BLD WASHINGTON NEWSLETTER

Nov 10, 2017

VOL. 17 NO. 186

Bukas-Loob Sa Diyos (Open In Spirit to God)

Catholic Charismatic Covenant Community Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church

4835 MacArthur Blvd. N.W. Washington D.C. 20007

Inside this Issue:

COUNSELS

Welcome ME# 18

COMMUNITY EVENTS BLD Washington Invited to sing at the 50th Char-ismatic Renewal at the

Basilica.

Scott Hahn will be at John Neumann Parish

- EVANGELII GAUDIUM

Praise and Worship Every Friday 8:30 p.m.

Hess Auditorium

Eucharistic Celebration every

First Friday of the month—OLV Church

ALL ARE WELCOME!

Visit us at www.BLDWASHINGTON.com

THE ME# 18 weekend held this past weekend at SpringHill Suites in Alexandria, Virginia, was led by the weekend’s Pastoral Team: Fr. Mike Semana, Mel and Lolit Villegas (couple A sharers) and Ben and Armi Aranda (couple B Sharers).

The words of wisdom and encour-agement of Fr. Mike Semana, who sprinkled his spiritual talks with good-natured humor to keep us engaged; the selfless sharings of our very own

sharers, Ben and Armi Aranda and Mel and Lolit Villegas that touched many hearts; the non-stop prayers of all the intercessors who prayed before the Blessed Sacrament in the Vigil Room, and those who prayed outside the venue that kept the evil spirits confused; the sacrificial work of all the auxies who willingly and gen-erously gave up several weekends so as to serve; the heart-felt singing of the Praise Team who provided us with joyful, romantic and reflective songs all through-out the weekend; the hard work of the sponsoring ME17 class who, for the past year and under the guidance of their Class Shepherds, had been tirelessly prepar-ing for this wonderful event; and the meticulous work of the coordinators of the Marriage Encounter Ministry who worked unceasingly to make sure that all the de-tails necessary to support the weekend were checked off. And the Lord blessed the community with the class of ME 18.

BLD Washington welcomes the ME#18 graduates: Charles & Elvira Brooks, Arlan “JR” and Claire Gorriceta, Marlon & Arlene Posadas, Cesar and Medz Moises, and

John & Dorothy Solomon.

Thank you for accepting God’s call to attend the ME#18 weekend. May you continue to grow in sincere love for Jesus and seek to serve Him and pro-claim the goodness and great Love He has revealed to each of you.

Welcome!!!

Please Read Your

Bible daily

“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of

Christ”

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Reflection:

In this Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus gives us another par-able, the Parable of the Ten Virgins. It is about the second coming of Jesus, and it teaches us a sobering truth, that Jesus is coming back and we need to be prepared and vigilant for we do not know the day nor the hour. And in the first reading it tells us that while we are waiting for His second coming, Jesus is also waiting on us. He knows our heart. He anticipates our desire to reconcile with Him. As the True Shepherd, Jesus is always ahead of us; and as is promised to us in Wisdom 6:14, “one who watches … at dawn will not be disappointed.”

In the Gospel, Jesus puts Himself in the parable as the Bridegroom. The ten virgins are symbolic of you and me, and virtually everyone who has either heard of or knows Jesus. We can even say that all ten believed in the second coming, or else, why would they all have set out and waited to meet Him if they did not know Him or believe that He was coming back? To some degree, all ten were prepared, for they all brought lamps. The difference is that some were better prepared than the others.

In the parable, the bridegroom was delayed and the ten virgins all fell asleep. But in the middle of the night and at the most inconvenient time, they were awakened by the excitement that the bride-groom had arrived. It was at this moment that the foolish ones realized that their lamps were run-ning on empty, so they left to buy more oil. Unfortunately for them, it was when they left that the bridegroom came and opened the door to the wedding feast. Needless to say, those foolish ones totally missed the opportunity for they were not prepared. For you and I, we need to prepare NOW while there is still time. WE CAN NO LONGER PROCRASTINATE.

In one of Pope Francis’ homilies at the beginning of the year, he said that all Christians are called to renew their faithfulness to God every day and not procrastinate when it comes to their own per-sonal conversion. The Holy Father said that a hardened heart that sets aside “receiving the love of God” for another day, may find that it is too late to enjoy the heavenly reward awaiting those whose hearts are strong in faith. Continued on Page 3

Stay awake and Vigilant Theme: God exalts those who remain vigilant in serving Him.

Word: Wis 6:12-16 ~ Ps 63:2,3-4,5-6,7-8 ~ 1 Thes 4:13-18 ~ Mt 25:1-13 Order: “Stay awake for you know neither the day nor the hour.” - Mt 25:13

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Continued from Page 2

Let us not be found to be like the foolish virgins who lacked reserves of spiritual oil. We need to keep strong in our faith EVERY SINGLE DAY.

The parable also teaches us that we cannot rely on others for our own salvation. The wise ones refused to share their oil with the foolish ones, fearing that there might not be enough for all of them. They were rightfully concerned about their own salvation. You cannot rely on others… your spouse, your family, or anyone for your own salvation. Salvation is between you and God, through His Son, Jesus Christ.

The parable also reminds us that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus turned the foolish ones away when they called on Him to open the door for them. It is really not enough to say we know Jesus. It is not enough to say, ‘I believe.’ We need to exemplify a life of true faith and service that is worthy of His promise. We need to show it in our words, conduct and service, and via the life we lead.

