AAE Day 3 - Upgrading our nets for a catch in the world of today

Participants dedicated their Saturday afternoon to deepen in the many ways in which we can pay our nets for a catch in the world of today through different workshops. Here is a glimpse of this fun and enriching activity:

​Workshop 1 - "In Your Word"

This workshop was organized by  the Taiwan Community headed by Sr. Evelyn Ong.  She successful connected doing missions  in Chinese Calligraphy. The art  requires firmness and flexibility which missions must also have. It is important to know the culture of the people you are dealing with and not only your ways in order for them to relate to you.

The participants  were asked to choose a word written in a piece of bond paper  that consisted of virtues and positive  words like patience, kindness, humility, friendship etc. The facilitators gave the participants a peace of paper to practice  and after a while when they were given another piece of colored paper to write the word as the final output.

The worship attendees definitely had a great time. Indeed God speaks to us in different ways. He is always there for us. Like Chinese Calligraphy he's firm at the same time flexible in understanding our own weaknesses with him we can make our lives a masterpiece.

Workshop 2 - "We are Family"

The community of Cebu guided us through this workshop in whoch we explored the Verbuma Dei Family as a reality that gathers people from all walks of life journeying in the same Verbum Dei Charism. Aida Calpela facilitated the workshop which helped us to refresh our VD identity, what binds us, our mission. The participants expressed precisely that what attracted them to VD are the basic elements of our charism, the encounter with Christ in his word. This was confirmed by disciples of different countries in the small group sharings. 
Disciples from Ceb shared their testimony of how they live their belongingness to Verbum Dei in their different realities: as a teacher, as a doctor, as a student and as a father. Belonging to VD and living a life of prayer makes them stand out and make a difference in the context where they are.

Workshop 3 - "Pay your Nets for a Catch on Social Media"

Workshop 3 invited the participants to throw our nets in the digital continent. The workshop was facilitated by Sheila Cabarrubias, Jay-anne Desabelle, and Adriana Haro, all of them from Verbum Dei Cebu.
They started by telling us that Jesus’ invitation to go to the ends of the Earth means now to enter in the digital continent. We got to meet the characteristics of the digital citizens from different generations and what they are searching online: themselves, their people and their place in the world. We learned that the Church sees social media positively and is making many efforts in reaching out to the people of today.
Jay-anne shared with us the different projects that Verbum Dei is doing here in the Philippines, which inspired us to think on our own context. We were invited to think on the profile of the digital citizen in our cities and try to think on initiatives to reach out to them though digital platform. The workshop certainly opened our desire to enter in the digital world with courage and creativity to reach out to our brothers and sisters so that Jesus may catch them as they surf the digital world.

Workshop 4 - Pay out your nets for a catch of people

The workshop discussed about one’s Vocation. They say that we all have a vocation, whether it is being single, married, religious, pursuing a career, or taking care of someone who is incapacitated or with a permanent disability, everything is a calling!
 But, what is vocation? It comes from the Latin noun, “vocare”, meaning, “to call”. It could be a particular occupation, business or profession. Or, it could be a divine call to God’s service or a call to Christian life.
 The question which could be drawn is: What if your job/occupation, or being married, having a family, staying single is both a vocation and a call from God and is a way to serve Him? Can we say no to the call? How do we know what to do with our gifts, talents and passions?
 They say, “vocation happens when you take what you love to the world’s needs...” Our life has a purpose but, it doesn’t just belong to us. It belongs to others as well and we all belong to God. Just like what Jesus said, “Come follow me,” with your talents, riches, struggles, etc.