The Lord always surprises us! And this time has not been an exception. Go around the world! And it has taken us to the Philippines. He wanted us to meet our brothers and sisters in that beautiful country; to those who are sharing the charism with us, and those who are also making their journey in our married couples branch. We participated by preaching in the annual spiritual exercises for missionary couples in formation and with temporary bonds along with Poncho (missionary married couple) and James.

To arrive in the Philippines and to meet our brothers and sisters was a source of thanksgiving. We felt like the Holy Spirit had everything ready for us. We found people with open hearts to welcome us, even without knowing each other. We felt like a family, from the very first moment that El El and Ann embraced and welcomed us. And that feeling remained throughout our entire stay there. We had several meetings with couples in the two days before the beginning of the exercises and we can only thank God for the gift of each one of them.

The theme of the Exercises was "Rooted and grounded in Christ, steadfast in the faith" from Colossians 2:7. The experience to which we were invited was the contemplation of Jesus - to be able to build all our life in him, because our being a missionary married couple has to be rooted in Christ. And so the week went by, and it was a delight the feeling that Jesus lends us his life to make ours a reflection of the kingdom for us and those who he entrust us. With that joy the exercises ended in an environment of fraternal love, because whoever is rooted in his life cannot feel anything other than his love for each couple, and every vocation in Christ.
​
Our certainty is that the Lord has given us the knowledge, without doubt, that we are part of a Universal Church, in a universal fraternity and that the married couples branch is called to keep the dream of God alive within this charism that he gave us through Jaime. We all need each other to grow and become strong. Regardless of the place of residence, we are all one, because the one who unites us is not limited by borders or languages ​​because his love is universal.

(cf. Colossians 2:7)

This was the theme in the annual Spiritual Exercises of the Verbum Dei Missionary Married Couples Branch in the Philippines last April 23 to 29, 2018 in Saint Francis Seraph Retreat House in Talisay, Cebu.

​This 7 day silent retreat was facilitated by the 3 branches of the Fraternity, namely Alfonso Martinez - couples branch, Fr. James McTavish - male branch, and Sisters Malou and Mico - female branch. Also present were the missionary married couple from Spain, Antonio and Marisol. The participants included the four missionary couples with temporal bonds based in CDO and the nine missionary couples in the formation course, six of whom are based in Cebu, one in Cagayan de Oro and two are based in Australia.

It was a very fruitful opportunity to be reunited as one branch and to be re-rooted and re-built in Christ once again after a year’s journey and more to come.

In line with the celebration of the Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons, the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro held an overnight Vocation Jamboree on April 21-22, 2018 in San Jose de Mindanao Seminary, with the theme “Renewed-Servant Leaders for the New Evangelization.” Delegations from various congregations and parishes within the Archdiocese came to grace the event with enthusiasm and life.

Purpose filled activities were lined up to give a meaningful experience to the participants. A highlight was the inspirational talk of Bishop-elect Raul Dael, on “What is Vocation in General”, followed by the breakout sessions to three groups with simultaneous discussion on the specific vocation of Married Life, Single-Blessedness, and the Religious/Priestly Life. The event started with a Pilgrim walk with a Holy Rosary and other activities included Adoration, Confession/Counseling, Vocation Fair with Booth Expo, Praise Festival and culminated with an early morning Eucharistic Celebration.

The VDMFa-CDO sent twenty seven youth delegates who actively participated in the event. An even greater blessing was the opportunity to be invited as resource speakers to discuss the different vocations. With zeal for the mission, Regner-Mae Paguia talked about Married Life in the context of being missionary married couple, Marivic Umaran shared of her chosen Single-Blessed Life, and James McTavish on his journey to the call of the Priestly Vocation. The occasion not only gave VDMFa a gracious introduction to the bigger community of Cagayan de Oro, but also the privilege to impart its Charism to the hearts of the people in attendance.

​ Let us pray we can all be faithful to our vocation!

See some photos of the event below: