Verbum Dei Philippines
  • Home
  • Watch + Listen
  • Read
    • News
    • Feature Stories
    • Community Updates
  • Events
  • Communities
    • Pasig City
    • Quezon City
    • Pandacan, Manila
    • Tagaytay City
    • Cebu City
    • Cagayan de Oro City
  • Centers
    • Verbum Dei Center (Tagaytay City)
    • Verbum Dei Center of Formation (Pasig City)
    • Verbum Dei Apostolate Center (Cebu City)
  • About
    • About Us
    • Our Spirituality
    • Our Founder
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Watch + Listen
  • Read
    • News
    • Feature Stories
    • Community Updates
  • Events
  • Communities
    • Pasig City
    • Quezon City
    • Pandacan, Manila
    • Tagaytay City
    • Cebu City
    • Cagayan de Oro City
  • Centers
    • Verbum Dei Center (Tagaytay City)
    • Verbum Dei Center of Formation (Pasig City)
    • Verbum Dei Apostolate Center (Cebu City)
  • About
    • About Us
    • Our Spirituality
    • Our Founder
  • Contact
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

News

Read the news from events, activities and other updates on the different communities here in the Philippines

10/25/2020 Comments

NFE 2020 News: Workshop – Verbum Dei’s Response to the Signs of the Times

Picture
This workshop was led by
Adriana Haro, Ronan Capuras, Charisma Sulbise and Jay-anne Désabelle.
Introduction
What comes to mind when you hear the expression “the signs of the times”? The signs of the times help us understand how God is acting in human history. He communicates with us through the burning bushes in our life (see Moses in Exodus 3:8) or in a gentle breeze (see Elijah in 1 Kings 19:12), where he reveals himself and expresses his will. It is not always easy to recognize the signs. Jesus invites believers to be “the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:1-3) and attentive to the Kingdom of God – but whoever is closed to conversion/change, will be blind to the signs of the times.

Signs of the times
The believer needs to scrutinize the signs of the times in order to influence what is happening with the provocative force of the Gospel. Signs to be considered can include global warming, a growing awareness of mental health, the global protest against racism and discrimination, and political and social polarization. Pope Francis wrote “As I was writing this letter, the Covid-19 pandemic unexpectedly erupted, exposing our false securities. Aside from the different ways that various countries responded to the crisis, their inability to work together became quite evident. For all our hyper-connectivity, we witnessed a fragmentation that made it more difficult to resolve problems that affect us all” (Fratelli tutti, no. 7, 2020). What is God’s will here in all these issues?

Newness
One such way in which God has already been preparing us for the pandemic by inspiring our National Communications ministry over the last 2-3 years. It helped us prepare in advance for the pandemic, and allows us to share with many through our dedication to prayer and ministry of the Word, and forming apostles. We can ask what newness is the Spirit working in this time? As Isaiah reminds us, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? … I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (see Isaiah 43:19-20).

Caution
We are to be a cunning as a snake and gentle as a dove – and not to be naïve. One problem today is social media addiction. To lessen social media distraction - you can leave phone outside your room at night to sleep well, delete unnecessary social media accounts, mind the time spent on media, and enhance real-time connections. How about countering fake news? We can develop a critical mindsight, check the source, see who else is reporting the story and don’t take images at face value. Individualism and consumerism can also be an issue – so take care in our spending, with less screen time and more face time. It is important to discern and to pray like our founder Jaime Bonet.

Pastoral response
God meets us where we are. God has never abandoned us; instead he continues to reveal himself dynamically to us, and hopes in our response. “You yourselves give them something to eat” said Jesus. How many loaves do you have? How can we respond as Verbum Dei? Prayer makes us gifted to give - without prayer we give up easily. This connection with the living Word makes us creative to reach out, and helps us see our mission is not quarantined. So what is our pastoral response as Verbum Dei?

Let us bear in mind:
  • To keep the intentionality of forming apostles
  • Strengthening our personal union with Christ through prayer, rosary, SOW, SOAp & online masses.
  • We are called to witness to the Kingdom of God personally and as a community through online means and concrete gestures of charity.
  • Personal accompaniment adapted to the circumstances through following up people, ROL, and Spiritual direction.

​Our union with God will give us the answers of how we can respond as a Verbum Dei Missionary Family. 
Comments

    Archives

    May 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    May 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All Advent Articles Bohol CDO Cebu Christmas Couples Ctk Disciples Retreat Easter Encounter Event Family Bonding Fmvd FMVD President Formation Friends Of Verbum Dei Fundraising General Congress 2018 Gift Giving Hiking Holy Week International Kids Leadership Camp Lenten Local Assembly Luzon Manila Manila/Pasig Marrried Couple Missionaries Mission Trip Music Festival Musuan National Family Encounter 2015 National Family Encounter 2017 Newsletter NFE2020 Olango Online Retreat Outreach Pansol Pasig Pentecost Philippines Pilgrimage Prayer Camp Quezon City Recollection Retreat School Of Apostles School Of The Word Semi-silent Retreat Senior High School Siete Aguas Silent Retreat Singapore Singles Song Forum Spiritual Exercises Tagaytay Teens Testimony TGIS Toledo Valentines Valentines Celebration Vietnam Visit To The Archbishop Working Group Workshop Youth Youth Days

    RSS Feed

Picture
Vertical Divider

Subscribe for updates

© 2025.  Verbum Dei Philippines.