BLD St. Catharines, District in Process

Bukas Loob sa Diyos Open in Spirit to God

June 2010 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 12

ord Living the W

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The Year of the Priest called by Pope Benedict XVI (June 19,2009—June 19,2010) has ended. The Laity is called to continue to pray for our priests ( see back cover for prayer,)

“There is a time for everything and a season under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot; a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to search and a time to give up....” [Eccl 3:1 – 3, 6]

n exhortation, as presented by Jess and Marilen Angeles at the June 4th General Assembly.

Good evening brothers and sisters in Christ, We thank the Lord for giving us this wonderful privilege of being here with you this evening and speak to you about the future of your community here in St. Ca-tharines. Let me start by reading to you some passages from the 3rd Chapter of Ecclesiastes: “There is a time for everything and a season under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to uproot. A time to tear down and a time to build. A time to search and a time to give up.” Brothers and sisters, the time has come when your community must start the preparations to be-

coming a Full-Fledged District soon. You have already met the requirements of being elevated to full-fledged status. You now have 22 active covenanted disciples, 4 LSS sharers, 4 teachers and your DCS as worship leaders. Despite your limitations as a community, the mountains you had to scale, the raging seas you had to cross, the trials and difficulties that your community had to hurdle these past 16 years, you have survived each one of them, and won your battles with the help of our Lord. We have one thing to say to all of you and that is “You are truly blessed” and we are proud of each one of you. Olie and Menchu mentioned to us that there seems to be some hesitancy among you to be on your own, and exercise full governance of your-day-to-day affairs as a

community. We cannot blame you for feeling that way, because tak-ing on the huge responsibility of planning, and deciding the fate of your community is indeed a scary endeavour and very overwhelming. But as parents, we are confident in your capabilities to run your com-munity in the best way possible. We know that having Olie and Menchu here in St. Catharines and the support BLD Toronto provides gives you a sense of security. And we are very grateful to both of them for what you have become. But as Jean Vanier puts it in his book “Community and Growth”, your community is not BLD To-ronto’s project but God’s. Bear in mind that BLD Toronto is “but an instrument of God and is called to disappear.” Like most parents, he or she will do everything for the child at the early stages of a child’s life. Then the relationship blossoms into friendship where both the parent and the child can discuss things. The parents even become their children’s children when they grow old. As such, the duty of every parent is to give life and nur-ture the life growing in their chil-dren and to do so, he or she must give their children the freedom to take stock of their lives, to take full responsibilities of their actions, and allow them to take initiatives. Responsibilities must be shared, so

the child becomes aware of his or her own gifts. If the parent is un-able to withdraw, the child will find it very difficult to survive on its own or resent everything that his or her parents do. Giving you the independence to run your community does not mean BLD Toronto will com-pletely sever the umbilical ties that connect St. Catharines to BLD To-ronto and to the global community. It just means that you will no longer be under the guidance of your DIP shepherd, nor the DCS of Toronto. You will be reporting to the Executive Council of Servant Leaders in Manila through the Dis-trict Servant Leader or DSL of BLD Toronto (which at present are Robert and Cely Kitane). Robert and Cely will be providing the needed pastoral and administrative guidance when you need them. But of course Olie and Menchu

and ourselves will always be there to support you whenever the DSL requests for our help. You might be won-dering what is ex-pected of you once

you become a Full-Fledged Dis-trict. BLD Toronto no longer has to approve your plan and pro-grams. Your DCS will plan your day-to-day activities and will in-form the DSL on what is happen-ing in St. Catharines. Your DCS and your DLCs will meet on a

regular basis as well as your disci-ples. Your teachers will be respon-sible for providing the needed teachings to grow your members but you can always ask the assis-tance of BLD Toronto’s teaching ministry from time to time. You will choose your own DCS through the process of emergence. You will be conducting your own retreats and equip your own members to become disciples. Your disciples will participate in emerging the Ex-ecutive Council of Servant Leaders in Manila. And of course you will be required to send your tithes to the mother community in Manila. Not much will change in the way you do things here. For you are already doing the things that other Full-Fledged Districts are doing. So do not be fearful, brothers and sisters, because you have the gifts, the talents, and the tools to run your community. Just believe in your-

selves and do the best of what you can do. Remember this; failure is the product of putting one’s energy on fixing weaknesses and limita-tions. Success is the fruit of capital-izing on the strength of the commu-nity and what you do best. Fear can be overcome with prayers and trust in God. Brothers and sisters, life as a Full-Fledged District will not be a bed of roses all the time. The same trials of a maturing community will be there. Do not worry about the things you fear might occur because most of them never come to pass. You only need to place your faith and trust in the hands of the Lord and He will help you run your com-munity. Nothing can go wrong if God is with you. With the Holy Spirit as our enabler, you can do all things in His name. God bless you all.

