Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings of peace to you all !

With moral relativism so prevalent nowadays that many claim absolute truth either no longer exists or is irrelevant, your Council of Coordinators thought it wise to state and share with all of you its position on the RH Bill for your consideration and guidance.

While our position focused on H.B. No. 4244, the Senate has recently began its debates on their own version, S.B. No. 2865. It is noteworthy to point out that just today in the Philippine Daily Inquirer,p. A12, in an interview entitled “RH bill about population control, not health – Enrile”, the Senate President was quoted as follows: “RH is a deception. They are calling it a health bill when health should discuss sickness and medicines. What is the therapeutic or medicinal value of a condom? Or that of a birth control pill, an intrauterine device or an injectible(contraceptive)?”

Mga Kapatid, let us stand up for the truth, for our faith, for our God who abounds in His love and mercy for His people !!!

In His service,

Spanky Meer, Senior Head Coordinator (9/12/2011)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE POSITION PAPER OF LIGAYA: STANDING FAST AND FIRM

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

As we thank God for calling us to be His Covenant People living a particular way of life, allow me to address you this afternoon on two matters:  dreams, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

DREAMS

For those of us who were growing up in the 1960s, the words:  “I have a dream!” were immortalized by the black preacher, Martin Luther King, during a time of great racial prejudice and discrimination.  His dream was that sons of former slaves and sons of former slave owners could someday sit down around the table of brotherhood.  His dream was that his four children would one day be judged by their character and not by the color of their skin.

I, too, have a dream!  I have been inspired to share it with all of you due to a question asked of me during the Open Forum of the recent Covenant Candidates Retreat, about my vision for community.  My dream/vision is founded and anchored on our identity and our call to be a Community of Disciples on Mission.

My dream/vision is to see:

1. a COMMUNITY,  TRANSGENERATIONAL and VIBRANT:  transgenerational to include our grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren & generations to come; vibrant because it is imbued with the qualities of:
• love of a family
• discipline of an army, and
• the power and presence of the Holy Spirit (nb. based on 1980’s prophecy); 
2. a Community of DISCIPLES: 
• radical — living a radical  Christian life, not mediocre or compromising our kingdom values with the world’s values
• intimacy — growing in our intimate relationship with our Lord;
3. a Community of Disciples  on MISSION: 
• evangelization
• community building (bulwark building),
• defense of the Gospel.   (N.B.  Recently the OLC came out with its position letter on the RH bill), and
• Christian unity or ecumenism.  (John 17 was our Lord’s final prayer of unity, before He began His passion.  It must be our prayer too!)

I am making it my personal mission to help sharpen and deepen our understanding, appreciation and ownership of our identity and our call, so that – by God’s grace – we can concretely live it out, in all its aspects, with Excellence!  Together, let us live out this dream!  Together, let us answer God’s call for us to be a Community of Disciples on Mission, with Excellence!

WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

When I first assumed my role as SHC, one of my battle cries was:  1 + 1 + HOLY SPIRIT = MIRACLES!

So I asked the Coordinators: “Let’s celebrate Pentecost together as a community!”  But we couldn’t find an appropriate venue, so we did it as Sectors.  The North Sector had its Vigil and the strong sense and prayer was:  “Lord, help us in our UNBELIEF!”  Since then, I have made it my own prayer and I ask all of you to make it yours too!

So when our Pathways Ministry for Evangelization brought to the OLC the proposal to stage a CATCHFIRE RALLY on Nov. 20, Christ the King Sunday, for 2-3,000 people at ULTRA, the OLC immediately approved it and said, “Why only 2-3,000?  Let’s fill up the place with 5-6,000 people!  Let’s invite our PIM, CFC, BCBP, LAIKO, etc.!”

Given the prevalent climate and culture of Moral Relativism, eg. RH bill, divorce bill, CCP Art exhibit that made fun of our Lord, let’s stand up and be counted!  We are God’s army!

Why CATCHFIRE RALLY?  To catch the fire of God’s love, to catch the fire of the Holy Spirit!  It has two principal objectives:  a) Renewal/ Revival, b) to be moved and inspired by the Holy Spirit to even greater action and mission!  Our theme will be:  One King, One People, One Mission!

