What is the Significance of Black Saturday To Us?

     Black Saturday- what is the significance of this day? For the Roman Catholic Church and other denominations, this is the day that Jesus descended to the realm of the dead so as to save humankind from total damnation due to sin. This is the climax of all His sufferings within the last few days. And to think that He is the Son of God yet He sacrificed Himself just to save us. 

     Personally I regularly spend this day trying to reflect what have I done in the past days, weeks, months and even years of my life. How did I witness to all the examples of Jesus? Did I become a concrete model for others especially to those people close to me on how to be a good Christian?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

     As human as we are, it is our tendency to deviate from what is good. So many times in our life that we tend to forget how to be a good follower of Jesus Christ.  In the midst of all these lapses, there is no excuse for us but rather, it should boil down to an awareness of such limitation as well as to possess that earnest desire to CHANGE ourselves for the better.

     Life is such a complicated gift yet it is also a very precious one. And I would say that time is of the essence for us -- indeed we should be able to pause from our busyness and try to reflect on how are we now in our relationship with Jesus and His Heavenly Father. If we are on the right track on this, then this would also be demonstrated through our relationships with loved ones, with relatives, with friends, with society and with nature. Hence this day Black Saturday is a special day for us to recognise Jesus' examples of lying down His life to save us and to do our own share on this challenge of being a good Christian.   

Practicing Genuine Gratitude

     In our recent gathering in the community, we all had the chance of sharing with one another what currently is our struggle on areas such as practicing genuine gratitude, and being present on the here and now moment. Today I would like to share with you my sentiments on gratitude as well as on what I have heard from my fellow members of the community.

    Somehow it is a common experience that being grateful is neglected or forgotten on several instances in our everyday life. This happens due to many reasons like being so preoccupied with things, or being not at home with expressing one's gratitude, or just the simple reality of being ungrateful. 

    Personally I would say that this is our choice whether we will be grateful or not to everything that happens to us everyday. Moreover I observe that we become ungrateful when we are discontented of our own selves or that instead of recognising our own giftedness, we rather choose to focus on what others have and consequently, we start to become envious (rather than being grateful) on them.

                                                                               

     

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    Thus it is a calling for us that in our day to day life, we may become grateful to everything that comes to us. We keep in mind that this LIFE is but a borrowed one and soon or later, we will return it to its rightful owner and we can give back the kindness by taking care of it. 

PS: Thanks to our community led by our active leader Bro. Jose and to the rest of the team: Bro. Reddy, Bro. Arnold, Bro. Danny and to Bro. Boying whom we missed on this session. Shoutout to all of you Brothers. 

What is Your Goal in Life?

       Goals- what exactly is it that motivates you to get up every morning? Is it to become rich? Is it to become famous? Is it to travel to various places in the world? Is it to be able to help others most notably those in need like the poor and the helpless? Whatever your goal in life, be ready to work on it.

        As I observe in my own life and that of others, we tend to set up numerous goals especially during the first days of the year (New Year's resolutions) and somehow, along the way we tend to delay- we tend to forget about them. 

        I believe that along with our goals, there should also be a point of inspiration for all of us that can make us consistent in our

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daily activities so as to achieve our goals. As we go on each day, trials may come our way but bear in mind that they are there to make us polish everything so that achieving our goal could be much sweeter around. 

        Think about your goals and consistently be ready to work hard so that you will attain them soon or later in your life. Never waste your energy crying over a spilled milk- complaining about those unattained goals but rather, stay focus on what lies ahead of you. 

The Trait of Generosity

       Being unselfish is one of those positive traits in life that we must continuously practice and share with others especially with the young generation. The recent times is a very challenging for all parents. With the emergence of today's modern technologies,  there is a need  for them to display to their kids the trait of generosity for them to learn what is it all about. 

          When they start to explore the world of modern gadgets and begin to use them like ipod, cell phone, tablet etc. the risk of them developing less the idea of being generous is inevitable. It is but common nowadays that wherever you go, kids as young as 1 year old and up start to explore already these gadgets. 

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And when they learn to manipulate them, the more time that they need to play with them. Consequently they gradually create their own virtual world thus denying themselves the opportunity to cherish playing time with other kids like them.

          Therefore, the challenge now to bring them to the normal world wherein they can and able to share their time with their peers is clear. The adults like the parents need to monitor this reality making it sure that time spent by kids on modern gadgets is balanced with their time for interaction with the world. And this task has to be a priority for them if they dream of having kids who grow in harmony and who learn how to balance their time.

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Getting Strength from Each Other

          Belonging to a community is a treasured gift for me. It is but awesome to think that our community is made up of people coming from different backgrounds. No one among us choose this community ( as far as I know) yet every get together that we have is considered a special event.

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          Personally, the times that we come together allows me to gather more strength on myself and grow also through the experiences and struggles of others.

         We know we have priorities in our life and I constantly appreciate the effort of each family to spend time to join the gathering. And the sharing of prayers like petitions and thanksgiving makes us feel to be one. Each family has its own needs like schedules, activities and others and still we are able to share our time for the community.

          With this experience, the journey called life becomes easier and interesting. Life is  ought to be shared with others. It is a precious gift and we should be generous in sharing this with others. 

A Community United In Prayer and Fun

          Being in a community is one gift that we can always treasured in life. Absolutely no one could ever survive on earth just by his lonesome.

That's exactly why we are called as social individuals since we are expected to interact with others. 

         And true to its word, our Couples for Christ household community is one support group which is constantly essential for all members. We are called to prayer and to offer thanksgiving for everything that we unceasingly receive from Him Above. 

           Our household community through our ever active leaders, couple Bro Sam and Sis Bong, is always active in all its commitments as a group. And all members believe that it is the commitment of each one to devote time for prayer in the group and to interact with each other that binds all members together. 

         The summit of every gathering is the worship  and it is coupled with other worthwhile activities such as camping and fun run plus the regular household gathering. Through these enumerated activities, we further develop our closeness with one another as well as to strengthen our relationship with God. 

more fun......more actions.........

United as One Family

          Last August 19, 2017 Saturday, Couples For Christ (CFC) Melbourne,  Australia celebrated its 26th anniversary at Saint Brigid Catholic Church. The day's celebration was filled with laughters and screams as each one witnessed the various presentations from the CFC units: West, North, South etc. 

          The YFC group was very generous to share their talents through their various presentations like the band playing and dances.

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There was also the much applauded lip sync battle of the different CFC Units. Our unit, CFC North Unit, was successful in sharing our God given talents through our Grease dance presentation- thanks to the support of our Unit Leaders, Bro. Walter and Bro. Gary as well as to our household leader- Bro. Sam and Sis Bong.

          Prayers and worship were also shared thus making this event centered on our belief that everything which happened within those 26 years of existence were guided by the graces of our Most Loving Father. Hence all these manifestations are but just right to be returned to Him through this get together of CFC brothers and sisters all throughout Melbourne. 

          Much gratefulness also to the elders of CFC Melbourne who unceasingly devoted their extra mile, time and resources so that CFC will continue to flourish and grow in this part of the globe.