bukÁs-loÓb sa diyÓs open in spirit to...

8 Living Water - November 15, 2013

Toronto Teaching Schedule For a complete and up-to-date Teaching Schedule, visit: www.bldtoronto.com

Date Time Topic Venue Invitees

Nov 23 9 am to 3 pm Advanced Christian Maturity

Program Part 1 OLA Hall

LSS#26 graduates and members who have

not taken this teaching

Nov 23 9 am to 3 pm New Creation Realities/

Growth in Prayer OLA Chapel

LSS#27 graduates and members who have

not taken this teaching

LSS #1 OSG (BLD) GBA Prayer Group, St. Paul the Apostle Church, Alliston

Living Water - November 15, 2013

November 15, 2013

BUKÁS-LOÓB SA DIYÓS • OPEN IN SPIRIT TO GOD

www.bldworld.org www.bldtoronto.com

THEME

We honour the sovereignty of Christ when we

remain steadfast in our faith.

WORD

Mal 4:1–2 ; Ps 98:5-9; 2Thes 3: 7-12; Lk 21: 5-19

ORDER

“Do not be terrified; for these things must take

place first but the end will not follow immediate-

ly“. (Lk 21:9)

“Beware that you are not led astray”. (Lk 21:8)

“Anyone unwilling to work should not

eat.” (2Thes 3:10)

REFLECTION

Each one of us has to make a choice between

two opposing views and either view carries a

corresponding consequence. In the first read-

ing, the prophet Malachi has painted two sce-

narios when he said “all the arrogant and all

evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes

shall burn them up.” On the other hand, he

said “for you who revere my name the sun of

righteousness shall rise, with healing in its

wings.” From the second reading, St. Paul tells

us in his second letter to the Thessalonians that

they have to make a choice either to work for a

living just as he showed them or to live in idle-

ness and suffer the consequence of starvation

and neglect. In our family life and in our com-

munity life here in BLD, we devote ourselves

always in praying and discerning how to

choose the path of righteousness and how to

stay away from the things that are not of the

Lord. Under ideal circumstances or maybe in a

simpler world, you would think that life could

Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

http://www.catholic.org/photos/


be easier when it is defined in terms of being

black or white, between right and wrong, be-

tween the fires of hell and the glory of heaven.

However, the real world of today, the secular

world paints a different view.

Some righteous people begin to wonder what

profit will they gain by keeping God’s com-

mandments, especially when they see that

evildoers are the ones who prosper with abun-

dance. When these bad people put God to the

test and they seem to escape from His punish-

ment and yet He allowed them to succeed.

When we dwell on these questions, it just

showed our lack of understanding in God’s

ways. His ways are not our ways. He was, He

is and He will always be a God of justice. God

our Creator is still the Master of His Creation.

He knows every detail of our existence. May-

be at the present time, the arrogant and evil-

doers are able to get away with their evil ways

and go unpunished, but God made a promise

that during the time of judgment, to those

who remain faithful to Him, this day will be a

day of glory and great rejoicing.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, St. Luke wrote that

Jesus has given us both a stern warning and a

divine assurance when He said “You will be

hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of

your head will perish. By your endurance you will

gain your souls”. From the book of the prophet

Malachi, the Lord says “For you who revere my

name, the sun of righteousness shall rise, with

healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like

calves from the stall. And you shall tread down

the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of

your feet, on the day when I act.” This is God’s

promise to us, His faithful followers. For

those of us who live by our faith, we will be

victorious on the last day while the wicked

will perish in the fires of hell.

In the end, the question that we need to ask

ourselves is not the question: Why do the wick-

ed seem to prosper and go unpunished? The

right question we need to ask is: With whom

do we want to be a part of? We are convinced

that all of us will have a common answer: We

want to be part of the One, Holy, Catholic and

Apostolic Church, whose head is Jesus and

where all of us, are members of His body. Let

us remain steadfast in our faith. During this

Year of Faith, it is important for all of us to live

and act our faith in our sovereign Lord, our

Lord Jesus Christ. When we do and live as

faithful followers of Christ, we are indeed pre-

paring ever constantly for the day when the

Lord calls our name and shows us our rightful

place in His Heavenly Kingdom. Let us make

each passing day a dress rehearsal for our eter-

nal life in God’s presence.

DIRECTION

Be vigilant of false prophets by discerning

the fruit of their work.

Put your complete trust in the Lord; by dai-

ly prayer and scripture reading.

Persevere in your ministry work, setting an

example by doing your work quietly.

