Back To Basics

Contributed By Evie Amante

We thank God that, after 27 years, Couples for Christ (CFC) continues to be guided by the Holy Spirit, as affirmed by the institution of a much-discerned and very relevant new mission and vision for our community:

Vision: Families in the Holy Spirit Renewing the face of the earth. Moved by the Holy Spirit, one with the Catholic Church, blessed to witness to Christ’s love and service, Couples for Christ is a united global community of family evangelizers that sets the world on fire with the fullness of God’s transforming love.

Mission: Building the Church of the Home and the Church of the Poor. We are Couples for Christ. We are committed to live in God’s righteousness and holiness, evangelizing people through a life of love and service; we shall work for the renewal of families that will serve God and build generations of Christian leaders; and, we shall pursue Total Christian Liberation through social justice, respect for life, and work with the poor.

Relying on humility and with the knowledge that everything is the Lord’s, we continue to be guided by the Four Core Values that shape who we are: Pro-God, Pro-Family, Pro-Life and Pro-Poor. Looking at these values, we realize that they all intersect and are inter-connected so much so that you cannot be one without being all the other three.

What is amazing is that in the 27 years that CFC has been in existence, so much can still be learned and re-visited so that our community continues to be life-giving and true to our calling as stated in our Mission and Vision. This is what the Leaders’ Summit, held last October 18, led by our Brother Ernie Maipid and his wife, Gigi, had hoped to accomplish and it was certainly a very encouraging start. We have so much to look forward to in the many months and years to come.

As we all know, the family is the basic unit of society. In our community, the household is the basic unit of Couples for Christ. With God’s grace and anointing, the household has withstood the test of time. Because of the household, we continue to see lives transformed as we strive to grow stronger in our walk to love God and our neighbour, and grow in our passion and zeal to evangelize and serve others. In our households, we help each other draw away from self-focus.

Brother Ernie said that we only have to look at how God created our human bodies to remind us that He had meant us to be “outward-oriented.” Our eyes “look out” to see the beauty of God’s creation and share with others. Our lips “speak out” and proclaim God’s goodness to others. Our feet are meant to “walk out” into the world and help spread the good news and lastly, our hands are meant to “reach out” and help those who are in need. All of these pave the way to authentic love of neighbour, bringing us to the last frontier in the area of loving – our work with the poor in Gawad Kalinga (GK) where we learn to love those who may not be able to love us in return. Through GK, we are being given the chance to bring Christ to the poor in the most concrete way.

It is a great privilege that God has anointed CFC to lead the way in this great work, even drawing people from outside of the community to partner with us.

Brother Ernie humbly reminds us though that our anointment has nothing to do with our worthiness and likens GK to a precious gem that has fallen into our hands. Just like the pearl in the parable that Jesus had narrated where a man, after having found the pearl of great prize, sold everything that he owned so that he could purchase the land where the pearl was buried.

Just like the man in the parable, we are encouraged to embrace the accountability and responsibility of this precious gift that God has entrusted to our community, knowing that the poor are a part of God’s family.

At the summit, going back to basics meant reviewing the challenges that are being experienced by households and they will certainly be given the attention that they need by our leaders knowing that it is a crucial element to our growth in CFC. Household Heads are called to be responsible and accountable for their members, taking personal interest in their lives thru regular one-on-one dialogue, being sensitive to their needs and worldly struggles and at the same time, encouraging growth in fundamental areas like prayer, family and community life and generosity in tithing and charity.

To help strengthen the Household Head’s ability to lead, four Skills Building Workshops were also accomplished covering topics like Brother/Sister Relationships, Household Worship, Growth Talks and Giving Exhortations. As part of the Giving Exhortations exercise, three brothers from Toronto (Mel Riazo), Ottawa (Rick Revilla) and Montreal (Raul Marababol) were asked to present their exhortation based on scenarios on faithfulness, unity and generosity and a panel of judges critiqued them and suggested ways to enhance their exhortation.

The day ended fittingly with the introduction of the theme discerned for 2009, taken from Philippians 3:13-14 “Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit towards the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.”

The biggest challenge that we face is how to live this out in the year to come as we continue to “proclaim God’s presence amidst our poverty.”

A Million Thanks

A Million Thanks To You, Mom and Dad
CFC-YFC Parent Appreciation Night
By Menchie Tuano, and Meg Tuano

A million thanks to you, Mom and Dad – our way of expressing our gratitude. This was the theme of the (Couples for Christ) CFC-(Youth for Christ) YFC Parent Appreciation Night – a simple way for our YFC (our children) and YFC Coordinators to thank their parents for all their love and support. This was an event that made a lot of people cry, dance with joy, discover their inner talents, fellowship with CFC and newfound friends outside of the CFC community, and a night of bonding between parents and their children.

Being the first of its kind, CFC Brampton chapter, together with the ministry of Youth for Christ, has initiated this event dubbed as CFC-YFC Parent Appreciation Night. Given that it took less than two months to prepare, the event was considered a success, memorable and very touching for those who have attended the occasion. The night was filled with music, fun, presentations from our creative and talented brothers and sisters – an event that took a lot of teamwork and cooperation within the CFC and its family ministries.

The night started off with the YFC community-based band, playing and singing songs of praise as the people began to arrive and settle in. As one of the parents being honoured by their children that night, I couldn’t explain the joy that I felt seeing our children so active in this community. Truly, I can say we are now reaping our harvest – the seed that we have planted to them when they have started with the Kids for Christ ministry.

