Last February 22, 2020, Verbum Dei Pansol had a Post Valentine’s Day Celebration with the theme “Heart Speaks to Heart.” It was an evening of fun, good food, live music and learning attended by 19 participants.

The event was opened by the host, Ms. Gen Oxales of Verbum Dei Pansol. It was followed by a little introduction about the event by Fr. Iwao Ikegami, the group’s adviser.  During the dinner, singer-song writer Ms. Girl Valencia and Mr. Francis Jerome Santos, Verbum Dei Disciple of Pansol, serenaded the participants with some of the most popular love songs like the classics “Maalaala Mo Kaya” and “When I Fall in Love” amongst others.

A further highlight of the event was the talk and formation about Love by Fr. James McTavish. He stressed that each of us must receive love, take care of the love and share it through mission. He also said that Valentine’s Day does not have to always be about romantic love only, because it can also be about love for God and others.

After the talk there was a question and answer portion where each group was asked to pose one question to the speaker for discussion. It helped the participants to have a deeper understanding of the topic. The night ended with the awarding of appreciation to the speaker and performers and of course picture taking.
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1 Corinthians 13:13 “But these three remain, faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love.  No matter what happens love is the language that all of us understand because like what the theme says “Heart Speaks to Heart.”

There was a post Valentine gathering for 55 couples in our Verbum Dei Apostolate Center, Cebu. Going the extra mile, the Matrimonios Missionaries spear headed the affair and it was well supported by the Verbum Dei couples reality. COVID-19 wasn’t able to prevent us from pursuing the event as an outbreak of contagious Love syndrome was also in the air.

We started with a formation about “The Joy of Marriage” which we freshly delivered to the lovers, who were very enthusiastic as they listened, contemplated and walked through their respective most romantic and worst conjugal experiences. John 2:5 “Do whatever He tells you” propelled us to keep on announcing how love matters even though it is not easy in our cruel world. Our missionary couple in charge in Cebu, Regner & Mae Paguia, launched the upcoming future series of formations for couples.

During the celebration of the Eucharist, we were joyful to have Fr. Ely Siuco, overall chairman of the Family Life Ministry of the Diocese who celebrated the mass and administered the renewal of marriage vows to those couples married in church, reaffirming our commitments to each other.  
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As married couples, let our goals in life be: to share, to inspire and to spread the love through the Word of God! May the struggles and challenges in marriage not quarantine us from truly sharing what Love can do to many more couples. May we also remain firm in faith and strong in values in upholding the indissolubility and sanctity of marriage, and the value of the gift of family.

Here are some photos of the event: