​Join us in our Holy Week 2020 Online Retreat from the comfort of your home. Open for all! 
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Click below to go to the page where you can view the live stream and other materials for the online retreat. 🙏😇

Join us in our online celebration of the Feast Day of Verbum Dei, the Solemnity of the Annunciation. Let us say "yes" to God as a family at the service of the Word. 
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Program:
3:00pm - Homily by Rodrigo Carrizo, President of Verbum Dei
6:00pm - Live Mass by VD Pansol, QC
8:00pm - Rosary of the Word
10:00pm - Replayed mass from VD in Rome

Go to our official Facebook page

March 13, 2020

Dear Verbum Dei Missionary Family,

I hope that everyone is keeping safe and healthy. United with all the people all over the world, let us remain in prayer imploring the Lord for protection against the COVID-19 virus.

President Duterte has already announced the imposition of community quarantine in Metro Manila which will affect land, sea and air travel starting March 15, 2020 (midnight) to April 14, 2020 (Please read the directives provided by the government agencies). Contingency measures are being imposed to prevent the spread of the virus. This pronouncement will affect all our apostolic activities during the said period. Thus, we would like to cancel the following activities in the different communities we have in Luzon for now. This may need to be extended to Visayas and Mindanao in the light of upcoming pronouncements of the Church and the Government. The activities affected include:

1. School of the Word
2. Formations
3. Rosary of the Word
4. School of Apostles / Formators
5. Recollections
6. All Holy Week activities such as Easter Encounters and Disciples' Retreats

We are planning to organize a virtual way of celebrating the Holy Week with daily guidelines and online retreat during the Holy Triduum. Please wait for the announcement on the coming days. 

Let us remain vigilant and practice charity in these trying times and may Mother Mary keep our faith and hope alive. Let us not forget to pray for the healthcare workers who sacrifice themselves to help those afflicted with the virus and those on their way to recovery.

United in prayer,

Amy
Fraternidad Misionera Verbum Dei
Manila

Dear VD Family,

In reference to the last announcement of our Zone Responsible, "the cancellation of all our SOW's, SOA and other activities is already extended in our Cebu apostolates" due to the recent executive order of our City Mayor regarding "Community Quarantine" for the whole city effective March 15, 2020. Keep posted and wait for further notice.

Thank you.

​Mico

Each year, since 2012, the Verbum Dei community has been asked to give a one-day formation on Prostitution and Human trafficking to Exodus, an inter-congregational group of around 75 novices, from various congregations and different countries.
 
The module was facilitated by James McTavish. He gave an overview of the current problem with around 36-40 million victims of trafficking each year, with the majority of victims forced into prostitution and sex trafficking.
 
Here is the sharing of Priscilla Su, a Verbum Dei misionera:
 
“Human trafficking and prostitution are not new issues. Actually, they have been around for some time, it is just that they are “hidden in plain sight.” The formation created an awareness in me of modern slavery that needs to be addressed in this day and age.
 
It is very easy to say that we know of these issues and that they are out there on the streets, in the lives of people that we see each day. However, how often have we simply walk pass them as if it was just another person living their lives, making a livelihood.
 
What amazed me was to see the number of “girly” bars that are present in Malate, which is just one of many such areas in Manila. The danger is that we get so used to how things are, desensitized, and we just turn a blind eye to the issue at hand. During the formation, James also shared with us the teachings of the Church, and the prayer intention of Pope Francis in the month of Feb for 2019 and 2020. The need of prayer on this issue is real as we see the alarming number of people including children being trafficked and sold for prostitution each year.
 
No doubt, there are many organizations and groups that are creatively and tirelessly creating awareness to speak for the voiceless. However, we need to address the root of it all - wherever there is demand, a supply will always be provided regardless of it means. Human trafficking and prostitution business will only continue to grow as a multi-billion-dollar industry. 
 
This is where the gift of the charism is revealed, a charism that God has called us to and placed into our hands to convert the hearts of the people, that through the grace of God, hearts may be transformed to restore the dignity of all involved – namely the 3 “B’s” (Business, Buyer and Bought). As any one of the 3 B’s could be sitting there in one of the pew in Church, either generously donating to the church funds and piously praying yet there is a lot of incoherence in the way that they live their lives, or on the other hand praying and waiting for someone to rescue them out of their situation. 
 