“Nothing can go wrong if God is with you. With the Holy Spirit as our enabler, you can do all things in His name.”

nterview with Fr. Manny – June 9, 2010

By: Mabel Perlas - Word Ministry

Q-Thank you for accepting our invitation to feature you in our news digest – Living the Word - to commemorate the Year of the Priest. Let me start with a question about it. Now that the worldwide celebration of the Year of the Priest has come to a close (June 11, 2010), what do you think the year meant to (A) you and (B) to all the priests? A. First of all, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to personally share my views. The “Year of the Priest” has strengthened me in my own personal calling because, as we all know, these are challenging times for the

Diocese. With this realization, I am appre-ciating even more living out my vocation as a priest. It is a kind of awakening for me as next year, I will be celebrating my 25th year as a priest. Right now, the church is going through a lot of purification, that we priests are being called to confront our reality. My reality as a priest is to follow Jesus in His Paschal Mystery and at the same time to really see my priesthood as not something that I earned but as something that is freely given to me by God, and also to do my part to respond to God’s call to the challenges to the priesthood. For the priesthood in general, the “Year of The Priest” is a call to identify one self to

An Interview

I

“ The fruits of the recently ended Year for Priests could never be measured, but are already visible and will continue to be more so. Priests are the primary builders of the civilization of love. Priests are a gift from the Heart of Christ, a gift for the church and for the world. ” Pope Benedict XVI

Fr. Manuel Serranilla

the call of Jesus Christ as a True Shep-herd, a True Priest, a Victim for the Sal-vation of Souls and their Way of Sanctifi-cation. I believe that when God created us, He had a special plan for us, and until we find what that plan is all about, we will be running around in circles. I thank God that I am a part of the St. Catharines Diocese during this “Year of the Priest”. As some people say, it is when you go through something painful or when you are about to lose something that you real-ize the value of that experience. Q I heard that the Holy Father sent a per-sonal letter to all the priests in the world. Can you share with us what he wrote and what did that letter mean to you? A. I would like to briefly enu-merate the special aspects that the Holy Father brought out in that letter, First, He said that when Christ gathered His apostles before the institution of the Holy Eucharist – the Last Supper celebration – Je-sus called them “My friends”. The Holy Father stressed that priests are friends of Jesus. Second, the Holy Father stressed the importance of following the mandate of Je-sus Christ to be “fishers of people”. Third, the Holy Fa-ther expounded on the importance of prayer – not just in terms of an active pastoral responsibility - but of the prayer of contemplation, where we are called to be in silence before the presence of God. The fourth aspect of the Holy Father’s letter centered on the importance of hav-ing a community so that a priest won’t work alone by himself. He needs to have some priest- friends with whom he can reveal himself without fear because they understand. The Pope added that maybe the faithful can help form a small commu-nity where the priest can lay aside his inhibitions and just be himself without

fear of being judged, and without being expected to do something that will make him uncomfortable. Fifth, The Holy Fa-ther stressed the importance of priests to be updated with the issues facing the Catholic Church. Priests have to continue to study the different teachings of the Church, especially the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the teachings of the 2nd Vatican Council and the current issues very relevant to today i.e. life, family, justice, peace etc. Finally and most impor-tantly, the Holy Father stressed never to neglect the three aspects of priestly life: (1) Talk to the Lord – Adoration and love of the Eucharist. This includes the Per-sonal Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament

and the Celebration of the Eucha-rist – the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (2) to avail of the sacra-ments especially the Sacrament of Reconciliation because al-though we are ministers of the sacrament, we are also weak and we need to be strengthened by the sacrament of reconciliation. And (3) the Prayer of the Church, the Divine Office. I believe the Holy Father also mentioned in His let-ter that a priest is a 1) pastor, 2) reconciler, 3) a social human be-ing and 4) first and ready to sacri-fice.

Q What do you think St. John Marie Vi-anney (Patron Saint for Priests) meant when he said “ O How great it is to be a priest….if he realized what he is, he would die.” ? A. In my own understanding, St. John Marie Vianney was given a special gift by God to read the souls of people. From reading about his life and from my visit to Ars in 1981, he was given a special gift by God to make people experience the living God in their lives. And probably (only probably), he had the gift of vision or ecstasy where he saw the majesty of God, telling him to share with the people

what he has been given. Just like the say-ing in the Bible when a person is given the gift to see God, the person exclaims “ Woe is me. I don’t deserve this. I have seen God. I want to die now.” I can now somehow understand the experience of the prophet Isaiah when he saw the maj-esty, the omnipotence and greatness of God. If people could only see the priest as not just a functionary but someone who is a channel of God’s grace for sanctifica-tion, then that priest will feel so privi-leged. As Cardinal Sin said in his book, a priest is an “alter Christus” – another Christ. As another Christ, he encompasses most vocations or professions. He is (a) a doctor – a healer of souls; (b) an engineer – building bridges from earth to heaven; (c) a lawyer –defending people‘s cases before God; and (d) a judge – especially in the sacrament of reconciliation. Remember the scripture passage where God said, “I give you the power to for-give sins” referring to the sacrament of penance. And last but not least, to me the priest is the one who is given the most sublime gift that has never been given to kings, queens and presi-dents and that is the gift of the Holy Sacri-fice of the Mass. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the priest is given the privilege of the ordination to the priest-hood when Jesus said, “Do this in remem-brance of Me”. For me, it is the most pre-cious thing that I can boast of as a priest. A priest is the only one who can trans-form the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Q. It is very unfortunate that the year of the priest which was intended to boost the morale of our priests was marred by the renewed media frenzy on the sexual abuse cases many of which, if not all, are old

