Vol. 5 No. 1 January 2017

O P E N I N S P I R I T T O G O D ( B U K Á S - L O Ó B S A D I Y Ó S ) C o m m u n i t y S t . F r a n c i s X a v ie r P ar i s h , M i s s i ss a u g a , O N

“Rejoice and be glad.” (Mt 5:12a)

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COMMUNITY WORD

God’s presence brings unspeakable joy to His people.

ORDER

“Rejoice and be glad.” (Mt 5:12a)

PROPHECIES:

1. Remain in My presence always, and I will bless you. 2. My face will shine on you and I will be gracious to you; I will look kindly on you and give

you peace. DIRECTIONS:

1. Continue to build treasures in heaven by making God the priority of your life. 2. Seek an active, loving relationship with Mama Mary through daily rosary and Marian

novenas. THEMES AND PROMISES

Week#1 (Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God) Theme: We experience God’s presence when we keep Him in our hearts. Promise: “…. I will bless them.” (Nb 6:27b) Week#2 (The Epiphany of the Lord) Theme: We experience God’s presence when we diligently seek him. Promise: “…. he shall rescue the poor when he cries out.” (Ps 72:12a) Week#3 (Feast of the Sto. Niño - Phil) Theme: We experience God’s presence when we manifest childlike faith. Promise: “…. become like children, you will enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 18:3b) Week#3 (2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Int’l) Theme: We experience God’s presence when we acknowledge Jesus as His son. Promise: “I will make you a light to the nation.” (Is 49:6b) Week#4 (3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time) Theme: We experience God’s presence when we respond joyfully to the call of Jesus. Promise: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mt 4:19) Week#5 (4th Sunday in Ordinary Time) Theme: We experience God’s presence when we hunger and thirst for His righteousness. Promise: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.” (Mt 5:12)

Reflection: As we start the New Year 2017, the BLD Community Word for January - God’s presence brings un-speakable joy to His people, reminds us of the reason why we commemorated and celebrated Christ-mas, the day Jesus, our Emmanuel (God with us) was born. The joy of Christmas does not end here. We continue to experience the gladness and rejoicing of the birth of Christ every day of our lives. But, like Mary, we must continue to surrender our will to God whose desire for us is that we may have an

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COMMUNITY WORD FOR JANUARY 2017

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abundant life of love, hope, peace and joy. We will experience such joy in our hearts as we start this year and begin reflecting upon God’s messages in the Sunday readings for the month of January. The first Sunday of January celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and our theme for this week is: We experience God’s presence when we keep Him in our hearts. Without any doubt, because of Mary’s ‘yes’, the salvific plan of God for mankind was realized. Because of her humble obedience to God’s will, Mary was blessed to become the Mother of God - Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. To us who obey and follow God’s will, we too will receive His promise of blessing this month: “The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!…I will bless them.” (Nb6:24 - 27b)

On the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, our theme is: We experience God’s presence when we diligently seek Him. Jesus was born poor. Although He is God and King, he became man in the form of a delicate and deprived little baby, born outside of a home. This year, let us change our atti-tude towards the marginalized people of society. Let us open our hearts of compassion towards them and give them back the respect and human dignity that they deserve as children of God. The Magi of the East came to look for Jesus. In their diligent searching, they found him in a manger in a stable. But still they gave Him gifts befitting a lord and king. Our promise this week is taken from Psalm 72:11 – 12: “All kings shall pay him homage, all nations shall serve him. For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out, and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.”

The theme for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (for International Districts) is: We experience God’s presence when we acknowledge Jesus as His son. Our faith starts with the belief that Jesus is the Son of God. It is our faith that leads us to recognize who Christ is and become His followers. As Christians, we have received the Holy Spirit who empowered us to be true disciples of Christ. This was the expe-rience of John the Baptist who was sent by God to pave the way for the coming of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Like John, we are also called to be God’s servants and for this He promised: “I will make you a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Is 49:6b)

The theme for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time is: We experience God’s presence when we respond joyfully to the call of Jesus. As community people, we are here because we are responding to the call of Christ to continue His work of evangelization. To be successful in our mission to preach the gospel of love, mercy and compassion to others, we need to work together as one united and fully com-mitted servants of the Lord. God continues to equip those who He calls with the right attitude and provides them with sufficient means to do so, for as He promised: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men,” (Mt. 4:19).

