this recognition of God's Spirit in nature.

_______________________

¹ Fr. William Wyndaele, cicm, CICM Spirituality, in EUNTES, No. 4, (1990) 14-24.

² William Bausch, Storytelling: Imagination and Faith (Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1995), p. 15-16

³ Kindling the Fire, Acts of the 8th General Chapter (Albano, 1974), p. 47-51

⁴ CICM Missionary Presence, Acts of the 9th General Chapter (Rome, 1981), p. 30.

Left: the Incarnation; right: the bush and the Redemption
Life is stronger than death. The bush blossoms.

Philippe de Rosen, cicm
Missionary in Belgium

"When God reveals himself to Moses (Exodus 3), He is standing in a thorny bush. What does this mean? A Jewish text by Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai explains this: "Just as this thorny bush is the hardest of all the shrubs in the world, so that any bird that enters it cannot get out safely without tearing its wings on the thorns, so Israel's slavery in Egypt was harder than all the slavery in the world".

Why did God speak to Moses from that bush? "I have seen and heard the cry of my people.I have come down to deliver them... Go, I have sent you! (Ex. 3, 7-8)

Just as that bush was the humblest of all the shrubs in the world, so the Israelites had descended to the lowest depths and God came down with them to save them".

"The Bible is a pedagogical work that reveals little by little who this God is, who is capable of lowering himself and imprisoning himself out of love. It also reveals who man is: man is great in God's eyes, despite his weaknesses and faults.

- Jacques Duquesne: the God of Jesus Christ p.91

"A puny bush in the desert that bursts into flames, and becomes "budded"; the destructive power is unable to eliminate the life-giving power of the sap! This is the image of the people of God: within the people of God there is someone Moses does not yet know.”

"On that day, a branch will grow out of the stump of Jesse, father of David, an " offspring " (SCHEUT in Dutch) will sprout from his roots. On him will rest the Spirit of the Lord: the spirit of wisdom and discernment, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord". Isaiah 11, 1-3.

"What's left when you've lost everything, when suffering crushes you? What's left is God. But what can he do if we don't welcome him? Like Moses, we too often prefer to take a diversion to "understand" without getting too involved! How can God get through our unbelief? He is the Presence.... externally, nothing changes: the suffering and misfortune are still there, but he joins us there. It is in the experience of my total powerlessness that God himself can be freed from his powerlessness to act, if we let him into our hearts".

- Notes taken in Besançon: Retraite 2001

CHRISTMAS and EASTER are the same reality: It is Christ humbly lying in a manger, in solidarity with innocent children massacred, in solidarity with immigrants by being forced to flee protected by his parents to Egypt, ready to do the Father's will by staying in the Temple for 3 days without his parents knowing.....from the very beginning a "sword pierces Mary's heart"...

How do we face up to this mystery? Let us dare to take this leap of faith: whatever suffering we face, the LIFE offered by Jesus (God-Save, - Emmanuel, God with us) will have the last word. The LIGHT will be stronger than our darkness.

In a painting by Jan Van Coninxloo in the church of St. Denis in Forest-Brussels, we see the angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that she had been chosen to be the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God.

Mary is kneeling on a “prie-Dieu”, meditating with the Bible open on the passage from the Burning Bush in Exodus 3. This meditation on God's humility enabled her to say YES, I am the Handmaid of the Lord.

Our Lady of Scheut appeared at Pentecost 1450, surrounded by Light, on the site where our Institute was founded by Father Théophile Verbist. Mary surrounded by "buds" in a tree in full bloom. Is this a reminder of the revelation of the Burning Bush? A call to become, in our turn, missionaries called to announce that God is coming to make a New World and that this world is already "budding".

Our Lady of Scheut, Our Lady surrounded by buds, help us to believe that life is stronger than death.

Melanio Michael Reyes, cicm
Missionary in RP

Introduction

In the wake of profound changes in the world that have brought about significant shifts and transitions, the role of the treasurer has also evolved to become increasingly complex, delicate and vital. As more than a decade had passed since the last meeting of all Provincial treasurers and recognizing the need to navigate across and through the changes within our Congregation and the world, Raul Caggauauan, the Treasurer General, organized a session of all Provincial treasurers on October 2-13, 2023. With the theme “Transparency and

Accountability in our Missionary Work”, the meeting was held at the Guest House of Saint Louis University, Baguio City, Philippines. The meeting aimed to enable treasurers to share experiences and acquire the necessary tools and strategies to adapt efficiently and effectively to significant changes affecting their work.

During the meeting, the Provincial treasurers and the Treasurer General had the privilege of being in the company of Charles Phukuta, the Superior General. The treasurers were all equipped with the necessary documents and information to facilitate a productive and informative exchange of experiences and insights.

The cool and serene atmosphere in Baguio, accompanied by the warm and cordial welcome of Gilbert Sales, the SLU President, and the SLU personnel, provided an animating environment to create and renew the good CICM spirit among treasurers. The first day started well animated by the Saint Louis University Glee Club welcoming and entertaining the participants with their captivating display of talents, which elicited a heartwarming response among the participants. 

The conference hall on the top floor, aptly described as “the Upper Room” with its panoramic view of the city and the horizons of mountains, was the venue where the participants embarked on a shared journey of united hearts and minds towards a collective commitment to transparency, accountability, and responsible management of financial resources.