Furthermore, we have to stay awake and vigilant. The only guarantee to receive salvation is to live in Christ.... every single day.

As we near the end of the year, the readings could not have come at a better time. How often have we heard someone say, “time flies” or “where did time go?” For some of us, the reality is that we get too caught up in the daily grind of life, raising a family, work, school, house chores, sports, and even social media, that often we forget to store up on our spiritual oil. We become susceptible to neglecting to nurture our spirituality.

We can say that the oil in the parable is symbolic of HIS WORD. In the same way that a lamp needs oil to keep the flame burning, we too need the Word of God to keep our spiritual life going. In the same way that a lamp needs oil to make it burn brighter to reveal the road ahead, we too need to immerse ourselves in the Word so that we can see better and focus on our walk through the straight and narrow path that leads to the gates of heaven.

In essence, the ten virgins were called to serve the Bridegroom, just as we are called to serve Him. To walk with and to shine for Him. The reward of joining the wedding feast is contingent on how well we are prepared and committed to the task. As true followers of Christ, our servanthood calls for a total and complete submission to Him and His word, in the same way that Christ was in total sub-mission to the Father.

.

" AND HE GAVE SOME AS APOSTLES, OTHERS AS PROPHETS, OTHERS AS EVANGELISTS, OTHERS AS PASTORS AND TEACHERS, TO EQUIP THE HOLY

ONES FOR THE WORK OF MINISTRY, FOR BUILDING UP THE BODY OF CHRIST, UNTIL WE ALL ATTAIN TO THE UNITY OF FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE

OF THE SON OF GOD." EPHESIANS 4:11-14

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UPCOMING EVENTS: Mark your calendars

November 4 - 5, 2017 Marriage Encounter #18

November 18, 2017 Archdiocese of Washington

8:30 am—4:00 pm Charismatic Renewal 50th Jubilee

November 24, 2017 Thanksgiving Mass at OLV

December 22, 2017 BLD Christmas Party— OLV

Love Offering

Oct 13, 2017 $ 572.00 Oct 20, 2017 $ 746.00 Oct 27. 2017 $ 601.00 Nov 3, 2017 $ 347.00

Thank you for your faithful and consistent giving. Your donations are so very impor-tant because they allow us to carry on the

work of evangelization.

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APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION EVANGELII GAUDIUM

OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS

TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY, CONSECRATED PERSONS AND THE LAY FAITHFUL

ON THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL IN TODAY’S WORLD

From the heart of the Gospel 34. If we attempt to put all things in a missionary key, this will also affect the way we communicate the mes-sage. In today’s world of instant communication and occasionally biased media coverage, the message we preach runs a greater risk of being distorted or reduced to some of its secondary aspects. In this way certain issues which are part of the Church’s moral teaching are taken out of the context which gives them their meaning. The biggest problem is when the message we preach then seems identified with those secondary aspects which, important as they are, do not in and of themselves convey the heart of Christ’s message. We need to be realistic and not assume that our audience understands the full background to what we are saying, or is capable of relating what we say to the very heart of the Gospel which gives it meaning, beauty and at-tractiveness. 35. Pastoral ministry in a missionary style is not obsessed with the disjointed transmission of a multitude of doctrines to be insistently imposed. When we adopt a pastoral goal and a missionary style which would actu-ally reach everyone without exception or exclusion, the message has to concentrate on the essentials, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the same time most necessary. The message is simplified, while losing none of its depth and truth, and thus becomes all the more forceful and convincing.

36. All revealed truths derive from the same divine source and are to be believed with the same faith, yet some of them are more important for giving direct expression to the heart of the Gospel. In this basic core, what shines forth is the beauty of the saving love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead. In this sense, the Second Vatican Council explained, “in Catholic doctrine there exists an order or a ‘hierarchy’ of truths, since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian faith”.[38] This holds true as much for the dogmas of faith as for the whole corpus of the Church’s teaching, including her moral teaching.

37. Saint Thomas Aquinas taught that the Church’s moral teaching has its own “hierarchy”, in the virtues and in the acts which proceed from them.[39] What counts above all else is “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6). Works of love directed to one’s neighbour are the most perfect external manifestation of the interior grace of the Spirit: “The foundation of the New Law is in the grace of the Holy Spirit, who is manifested in the faith which works through love”.[40] Thomas thus explains that, as far as external works are concerned, mercy is the greatest of all the virtues: “In itself mercy is the greatest of the virtues, since all the others revolve around it and, more than this, it makes up for their deficiencies. This is particular to the superior virtue, and as such it is proper to God to have mercy, through which his omnipotence is manifested to the greatest degree”.[41]

38. It is important to draw out the pastoral consequences of the Council’s teaching, which reflects an ancient conviction of the Church. First, it needs to be said that in preaching the Gospel a fitting sense of proportion has to be maintained. This would be seen in the frequency with which certain themes are brought up and in the emphasis given to them in preaching. For example, if in the course of the liturgical year a parish priest speaks about temperance ten times but only mentions charity or justice two or three times, an imbalance re-sults, and precisely those virtues which ought to be most present in preaching and catechesis are overlooked. The same thing happens when we speak more about law than about grace, more about the Church than about Christ, more about the Pope than about God’s word.