GOD’S PROMISE

“But for you who revere my name, the sun of right-

eousness shall rise, with healing in its

wings.” (Mal 4:2)

Living Water - November 15, 2013 7

OSG (BLD) GBA Prayer Group holds its LSS No. 1 By Lito and Ralyn Mitra

OSG(BLD)GBA Prayer Group

We praise and thank the Lord for a powerful Baptism in the Spirit last Sunday, Nov. 10th—for send-

ing the Holy Spirit in our midst, moving among us, whispering to all of us, guiding us and letting

us do all the tasks that the Lord has called us to do. There are no words good enough to thank Him

for the many wonderful things He has allowed to happen. And above all, we praise and thank our

loving God for sending the Holy Spirit to come upon all our participants, bringing healing and for-

giveness, and empowerment with His gifts, especially the gift of tongues. Hallelujah to the Lord!

On behalf of the OSG(BLD) Prayer Group, we would like to thank you all, our loving community,

for your very willing sacrifice and service in coming to St. Paul the Apostle Church in Alliston. It

was truly the work of the Holy Spirit! Everyone and everything and every deed just fell into place,

as we all moved as one towards one purpose—to bring people closer to the Lord.

We would like to thank all the prayer partners who have faithfully come to Alliston for the past 5

Sundays, offering their time and ministry to our 66 participants, which have come down to 53 on

the Baptism day. For their ministering care and prayers for their lambs to prepare them to open

their hearts to the Holy Spirit, we thank all the prayer leaders, the sharers, and the speakers—

Deacon Don O’Shaugnessy and Deacon Carlos Noguierra.

We were overwhelmed with the support that came from BLD Toronto: from the DSL and the DCS,

from the Mission Apostolate , including our auxie catchers and intercessors from OSG SFX Prayer

Group, from the Intercessory, the Praise, and our prayer leaders Nora Valera, Cely Kitane and to

our celebrant, Fr. Ben Ebcas and to our anointer, Deacon Don O’Shaugnessy. Thanks to all our in-

tercessors and praisers. Thanks to Tito and Dora and their team, for the food that we all shared that

included the desserts donations that poured in.

Thanks a lot everyone – God knows who you are.

May you and your families be continually blessed.


(Wonderful Encounter. . . Continued from )

prostrating with my forehead touching the

floor. I sat down and sister Zorie helped me

up and ushered me to sit on the pew and I

prayed the cleansing prayer three times.

While we were praying during the Grand

Vigil, I was so touched by what I saw. With

my eyes closed the darkness turned into a

light. I saw a hand holding like a round red-

dish ball, with like whitish veins…looked

like a fetus sitting on his two hands together.

The rounded reddish ball then changed into a

shining heart with rays on his palm”. I

opened my eyes to see it more and figure out

if it's real but it’s not there anymore. I felt

like a child wanting to see more of it. I didn’t

understand what it was. With my eyes

opened, warm tears just rolled down my

cheeks. I couldn’t stop it, it’s just flowing

continuously.

I truly believe that the heart I saw shining

with rays on His hand was Jesus' way of

telling me that He is happy with what we

are doing and He loves our BLD communi-

ty. We have a great Marriage Encounter pro-

gram. Jesus Christ is our Saviour, our loving

God and our peacemaker. He has lots of sur-

prises and does many miracles around us.

Let's fix our eyes on Jesus so we will see

Him. He will reveal himself to us. In Jn

14:21 Jesus said, ”Whoever accepts my com-

mandments and obeys them is the one who loves

me. My Father will love whoever loves me: I too

will love him and reveal myself to him".

Let’s open our hearts to Jesus and let him

come into our hearts! He touches us in many

special ways. Let us continue to worship and

visit the Blessed Sacrament more often.

Spend time with Him there and with Mama

Mary. I believe from now on, that He is al-

ways present whenever the Blessed Sacra-

ment is exposed. To God be the Glory!

Aid to Victims of Typhoon Yolanda

Please be informed that BLD will accept clothing, canned goods (e.g. soup), toiletries and other supplies

for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda.

BYOP Ministry will oversee the campaign and donors may look for a BYOP table at the OLA Hall or may

drop off their donations in the marked, “Balikbayan Boxes” located in the BLD office.

Prayer for the Philippines from Fr. Rey Culaba

MERCY, LORD

On Our Beloved Country and our People Gracious and Loving God, you are our comfort and strength in

these times of sudden devastation and disaster. Surround us now with your grace and peace. By your

Spirit lift up those who have fallen, sustain those who work to rescue and rebuild, bring healing and

hope in the midst of the suffering and pain; through Christ, our rock and redeemer.


A Wonderful Encounter With the Holy Spirit By Eileen Pelayo - ME 34

Thank you, Lord for your great mercy and love and never ending surprises, blessings and mira-

cles.