Experts' points of view

Recognizing the importance of understanding the emerging challenges the treasurers face today, the Treasurer General invited experts to help the participants see the value of their ministry, as well as to equip them with the necessary tools and strategies to confidently navigate through and with the ever-changing financial landscape and detect potential threats that can compromise the quality of their witness and the integrity of the mission.

Andre de Bleeker, our General Archivist, shared with the participants an insightful and inspiring conference on the role of treasurers as witnessing ministers in the Congregation. Andre’s talk initiated a sharing that transcended the technical aspects of financial management. He presented an invitation to a deep concern for the spiritual dimension of the work of treasurers. The talk of Andre elicited among the treasurers a profound understanding of spirituality as he illustrated the noble examples of our Founder and the concepts of money in the bible. The input of Fr. Andre and the exchange of experiences reaffirmed the commitment of treasurers to accountability and transparency.

Mr. Andreas Machnik, from Pax-Bank, based in Cologne, Germany, gave a presentation on financial management and best banking practices. He addressed the challenges faced by religious institutes in maintaining credible financial conduct. He emphasized the importance of good financial conduct within the church as he shed light on cases of financial mismanagement that have plagued religious institutions and the hurdles they continue to face as consequences. In his discussion, he highlighted the need for corruption prevention. In understanding the complexities involved, the participants were convinced about the need for a comprehensive system to prevent corruption, even seeking external support in establishing effective internal controls that foster financial integrity and accountability.

To strengthen the treasurers' financial expertise, Ms. Jill Landefeld from Brown Advisory and a member of our IHM Investment Management Committee conducted an engaging session on investment. The objective of the session was to provide the treasurers with valuable insights and knowledge to enhance their ability to make informed financial decisions regarding reinvesting IHM common fund dividends, selling shares, realizing gains, and financing budget deficits. While most treasurers may not be directly involved in portfolio management, the session and exercise on portfolio construction provided a valuable foretaste for them of how capital funds operate within the IHM Common Fund.

To better understand the dynamics of the EMI, a video conference was set with the responsible for operations of EMI medical insurance, Mr. Sylvain Sacheli, and Ms. Anne-Marie Goosens, the CICM group manager of EMI insurance at Scheut. Their intervention clarified several concerns about medical refunds in the provinces and provided a comprehensible procedure to facilitate the process for better outcomes.

Sharing of experiences

The scheduled agenda included an opportunity for each treasurer to present their experiences, shedding light on the financial situation of their respective Provinces. This forum allowed them to express the joys, frustrations, and challenges inherent in their roles. The exchange of experiences proved to be a meaningful experience. Treasurers gained more insights, expanding their horizons and better understanding of the financial intricacies involved in their roles. The participants realized that the challenges faced by one Province could resonate with others, fostering a sense of solidarity and unity among treasurers. Beyond each narrative, a broader picture emerged. One got a snapshot of the financial situation of every Province. In a way, this collective understanding highlighted the need for congregational solidarity in the pursuit of CICM's corporate mission.

Other practical matters

During the final days of the meeting, the Treasurer General took charge and led the discussions on various practical points. The participants discussed various issues on finances in Initial Formation, Provident Fund, Green Fund, Congregational solidarity, and other relevant issues outlined in our Vade Mecum B document. Throughout the session, the participants engaged in a fruitful discussion and received clarification regarding Provincial policies on finances. The clarifications and reminders have contributed to helping treasurers improve collaboration and work efficiently.

As each day unfolded, the participants immersed themselves in the daily activities, learning something new and gaining valuable insights. The experience cultivated a profound appreciation for the opportunity to expand their understanding and skills as treasurers. The communal spirit that permeated through the participants was fraternal and inspiring.

The events of the day always left impressions of fulfillment to the participants. The communal prayer, the celebration of the Eucharist, and the conviviality of the evening “potus” promoted relaxation and bolstered the camaraderie among confreres. To further foster their fraternal connection, the group embarked on a weekend getaway to the picturesque Hundred Islands in Pangasinan, where relaxation and appreciation of nature intertwined harmoniously.

Words of fraternal support

On the last day, Charles Phukuta delivered a heartfelt message of gratitude and admiration to all the Provincial Treasurers. He emphasized the importance of being fruitful and faithful, drawing inspiration from biblical figures in the Gospel. He reminded the treasurers to remain open to God’s providence and embrace newness in their work. Lastly, he emphasized the significance of rest and having a sense of humor for their well-being and effectiveness as treasurers.

The meeting concluded with the Holy Eucharistic presided by the Superior General and celebrated at the SLU Parish Church. He was joined by the confreres of the Baguio-La Union District and attended by the heads of various University offices. In the meal served after, everyone further celebrated the fraternal communion and affirmed the identity and mission as CICM Missionaries.

Conclusion

The meeting of all CICM Provincial Treasurers was a resounding success, as evidenced in the evaluation. The gathering fulfilled its intended purpose of sharing and learning among the participants and from the invited experts. The challenges faced by treasurers in managing finances are undoubtedly demanding, especially in a constantly changing context. In a world where financial situations are perpetually evolving, treasurers can find comfort and guidance by embracing the profound invitation to find the true treasure in life.

As the treasurers departed from “the Upper Room”, they carried the inspiration and renewed energy to continue their ministry. They understood that while the financial landscape can be volatile and uncertain, their true and ultimate treasure lies in the Lord and the mission entrusted to them as treasurers. 

Source : Chronica No. 5 Sept-Dec 2023