It’s consistent with all our recent prophesies:  Do more!  Give more!  Walk through the Open Door!  Dream Big!  Whether as a blazing fire or as a gentle flame, burn!  Burn brightly, constantly!  Don’t allow your fire to flicker or burn out!… And on my way here in the car, our Lord’s words to Peter flashed in my mind:  “Do you love Me?  Feed My sheep! (3x).”

It’s time to think out of the box.  Let’s have a motorcade with balloons/banners from four points converging at Ultra, eg. LNP Center, Assumption Makati, EAPI Q.C., SOW house in Sct. Tobias Q.C. (4 sources of grace/life).  Let’s use media – radio, TV, print, Facebook, Twitter.  Let’s pray over, i.e. towards end of Mass, our government officials, (Sec Rogie Singson, et al.), the military (I asked Andy to invite Chief of Staff Gen. Oban, who used to be in his North Sector).  We will even invite the Azkals and if they come, we will, led by our YA, pray over them representing the youth and athletes.

Brothers and sisters, starting today, let’s all pray for this event.  Let’s be excited about what the Holy Spirit is doing and wants to continue to do in our midst.  Let’s talk about it, encourage one another to be there.  Let’s bring our families and friends.  This is our contribution to the Church, our gift of praise, thanksgiving to our God, our gift of self to our God of the Covenant whose promises are true every morning!!

SPANKY MEER, Senior Head Coordinator

Quoting Joe Tale (Couples for Christ), "We need to acknowledge Ligaya as our mother community."

Happy anniversary Ligaya! Happy 36th birthday!

It’s really wonderful being here together with all of you this day. Seated here earlier as I was looking over the gym here, I said, “ Lord, thank you for the fine weather. The prediction, according to Jun, the next 10 days, including today, would be rain. Kung hindi ulan, araw naman! But, so far, so good! It’s not too sunny and definitely there’s no rain. Lord, you’ve been answering our prayers, and we thank You”.

As I was asking our Lord, “Lord, what do I share with the brothers and sisters this morning?” He brought me back to a couple of weeks ago. Let me share this with you, very briefly.

BOASTING ABOUT THE LORD’S FRUITFULNESS

Let me tell you where Fr. Herb, where Melmarx and Cor, Apples and myself were three Sundays ago, and unfortunately, Rey and Nini couldn’t be with us because they had a very important family event, and of course, Andy and Landa had to be with Tita Naty. You all know that she needs our prayers. She has not been well.

So, Fr., Melmarx, myself and our spouses were at the Luneta, would you believe? I haven’t been to Luneta in ages! But there was a special reason for us being there. We were invited to celebrate with our brethren from Couples for Christ – their 30th anniversary! 3 – 0! And, I was talking to Joe Tale the other day, the Chairman of the International Council, I said, “Joe, we don’t need this…this honor. Let me share with you his reply. He said, “Spanky, this is not for you. This is for us. We need it. We need to acknowledge Ligaya as our mother community. Be with us”.

And so mga kapatid, let me briefly describe to you the occasion. Mass at 6:30 in the evening. There must have been 10 or more bishops, majority of whom were bishops from abroad – from Pakistan, from Africa, from Singapore – kung saan-saan! And there must have been what – 30 or so priests – punong-puno ‘yung altar. But the International Council of CFC invited us onstage. And to tell you really the way I felt, when we were introduced, and when they said that “Here are our parents – our parent community,” I was so happy to be there! And when the presiding celebrant of the Mass, Bishop Arguelles acknowledged our own Fr. Herb out of all the priests, and said, “If not for this priest, maybe all of us would not be here today!” Imagine that?

 And it all started, I understand, from the first Christian Life Program held in June 1981, where 16 couples finished the Christian Life Program. From 16 couples, what’s Couples For Christ’s population now? Over a million, globally?

So mga kapatid, Fr. Spoke earlier, about a “mustard seed”. It started with a few brothers and sisters in Ligaya, sometime in 1975. And what has happened? The fruits do not belong to us. So when I share that with you, I boast in the Lord, that He has blessed our faithfulness and He has shown us in our lifetime, the fruit.

A week thereafter – it was the turn of Familia – their 18th anniversary! And this time, Rey and Nini, representing the OLC of Ligaya were there to celebrate with them. I will not mention anymore the other anniversaries that I also attended. There are many anniversaries I’ve attended and many more I hope to be able to attend to celebrate with our Outreaches and our Partners in mission.