cases. That must be so difficult for you. a) How do feel about it and how do you handle it? (b) Do you think that there is a church bashing happening and the Holy Father is treated unfairly? A. First and foremost, the Year of the Priest is personally providential in the sense that it made me realize that priest-hood is a gift from God. God says “I give you good shepherds according to my heart”. It is a known fact that there are priests who are wayward and as they say “a few rotten apples spoil the good ones in the basket”- that kind of principle. It is then a call to purification for us as or-dained ministers of God who are the

clergy, priests, bishops and deacons. On the other hand, it is also a wake up call for the people. I always pose this question to the people –why do you come to church? You come to church not because of the personality of the priest but because you know 100% that it is your way to salvation regard-less of who is in there. (b) I do believe that the media is bent not only to mar the priesthood but to destroy Chris-tianity, first and foremost Ca-

tholicism. So in their efforts to destroy the Church, they constantly attack it. But in hindsight, what is happening now is noth-ing compared to the middle ages – during the times of Francis of Assisi, Joan of Arc, and even the time of Catharine of Sienna where there were three popes. The media’s constant bashing of the Church is to put pressure on the Holy See to expose many cases of scandals caused by priests. I am sure many people are devastated by this. On the other hand, it is a call for au-thenticity. There is no more time for “willy-nilly” Catholics. Either you are for God or you are not. It is a challenge now to witness to what our faith really means in our lives. You probably heard of the

“remnants” - a term which our Blessed Mother has used to refer to those faithful elect who stay close to Christ and obey His precepts. These special messages from the Blessed Mother are all in a blue book by Father Gobbi called “Our Blessed Mother Speaks to Her Beloved Priests”. It is a kind of a fulfillment of her message that the church will undergo pe-riod of purification - which will be fol-lowed by a period of a new era of peace. Q. The Holy Father issued an encyclical recently called “Caritas en Veritate” or Charity in Truth. He is addressing this to the world leaders but also to all the church members. In short, what is it and what is the Holy Father asking the laity to do? A. I believe that the Holy Father is trying to explain in this encyclical the true meaning of charity, which is love. He says that love or charity is one of the three theological virtues, the others being hope and faith. He says that true charity is found in truth. What is the truth? God sent His only Begotten Son to save us and His only begotten Son left us the Church to continue His salvific work. The Church is the means to find out the truth. I think the Holy Father is stressing the fact that eve-rything in life should be inspired by Char-ity or Love as God reveals it to us. Love is so abused today – there are so many words and definitions. The true love that the Holy Father is speaking about is the “Love of God” that God showed His love by laying down His life as Christ for the salvation of mankind. Q. Now let us move on to getting to know you more. You have been the Spiritual Director for the BLD St. Catharines (DIP) for almost 5 years now. Tell us more about yourself. (a) When did you first receive the call ? How and when did you

respond to it? (b) Who has influenced you most in your life? A. (a) I would like to summarize that the call was planted in my heart as a little boy in the Philippines when I used to serve Mass as an altar boy in Quezon City in Mt. Carmel Church. It was nurtured when I finished my elementary school. So I entered at a very young age and I was already away from home when I was 11 years old. I entered the seminary run by the Vincentian Fathers – the Congregation of the Missions of St. Vincent de Paul and I was with them for nine years. To them I owe a lot of my formation - spiritual, so-cial and intellectual—but what was lack-ing was the emotional maturity and psy-

chological maturity be-cause I was very young. Then I left because I was not convinced that what I was doing was right. So to cut my story short, my priesthood which I know was a calling was not really clear if it was. It was more of like a puzzle and I have to go step by step, sometimes doubting if I would ever make it. So it

took me 15 years while others took 8 or 6 years. As I look back, I can only say “Thank you God”. (b) To respond to your question as to who influenced me most as a young child, my family influenced me a lot especially my mother who was a strong devotee of our Mother of Perpetual Help. As a young child, I was introduced to the Block Rosary – a devotion to our Lady of Fatima - where her statue goes from house to house. And by the way, the Carmelite Fathers who came from Ireland and celebrated Mass with reverence and were good pastors made me see the church in a special way that I said to my-self “I would like to be like them.”

