Pentecost 2012 at Balay sa Nazaret

Alleluia!!  We thank the Lord for being part of His Church - the Church of the Holy Spirit, of Jesus and of God the Father.  
This has been our experience of Pentecost 2012 at Balay sa Nazaret.

All the leaders of the Holy Childhood Association in San Carlos Borromeo Parish were invited to celebrate Pentecost starting with a Vigil. 31 of us arrived on time, excited to meet each other and to restart our mission.

When we received the instruction for our Pentecost celebration here, we were happy to know that we were to have a T-shirt as a remembrance of Pentecost, and to participate in the Mass the day vigil by singing a nice song: WE ARE ONE.  It is in singing that we feel we are one in the mission of proclaiming the Kingdom of God.

Together we prepared the Vigil; together we printed the T-shirts.

 

We spent time together sharing our feelings, plans and worries.  We prayed with the Bible, with symbols and with songs.

Pentecost has become our special feast as Holy Childhood Missionaries upon discovering that Pentecost is the beginning of the Mission of the Church, the beginning of our challenge as followers of Jesus.  That was why we started the day of Pentecost early in the morning planning our activities.  And we have so many reasons to prepare our mission with enthusiasm this year because it is the Year of Mission in the Philippines, as well as the year of the Silver Jubilee of our Diocese of San Carlos!

Prayer:

We are here Lord.  We want to collaborate with you in your plan of salvation, your plan of love for our little ones in the different chapels. Thank you, Lord, for counting on us.  Amen.

Groups of activities-Flores de Mayo2012

Cooking

                         Puppets and handicraft



  

 Singing and dancing

Making flowers

Computer

Maths

                                                                     Spelling

                      Reading

kindergarten

Flores de Mayo at Balay sa Nazaret-2012

This year we have a special  team of volunteers: three Germans  - Rosa, Hannah and Julian; two French Sisters and the permanent Filipino team: Perla, Melanie, Teresa, Roberto,  Lorelisa,  Kemberly, Jerome and other new people that help us a lot.

The number of children was almost the same as previous years: 145, 150, 160 and we finish with 95. The reason was that this year the enrolment in the different schools took place during these days and the children were called to join the Brigada sa Eskwela, which means, the cleaning of the school, classrooms, etc.

For prayer we tried to practice Lectio Divina.  Volunteers and groups of children alike joined in this way of praying.  Some of the volunteers were touched by the participation of the children, the way the children applied the reflection of the Gospel to their own lives.

 Our groups of activities were:

Cooking, Puppets, singing and dancing, making flowers, computer,

Maths, reading, spelling, and special group to prepare to go kindergarten.

Everybody lived with joy these 15 days of meeting together.  The spontaneous sharing of the little missionaries with the song ‘WE ARE ONE’ was really nice.  At the end, everyone was able to sing that meaningful song.

All of us were touched by the closeness and simple service of Sister Dominique, the Superior General of the Holy Family Congregation; she was among us as one of us, serving the children, smiling, listening.

Bye, bye and see you next year. Thanks to the Sisters that allow us to be happy in learning.

 

The Grand Mission festival was end but in our hearts it is not. It is still there within our hearts. In every person that we’ve meet, in every speakers that was spoke to us, in every sharers that share their life, in every smiling faces that we’ve see and everything that we’ve encountered on those days.., we know that it is only Him, He who spoke to us through the other people. God does not


refuse to make himself known to man. He only will not do it by the symbolism of matter. He comes to us at once by the most natural course. We are in a transient state; our bodies are accidental, and God comes to us by that which is higher and truer--the intuitions of the soul. Our mission is to spread the good news, that’s God want from us. He is always waiting for our response.

Thank you Maricres Bajao for your collaboration to our blog with this article about the HISTORY, the Grand Mission Festival

Video-

HISTORY, the Grand Mission Festival

Proclaiming Jesus Story was the second day of the celebration (April 19, 2012). Early in the morning everybody was already woke up preparing for the next activities. The Holy Mass was celebrated at 7:30 am with Bishop Edwin Dela Pena, D.D, Prelature of Marawi and a chairman of Episcopal Commission on Mission. After the mass was the viewing of the documentary video 2 which is all about Christian education. At 9:30 am was the Pontifical Missions Workshops, all the members of the festival were divided into three groups which are;

-  The Propagation of Faith/Boss Ko si Kristo group, members were 13-20 yrs old, the speaker was Rev. Fr. Francis Lucas, executive secretary of BCP’s Episcopal Commission on Social Communication and Mass media with Makisig Morales as speaker, an actor and a well-known singer

-  The Missionary Union and Society of St. Peter/Like ko si Kristo group, it was participated by nuns and priests and laymen with 30 years old and above; and lastly;

 - Holy Childhood Association/Kids on Mission group, members were 7-12 years of age. The speaker was Fr. Bong Osial, rector of Don Bosco Provincial House with Fatima Soriano as speaker.

The workshops were let us knew more God through the speakers and all the people we’ve meet. At 1:00 pm was the animation song with PMS’s band. At 1:30 pm was the workshop on the life of Blessed Pedro Calungsod then at 2:30 pm was the fun games and team building activities. At 5:00 pm was the fire house bath. After the dinner, at 7:00 pm was the viewing of the documentary video 3 which was all about the Pink Sisters.

The taize prayer was started at 7:15 in the evening. Proclaiming Jesus Story explained to us with Arch. Luis Antonio Tagle, D.D archdiocese of Manila. The Bukas Palad song rendition was played for us to reflect more. At 9 o’clock in the evening was the Proclaim party/Big launch.

Celebrating our Faith was the last celebration (April 20, 2012) was held at 8:00 am with Bro. Bo Sanchez as the speaker. The Holy Mass was celebrated at 9:30 am with Archbishop Jose S. Palma, D.D., archdiocese of Cebu and CBCP president, and the mission send-off missionaries and the mission commitment was inserted in the mass.

The celebration was closed at 11:00 am.



After the dinner served by Jollibee was the Missions Festival Grand opening. The parade was held at the ground of the Sport Complex, missionaries were in their different luxurious customs with their banners and delicacies. It was a competition of the dance, some criteria’s were given one month before the festival. Street dancing was performed by some participants who joined the


competition bringing with their banners and delicacies from their place. After the parade was the welcome address by Hon. Del R. De Guzman, Mayor of Marikina City and opened by Fr. Soc Mesiona, PMS National Director. The dance competition is opened and the performers performed well. The missionary group from Diocese of Cebu declared as the best of all the good performers.

After the competition was the launching and singing of the theme song entitled “We are One.” The song touches our heart and encourages us to love more our mission. After that was the viewing of the documentary video 1 which is Church Building. The first celebration was great as much as expected by everyone.

Remembering our History was the first day of the celebration (April 18, 2012). At 8 o’clock in the morning until 3 0’clock in the afternoon was the arrival and registration of the member from different places in the Philippines and also registration for the workshops.

At exactly 3 o’clock in the afternoon was the meeting of the head of delegation on the Star Box Room located at the Sport Complex. The meeting was all about more instruction and clarification about the foods, transportation, accommodations and other concerns.

At 4:30 pm was the opening of the Holy Mass at the main stage of the Sports Complex, the mass celebrant was Bishop Gabriel Reyes, D.D, diocese of Antipolo, Chairman of CBCP Episcopal Commission on Family and Life.