4 Living Water - January 23, 2015

PLEASE WEAR YOUR BLD ID EVERY FRIDAY

A N N O U N C E M E N T S

From the Life in the Spirit Ministry

LSS No. 31 is scheduled on April 11 – 12. Invited participants are: Graduates of ME#37 and

Previous graduates of ME, SPE and SE who have not yet taken the LSS. Non-encountered Sin-

gles, Solo Parents and Couples are also welcome to join the LSS.

For previous encounter graduates and non-encountered candidates, orientations are scheduled

on Fridays, January 23 and 30 after the Praise and Worships, and on February 6 after the mass.

Please note all orientations are held at the Mark 10 room.

Salubong will be on Friday, February 13, 2015. Registration Forms are available through any

member of the Life in the Spirit Ministry. For more information, please contact the LSS#31 Co-

ordinators, Jimbo and Bendette Prollamante or any member of the Life in the Spirit Ministry.

YOUTH

MINISTRY KORNER

Registration is on-going for the 2015 YLSS # 16 on January 23 and 30, 2015 at the OLA base-

ment. After January 30th, registration will be accepted until February 2nd by e-mail to Froilan

and Charito Piamonte at st_casimir@rogers.com. Non-BLD youth are welcome to attend YLSS

# 16. Welcome/Salubong will be held on Friday, February 13, 2015.

JANUARY 2015 LECTORS

January 23

1st reading..........Bert and Cecile Cruz

Psalm...................Marife Capistrano

2nd reading........Gusty and Annie Andino

January 30

1st reading..........Charlie and Jo Gonzales

Psalm...................Linda Canaria

2nd reading........Espei Cosme

YOUTH LIFE IN THE SPIRIT SEMINAR # 16

Living Water - January 23, 2015

January 23, 2015

BUKÁS-LOÓB SA DIYÓS • OPEN IN SPIRIT TO GOD

www.bldworld.org www.bldtoronto.com

THEME

We are guided by the Star in our journey of

faith when we denounce our worldly attach-

ments and follow Jesus.

WORD

Jon 3:1-5, 10; Ps. 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9; 1 Cor 7:29-31;

Mk 1:14-20

ORDER

“Come follow me and I will make you fishers of

people.” (Mk 1:17)

“Repent and believe in the good news.”

(Mk 1:15)

DIRECTION

Proclaim and observe a day of fasting on Feb-

ruary 11 (which is the Feast of our Lady of

Lourdes) for the special intention of all BLD

activities.

REFLECTION

With all the violence and unrest happening in

our world today, such as, the killing of inno-

cent people, the manner by which people use

religion to justify evil, the rampancy of por-

nography and sexual perversion in our society

and in our church, the plundering greed sur-

rounding us, and the resurgence of cults and

idol worship, the message that the prophet

Jonah proclaims in the first reading is very

timely. Nineveh was the most powerful city in

Assyria. The Assyrians who inhabited it were

vicious and cruel. They sowed terror among

their slaves and conquests, and exploited the

helpless. They built idols and practiced witch-

craft and prostitution widely. So God sent the

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

www.bldworld.org www.bldtoronto.com

2 Living Water - January 23, 2015

prophet Jonah to warn the people that they will

be overthrown by the enemy if they will not turn

from their evil ways. God spared the people of

Nineveh from the impending doom when they

listened to God’s warning, proclaimed a fast and

repented of their sins,

In both the first reading and in the Gospel of

Mark, God is calling his people to help Him in

His redemptive work. He invites ordinary peo-

ple like you and me to be prophets and fishers of

men. He even gives those on the run like the

Jonahs a second chance to say yes to God’s call

to serve. He seeks out the broken, the repentant

sinner saved by God’s divine love, people who

are willing to detach themselves from self-

preservation, those who are willing to sacrifice

their own personal biases and prejudices to obey

God and save the world, and those who are

committed to turn away from their sinful past.

To be a prophet or a fisherman is not an easy

job. It entails giving up everything if we want to

be used by God to save the world. It requires

determination and fearlessness in our calling to

proclaim the Gospel of repentance regardless of

the possibility of being persecuted for our ac-

tions, regardless of the problems that batter our

own personal lives, and regardless of the uncer-

tainty that we might never see the fruits of our

labor during our lifetime. It requires surrender-

ing our feelings of unworthiness, inadequacy,

and possible failure and hopelessness.

Scripture exhorts us to boldly set out and go to

the Ninevites in our neighborhood, in our work-

place, in our own home and in the world and

preach the Good News of Salvation. Sometimes

people are just waiting for a Jonah to come into

their lives, to make known God’s ways, teach

them God’s paths and lead them to the truth.