Q. What do you think is your greatest challenge as a priest? What is your role as the BLD Spiritual Director? My greatest challenge as a priest is to do what God wants me to do here and now; which is to trust the Divine Providence. It is so hard because I only trust when it is smooth sailing and when it comes to lift my cross it is “ why me?” My role as the Spiritual Director of the BLD is to pro-vide guidance if and when needed. As you know the BLD has its own charism and spirituality which I cannot touch but which I can complement with my forma-tion, pastoral experience and knowledge of the priesthood, church and call to Mass. Q (a) If you were to choose an assignment, where and what would it be? (b) What are your dreams and aspirations? A. (a) I have been nursing this in my heart. I believe that I have a call to go back to the Philippines while I have my health and strength in order to share my God-given talents and gifts to its maximum potential. I believe that my call is not for parish work alone but also for formation and teaching. In the Philippines there is an orphanage that I have been thinking about seriously be-cause I think that this is where I can live out my special calling not as a priest only but something that I have been called to do more. For those who think that I will be staying in Canada for good – at the moment I don’t think it will happen. I am just waiting for the right sign to go back. Given my age - I am 55 - I would like to think that before I turn 60, I will be back in the Philippines helping out in the or-phanage. But to all these, I can only say

“GOD WILLING!!!” As you know, “Man proposes—God disposes”. If it is not my call, then let it be. b) My dream and Aspiration in life (and you might laugh at this) is to die a priest but I do not want to die anonymous in a nursing home, alone. I am very romantic in the sense that I want to be like some saints where as they lay on their deathbed, they are surrounded by their friends and followers commending them to God, and with lighted candles singing “In manus tuas Domine, commendo spiritum meum” (Into Your hands, I commend my spirit , O Lord)

Q What do you believe to be the most important issues and chal-lenges that the church faces to-day? What is your vision of the church and the priest in a nut-shell? A. Faith. Let me expound on that. Faith, not just in terms of the word or emotion, but faith that encompasses the entire hu-man being which is life, life-style, morality and authenticity. There is a word that goes with it and that is “Ortho Praxis” which means what you believe is what you live out. There is no

discrepancy, there is no disconnect. You are as clear as water, because if you are a man or woman of faith, then God is with you in your life and you live according to his will; and when God is present, then there will be respect for life, sanctity of marriage, justice, peace and love for all people. I believe that there is a crisis of faith today—in the church, among priests , the faithful and people who don't care about it. I have this image in mind. I am “awed” by the Mennonites. It is 2010 and still from afar, you can tell that they are Mennonites or Amish, You look at them wi th respec t and you don’t ridicule them. Why? It is because

they are all the same in what they think, in what they believe, how they live and in their lifestyle. My vision of a priest? I would like to copy from St. Augustine: “ For you I am your priest and shep-herd. With you, I am a Christian and a fellow seeker until we reach the promise land.” Q. Our news-digest is called “Living the Word”, any sharing on that ? What pas-sage in the Scripture inspires you the most? Living the Word is part of my daily existence as a priest. The Biblical pas-sage that inspires me the most today is : “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will be with you till the end of time.” Mt. 16:18; 28:20 Q. What advise can you give to our youth of today? How do you encourage them to be priests ? A. First of all, I would like the youth to get to know the church better and they can not know it better if they are not present. The other thing is the impor-tance of family life. It is where they get the support, love and the attention they need. The youth needs to be exposed to the right community (like the BLD or their parish Youth Ministry) that can provide them the right formation and right company. To encourage them, they need to see that I am happy as a priest. The youth needs to see that priests are still relevant and that it is a gift from God to become a priest and they have to pray for it. It is not something that they can wish. It is God who calls and when He calls, you respond.

Q What advise can you give the BLD St. Catharines community in regards to (a) serving our Lord? (b) to enhance our spiritual growth? A. (a) To me, BLD is like a school that teaches a particular course. Analogically speaking, it is like if you want to be a teacher there are many schools that you can go to get your education. What is important is that when you finish, you can apply it in your profession. You get your education and the rest is up to you. My expectation for the BLD is that one should get as much formation as he or she can get but not remain there until you get very old. You have to move on and one way of moving on is to get in-volved in your parish church. BLD, like Couples for Christ and other covenanted communities, is like a formation school. It is not a monastery. It is like a pot, you plant the seed, it grows into a seed-ling, then into a tree and the pot shatters. I have this image of BLD as like Martha and Mary, the two friends of Jesus. Mary stays at the foot of the Master lis-tening to what the Lord is saying, while Martha does the serving to the Lord. BLD is giving you that. But don’t be just be content to stay there. God will tell you to go out and do what you are supposed to do. BLD being a cove-nanted community, it is God who tells you to move on when it is time. I believe that it is the Holy Spirit who will pre-pare you and when you are ready, the Holy Spirit will tell you that it is time to move on and He will lead you. b) I believe that the call of the times require increased knowledge of cate-chism. I would like to see BLD make it obligatory for members who are 100% convinced that BLD is an important part of their formation to have a book of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. *

BORN in the Philippines on Sept.17,1955 , Father Manuel de Lima Serranilla, Jr. a.k.a. Father Manny . He is the 8th child of the 12 children of the late Atty. Manuel and the late Estelita Serranilla. Father Manny was or-dained by His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin at the Manila Cathedral on August 23, 1986.