The theme for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time is: We experience God’s presence when we hunger and thirst for His righteousness. “The Beatitudes remind us of the true nature of the Gospel. The Gos-pel cannot be appropriated by the powerful, but it can be adopted by the weak and powerless. The Lord can easily work in a humble and contrite heart. The arrogant and self-sufficient leave very little room for God’s grace to operate. Will we accept His grace? Let us pray that we choose wisely, with the will of God in mind.” (Companion 2017). The Lord’s promise this week is: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven,” (Mt. 5:12)

“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. Read your Bible daily!”

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NEW YEAR MESSAGE

The start of the new year is also the feast of Mary, the Mother of God, who

is presented as one who “pondered and kept these things in her heart”. Her pon-

dering led to wondering. It must have tried her faith, but it never caused to lose it.

She is our model especially in these times when faith leaves many questions. Pope

Francis says, “In the quest to seek and find God in all things, there is still an area of

uncertainty. There must be. If one has the answers to all the questions, that is

proof that God is not with him. Our life is not given to us like a book in which all is

written down, but it means going, walking, doing, searching, seeing.”

We can question much about God but it is best if it leads us to wondering

about Him. The person who can wonder never gets tired of life and knows that in

wondering together we find life for the mind and soul. We find nourishment for

ourselves in our capacity to wonder and be amazed. Christmas can do this for us.

Family memories, gathering with friends and praying together can open us to new

love and new faith. If we can do this for a day, we can do this for the whole year.

Have a WONDERFUL New Year, everyone.

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FEEDING THE MULTITUDE …

December 24th, 9th day of the Christmas Novena

By Rey and Mabel Perlas

December 24 was fast approaching. OSG-SFX was assigned to provide breakfast for the

Misa de Gallo attendees. Being the last day of the 9 days Advent Novena, a larger crowd

of SFX parishioners was expected. We were full of jitters going through the logistics and

on how to cook eggs quick enough as this has been our bottleneck in the past.

Having recently received an email from a previous vendor offering their annual gift of

Christmas Eggs, I responded with a request for a TIP on a quicker way to cook eggs for an

estimated 800 people. This simple request must have reached the ears of the Almighty

and what happened next was a series of events that I could only describe as heaven-

sent. Soon after, I got a call from the Director of Marketing of the company asking how

he could help. When he heard it was for the parishioners of St. Francis Xavier Church, he

became excited as he had spent years of study at St. Francis Xavier University. Telling

him that I believed St. Francis Xavier brought him to task of helping us feed a multitude

of people on December 24th, lo and behold, he contacted other companies to donate

some food for the event. On the 2 days before Dec. 24th, he showed up at SFX with do-

nations of cartons of eggs, cases of sausages, cans of beans and pails of Fruit Salad in-

cluding cups, even butter and aprons.

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..To top it off, he brought with him a corporate chef to help cook and prepare the

meal. In addition to the grapes donated by Tony & Angie Ng and the community’s

Corn Beef Hash cooked by members, rice, bread, and sweet dessert donated by Jim-

bo/Bendette Prolamante and Bernadette de Ocampo, we had plenty to feed the multi-

tude.

The church was full and the parish hall was packed. We estimated about 1,000 people

at breakfast. With the full force of our OSG-SFX members’ helping hands in the kitch-

en, setting up, serving the crowd and clean up after, it was indeed a testimony of a

community working together with One Mind, One Heart and Spirit.

Indeed, everyone can only describe this breakfast as a feast that came from heaven.

What a wonderful gift from God, just in time to celebrate the birth of

the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!!!

