On Saturday evening, Feb 16, our Verbum Dei Family in Cebu had two post Valentine’s events: one for Married couples and the other for Singles, young adults group.

The post-Valentine’s Special for married couples was organised by Victor & Ellen, Dondon & Syme, Jess & Mau and El El & Ann. ‘It was a happy evening, and a great avenue to meet new couples. There were 28 married couples present, the youngest being 7 years married and the older more than 28 years married. We all felt inspired starting the evening with mass, and in the homily the priest reminded us of how important it is to build the foundation of the family rooted in Christ’s love. The incorporation of prayer made this Valentine’s meal and celebration very special; a beautiful and touching balance between the food, singing, dancing, gifts, games, prayer and some shared experiences on how Jesus, present in the midst of a married couple, really enhances marriage life.’ (DonDon)

‘A day to celebrate the Love that I tasted from my Father God. A love that was handed down by my Father God when we had our ‘I do’ 8yrs ago. We had our renewal of vows and it was like it is still our wedding day, as I said ‘yes’ and ‘I do’ again to my dear husband Don. A day of love shall I say, which we celebrated with other Verbum Dei couples and invited couple guests on Feb 16, 2018, 7pm at Northstar condominium, NRA, Cebu City. It was AWESOME! I enjoyed so much with my husband and all the couples in that simple yet memorable event. It was a day to remember. It seemed like our first dance during our wedding day to entertain our guest as we danced the opening salvo to welcome all guest. Thanks for our event coordinator Ellen Siarza. God really works as He bridges the gap and He fills in the blank. As one of the organizers I don't know how it turned out so well… nothing is impossible with God.’ (Syme)
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 ‘I have attended many Valentine’s celebrations in the past, where I have spent lots of money, yet this one was the cheapest and one of the most special ones. For me, the highlight was the renewal of the marriage vows, and the way the priest awoke my thirst and hunger to renew my vows. This evening brought me lots of hope, to see how married couples still believe in God’s calling to marriage, despite some of the challenges and difficulties I know some couples are passing through. This was also shown to me in the moment when we were asked to remember and share some questions, such as: when and where was your first date, your first kiss and gift? And when was the date which you said ‘yes’ to each other? Amazing to see how even the older couple present there could remember those key moments of their relationship. All this and the final invitation to dance together by couples, made this event not just a celebration but a remarkable evening in our call to grow in love as a couple.’ (Jess and Mau)

Here are some photos of the event:

The singles/ young adults Verbum Dei group also organised a Verbum Dei Special event, held in another venue, in AA restaurant, Banilad on February 16, 2019. Starting with dinner and music, there followed a formation talk on “Building Healthy and Mature Relationships”. This was an opportunity not only to invite friends but also to reflect and share on how healthy and mature relationships, which we all long for, need to be worked on; it is a life journey starting from now: ‘May your inner self be planted and built on love…’ (Ephesians 3:16-20) and heading towards Christ, ‘Let’s grow towards Christ, mature in love.’ (Eph 4: 14-16).

The formation input explored the journey of building our relationships in love, looking at Christ, the One mature in love. It also deepened in the elements that the following authors stated: ‘Maturity is collaboration and commitment, whilst immaturity is escape, evasion, accommodation and competition’ (Thomas Kelman); and in the characteristics of mature and healthy relationships according to the psychologist Abraham Maslow: ‘capacity to relate with reality; self-acceptance; spontaneity; to be centred in external problems rather than in oneself; the need of intimacy and loneliness; enjoyment for life; mystical experiences; desire for community; tolerance; strong interpersonal relationships; ethical; humour; creativity; integrity; and the capacity to integrate opposite qualities.’

In short, to build ourselves and our relationships in love is a journey which implies a constant learning and growth in: self-awareness, managing our emotions, learning effective communication, becoming free from past hurting experiences that may colour our present, learning from each other, assertivity, self-control, boundaries, chastity, and off course, in all, looking at Christ as our model.

​Here is some feedback from the attendees:

‘I can now understand better the difficulties I have in some relationships… and felt encouraged to grow in self-knowledge, acceptance, reconciliation and love…’ (Jun)

‘Our Singles Valentine’s Special was an intimate and fruitful evening, well spent in our dialogues between us during the meal and enriched by a formation talk given by Sr Margarida; it gave us some insights on how to build better relationships in love, and the participation of many of us in the Q&A.’ (Joanna)
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‘I particularly found the interaction activities within the talk very helpful… they allowed us not only to interact with one another but also to examine our own relationships bringing into awareness what is happening also in the way we relate with and deal with other people around us.’ (SueAnn)

Every February, people celebrate the "month of love" whether you are married, in a relationship or single. Valentine’s Day excites a lot of people most especially the lovers and the young lovers. But what if you don't have a partner to celebrate it with? How will you celebrate VDay? Well, some feel bitter which makes them have many "hugot" (deep feelings come out) and some simply just prefer to stay happy and celebrate it with family and friends.
 
Last Saturday, February 16, 2019 a Post-Valentine's Celebration for the Verbum Dei Youth was held at Dela Strada Parish. There were 27 participants who responded to the invitation. First, they had an Introduction about the program, then followed by the "human bingo" game. It let them interact with new people by asking who is the person required in the game. Then a dinner with some serenading. Finally, the talk entitled "All about Dating, Love, and Sex" by Mrs. Aira Caparas-Tabayoyong which was really an interesting topic applicable for the youth. It is also one way of preparing them for the future circumstances they might encounter. The speaker made a great impact by getting the attention of the audience. After that, they had a follow-up explanation regarding what was discussed by the speaker. Before the participants went home, there was picture taking and the photos revealed the fun on their faces that night.
 