DREAMING TO BE 50

Truly, truly, God is a faithful God – a loving God! But, we are only on our 36th anniversary. And I will borrow from the CFC anniversary, and sabi nila doon, “From Pearl, 30….. to Gold, 50!” So mga kapatid sa Ligaya, we are 36 – I do not know what material or stone that is – but definitely, definitely, can we not dream of being together ‘til the Golden Anniversary – 14 years from now?

“What will make us get to our 50th?” you might ask. And I will draw from a Coordinator’s retreat two years ago. I do not know if the brothers remember it. But two years ago, we were led by John Keating, and the first opening question he asked the brothers was, “when God calls, how do you respond?” Uulitin ko ‘yon, “When God calls, how do we respond?”

A possible response is, “I am a member of the ‘NOW’ – Nuggets of Wisdom – seniors, I can respond as ‘Lord, alam nyo may edad na ako, pasensyahan na lang n’yo ako, hindi na ako pwede as before, etc. Dito lang naman ako, eh’!” Di ba, pwedeng ganon ang response natin?

Kung “middle age” kayo, hindi pa kayo “senior citizen”, ano ang pwede n’yong response? “Lord, sila na lang. Matagal na ako dito. Pagod na rin ako”. Di ba? Don’t we sometimes hear that inner voice within us?

If you’re young, how might you respond? “Lord, bago pa lang ako dito. Marami pang oras, marami pang mga taon na pwede akong magsilbi. Mag-enjoy muna ako.”

Nandito ang mga kaibigan ko. “Tsaka na, Lord.” Doesn’t that sound very natural? Yes, mga kapatid, it’s very natural.

Again, ano ang sabi ni John Keating sa amin? Listen to his description. Those responses are a “gracious resignation in the face of reality”. Gracious resignation in the face of reality.

But we have to move forward, mga kapatid.  To get us to go to our Golden Anniversary, 14 years from now, is it okay that we graciously resign ourselves to the realities that we face? “Sila na lang. Pagod na ako. Masyado pa naman akong bata. Sila muna”.

My brothers and sisters, we all know the answer. We heard the prophetic words earlier,

“Holiness !” “It is I. Learn from me.”

Again, a few days ago,

“Those of you who are tired, take my yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble of heart”.

Mga kapatid, again and I echo back to you, “One plus one plus Holy Spirit equals….equals….equals….Miracles! Sigaw natin, “Lord, we need You! Lord, we can’t do without you! Lord, be our all. Be our everything!”

Mga kapatid, the challenge before us, if we are to expand, and we have heard our Lord call out to us, “Give more. Do more !”. . . Mga kapatid, the challenge before us, is

“We must transcend MEDIOCRITY. We must latch on to the Holy Spirit and His grace, and His power and His energy, and be excellent – excellent in all our roles! If you are father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, brother, child, son, daughter, employer, employee, Coordinator, SL, SWL, member – we need to give our best to our God and Master in all our roles. Not because kaya natin, but because His Spirit lives – lives within us. Kaya be natin, mga kapatid? By the grace of the Holy Spirit. By the grace of the Holy Spirit !”

Let me end with the a quotation from 2 Corinthians 12:9 : “My grace is sufficient in your need, for My power is made perfect in your weakness”.

Pray with Me. Let’s bow our heads. “Father, as we stand together side by side, on this 36th year, we acknowledge that it was You who brought us this far. Father, we know that even the small steps I make, we cannot take unless You journey with us, and we know that You are here with us. Lead the way, dear God. Inspire us, fill us with Your love. And Father, may Your Holy Spirit reign now and forever. Amen.”

-  SPANKY MEER

SEND FORTH YOUR SPIRIT…

• Exalted Over All by Steve Clark
• Behold the Lamb by Dave Quintana
• The Holy Spirit and a New Society by Jerry Munk

DRAWN BY CHRIST

• The Life I Live Is Not My Own by Ellie Giles
• Draw Me Forth by Ed Conlin

CALLED TOGETHER

• Empowered to Live in Community by Bob Tedesco
• Our Ecumenism: How Do We Know If We’re Winning by Dave Hughes

RENEWED HOPE

• Standing in the Gap in Detroit by Sarah Nillies
• Signs of Hope Among Our Young People by Michael Shaughnessy

SPECIAL FEATURE

• Giving Thanks for Forty Years in Community, beginnings of the Sword of the Spirit
• What is the Sword of the Spirit? Some Questions and Answers by Jerry Munk