The sharing of our brother Ouel, brother Arnold and spouses, brother Mon and sister Elvie Mejia, and a guest teacher from Edmund Campion School and the powerful creative interpretative dance by the high school-based YFCs were amazing – signifying a clear message that our children are truly blessed for being a part of this community of the Youth for Christ.

Then, the highlight of the night came – the Prince of Egypt production number, which is a huge cast of about 50 people represented, played and delivered by members of the CFC and its family ministries. This was a presentation that brought tears to the audience signifying God’s promise, love and guidance. From the first time we decided to do this project, countless miracles have been experienced by CFC Brampton chapter. With very limited time and resources, the Lord has provided us with all the things that we needed to make it possible for us to show and share this to others. I saw the dedication, hardwork and teamwork in each of the cast from the KFC, YFC, SOLD, HOLD and CFC to deliver the message that God wants us to share to everyone that night.

CFC Brampton chapter may be few in numbers but this did not hinder the success of God’s work. The Lord was able to give His message of hope, love and unity to us. As a result, the more that CFC Brampton chapter became closer to each other as one family in Christ. I felt the Lord’s presence in all our practices, meetings, providing answers to all our concerns – venue, logistics, food, costumes, props, and availability. Up to this time, I still play the CD of the songs of the Prince of Egypt while driving to work. I’m deeply touched by the last segment when the entire cast sang the song “ When you believe” … and I quote “ there can be miracles when you believe… though hope is frail …its hard to kill…who knows what miracles… you can achieve …when you believe – a very powerful message indeed. No matter what challenges we may be facing today, God promises a victory that starts with peace and understanding. The joy that each of us in CFC Brampton chapter felt that night was a clear manifestation of our Lord’s loving presence – the promise of victory and hope.

This event was a first, and it’s certainly not the last. This is a new beginning for CFC Brampton chapter and a great opportunity for us to invite people who attended this occasion to join our community.

God’s Awesome Heart

The 2008 CFC-HOLD Canada National Conference
Contributed by Weng Alfonso

The Handmaids of the Lord (HOLD) must have a special place in God’s heart, for He blessed them with clear blue sky, bright sunny day, and just the right coolness of temperature during the entire HOLD conference held in Vancouver last September 12th to 14th.

Approximately 500 delegates from all over Canada attended this year’s edition of this long-awaited gathering.

Before the official start of the conference, all HOLD leaders and delegates who arrived early gathered at the Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Surrey to pray the rosary invoking Mama Mary’s intercession for the success of the conference. This was immediately followed by a guided adoration, which was preceded by a short talk introducing the Handmaids to another method of prayer called “Centering Prayer”, and then some quiet moments in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

And of course, what do Handmaids love to do after prayer? EAT! It was lunchtime at a Filipino restaurant, and then on to the Sheraton Hotel at Guildford in Surrey, venue for the 2008 HOLD National Conference.

This year’s conference theme was “Handmaids After God’s Own Heart”. As expected there was a lot of “lovin’” going around. On Friday night, there was a “Crazy for Love” concert, where each area presentation showed different aspects of love.

The five talks of the conference all focused on the theme of Love:

Talk #1 – “Love Makes Us One” (by Thelma Hizon, HOLD Foreign Mission Coordinator);
Talk #2 – “Love Is…” (by Luz Villaroman, HOLD Regional Coordinator for Canada and the Caribbean)
Talk #3 – “Love Hurts” (by Arlene Aquino, CFC leader from Vancouver)
Talk #4 – “Love Conquers” (by Malou Reyes, HOLD Canada National Coordinator)
Talk #5 – “Handmaids After God’s Own Heart” (by Didi Galsim, HOLD International Coordinator).

Four Handmaids from the Toronto chapters gave inspiring sharings: Zony Mercado (West Cluster Head); Dora de la Resma (East 1 Household Head); Bebe Ngosiok (East 1 Unit Head); and Maysie Bautista (East Cluster GK/Prolife Coordinator).

Something unique during this year’s conference was that Talk #3 was delivered as a “mini-musical.” The talk was delivered mostly via songs, a la Mama Mia. The speaker, Arlene Aquino, had an excellent soprano-like voice. The sharings were not read but instead were sang by all the sharers. It was very creative, enlightening, and at the same time entertaining! At the end of the talk, one was almost tempted to shout “More!” This kind of creativity makes one look forward to the next conference.

In every HOLD conference, everyone gets excited about the Saturday evening dinner-dance, with different themes every year. And in keeping with the conference theme for this year, the evening was called the “Look of Love” Night. And what is the colour of love? The Handmaids were almost of one mind as most came in varying shades of RED!

As expected, immediately after dinner, as the tables were being cleared to prepare the space for a dance floor, the Handmaids were already on their feet doing line dancing or cha-cha, or just showing off their latest moves. Everyone just had a good time!

The hosts of the conference, CFC and HOLD Vancouver, made sure that there were opportunities to see and enjoy beautiful British Columbia. Post-conference tours were arranged for trips to Victoria Island and Whistler. Leaders from HOLD Philippines were also treated to a 2-day stay at a resort in Whistler.

As one looks at the majestic mountains, blue seas, and winding rivers that run along the highway, one cannot help but look up to heaven and say, “What an awesome God!”