By Consuelo (Chit) E.  Munar

The Catholic Women’s League  Council of Holy Trinity Parish Church held their Lenten Retreat on March 25, 2017 with Fr. Julian Studden, pastor of St. Albert Parish in southeast Calgary as the keynote speaker. He is one of the most sought-after speakers in the Diocese of Calgary. I was very pleased to see  Fr. Studden again and most specially for the great opportunity to listen to his  most profound  address.

The central theme  of the CWL’s Lenten retreat was “Inspired by the Holy Spirit.”  In his speech, Fr. Studden cited three ordinary women who performed extra-ordinary endeavours in their lifetime and served as models of devoting majority of their efforts in helping the more needy members of society, namely: Marguerite Bourgeoys, CND, co-founder of New France or  Montreal City in Quebec province, Marguerite d’Youville, founder of the Grey Nuns and Dorothy Day, an American journalist, social activist and a Catholic convert.  All  lived  their lives doing things that pleased the Lord.

The significant part of Fr. Studden’ s discourse was about “revolution of the heart,” which could be translated in other terms as change of mind, change of thinking and change of heart. In most cases, he said, nobody likes innovation or change. Change is not embraced by most people.  Evan leaders resist change as much as followers do – unless the change is their idea.

The truth is that just about everybody resist change. Why?  Because……

Change can feel like a personal loss. But the truth of the matter is that though change feels personal, it isn’t.  The world keeps changing  and it affects  everyone, whether they like it or not. Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and philosopher had a take on this. He asserted, “for everything we gain we lose something.”  We like gaining, but we don’t like losing. We want to have the one without the other.  Apparently,  Life doesn’t work that way. Every beginning ends something.  Every ending begins something new.

Because people don’t like change, most of them don’t react to it very well. And their response creates more problems  for them. Most people would rather change their circumstances to improve their lives when instead they need to change themselves to improve their circumstances. They put in just enough effort to distance themselves from their problems without ever trying to go after the root, which can often be found in themselves.  Because they don’t try to change the source of their problems, their problems keep coming back at them.

Positive change and willingness to learn are personal responsibilities.  Julio Melara declared, “If your career, marriage, job and life are to improve, you must change. In the mirror, you are looking at the problem and the solution.  It begins with you making a decision.  The people who reach their potential no matter what their background or profession think in terms of improvement.” Truly, if one wants to get better, one needs to be  willing to change.

Consuelo  (Chit) E. Munar is the past president of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association  of Alberta (UPAAA) from 2012-2015.  Currently, she’s the Chairperson of Holy Trinity Church Stewardship Committee and Holy Trinity CWL Chair for Legislation and Resolution.