Father Manny took his formation years under the Vincentian Fathers , the Au-gustinians (O.S.A.) and the Dominicans (O.P.). He graduated in Liberal Arts (A.B. in Philosophy). For theology , he studied at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (UST), Manila Philippines . Fr. Manny also underwent several seminars and training specializing on the renewal movements under the Spirit of Vatican II. His first assignment after his ordination was as an assistant Parish Priest to Bishop Teodoro Bacani,D.D. of Paco Catholic Church in Manila. He was also involved in the pastoral and sacramental needs of the Paco Catholic School. In 1988—1993, Fr. Manny became the Parish Priest of our Lady of Fatima Parish, Mandaluyong City, Phil. where he was involved in the construction of the church. He is also a member of the Marian Movement for priests that promotes the cenacle of our Lady worldwide. He was also a resident priest of the Centre of Peace Asia promoting the messages of our Lady of Medjugore ( Queen of Peace). He also em-barked on different pilgrimages in Europe, Asia, Mexico and many other shrines in North America. In 1997 - He was an associate pastor of the Sacred Heart Church in Turlock, Cali-fornia. In 1998, Fr. Manny came to the Archdiocese of Toronto and was assigned to St.Sebastian Church, Toronto. Here are different assignments and activities of Fr. Manny Serranilla in chronologi-cal order: 1999– Associate Pastor, Blessed Trinity Parish, Bayview, Toronto 2004– Associate Priest, Cathedral of St. Catharine of Alexandria; Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus council #9222; Spiritual Director of BLD (Bukas Loob as Diyos- Open in Spirit to God), a Catholic Covenant Community; Healing Ministry. Aug. 1, 2009 - Administrator of St. Andrew, the Apostle Parish,

The above sentiment of St. Paul resonates in many ways in my priesthood experience. And I believe many priests, if not all, share in the same manifestations of the Spirit in different ways. I am a priest of the Missionary Society of St. Paul. I was born and raised in Nigeria in a small town of Ogoja in Cross River State of Nigeria. I come from a family of six children and I am in the middle. My family is deeply Catholic and the zeal and generosity of my father were in-strumental in many ways to the discov-ery of my calling to serve God in the priesthood, to love Him and help Him in those who are in need. My dad was a man of great faith and dedicated to the care of the less privileged. In fact, he was a man of philanthropy.

The incident that greatly contrib-uted to the response to my vocation to the priesthood is the love and generos-ity of one missionary priest from Ire-land, Fr Tim Buckley, SPS, who lived and ministered to the people of my area in Nigeria for many years. The kindness and compassion I witnessed in this man left an indelible impression in consciousness. It happened that the last born in my family was born with the two feet bent side ways. During the baptism of this child, Fr. Buckley asked my mom why the feet of the baby are that way and my mom told

him that she was born with feet bent. He further asked my mom what is she going to do about it and my mom told him nothing, because she is born that way. The priest told my mother that the baby’s feet can be corrected through surgical operation. To this, my mom replied that we cannot do anything because we cannot afford the medical bill. Fr. Buckley then offered to have the baby taken to hospital to have the feet corrected and that he will pay whatever it may cost. Although the baby died in the hospital the night be-fore the surgery was to be carried out, the interest and love of that priest for my family and my little baby sister touched me so deeply. I didn’t know how deeply I was touched by that ac-tion until after my high school when I started feeling within me the call to go and do the same to other people who are in need.

My seminary formation was very important in guiding me into the deeper discernment as to why I wanted to be a priest and to the direction this would take to achieve my life fulfill-ment. Our first year in the seminary was very significant as it was nothing but a spiritual year, a year of prayer and learning how to pray and contem-plate God through the scriptures and reading the lives of saints, the people who have brought change in our world.

A testimony of A Missionary Priest In Africa “I have become all things to all people, that I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings”. 1 Corinthians 9:23 Fr. Dominick Mbah

Living The Word

Nothing is philosophy and theology that year. We were led into many forms of prayers and self-discovery as we studied the lives of saints and many lessons on psychology, self-awareness and self-discovery. Clos-ing the spiritual year with a thirty-day Ignatian retreat was a remarkable deep God experience. During those thirty days of solemn silence, I was able to go deep into myself and able to see my life down to my early childhood and re-experienced what had touched my life during those early years. Our director of spiritual year was very inspirational. His deep life of prayer and compassion further added to my convictions to dedicate my life for the love of God and for the love of people. I learned through our director of spiritual year in the seminary that service begins with empowerment and flows into the giving of self. We have not really served if we have not felt a certain drain, a degree of dying to self. All the prayer and meditations during that period brought deep solidity to my values and aspirations and com-mitment to be with God and His peo-ple.

After my ordination to the priest-hood on June 22, 1991, I was sent to Malawi as a missionary. I served in Malawi in Southern Africa for 10 years before my subsequent posting to Canada. My years in Malawi pro-vided me with the opportunity to live out my dream and conviction to help-ing people in great need in this world. Malawi is a very poor country, in fact, one of the poorest countries in Africa. Most of the people have no education and live in squalor. The

very thing that struck me strongly when I landed in Malawi is how I can say to the people who are so danger-ously poor that God loves them with-

out doing something for their lack of food, lack of access to clean water and the fact that some of them are literary going naked. The people are so poor that it is often said that pov-erty walks on the road of Malawi. In the rural areas of Malawi, people live in mud houses with thatch roofs with none of the things we call furniture. The bare mud house is mostly fur-nished with their farm hoes, blanket to the cover for the cold at night as they sleep on the mud floor and earthenware cooking pots. This is house furnishing among these wretched people. This was the chal-lenge I was confronted with, to go and do something to prove the love of God for them.