There was such a feeling of great fulfillment in my heart serving the Lord during the ME #35 week-

end. Thank you for making the weekend encounter a memorable and successful one. Holy be your

name and I praise and worship you my God Almighty, my Father in heaven!

Let me recall and retell my wonderful encounter with the Holy Spirit during the ME 35 Weekend.

On Sunday, Sept. 15, I was one happy soul just like anyone else from my ME 34 class, who enjoyed

serving that weekend. During the Grand Vigil, I was so touched by the songs and prayers. “Here I

am Lord” was being sung. I really felt submitting myself to God...Yes Lord, Here I am! So, I closed

my eyes and prayed silently while the rest were reciting the prayers. I started with a prayer asking

the Holy Spirit to touch us all and then I lifted up all the participants. I prayed for healing…

physical, emotional, mental and an inner healing for everyone. While my eyes were closed, the

darkness turned into a light, I saw something interesting that happened in a blink of an eye, some-

thing that I could not comprehend. What was that! I didn’t want to open my eyes as I was wishing

to see more! As I opened my eyes, I felt warm tears rolling down my cheeks continuously. I just

couldn’t stop. I continued to join the Grand Vigil in singing and worshipping and wishing to have

more understanding of what I saw.

After the Grand Vigil, I still had a question unanswered, causing my heart to feel heavy. I was

asked if I wanted to be prayed over by the intercessory group and I said, “yes”. As I closed my

eyes again and opened my palms, I heard a bird starting to tweet. I was tempted to open my eyes

to see who was making that sound, but I chose not to as I wanted to focus on God. As sister Zorie,

continued with her prayers… I felt a warm wind blowing on my face. I felt I was being moved in a

circular motion, and then back and forth. I felt almost falling down at that time. Then I was mo-

tioned side to side followed by circular movement again.

The unique bird's tweets became a melody so touching as if it was singing to the Lord and convers-

ing with God. I cried hard, feeling unworthy and asked him for forgiveness. I was on the floor and

was unaware that I was prostrating and bowing down. I was crying and I could not control my

tongue. I was speaking in tongues, a different language that I could not understand myself.

Then I heard a whisper on my ear. I felt I was being comforted by the presence of an angel and

heard a voice whispered to me, “Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you”, in a soft whis-

pering voice, calming me down. Then the voice whispered again and instructed me to say "Jesus I

love you, Jesus I love you, Jesus I love you!" Then the voice was saying Yeshua, Yeshua,!!! So I

followed, Yeshua, three times, Elohim, three times, then continued speaking in tongues. I then

heard a voice saying, “Be still in the Holy Spirit”. I opened my eyes and found myself on the floor

(Continued on Page 6)


2014 Planning Session - OLA School, Nov. 9, 2013


On Saturday, November 9th, the leadership of BLD Toronto Dis-

trict – its DCS, DLCs and DIP District Shepherds - came together

for its annual Planning meeting. In the morning, each of the 5

Apostolates (Evangelization, Formation, Management, Mission

and Pastoral) presented the key developments achieved by each

ministry under their jurisdiction as well as the key issues and

challenges they faced during the year. Following lunch, they reconvened to take on the whole pur-

pose of the meeting - to identify their key challenges and goals for 2014 and strategize their plan of

action.

But for a little while just before lunch, our Spiritual Director, Fr. Ben Ebcas came to join the assem-

bly to give an exhortation. He said while it is good to put down in writing our ideas, plans and

structure, there is really no way of knowing what can happen within our ministries. We can spend

so much time and energy on planning, but having the desire and will is not good enough. What is

more important is to have love and compassion. Our plans are only human plans. Let us attune

our plans with that of the Divine Plan by having our plans centered on Christ.

God sent His only Son for a mission. By virtue of our baptism, we partake of the threefold func-

tions of Jesus: priestly – we pray for God’s people; kingly – although King, Jesus came to serve; as

leaders we are called to the ministry of servant leadership; prophetic - we are called to stand for

the truth no matter what the cost.

Fr. Ben then spoke of a speech Cardinal Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto gave recently

where he spoke of a Pastoral Plan we should take on as God’s family: “Caring for the Gathered;

Reaching Out to the Scattered”. The “gathered” is the Church – made up of those people who are

already engaged in their faith such as BLD whose members serve with joy and share their gifts.

But some people need to be re-invited back to the church – the “scattered”. Reach out to them

with love and compassion. Ask God for His empowerment so we can do this. But remember,

don’t strive to win the issue and lose the person. It is so much better to lose the issue and win the

person back for Christ. For it is only as we help others that we become like Christ!

PLEASE WEAR YOUR BLD ID EVERY FRIDAY

2014 Planning Session:

“Reach out to the scattered with

love and compassion”, exhorts Fr. Ben By Menchu Ealdama

Witness & Coach Development Ministry

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