They want to be saved but someone has to tell

them how. They have to know that we have a

God who does not keep a record of his chil-

dren’s sins, whose love is steadfast and whose

mercy never ends. They need to know that

God’s plans for the world are affected by the

response we give Him. They need to know that

God is willing to forgo his plans of destruction

if only His children would humble themselves,

believe in Him, and ask for forgiveness. God in

turn will show the repentant sinners the way,

will guide the humble to justice and teach the

humble His ways (Ps 25:8-9).

As Disciples of Christ in the BLD, we must ac-

knowledge the urgency of God’s message and

act quickly. In order to help save the souls of

others, repentance must start in us. We must

detach ourselves from the things of this world

so we can free ourselves from sin and be as-

sured of everlasting life in Christ Jesus. As a

community, we must proclaim and observe a

day of prayer and fasting (both physical and

spiritual) for the conversion of sinners, asking

God for his love and mercy upon them. We

must ask the Holy Spirit to help us follow unre-

servedly the call of God. We must set this date

to ask the Holy Spirit to empower the Jonahs in

BLD to step out in faith to become prophets,

evangelizers, teachers and prayer warriors.

The Ninevites of this world are waiting, broth-

ers and sisters. Go now and heed God’s call to

Nineveh as the appointed time is near.

PROMISE

“...He shows the sinners the way, He guides the

humble to justice, he teaches the humble His

ways.” (Ps 25:8-9)

Living Water - January 23, 2015

God loves us, reminds Fr. Charles

Praise and thank the Lord for an inspiring, in-

sightful and spirit-filled start-of-the-year retreat

given by Fr. Charles Anang last Saturday, January

17th, held at the OLA basement hall.

As one of the almost 200 attendees, I was able to

bring home a number of learning and realization.

I personally believe I was moved to a higher level

of understanding of the important role of Mary,

the mother of Jesus, in my life.

“God loves us personally”, echoed Fr. Charles.

“That God does not love us is the greatest lie the

devil tells us”, he furthered. At an instant, we

would say that our goal is to go to heaven, right?

The real goal is to be God-like – to be part of the

Blessed Trinity, to be possessed by the Holy Spirit

to become a new “Incarnation” of Christ. This

path leads us to becoming one with Jesus that we

are no longer two people (Jesus and I), but just

one – Jesus alone. He uses our faculties, our body,

as instrument to do His Father’s work. He thinks,

he wills, he prays - in other words, he lives in us.

This is God’s pure love! What else could be

greater than this?

Holiness is doing God’s will and always being

with the Father through the Holy Spirit. “If we

want to be holy, start by doing our work

(responsibilities) well in our vocation”, said Fr.

Charles. We can start by being a loving spouse,

parent, employee, community member, and so on.

In everything, we should ask God for help. We

should consult the Holy Spirit, and then be ready

to listen. Holiness means simplicity, and this can

be attained by giving all our troubles into the

hands of our blessed Mother.

We find God in the world, in our everyday life.

God speaks to us through our hearts. Heart is not

a feeling. God is within us, coming from the core

within our soul. When we go descend there then

we recognize God.

I liked the analogy that Fr. Charles did when he said that everything that God has set up is a love

story, like that of Romeo and Juliet. God is Ro-

meo and we are Juliet. God is all Romeo; he

loves us, and he is always giving. He gives us a

family, and every good thing. However, we

don’t love him back, and this is the greatest trag-

edy. God is always waiting for our Yes. Our life

is like a stage and there are only two actors, God

and us. What really matters is God and us, eve-

rything else that God created is like a prop that

we need in the stage.

We are made to hold the Holy Spirit, however,

when we get caught up with things of this

world, our hearts become filled with so many

things. “Busyness” is a tool of sin. We need to

fix time for what is important—God FIRST then

everything else.

Fr. Charles stressed the importance of the Eucha-

rist and confession. Eucharist is everything and

we will die spiritually without it. Confession

sanctifies and it scares the devil. The amount of

grace we receive during the sacraments depends

on how much we open our hearts. The more

open it is, the more graces we receive.

Fr. Charles cited the following obstacles to

transformation in Christ: We do not use self-

denial—we let feelings rule our life; Most people

focus on work and get stuck at the lower level;

We fail to recognize that God normally works in

an incarnate way through others – we don’t lis-

ten; Surrender is the highest wisdom, not action

– we don’t surrender; The worst evil after sin is

anxiety - we worry too much; When trouble

comes, we try to control things by trying to fix

situations our way instead of allowing things to

fall apart and receive from the Lord a solution.

Fr. Charles ended by saying that, “When we die

we will be judged by love, not by sin”, citing

Mother Teresa’s quote on doing small things

with much love.