I suddenly blurted, “I hope we can be like cancer cells!”
It was actually a sad, weird, and unusual comparison.
That time our Couples for Christ community just had our first Christian Life Program (CLP) in a parish in Albuquerque. We were fortunate to have St. Bernadette Parish opened its door for the program. What was unfortunate was the service team members outnumbered the participants that night.
During the meeting, our head updated us about the need to pray for people with cancer.
While he was telling us a story about a someone whose cancer recurred, he said it means its network has gotten stronger and affected all other cells.
Understanding Cancer Stages- Simplified
At Stage 0, Carcinoma in situ “the cancer is in place”. The cure rate is 100%. Not invasive.
At Stage 1, the primary tumor is small but invasive to surrounding tissues, not spread.
At Stage 2, the primary tumor is larger, no clinical evidence of spread.
At Stage 3, the tumor has spread to a region of the body
At Stage 4, the cancer cells have spread to more regions.
When we got back to discussing our current status with the program. They told us to just continue on inviting people. What we are doing is God’s work, and God will, for sure, give us the grace to do so, if we commit to it.
And then, a thought suddenly came and before I can control it, I blurted, “Let’s all be cancer!”
Cancer for God’s work!
How We Can Be Cancer Cells for God’s Work
You see, even if it was a sad, weird, and unusual comparison, it makes sense.
It will be best for our group to be like cancer cells when we are promoting God’s work! We definitely want to be at Stage 4 of Cancer!
At Stage 0, if we continue to remain at Stage 0, then yes, our life here on earth is safe, sound, and normal. We continue to be at status quo. We live our lives in our own little world.
At Stage 1, if we realize that no matter how small we are, we can intrude on people’s thoughts in our circle. We can talk about God, about Jesus, boldly, in our own little ways.
This is where our group is right now, small but pretty empowered.
At Stage 2, we know all of us are in the same boat, sending messages of love through the love of Christ. We may not know how far our reach is but our belief and continuous doing of God’s work will make it happen for us!
In our case, we can invite people to the program, and in God’s perfect time, He will touch the hearts of these people and who knows they may even attend the program.
At Stage 3, if we continue to go forth and promote God’s message of love, then our network would grow and we know something good is going to happen soon!
In our case, even in a foreign land, participants will outnumber the service team!
At Stage 4, this is our final goal, this is when our good thoughts, deeds, and actions have grown and spread throughout aggressively and fearlessly.
In our case, this is awesome!
The BIG Difference
All of us have cancer cells in our bodies and we want these cells to remain passive, unknown, quiet and not show up ever.
From a different perspective, if we are on a mission, we do want to be active, known, loud, show up and network with people as we share our message!
If the cancer cell’ s purpose is to destroy, our purpose why we can be cancer cells for God’s work is the totaI opposite.
I know, cancer, is a sad reality but if only we can be as persistent as the cancer cells in terms of how we spread God’s messages of love, peace, and joy, then I am sure our lives will be lived according to purpose.