How nice the words of St Paul. There is so much talk of love, but his inspired words in his first letter to the Corinthians really guide us:
 
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NIV)
 
Let us all be reminded that by loving others we are already sharing God's love. This is a wonderful way to celebrate Valentine’s day each and every day!

​Heirs… and Apostleship
Local Assembly Cebu, 10 Feb 2019

The Verbum Dei family in Cebu was happy to hold its … (guess what number…) tenth Local assembly! This was a moment for the local community to share, review, plan and celebrate its commitment to the mission entrusted to them.

The day kicked off with the Eucharist where we all had the chance to reflect on the Gospel (Luke 5:1-11) and the call of Jesus to “push out into deep waters.” Where are those deeper waters? To take more risks in our missionary outreach? To bring our charism more to the world of today? In the call we understand it also presupposes going deeper into the love of Christ.

It was very encouraging to see the participation of all the missionary family in their reports – from the enthusiasm of the kids, through the energy of the youth and teens, the singles, the mamas, up to including the faithful apostles at 83 years old (no names mentioned).

Teambuilding followed where the differing realities were represented by a creative symbol. The various committees gave updates and there followed a job fair where you could sign up, knowing that “the harvest is big and the laborers are few” (Luke 10:2).

A Local Assembly is fully in line with the call of the Church. Pope Francis wrote “In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples (cf. Mt 28:19). All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients. The new evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized. Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization; indeed, anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love. Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are “disciples” and “missionaries”, but rather that we are always “missionary disciples” (Evangelii Gaudium, no. 120).

As Verbum Dei we are heirs of a very rich charism, received from the Holy Spirit through the life of Jaime Bonet. This charism is to be shared to the Church and the world of today. If we believe, we will speak (see 2 Cor 4:13), and pray and also invite new people. We are called to form apostles. As Jaime Bonet reminded us “People are formed by doing and above all by enabling others to also do; making others to act, forming School of Apostles – practicing -- where everyone really can do something… The disciples to be apostles have to act. If they do not act, they do not advance” (See “Form Apostles” by J. McTavish, pages 39 & 43). As Verbum Dei, we are called not just to be listeners or mere hearers but we are called to be doers who act according to what we hear in God’s Word (see James 1:22). It was very encouraging to see our disciples active in various ways including signing up to help lead various forthcoming Lenten recollections.

What are you doing to build up the Kingdom? Don’t just sit there, do something!
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May the Holy Spirit always move us as Verbum Dei to be faithful. Mother Mary, Queen of Apostles, thank you for the gift of our Local Assemblies. May we be faithful to all we have discussed and decided there. Amen. 

Here are some photos of the event:

Here are some photos of the event:

“Why do we have the vows?”
Formation to novices on biblical foundation of religious life​

Here are some photos of the event:

Fun and adventure: these two words are very popular with most people.  Who does not want to be happy? Everyone wants excitement - that’s our nature as human beings.  That’s exactly what happened to me when my Verbum Dei Community organized a hiking recollection in Mount Batulao last January 26, 2019.

Hiking is not a new word to me, and neither is recollection but what made me more excited was the fact that this is I can say my first serious hiking experience.  I had a taste of it when I was a boy scout and some of my community’s activity but it is not as rigorous as this.

When the day of the hiking came I was very excited. I am a nature lover (same as St. Francis) Ha! Ha!  Ha!  By thinking that I will be seeing beautiful scenery really made me excited.  Now the hiking proper -  at first it was easy but as the time passed by little by little I got tired and added to that I am not an athletic person ( I just feel like one) Ha!  Ha!  Ha! The journey to the peak was not easy but you know what is one of the things that inspired me? It was the kindness of the people around me (including the guides), they pushed me to continue and not to give up.

It was also a great opportunity for me to give an input at the second to the last station of the mountain (it has four)  iven that it’s nice to share about God as well.  Having a chance to speak with the beautiful nature as your background, made me feel like Jesus in the Gospel.  Indeed we can see God in Nature.

After my input, there was one last journey up to the peak but this time with more energy - thankfully we made it. Yehey! When we reached the top,  I can’t help but pray. Indeed God exists - if not, who will be able to create such beauty that we call nature. 

One of the things that we did in the activity was to help in cleaning the area which was a good experience for me because nature is God’s gift that all of us must enjoy and take care of. We must take our part in making it clean because all of us benefit from it.

I will never forget the experience that I had in the hiking recollection because I believe we can associate our life to be like climbing the mountain - there are moments that we will get tired, disappointed,  frustrated, and sad but as we strive to not give up and continue the journey in the end we will win. You will realize that God is with you in different moments you just did not notice. He is there with the people who helped you along the way.
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I am still a work in progress, there are a lot of things that I need to work on in my spiritual life, family life and myself but like what happened in the hiking recollection, I want to strive not to give up because I want to believe that there’s something beautiful that awaits me in the finish line. I wish you the same as well. Happy journeying! 

“Re-abolish slavery!”
A one day formation to novices on human trafficking and prostitution

For a thought-provoking advert on the dangers of human trafficking see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLuqUpu6cY0