Weekly Guidelines
Read this week's guidelines and be nourished as you journey with our Community in Cebu.
 Be His Word in the WorldWEEK II JUNE 8-14 General Theme: Called to Be the Word of God in the World of Today General Objective: To live our identity as Verbum Dei in the world of today, relying on the grace of God. Specific Objective: To realize that our very existence is the process of becoming His Word in the world, that this identity in us cannot but be lived!
INTRODUCTION The love of God continues to accompany us and it’s until the end of age. The Holy Trinity, the feast that we have just celebrated is the celebration of the union with the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are inseparable just as the love of God to us. The Father is sending us with the Holy Spirit to remind us about the teachings of Jesus which we should neither only remember but to live so that we can remain in his love as His beloved children. Our life as His children are His instruments to make the Word come into the world to reveal the truth of God’s unconditional love; guiding our lost brothers and sisters towards the way to eternal life. We are bearers of the gospel that bring light to those in darkness. If the Spirit is in us, we become fully aware of sin; therefore, we are afraid to offend God as well as our neighbor, especially those people whom we love, care, and accompany in our missionary journey. Our response to God’s love is a mark of our obedience to the Father and of the presence of the Holy Spirit. This is what the Lord wants us to experience, the joy of being united with them. It is the love of God that cannot be found in this world that brings inner joy and peace even surrounded by the disastrous pandemic. The presence of the Lord makes us fearless and self-giving. The Holy Spirit that blazes in our hearts, helps us speak with gentleness and compassion, with wisdom and truth, and not of destruction that degrades the dignity of the person. Are you aware that God has chosen you to be His instrument of love? What concrete situation that you have made the Word Incarnate in you? MONDAY Praying with the Word The Verbum Dei Missionary Family, with the motto of the first disciples of Jesus, “Orationi et ministerio verbi instantes,” and the spirit of the first Christian community, concretizes and centers its specific mission in the Word of God: to pray with the Word, assimilating it until it becomes our own life, transforming ourselves in it and teaching others to do the same, so that they may pray, live and teach it experientially to others. (IMVDMFa# 25) The Verbum Dei Community is the greatest gift that we have received in our life. It is where we are honed how to pray and how to listen to Jesus attentively with all our heart, mind, and soul. We owe this to our founder, Fr. Jaime Bonet, who taught us to pray and to love God in a simple and concrete way. We are always invited to pray with the word and assimilate it until we are molded into selfless-disciples who define the love of God through our words and actions. In what way have you nurtured your identity as a disciple? TUESDAY (St. Ephrem, Deacon & Doctor of the Church) Being one with the Word Our mission begins from the experience of prayer, where God, also through his Word, transmits to us his same Life and Love until we become sons and daughters, brothers and sisters in Jesus. Our prayer or intimate and loving dialogue with God nourishes our vocation and mission to live and preach the Gospel. (IMVDMFa#30) A disciple has to engage with the mission – to proclaim the word of God. Praying the Word in this community is essential. It is to encounter and commune with him daily before bringing him to others as our mission. The efficacy of our mission is measured from our intimacy with the Lord for preaching is rooted in the Scripture. It is through our intimate dialogue that we can truly know and recognize Christ and molds us into his image and likeness. This same mission is not something”, it is “Someone”. It is announcement, it is Good News, it is the Truth, it is Life, it is the Father’s Word. It is the Word Incarnate. The Word expressed in flesh. The flesh transformed into Word. Neither should the individual change. It cannot stop being the very same one. (Excerpt from Jaime Bonet) How is your missionary journey? In what way have you nurtured your calling as a disciple? WEDNESDAY Preaching the Word Arise, Jerusalem, and shine like the sun; The glory of the Lord is shining on you!2 Other nations will be covered by darkness, But on you the light of the Lord will shine; The brightness of his presence will be with you.3 Nations will be drawn to your light, and kings to the dawning of your new day.4 Look around you and see what is happening: Your people are gathering to come home! Your sons will come from far away; Your daughters will be carried like children. 5 You will see this and be filled with joy; You will tremble with excitement. The wealth of the nations will be brought to you; From across the sea their riches will come. (Is. 60:1-5) The disciples serve as the light of today. We are one with the church in doing with the mission. Our prayer serves as fuel to make our light shine so bright. It does not end in listening and assimilating but we have a practical prayer in which we make the word become flesh in us by speaking the words of life not of destruction, hope not of discouragement, love not of envy, and serve with sincerity not of self-interest and pride but for the good of all. How can you define your identity as VD disciple? THURSDAY (St. Barnabas, Apostle) Unveiling my Identity 4 Instead, your beauty should consist of your true inner self, the ageless beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of the greatest value in God's sight. (1 Pet. 3:4) Our identity as children of God cannot be obliterated. Our names are already carved in his heart. We must be grateful that God has never forsaken us due to our stubbornness. Now, let us allow the Holy Spirit to accompany us in our journey to act what is pleasing to him and not to be easily carried by our personal apprehensions and the dictates of our troubled hearts. Let the good works shine by overcoming negative thoughts; instead, let’s breathe from each other the Spirit of joy, peace, forgiveness, and service that bring the power of transformation. In what situation have you allowed the Holy Spirit to work in you? FRIDAY The Prompting of the Holy Spirit 6 But Peter said to him, “I have no money at all, but I give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I order you to get up and walk!” (Acts 3: 6) It is definitely true that “sharing is loving”. You cannot share if you do not have love and care for the person. Remember that the greatest commandment is to love God and to love our neighbor. It is through our neighbor that we can express our concrete love to God. In our community of faith, we are taught how to love rooted from the gospel, and we have received a lot of gifts from the Lord. Let us listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit who invites us to share these gifts to others with gentleness and compassion to those who are aggressive; encouragement to those who are weeping; and hope to those who are deeply troubled and confused. It is through others that we can make the Word flesh and in living for the Lord is the fulfillment of our life. Is my relationship with Jesus affect the people that surround me? How do I express my intimate relationship with Jesus to others? SATURDAY (St. Anthony of Padua, Priest & Doctor of the Church) The Word Incarnates in Me “It is no longer I but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal. 2:10 ) The Word must fuse with my being, or my “self” into the Word. All my being must be voice, announcement, mission, Gospel, Good News. I must be Jesus, the anointed, consecrated, the one sent by the Father. (Excerpt by Fr. Jaime Bonet) Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit in which God can live in us. We become bridge to reach out others, touching them with the touch of Jesus and speaking them as Jesus speaks. Doing the mission is to extend oneself for others that goes beyond ourselves in such a way that we have to die ourselves so that Jesus may live in us. Let us make ourselves the living word of God in rendering our service with much love of God that even in this new-normal world due to pandemic, we are courageous to reach out to our brothers and sisters in our own and simple ways, for God’s word does not bring disease but life, hope, peace, and joy to everyone. In what way am I invited to bring Jesus to others in this pandemic world? SUNDAY SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (CORPUS CHRISTI) 1ST Reading:Deut.8:2-3,14-16
Resp.Psalm 147:12-15,19-20 2nd Reading: 1 Cor. 10:16-17 Gospel: John 6:51-58 |
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