There is an urgent need to address and/or readdress the issue of modern slavery, perhaps one might not feel equipped to speak up in various ways, yet a prayer offered for the victims, for the traffickers and the buyers is already an active step for asking for the grace of God for the conversion of hearts. We can also pray for the religious, and laity who are actively working with the victims to have a compassionate and persevering heart to accompany them in hope of regaining their dignity as precious children of God. To also pray for those who are creating awareness on the issue of human trafficking and prostitution, to have creativity that captures the hearts of the traffickers and buyers to put an end to the demand. We can all do something, if only we would try.”

Here are some photos of the event:

Resources:
 
See Pope Francis, Prayer intention for February 2020 see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URe5524MijY
 
For a Verbum Dei spiritual reflection Spiritual reflection for day against human trafficking see:
https://www.verbumdeiphilippines.com/reflections/freedom-is-possible-if-only-we-would-try-reflection-by-james-mctavish-fmvd
 
For a challenging anti-trafficking advert see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLuqUpu6cY0

Our Verbum Dei mission also includes work with children. How vital to form the young ones in faith and not to ignore them. Sometimes we just see kids in the Church as good for singing a song, or doing a dance. In the gospels, Jesus even got angry with his disciples because they were hindering the children from coming to him. When the disciples tried to turn them away, Jesus said “Let the children come to me” (Matthew 19:14).

In Pansol, we have been working with the kids for around 2 years with a team of missionary disciples - Siony, Muriel, Jonalyn, Mylene, Helen, Cecilia, and Ericka headed by Fr Iwao. Each week we have a School of the Word for kids, teaching them how to pray and to know more Jesus. It can be a challenge to adapt and make relevant the Gospel message for young ones – our creativity is stretched, but it is so encouraging also to see how sensitive they are to God’s Word. As we hear in Matthew 21:16 "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise'?"
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Recently we had a series called “Bible heroes.” In one activity, we looked at Joshua who, with the sound of the trumpet, brought down the walls of Jericho:“When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city” Joshua 6:20  In this activity, the children were asked to recreate the same bible scene, building a wall using lego blocks. Let us continue to pray for the children, and that we can continue to build up their faith.

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.”

This year, in celebration of Valentine's Day, Verbum Dei Cebu Singles reality organized a road trip/recollection/team building activity on Feb. 15-16, 2020 in a beach resort in Boljoon, about 100 kms south of Cebu City.

The aim of the road trip was for the participants to realize that they can find a lifetime companion in God, as his beloved children. It was participated in by 27 singles/ working people with different profession. Along the way the group made stop-overs in Theotokos Shrine, in Carcar Cebu, prayed the Rosary of the Word, then proceeded to Bishop Camomot's Shrine still in Carcar. The group was able to enter Domus Teofilos, containing a small museum showing the life of Bishop Camomot, who is now in the process of becoming a saint. After reaching the final destination in Boljoon, the group had animation, games, and listened to the first talk on the truth of faith "Your life is for Love".

After dinner, there was a formation given on the topic "The Hierarchy of Needs" and a group sharing was held in front of a bonfire. The next morning, the activity started with a morning exercise in front of the beach, watching the sunrise and listening to the sound of the waves. The next talk given was with the theme "Your Life is for Loving" followed by team building activities. The event ended by attending mass in Dalaguete Catholic Church. The participants enjoyed the different activities and had a wonderful weekend experience with Someone who wants to give them their "forever" and be with them forever. 

Below is the experience of one of the participants. 
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Road to forever: A Valentines Special Getaway for single realities gave me an opportunity to open up and to become the best version of myself. I remember a few years ago what a timid and shy type of a person I was, but with God's grace I was able to step out of that world of my comfort zone. The said event encouraged me to step up further towards my goals in life and to know myself better as a person. It allowed me to give back and to share how to embrace and value life with God as the center of everything. Despite of all the “baggage” I and the other participants had prior to going to the said event, we were meant to meet each other in order to fill in the gap we had in our hearts for the missing puzzle in our life. Thus, I felt blessed and grateful for the activity because I was able to open up about my gloomy days and share how I was able to reach my "bloomy" days which I am living at the moment. Don't ever compare your Chapter 1 to someone else’s Chapter 10 version of success in life. Each one of us has his/her own time frame of success in our own pace in life. Just trust the process and spread random act of kindness and happiness to everybody. (From Loren Tesado, one of the participants) 

Here are some photos of the event: