Sharing the Joy of Christmas

          As we in our household joined together in the spirit of the holiday season, we cherished every moment of our bonding. The hosts of our gathering were Sis Danna and Bro Rodel Ordonez at their lovely residence in Mernda suburban. What  made this gathering a momentous one was that almost all the members were present. 

 While waiting for the food to be served, we enjoyed ourselves through our karaoke session. Each one rendered his masterpiece to the delight of the rest of the group. Songs ranging from the 60s up to the latest ones were performed by the group.

After a while, food was served and everyone was delighted to the various recipes prepared by the different wives of our household. 

          As each one is excited to welcome the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, the joy also of being gathered together as one community through our household was very evident on the face of each member. Thus, we say good- bye to 2015 and with a high spirit, we welcome this new year 2016. 

Sharing of Love and Compassion

          Another gathering of life was held today on our Couples for Christ North Household community. Our kind host was the Vidal family, couple Bro. Alex and Sis. Precious and their ever talented daughter Alexi. We went through our usual routine of our gathering and in spite of our conventional way, it was still enriched by the varied experiences we shared in our group. 

          When everyone was ready, we started our gathering with two meaningful songs,  My Life is In You and Give Thanks. The first song allowed us to recognise God as the source of all- that everything we have in life- life, strength, talents, skills, etc. - they are all coming from Him and it is  but fitting for us all to recognise Him as such.

          The second song, Give Thanks, allowed us to recognise again God as the source of everything and that we are expressing our gratefulness to Him for all His unending goodness showered on us every single day.  

  We have so much to be thankful to Him and for several times in our life, we fail to recognise such goodness thus we chose this song to remind us that we have to be constantly grateful to God Above for His love and compassion.

          We moved on with the rest of our activities such as the sharing of thanksgiving prayers and also the expression of petitions wherein we submitted all our worries and concerns to God believing that He can hear us at all times. He would always remain as the source of our strength and energy everyday as we continue with our separate journeys in life. 

The Need To Belong

          One of man's primary needs is the need to belong to a certain group. It goes with his desire to be accepted as a person. However just like any process of communication, it is always a two-way process meaning he needs to be accepted by the other members of that group and at the same time, he needs to accept the whole package of that group so as to be considered as in the group. 

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          Different stages are involved in this process of integrating oneself into the group. At a certain stage, personal values need to be aligned with that of the group. Maybe there could be instances that he needs to sacrifice for the sake of the group. Citing a concrete example of this, if the group is actively participating and responding to the social needs of the times like poverty, social discrimination, racial issues, etc. then he has to convince himself that he values these issues personally so that he can extend a genuine participation to the cause of the group.

            Oneself vs. themselves......man vs. community....him vs. them....sometimes a conflict between any of these groups but somehow, the tides can be turned against a conflicting situation and finally emerging as victorious at the end. Hence the best way to belong to a particular group is by initially checking what are the values this group has and compare them with one's own values. 

A Borrowed Quote

image: http://www.brainyquote.com/photos/r/ralphmarston132966.jpg

 

What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.

Ralph Marston

I personally shared this borrowed quote from Ralph Marston for I strongly believe on what he shared here that whatever we do in the present moment of time will greatly affect our "tomorrows". 

Henceforth, it is but essential for us to be always  mindful of all the ways that we communicate with others for there might be unfavourable consequences on our actions that may, sooner or later, affect us negatively. 

However, being aware of our everyday dynamics, it is but an everyday challenge for us to constantly monitor and be consistent on our life values for whether we like it or not, there would always be instances wherein these values will be tested and challenged. 

Yet at the end of the day, we will always go back to the basic premise and question ourselves, " What have we done today that improve our life being?", " Have we contributed positively or the contrary to our world today?", Did we become agents of change for others today?"....so on and so forth. 

Again, as Ralph said, let us utilise positively our "todays" to experience a better "tomorrows".....not just for our sake but that of our neighbours regardless of any status, situation, colour etc. in life. 

CFC Celebrates 24th Year Anniversary

          August 15, 2014, Saturday will mark the 24th anniversary of CFC (Couples for Christ) in Melbourne, Australia. Many grateful hearts are ready to share their gifts tomorrow during the celebration. The venue for this momentous event will be St. Brigid's Church and Parish Hall.

          To make this event a very meaningful one, the following activities are being prepared for everyone to share. The celebration of the Holy Eucharist will commence the festivities then this will be followed with the following events:

- praise and worship

- group photo

- dinner

- inspirational talk from Bro. Ed Canilao 

- unit presentations 1, 2 and 3

-  unit and family ministry presentations

          Everyone is so thankful to God for everything that has transpired all those 24 years that CFC existed here in Melbourne, Australia. It has passed through so many stages including the moment of purification most notably when it passed the division phase. Yet after all those trying moments, CFC continues to grow and move forward by the grace of God and by the abled leadership of people like Bros. Bong, Romy, Ed and others. Happy 24th anniversary dear fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Treasure Every Moment with Loved Ones

           One of the treasured moments in our community is the opportunity to be with loved ones. And as a matter of fact, this is one thing that is oftentimes encouraged to each of the members of the community- to be able to devote time especially to one's family and to gather together in prayer and in other communal activities.

imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/lake-water-tree-landscape-scenery-65443/

          Personally, I see it as a very pertinent part of our daily life especially that now I have a family to prioritise. Other things such as schedules, activities with friends, personal itineraries, and other extra curricular activities outside of the family circle are but merely secondary things.

          I know that we all have our set of priorities everyday and they vary from one person to the other. However, there is no other most urgent and important need than that of the family. As members of such group, we, especially the parents, are asked to devote much attention and care to those persons entrusted to our care most notably our children.

          Thus, as the days go by, we need to, from time to time, evaluate what then is our everyday priority. And be happy if they are geared towards the joy and fulfilment of the desires of each member and make a turnaround if it the other way around. 

Coming Together For Mutual Support

          We just came back from our gathering today in our CFC Northside household sharing. And we are thankful to our hosts- bro Alex and sis Precious for accommodating us in their home. What made this gathering a more memorable one was the event of welcoming the latest addition to our household- bro Jose and sis Daisy Aguinaldo. 

image: http://www.brainyquote.com/photos/w/williamjames108497.jpg

 

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

William James

          As shown in our borrowed image beforehand, our life is a continuing flow of events intertwined with each other's daily events and whether we like it or not, we come across the lives of other people whom we directly or indirectly interact with. Thus, in our gathering today, we all felt lucky and blessed to have heard the various stories we brought and carried in our lives. 

          We all said our prayers of gratitude to God for the past blessings both recent and past. Amidst the seemed complexity of life, we were still so grateful to God for His overflowing goodness and love to each one of us. What was common in our experiences was the presence of both good and bad events yet we were grateful for those happy moments and at the same time, blessed for those trial moments since they allowed us to be more steadfast in our faith.

          We ended our fellowship by wishing each one the best for the coming new week and days. Indeed gatherings like we had this day become a source of strength and motivation for us. And it allowed us to be more appreciative to the presence and support of each member of our community.  

Moments To Cherish

          Moments of togetherness are precious times to build up relationships among brothers and sisters. Through thick and thin, it is by the support that we share and receive in our community that enable us to go through all those events. Indeed, life is so wonderful that it is ought to be shared with others especially to people so dear to our hearts.

          That's exactly what we esteemed much in our group, the CFC NorthEast Household when we joined together to share the joy of Bro. Rodel and Sis Danah on their newly purchased home in Mernda, a northeast suburban community of Melbourne. All the members of our household were present except for Bro. Alvin and Sis Denden who were busy taking care of something very important. 

      Anyway, we all treasured the food, the ambience of the fresh place and the impressiveness of the environment as the new owners were so proud in sharing with us those recently welcomed blessings in their life. We are all thankful to God for showering us such opportunity to gather together in His name as we also welcomed in our household the new couple member, Bro. Jose and Sis Daisy. 

"Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance"

Times of Desolation and Consolation: What Are You Made Of?

          As we celebrate the season of Lent, we are reminded to go back to the various chapters of our life and examine if where are we exactly in our relationship with God as manifested also in our relationships with others like our neighbours, brothers and sisters in Christ, families and most notably our primordial relationship with Him Above. 

          If we recall back the days spent by Jesus before He died on the cross, we can exactly recall how he suffered at the garden of Gethsemane. He was, at that stage, feeling so depressed and down however some of those significant persons surrounding Him especially Peter, Paul and John fell asleep while accompanying Him.

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          If we look it on a human way, it could have been so painful and frustrating on the part of Jesus seeing and realising that those people close to Him left Him at that very trying moments. In our reflection, can we identify certain resemblance that those three disciples have in our own life? At this time, can we afford to lay down our life and sacrifice our time for the sake of others like our families, friends, and others? 

           Constancy in our faith requires from us a genuine desire to dedicate our life for Him Above. And I believe that there goes a deeper meaning in life- when we are able and willing to offer everything for the greater glory of God. This road, if chosen, is not a smooth one and just like the painful journey of Jesus before His death on the cross, we are also given trials and sacrifices that oftentimes test our inner faith and love of God. 

The Meaning of LIFE

          How do you put meaning to your life? What is it then that makes LIFE so interesting and excited to you? What have been your ups and downs in life? These are but some of the common questions that will come up to our minds when we come to think of our own LIFE. 

          But as we experience day by day, we come to know that every bit of each experience tells us how complicated life could be at times. How fortunate then those who are living each day surrounded with friends and loved ones for they could concretely be faced with joyous interactions with them. 

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          Thus may we always treasure all our friendships with others and let us allow each moment to be an instrument for us to nurture and strengthen the bond of relationship that we have established with those persons in our life. Let us constantly remember that LIFE is a gift that ought to be shared with others. 

The Joy of Coming Together as One Family

          Every opportunity for us to gather together in our CFC (Couples For Christ) Household is always seen as an opportunity of bonding together and sharing our giftedness as persons created in the image and likeness of our Divine Creator. 

          In every gathering that we cherish, we readily exchange pleasantries, prayers, and share our food as our means of strengthening our bond of brotherhood and sisterhood. We based our relationship on our being members of a community which is centered on our faith in God. On every gathering that we have, our initial activity is constantly to offer our prayers both as our means of expressing our gratitude to God and to relay to Him our petitions as well as the petitions of others who recommended themselves to our prayers.

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           Likewise, hymns of praises to our Most Loving Father are cheerfully sung to share our positive sentiments of the moment. Bonded by this common belief, we feel strengthened by this unity. Thus, it is always the prayer of each one that our group may continue to journey in the midst of life's complexities and challenges. And at the end, we believe that in all our gatherings and activities, God is always the focus of everything.