Among many projects I did in Malawi to help alleviate poverty is the construction of a multi-purpose hall for meetings for the village com-munity to gather and discuss solu-tions to their many problems. The multi-purpose hall has offices for the women’s group, for the youth group we organized as well as two class-rooms for teaching the young ones the good ways of life. The main bowl of the hall is for big public gatherings

and for their dancing and film show. The European Union High Commis-sion in Malawi funded construction of this hall for us. The community and I built it from beginning to fin-ish. I was using my small pick-up truck to ferry sand from the river with the young men. The young women gathered the sand from the river and we hauled them to the pro-ject site. The skilled laborers from the community were all engaged and paid jobs become available and the rest of the community contributed for the unskilled labor part of it. The project brought the community to-gether. We had a common purpose and believed in our cause to alleviate the poverty pressing our community so low. HIV is pandemic in Malawi due to excessive poverty. We estab-lish community farm for the children orphaned by AIDS epidemic. The farm was funded by UNICEF in Ma-

lawi and run by the women group and the adult orphans. The farm has been very helpful in alleviating hun-ger and disease. We were able also to build a dam to provide drinking water for the people and their cows and for irrigation and sanitation. We planted many trees, a project which helped the people a lot of ways with food for work from the World Food Program (WFP) of the UN in Ma-lawi. This is one of the ways the UN provides the starving world populace with food if a community can come together and think of what they can

do to develop their area. The un-skilled labor contribution in building our community hall was paid for through the food for work program of the UN. In this way, the people of my communities in Malawi were finding solutions to their poverty in noble and empowering ways through the various projects we have em-barked on. During the planting sea-son in Malawi, the food bank can be very low as the people have no ef-fective means of food preservation. Many poorer people starve badly during this particular period. WFP does food for work programs in Ma-lawi during this period to supply food to communities organized to do community development projects. Vocational training school is another project we established to help the adult orphans learn some trades. And the last project I did with my two priests team before I left Malawi was the extension of electricity line to the village of our operational base for the operation of the electrical tools for the vocational training school we established as well as to bring devel-opment in the area. The project was funded by EU in Malawi.

After my ten years of ministry in Malawi I was appointed to Canada for a new ministry. Coming to Can-ada has equally given me an oppor-tunity to reflect back on my ministry in Malawi to see how much my call-ing, my values and commitment in life as a priest has been lived or be-ing lived. Studying Clinical Pastoral Education is providing great lenses for this vocational evaluation and how much I am growing in compas-sion and care towards myself and others. It is a wonderful learning about being present to myself and to others and in continuous searching for an answer to the emptiness in

human life and our common yearning for an answer to the problem of life. In those years when I was running around providing for the spiritual and material needs of the poor people in Malawi, I was being burnt out and often wondered why some people have no direction in life and how I needed a wider avenue in guiding others and giving direction in their life daunting questions. I had no training to do all the things I did in Malawi and yet the zeal to respond to the needs of the broken and vulner-able people drove me so far and I was able to do what I never dreamt that I am capable of doing as an ordinary priest. This confirms the words of Christ in the Scriptures. When send-ing his apostles to the whole world to proclaim the good news, Jesus said to them: "I am with you always, to the end of the age." Mat. 28: 20. He com-missions his disciples to go and cure the sick, feed the hungry, cloth the naked, raise the down-trodden and announce the favorable year of the

Lord to all, (Mat. 10: 8; Luke 4: 18-19). Malawi provided me with the opportunity to share in Christ's mis-sion to the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the bro-ken-hearted and to connect and re-connect with God and with humanity. I found meaning in my priesthood and answer to my deepest life yearn-ings as I entered into the yearnings and longings of the people of Malawi and others. In Malawi, the words of Christ made sense to me. The para-dox of the gospel: "By dying we live, by letting go, we let God; by giving we receive." I find my life and priest-hood so much enriched in the poverty in Malawi. And I believe that this can be similar in the experiences of many priests who offer themselves day and night to God and humanity in their response and responsibility to the priesthood of Jesus Christ we are called to share.

Let me leave you with this inspiring quota-tion from the book of James Olthuis, 'the Beautiful Risk'. "The cosmos is a spiraling universe of the ever-flowing, interconnect-ing energies of love - wild spaces of love in which we are called to do this connecting and reconnecting. We connect with our-selves by cultivating a sense of our own identity-in-relation to others, to creation and its creatures, and to God - or we disconnect by seeking our identity in a mere role. We connect with each other in intimacy or dis-connect in mistrust. We connect with crea-tion in care or disconnect in abuse. We con-nect with God in faith or disconnect in un-belief. In a world broken by suffering and evil, the passion of love is a suffering love. This is compassion, God is compassion, P.43. Vocation is a call to be with God, to be with humanity and to be with the uni-verse. .