GRACE AND TRUTH

• When Good People Suffer- A Personal Reflection by Tom Caballes
• Followers not Admirers by Soren Kierkegaard

FAITH UNSHAKEN

• Thomas Meets the Risen Christ and Graven on the Palm of Your Hands, a poem by Jeanne Kun
• Recognizing the Presence of Jesus by Romano Guardini

HARP OF THE SPIRIT

• God’s Word is an Inexhaustible Spring of Life by Ephrem of Edessa
• Blessed are You by Ephrem of Edessa (306-373 AD)

FRUITS WORTHY OF REPENTANCE

• True Holiness by Bruce Yocum
• No Fig Leaves, Please: Confession before Repentance by Sam Williamson
• The Fall and Rise of David by Paul Henry Reardon

GRACE AND TRUTH

• Tear the Roof Off! by John Hughes
• Good Teacher by Carlo Mantica

HOPE AND MERCY

• Paradise Lost by Jeanne Kun
• Jesus: A Portrait of Obedience to a Father by Jeanne Kun

GIFT OF COMMUNITY

• My Year of Discovery in Belfast by Erik Sellstrom
• Blessings of Inter-Community Hospitality by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

FAITH AND VIRTUE

• Repentance, Forgiveness, Heaven and Hell (Quotes by CS Lewis)
• Character Conformed to the Image of God by Don Schwager

WORD AND SPIRIT

• The Shape of Evil and the Power of Hope by Eric R. Barr
• Thy Mercy Free, Hymn by Martin Luther

iPRAY AVAILABLE

• Meeting the Challenge of Personal Prayer by Michael Shaughnessy

GIVING THANKS AND GIVING BACK

• Giving Thanks by Jon Wilson
• Time to Give Something Back: Stanley Larry’s Story

REDEEMING LOVE

• The Good News of the Kingdom by Jeanne Kunn
• Jesus: A Portrait of Redeeming Love by Jeanne Kunn

TRUTH AND FREEDOM

• How Christ Relieves Our Sufferings by Romano Guardini
• The Problem with Legalism: Our Rules Aren’t Strict Enough! by Sam Williamson

FAITH AND VIRTUE

• Saint Augustine by Malcolm Muggeridge
• Countering the Deadly Vices with Godly Virtues-Part 1 by Don Schwager

GIFT AND CALL

• An Unfulfilled Vocation and the Call to Holiness by Janice Firn
• Everything I Have is Yours by Miguel Vargas

ART AND VERSE

• The Belfast Road by Tadhg Lynch
• An Artist’s View of Ireland by Jamie Treadwell

iPRAY AVAILABLE

• Meeting the Challenge of Personal Prayer by Michael Shaugnessy

PRAYING FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY

• Orthodox, Protestants, Roman Catholics: What  Basis for Cooperation by Steve Clark
• The Fruit of Unity by Bob Tedesco
• Prayers of Unity – Ancient and New
• Observing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity January 18-25 by Dave Hughes
• Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – Daily Prayers

GIFT OF COMMUNITY

• Antioch Community by Andy Pettman
• Why I joined Antioch Community by Arthur Delargy
• A Home and Fruitful Place for Service by Karen Mascarenhas

GROUNDS FOR HOPE

• Judo, Wounds and Hope by Sam Williamson
• East Meets West in Rome by Patrick Henry Reardon

DISCIPLES ON MISSION

• I say, “Lord, send me!”….But Am I Available to be Sent? by Mags Tierney
• Mobile Households: A New Venture in Mission and Discipleship Training by Anthony Eid

• Fruit of the Vine (painting) by Jamie Treadwell
• The Strangest Story in the World by G.K. Chesterton

iPRAY

• Meeting the Challenge of Personal Prayer by Michael Shaughnessy

Jesus is in our hearts!

A blessed CHRISTmas to all.

