General Theme: Verbum Dei – Proclaim the Lord’s year of favour. General Objective: - To be full of gratitude to God for all the work He has done in the past 3 years of the VD Family. - To trust and place in the hands of God all what lies ahead for the VD Family. - To learn to entrust under the care of our Mother Mary the growth of our charism. Objective of the week: To be thankful to God’s work for the past years in VD Cebu. To be aware of how he is forming us and helping us to move forward with newness.
INTRODUCTION
In the past four months, we have deepened and prayed on a series of topics regarding the missionary aspect of the VDMFa. We wanted to be one in the same Spirit of Verbum Dei around the world in preparation for the VDMFa International Symposium. Now, in this new stage of the Family in Cebu, we are invited to begin this month and the years ahead, with a spirit full of gratitude. Thanking God first of all for the gift of the Verbum Dei Family, friends who journeyed with us through these years and continues to journey with us in our life. Thanking the Lord for the privilege to live a spiritual life in a world that does not encourage it. Thanking Him for so many moments of prayer wherein we come to our senses and be renewed of our knowledge and purpose in life. Thanking God for so many challenges that has strengthened us in our discipleship and the understanding of the newness that come along the way. And thanking the Lord for who He is. He who is always one with us in our mission in the world. As Jaime said in His prayer to God, “Thank you, my God. Thank you. Not for my merits, but rather for your great mercy towards me and for many, you save me and you grant me this great vocation and beautiful mission… Thank you good Father. Every good gift, every perfect gift comes from you. Thank you for your permanent faithfulness. Thank you. Thank you for your infinite mercy, because your love has no end.” (A Time of Mercy Chapter 5) MONDAY Thank you for giving me everything (Passion of John the Baptist) James 1:16-18 16 Make no mistake about this, my dear brothers: 17 all that is good, all that is perfect, is given us from above; it comes down from the Father of all light; with him there is no such thing as alteration, no shadow caused by change. 18 By his own choice he gave birth to us by the message of the truth so that we should be a sort of first-fruits of all his creation. Romans 8:28 28 We are well aware that God works with those who love him, those who have been called in accordance with his purpose, and turns everything to their good. Thank you Lord for every good gift we receive each day. Thank you for the gift of the VD Family whom you have given me to journey with in my discipleship. Thank you for so many moments when you turn everything into good. TUESDAY Thank you for strengthening me Jeremiah 1:17-19 17 'As for you, prepare yourself for action. Stand up and tell them all I command you. Have no fear of them and in their presence I will make you fearless. 18 For look, today I have made you into a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of bronze to stand against the whole country: the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests and the people of the country. 19 They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you, Yahweh declares, to rescue you.' Thank you for the many wonderful things you have done especially in my life. Yes, there were challenges but you also gave me all the strength I need especially in being your disciple. WEDNESDAY Thank you for making me live a spiritual life 1 Corinthians 2:12-16 12 Now, the Spirit we have received is not the spirit of the world but God's own Spirit, so that we may understand the lavish gifts God has given us. 13 And these are what we speak of, not in the terms learnt from human philosophy, but in terms learnt from the Spirit, fitting spiritual language to spiritual things. 14 The natural person has no room for the gifts of God's Spirit; to him they are folly; he cannot recognise them, because their value can be assessed only in the Spirit. 15 The spiritual person, on the other hand, can assess the value of everything, and that person's value cannot be assessed by anybody else. 16 For: who has ever known the mind of the Lord? Who has ever been his adviser? But we are those who have the mind of Christ. Thank you for the privilege to live a spiritual life. Thank you for the gift of Holy Spirit who constantly brings us deeper to your same mind and heart. THURSDAY Thank you for reminding me who I am. Luke 4:42-44 42 When daylight came he left the house and made his way to a lonely place. The crowds went to look for him, and when they had caught up with him they wanted to prevent him leaving them, 43 but he answered, 'I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to do.' 44 And he continued his proclamation in the synagogues of Judaea. 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 People should think of us as Christ's servants, stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God. 2 In such a matter, what is expected of stewards is that each one should be found trustworthy. 1 Corinthians 3:4-9 4 While there is one that says, 'I belong to Paul' and another that says, 'I belong to Apollos' are you not being only too human? 5 For what is Apollos and what is Paul? The servants through whom you came to believe, and each has only what the Lord has given him. 6 I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God gave growth. 7 In this, neither the planter nor the waterer counts for anything; only God, who gives growth. 8 It is all one who does the planting and who does the watering, and each will have the proper pay for the work that he has done. 9 After all, we do share in God's work; you are God's farm, God's building. Thank you for the gift of prayer and the constant relationship with you through your Word. The more I relate with you, the more I become and know who I truly am. Through you the purpose and reason of my life becomes more clear. FRIDAY Thank you for the challenge of newness Luke 5:36-38 36 He also told them a parable, 'No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak; otherwise, not only will the new one be torn, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old. 37 'And nobody puts new wine in old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and run to waste, and the skins will be ruined. 38 No; new wine must be put in fresh skins.. Luke 5:3-11 3 He got into one of the boats -- it was Simon's -- and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, 'Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.' 5 Simon replied, 'Master, we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.' 6 And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, 7 so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled both boats to sinking point. 8 When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, 'Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.' 9 For he and all his companions were completely awestruck at the catch they had made; 10 so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. But Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; from now on it is people you will be catching.' 11 Then, bringing their boats back to land they left everything and followed him. Thank you for the newness that comes in life. Challenges are always present. Challenges to adjust, understand, etc. But with you, we see greater things and abundance. SATURDAY Thank you for being with me in the world (St. Gregory the Great) 1 Corinthians 4:9-15 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on show right at the end, like men condemned to death: we have been exhibited as a spectacle to the whole universe, both angelic and human. 10 Here we are, fools for Christ's sake, while you are the clever ones in Christ; we are weak, while you are strong; you are honoured, while we are disgraced. 11 To this day, we go short of food and drink and clothes, we are beaten up and we have no homes; 12 we earn our living by labouring with our own hands; when we are cursed, we answer with a blessing; when we are hounded, we endure it passively; 13 when we are insulted, we give a courteous answer. We are treated even now as the dregs of the world, the very lowest scum. 14 I am writing all this not to make you ashamed but simply to remind you, as my dear children; 15 for even though you might have ten thousand slaves to look after you in Christ, you still have no more than one father, and it was I who fathered you in Christ Jesus, by the gospel. Thank you for sending us as apostles in the world of today. We know that we are in the world but we do not belong to the world but we belong to you; and to experience that you are with us, is itself a great gift for the world. SUNDAY 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Wisdom 9:13-18 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 90 2nd Reading: Philemon 9-10, 12-17 Gospel: Luke 14:25-33 Comments are closed.
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