May Jesus Christ, the High Priest, bless and protect His priests and continue to guide and inspire them to re-spond to the course of the sal-vation of humankind.

Rev. Fr Dominick Mbah, msp

Being a part of Mark 10 Ministry for me is not a task or obligation. It’s a calling (because Grace would call me "Norie, remember, you will be the teacher this Friday!"). Kidding aside, sometimes with the nature of my work, I need peace and quiet during my off times and, as we know, kids will always be kids. But then it is a calling and so no matter how I feel, I join the kids. It is something I can offer to the Lord. For me, it is not just teaching them - but it is also learning from them. Sometimes, you will get answers to your questions on life just by listening to them and watching them. I am not a teacher; all of us at Mark 10 are listeners. Listeners because we are called.

We are Called By: Norielyn Santos We are called to be God’s people showing our lives by His grace, one in heart and one in

SINGLES MINISTRY A life of deep and abiding joy trusting happily in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ .

When I was invited to teach the Mark 10, I didn’t know what to say.

I felt really nervous and unsure. Truth is I was overwhelmed. I wasn’t sure if I could manage the task. But de-spite these negative concerns, I was also very excited. Being with chil-dren has always made me happy. They’re free spirited, carefree and they possess a pure, loving heart. These traits are so contagious that it makes me feel like I’m the same age as they are. And so the eventful day came, one Friday in March. Ate Nory and I led the Mark 10 upstairs the Cathedral to start the lesson. At first I didn’t know where to place myself, they were all so active and eager. It took a while for things to settle but when we started reading the teaching for that evening, I noticed how attentive these kids were. And when I started asking them questions regarding the reading, they gave good insights. They offered simple and practical opinions, a very refreshing perspective. After the reading, we had some ac-tivities. Some played with puzzles, some had coloring pages to work on and others played with clay. Soon, it was time to go home.

As we were tidying things up I real-ized that I really enjoyed my time with the Mark 10. All my previous worries were unnecessary for they welcomed me and made me feel I was part of their circle although we were literally strangers. Although my original purpose was to teach the Mark 10, I came to the realization that it was them that taught me some-thing that night. They taught me to enjoy the simple things in my life and to take pleasure in the moment. I no-ticed that when they were doing their activities, they gave it their all and when they were done, they were sat-isfied for they knew they had done their best. With all the hectic sched-ules and added responsibilities of being an adult, I tend to forget to en-joy the simple things that make eve-ryday special. I tend to disregard the fact that I am able to wake up in the morning and be blessed with another chance to live and experience God’s gift for one more day. It was on that night that once again I was reminded of how blessed I am. And I am truly grateful for the chance and the ex-perience.

A Precious Lesson Learned from the L ittle Children By CynthRose Segovia

And the Lord said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and became like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”.

Early last year, while trying to catch up on some rest and relaxation, I received a call from Ate Emmy advising me that I was selected to be the Mark 10 coordina-tor. I was tongue tied as I could not be-lieve that our elders had entrusted me with this big responsibility. While I was given some time to pray about it, I doubted my capabilities so I questioned Ate Emmy and Ate Menchu. Why me? I didn’t know if I could do this. Was there anybody else who could handle it? In the end, my desire to serve our Lord helped me decide to say “yes”! It did not take long, however, before anxiety and worry began to sink in. But then, all of a sudden, it seemed that someone knocked on my heart, saying, "Grace, instead of worrying, go and kneel!!!" In my heart it was as if the Lord was saying to me "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen I say to you, who-ever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child, will not enter it." Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them". Mark 10: 14-16 Yes, it was a calling to serve our Lord through our BLD community. It was the Lord who wants me to work with His little children. Who am I to say “no” to our Lord's call?

Now, I remember the day of my anoint-ing as a Mark 10 Coordinator, waiting for my name to be called. I was standing there in front of the altar, ready to accept my “calling”. Whatever God's plan is for me, I will accept it because I know He is there standing beside me and working with me. He will never forsake me. Even when we have problems in Mark 10. I will not worry because in God's hand, everything will run smoothly

Let the children come to Me By: Grace Gumolda

Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the king-dom of God belongs to such as these. AMEN I say to you, who-ever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child, will not enter it." Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them". Mark 10 "14-16

“Flores”, is the Spanish word for “flowers” and so Flores de Mayo means “Flowers of May”. Some call it Flores de Maria which means “Flowers of Mary.” This is a Catholic tradi-tion in the Philippines dedicating the month of May to our Blessed

Mother. Young girls offer flowers, prayers and songs to our Blessed Mother Mary in church every afternoon during the month of May and on the last day of May there is a celebration that includes a Mass, a procession of the statue of Mother Mary in a carriage full of flowers with the faithful singing Marian songs all in honour of Mary. It is believed that this devo-tion originated from the historical town of Malolos, Bulacan in the Philippines in 1865, when a young girl made a flower offering to our Blessed Mother Mary in the parish church in thanksgiving for the motherhood of Mary.