[Click on links below to open pages]

CHRIST HAS COME AND WILL COME AGAIN

• Our Hearts Cry for Justice by Sam Williamson
• The Word Will Come Within Us by Bernard of Clairvaux
• To Watch with Christ by John Henry Newman

IN THE LIGHT OF CHRIST

• There Is No Darkness In Him At All by Tadhg Lynch
• The Wonderful Exchange by Gregory Nazianzen

GIFT OF COMMUNITY

• Joy of the Journey to Covenant Community by Hannah Gornik
• Stories To Tell: Call To Community byElizabeth Grace Sanders

TRAINING THE YOUTH

• Youth and Media: Parents, Are You Paying Attention? by Michael Shaughnessy
• My Summer Highlight at Khandala Youth Camp in India by Theresa Smith

WORD MADE FLESH

• The Word Was Made Flesh by Lancelot Andrewes
• “You Shall Call His Name Jesus” by Jeanne Kun

HUMILITY

• Jesus: A Portrait of Humility by Jeanne Kun
• God in the Cave by G.K. Chesterton

PRAYER AID

• iPray: Meeting the Challenge of Personal Prayer by Michael Shaughnessy

Dan Cruz first one on the left, second row, with some Tingloy seniors and his CYA brothers.

Whenever people visit memorable places, some of them have a knack of writing these words on a piece of stone or just engrave each letter on the thick trunk of an old tree. I believe people do this because merely being a witness to such beauty; they somehow become attached to it. We all know that as ordinary people, we wouldn’t be able to bring these places with us. We wouldn’t be able to take Mt. Pinatubo and place it directly in our backyard. Right? And so, people tend to leave a mark, sort of a memory that would remind them and other people who would visit the place that indeed, they were there- that indeed, they have been part of the place even for a glimpse in time.

The Tingloy Mission trip is really one of the experiences I’d treasure the most. It has opened my eyes to a lot of realities and has broadened my mind to a lot of things about life. The best part is that, it also served as an opportunity for me to take my relationship with God in a deeper sense.

Being in Tingloy for six days, I felt that I was having the time of my life. I really enjoyed a lot of our activities like being able to hold a leadership seminar that catered to the senior high school students of the Tingloy National High School. This experience really fascinated me with the circumstances that it brought to our team. One experience that was so memorable was the time when we were preparing for the coming seminar. We were expecting only about a hundred students since the principal said that some of the students might not be able to come because of some school-wide activities. And so the night before, we divided our team into two small groups and we prepared for the things that we would impart to the students. However, on the next day, we were so amazed when the principal informed us that there were more than 200 students who would be participating in the seminar. We made a few tweaks in our groupings so that it would accommodate all the participants. We were then divided into 4 “even smaller” groups and it really imposed to us a great challenge of being able to draw the crowd’s attention. With God’s grace, we were able to find strength to successfully serve the students.

The following day, we decided to hold a follow-up session with them. We expected that around a hundred students would come. And so, we prepared activities that would cater to a large crowd. However, only about 50 students came on the second day. This gave me more confidence that our team would be able to once again hold a successful session-thinking of the fact that we were able to serve more than 200 students. The session ended on a high note and I was proud to have been part of it.

In this experience, I really felt how God intervened in our lives. We went to Tingloy with an organized and well-planned schedule like having dinner at 7pm, waking up at 6am, the first day would be allotted for community service, the second would be for the seminar and a lot of those things. However, things didn’t really go that way. And because of this, I realized that indeed, we weren’t the ones who called ourselves to serve. It was God. This would mean that all the things that happened weren’t really what we planned, but what God planned. And so, it would all happen in His time, by His will. Like our experience of serving the youth in the Tingloy High School, when the things we expected didn’t really went the way we planned for, God called us to rise above those challenges.
Because of this experience, I realized that, yes God is the one who called us to serve, but He would not send us unprepared or lacking of the basic means in order for us to overcome the challenges that are ahead. No king would ever engage his troops into a battle without Him providing them with weapons to fight and defend his city. The same is true `with this experience. No matter how much we thought that things were going beyond our control, we need just to trust in Him that whatever He sends us into, it is a battle well-planned for and controlled by our victorious God.

He provided us with strength, courage and confidence: the things that we were teaching in our leadership seminar which I didn’t even realized that it was also being applied on us when we were serving. Because of this, I was able to go out of my shell and was able to serve more. I even had an opportunity to give a talk and it was the very first talk that I ever gave. I really enjoyed the rest of our activities especially the day we spent for the bonding activities. I established friendship among our Tingloy team and I had a great time being with them in this mission.
All in all, I really view the Tingloy Mission trip as one of the memorable experiences that I have had. With my experience of serving the Tingloy community, I really hope that it has indeed left even a small mark to affect the people we served there. I look forward to the day that I’d come back and serve them once more.

“We were here.”