NFE 2020 News: The Celebration Has Begun!

Today, October 24 is the start of a 2-day Verbum Dei National Family Encounter, hosted by Cagayan De Oro Community, this time through Zoom. There are almost 400 people who registered for this event from the different communities of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao and even overseas.

The celebration was hosted by Bimbo and Cookie, a married couple from CDO.  The theme of the event is “Gifted to Give”. There was a video that was shown to highlight the past Verbum Dei National Family Encounter in 2009- up to the present.

Sister Amy Hernandez, the Zone Ecclesial Responsible of Verbum Dei Philippines gave the welcome remarks. She shared about the community’s history and the importance of having a National Family Encounter. She emphasized the importance of our bonds as family and relationship with Jesus. Sr Amy explained about the encounter’s theme “Gifted to Give” which was derived from Matthew 10:8. She said that Verbum Dei Family has been gifted in prayer, gifted as a Christian Community like the School of the Word, Revision of Life and many more. “We are Verbum Dei, we are gifted the Word of God, we are gifted to share to other people. We may not be all financially gifted but we can share the Word of God which is really needed by a lot of people”. She reiterated that as a Verbum Dei Missionary Family, we are gifted to give.

Fr. Rodrigo Carrizo, the Verbum Dei President sent a greeting for the Verbum Dei Missionary Family of the Philippines. He said that the encounter will be a moment of grace for the individual and for the missionary communities. He said that even though the encounter will be online the Holy Spirit will be very much present and will accompany the participants. Fr. Rodri said that we are also called to share Jesus to others.

Bishop Milo Vergara, the Bishop of Pasig, greeted the Verbum Dei community for the 5th National Family Encounter. He wished that it will be memorable for everyone. He hopes that even though it is online, Jesus will still be present to everyone. He reminded the participants that God’s word is the word of hope and love.
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The celebration just begun, and there will be other surprises as the rest of the activities unfold.  Even the pandemic will not stop the Verbum Dei Family to be united.  We acknowledge that God gave us and is still giving us a lot. Like the theme announces, Verbum Dei Family is ready for mission and “Gifted to Give.”