Early last month, my fiancée Chad and I attended a Flores de Mayo cele- bration. The Mass was offi-ciated by Father Edgar Polotan, together with our BLD spiritual director, Father Manuel Seranilla . The event was organ- ized by some BLD and FCAN members.

Although that day was a very hectic one for me, I was so grateful that Chad and I were able to attend. With a happy and a grateful heart for all the blessings I have received through her intercession, I knelt and offered her my flowers and my prayers. I explained to Chad what Flores de Mayo is about and after Mass, he told me what an “awesome” experience it was for him. It was really good for me to hear this from Chad, who had just been initiated to our Catholic faith last Easter. That night, after dropping me off at my employer’s house, we prayed the rosary again because Chad wanted to learn how to pray the Rosary.

I was again blessed to join the Flores de Mayo on the last day of May. Again, it was such a busy day for me and I was running late. I gathered roses from my employers’ garden and hurriedly took the taxi to St. Thomas More church. I thought I missed it when I did not see anyone in the church. Then I heard people praying the rosary outside the church. How beautiful it was to see the people in procession praying the Rosary. I calmed down and was in peace. I went inside the church, knelt down and joined them in praying, thanking Mama Mary. I joined the BLD choir in singing praises to Mama Mary. It was such a delightful experience to have our Flores de Mayo here in Niagara Falls and I thank the peo-ple who put their efforts together in the celebration of giving honour to our Blessed Mother Mary .

Flores de Mayo          By: Irene and Chad

he Easter Edition” of our Newsletter marked its 3rd year

anniversary. Looking back at its humble beginnings three years ago, it is worthwhile pointing out the evolution which it has under-gone. From an 8-page Newsletter when it was first published, our Easter issue contained 28 pages. It contains not only the news and events in the community but also personal reflections and testimo-nies. The Newsletter is a living witness of our journey to God, and the pain, struggle as well as joy that accompany that journey. It has become the “HEARTBEAT” of our community. Why “heartbeat”? All the con-tributions by our members speak from the heart on how God has touched their lives. The reflections submitted by the graduates of our weekend encounter programs on their journey towards God are written from their hearts. These are all captured in the Newsletter. Yes, the Newsletter is a recorded

history of our community and the individual lives of its members. Upon hearing Jess’ & Marilen’s exhortation about the path that is upon us - becoming a Full Fledged District - many of us will ask the question “Are we ready?” Per-haps going back to the last three years since the publication of the Newsletter will give us the answer to this question. Let us find the answer in the journals of our Newsletter. Within a month after Mabel and I were installed as Word Ministry Coordinators in February 2007, we published our first Newsletter in March 2007. The second issue came out in August. With the De-cember 2007 issue, it was pub-lished under a new name, “Living The Word”. It had become evi-dent to us at that point that what had started as a newsletter was fast evolving into something of a spiri-tual digest, not just to merely in-form but to uplift our members spiritually.

T

The Evolution of the Newsletter As presented by Rey Perlas - Gen. Assembly June 4, 2010

From then on, we published quar-terly issues covering the seasons of our faith such as Advent, Lent and Easter. And together with the seasons, we witnessed, through the written reflections and testi-monies submitted by our mem-bers – the adults as well as the youth - how the events and pro-grams of our community, such as the weekend encounters and the LSS, touched and enriched their lives. In every issue of “Living The Word”, we witnessed the journey taken by the community,

such as the selection of a new set of DCS, the birth of different min-istries, the development of home grown sharers and teachers, the creation of our new website, our participation in the North Amer-ica Inter-District Conferences, the global emergence process, and our community’s 15th anniversary celebration, to name a few. . And still the newsletter kept on evolving. By its very name, “Living the Word” is a call for us to live out our faith. And so a new section called “Living the Word” was created in the Decem-ber 2009 issue to illustrate how we truly translate the “Word” in our lives. And at our last DLC meeting, I encouraged each minis-try to contribute an article about living the Word. As for the rest of us, I encourage everyone to go beyond our En-counter experience and to live the Word. If you have or know of any stories about this “call”, please have it published in our Newslet-ter. You will never know whose life you will touch! Please submit your article (s) to the Word Ministry: Rey & Mabel Perlas Email: mabelperlas@rogers.com

Living The Word

Please contact BLD SC Secretariat for copy of List of Donors, Amount and Summary of Application of Funds. email: bldscsecretariat@yahoo.com

Living The Word

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on." Matthew 12:43-44

BLD St. Catharines 2009 Financial Report

Photo Gallery:Birthdays ,Wedding Anniversaries, Mark 10 & Mission Ministry in Action

Dear Lord, we pray that the Blessed Mother wrap her mantle around your priests and through her interces-sion , strengthen them in their ministry. We pray that Mary will guide your priests to follow her own words “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5). May your priests have the heart of St. Joseph, Mary’s most chaste spouse. May the Blessed Mother’s own pierced heart inspire them to embrace all who suffer at the foot of the cross. May your priests be holy, filled with the fire of your love, seeking nothing but your greater glory and the salvation of souls. Amen. St. John Vianney, pray for us. St. Therese of the Child Jesus, pray for us.

Please Pray for our Priests.