OSG

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SFX M

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The Aged and the Homeless:

Christmas is the loneliest time of the year for the aged and the homeless. Our Community Life

Apostolate Ministry (CLA) is aware of this reality in our society. We thank Ding and Tess Morales for

coordinating opportunities for our community to serve our Lord, providing mercy and compassion

to the poor, the sick and the marginalized that we are all called to do.

On Dec. 4th, a sumptuous Christmas Dinner donated by our community and cooked by Grace dela

Cruz was provided to the Out of the Cold Overnight Shelter of St. Matthews and Our Lady of

Lourdes Church. Volunteers from OSG/BLD SFX worked in the kitchen, served the dinner and sang

Christmas carols to homeless. Seeing these men coming from everywhere, braving the bitter cold

wintery weather with a few personal belongings in their backpack to spend the night at this place

of refuge brought tears to our eyes, touched and melted our hearts. We remember Jesus’ words,

“ I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a

stranger and you welcomed me”, (Matthew 25:35)

On Dec. 17th, Volunteers from OSG/BLD SFX braved the aftermath of the snowstorm to bring

Christmas Cheers to Westbury Long Term Care. Christmas is the loneliest time of the year for the

aged left alone in the nursing home, crippled with sickness and isolated from their love ones. We

saw the loneliness in their eyes as they were wheeled in to the recreation room to be entertained

by our Christmas caroling. Instantly, we felt compassion for them. They are in the winter of their

lives, quietly waiting for the call of their creator. All of us were eager to give them some happiness

that day and we sang with full gladness in our hearts as we were immensely inspired as many of

them smiled and sang with us. On our last song, we surrounded them. With hugs and gently touch-

ing their frail hands, we greeted them with the love of the newborn Christ Child. Their joyful faces

were more than enough reward for us and we left the place feeling that our Lord was very well

delighted and pleased. “ I was sick and you took care of me, (was in prison) and you visited

me.’ (Matthew 25:36)

On Dec. 19th, Ding and Tess took the last of the boxes of cereals, pasta, sauces and other canned

goods as well as toothbrushes, toothpaste and other toiletries generously donated by our OSG/BLD

SFX community members. These were brought to a food bank at St. James Food Basket in Eto-

bicoke.

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and

sisters of mine, you did for me”. Mt.25:40

Glory and Praise be to our God.

GOOD NEWS

Let us share the good news and give thanks for the glory of Our Lord

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OSG-SFX PRAYER GROUP CALENDAR

January 2017

DATE TIME ACTIVITY VENUE

Jan 5 7-9 pm Mass/Installation and

Anointing SFX Church/Hall

Jan 12 7-9 pm P & W; LWG SFX Hall

Jan 14 7-9 pm Discipleship Session 4 SFX Hall

Jan 19 7-9 pm P & W; SFX Hall

Jan 26 7-9 pm High Praise SFX Hall

Volunteer Needed

The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board is seeking one volunteer community

member with financial expertise and business knowledge to serve on the Audit Com-

mittee for a three year term. This is a great opportunity for community involvement.

For information and eligibility requirements, please visit the school board website at

http://www3.dpcdsb.org/news/news-archives/audit-committee-recruitment.

SFX PARISH EVENTS

OSG/BLD SFX ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. First Co-ordinators meeting will be held on Saturday January 14 from 2-5pm.

Venue to be announced.

2. SAVE THE DATES 2017:

Marriage Encounter Weekend - June 10 - 11 Life in the Spirit Seminar - September 7 - October 19 Summer Picnic OSG/BLD SFX - July 15

Summer Picnic BLD Toronto - July 29

EDITORIAL BOARD:

EDITOR:

PHYOLA JAMES

OSG/BLD SFX INTERIM DCS:

TONY/MENCHIE VILLANEUEVA

REY/ALMA PATRICIO

LARRY/MYRNA NIEVA

REY/MABEL PERLAS

DIP SHEPHERD:

ED/LU DUMLAO