December 1,2019 marked the last day of the Asian Australian Encounter. It was 4 enriching days of learning, praying, and connecting with the Verbum Dei Catholic Missionary Family. The day opened with a talk given by Bro. Daniel Drum which centered on catching people through the net of preaching.
He said that all of us are missionaries because we all are baptized. He shared about his experience of being a shy person and how a missionary and the community helped him to overcome it and as a result, now he wants to do the same to others. He said that our mission can save lives. The event ended with the Holy Eucharist which was organized by the Vietnam Community. It was presided by Fr. James Mctavish concelebrated by Iwao Ikegami, Fr. Bong Guinoo and Fr. Daniele Sollazzo. In his homily, Fr. James discussed about Advent which he said is important because it is a preparation for the birth of Jesus. He said also that this will be a great time to check what's inside our hearts. Before the mass ended, the Awarding of the Song Writing contest was held headed by Sr. Adriana. Haro. She invited the participants to check the Verbum Dei Website and share its content in their local communitues. Now, the 2019 Verbum De Asian Australian Encounter is already over but the mission continues. May the good things that the participants learned remain in their hearts. May all of us push a little bit from the shore and be able to catch many fish!
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12/3/2019 1 Comment AAE Day 3 - Cultural FestivalThe atmosphere became feverish as the Verbum Dei community prepared and practiced for their individual cultural presentations after dinnertime…
To start off the cultural festival of all the participating countries, namely, Australia, Philippines, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam and Taiwan, an animation/drama was presented by a few selected members of the various countries using the theme verse of the Encounter from Luke 5:3, “To push out a little distance from the shore.” Australia was the first country to showcase their cultural heritage and to share some trivia information. They say it is the 6th largest country in the world. Tasmania, an island state south of the Australian mainland has the cleanest air in the world! Despite Australia being a well-developed country, it has the slowest Internet connection. It boasts of having exotic animals, like koalas, kangaroos, and more sheep compared to its human population. The group also presented a skit on “How to become an Australian.” The Philippines presented a very innovative traditional courtship dance from Cebu province. The audience were delighted to see how a Filipina woman is wooed by Filipino males. Some trivia information were presented as well, like, Filipinos love Basketball; they have a local transportation vehicle called “jeepneys” which bring them everywhere where there are passable roads, etc. Verbum Dei in Hiroshima, Japan is a relatively new community, having been started only in February 2019. Fr. Iwao Ikegami and Kyoko Hashimoto collaborated to present a simple but very touching presentation on Japanese spirituality combining the Japanese calligraphy, national flower of Japan – Sakura (cherry blossom), the theme of the Encounter in a skit form… Fr. Iwao was introduced to the Verbum Dei community when he was still in the university and trying to find his purpose and the meaning of his life. When he found Jesus, despite living in a country composed of either, Shintos or Buddhists, he finally found his true calling, i.e., to be a missionary for Christ through the Verbum Dei community. Singapore is known as the Lion City, where “Singa” means lion. However, there are no lions in Singapore! Amazing! Do you know that Singaporeans have the fastest walking speed on Earth? They walk as fast as bumblebees fly! Wow! They say, Singaporeans speak Singlish, which simply means Singaporean-English… They presented a skit and a song which depicted about friendship and camaraderie among people. The Vietnamese are healthy eaters. They prefer fresh herbs, vegetables and seafoods. They avoid greasy foods, which is a good way to slim down! They have a vitality drink, called Rouo ran, a snake wine for strength and vitality. The most common means of transport is by motorbikes and there are approximately 45 million of these in Vietnam. According to them, there are certain gifts which need to be avoided to give, like, handkerchiefs, anything black, yellow flowers, etc. The group presented a song/dance presentation with a song titled, “Anh em ta ve.” Finally, Taiwan, they say, has the fastest elevators in the world, located at Taipei 101 Tower. They have a unique garbage collection system, using singing garbage trucks which plays “Fur Elise” to prompt people to bring out their garbage. Amazing! Taiwanese have a favorite snack food made of smelly tofu which they say, “is hard on the nose but easy on the tongue!” Smelly tofu, anyone? Moreover, Taiwan has a free access to Wifi everywhere! This is great! The group presented a skit which depicted a day’s adventure in Taiwan. To cap the night of merriment and fun moments with one another, the Filipino community of VD Manila and Pasig presented a beautiful dance number called “Sinulog,” a dance which gives honor and praise to the Child Jesus!. Viva Pit Senor! (A plead to ask God for favor). Participants dedicated their Saturday afternoon to deepen in the many ways in which we can pay our nets for a catch in the world of today through different workshops. Here is a glimpse of this fun and enriching activity: Workshop 1 - "In Your Word" This workshop was organized by the Taiwan Community headed by Sr. Evelyn Ong. She successful connected doing missions in Chinese Calligraphy. The art requires firmness and flexibility which missions must also have. It is important to know the culture of the people you are dealing with and not only your ways in order for them to relate to you. The participants were asked to choose a word written in a piece of bond paper that consisted of virtues and positive words like patience, kindness, humility, friendship etc. The facilitators gave the participants a peace of paper to practice and after a while when they were given another piece of colored paper to write the word as the final output. The worship attendees definitely had a great time. Indeed God speaks to us in different ways. He is always there for us. Like Chinese Calligraphy he's firm at the same time flexible in understanding our own weaknesses with him we can make our lives a masterpiece. Workshop 2 - "We are Family" The community of Cebu guided us through this workshop in whoch we explored the Verbuma Dei Family as a reality that gathers people from all walks of life journeying in the same Verbum Dei Charism. Aida Calpela facilitated the workshop which helped us to refresh our VD identity, what binds us, our mission. The participants expressed precisely that what attracted them to VD are the basic elements of our charism, the encounter with Christ in his word. This was confirmed by disciples of different countries in the small group sharings. Disciples from Ceb shared their testimony of how they live their belongingness to Verbum Dei in their different realities: as a teacher, as a doctor, as a student and as a father. Belonging to VD and living a life of prayer makes them stand out and make a difference in the context where they are. Workshop 3 - "Pay your Nets for a Catch on Social Media" Workshop 3 invited the participants to throw our nets in the digital continent. The workshop was facilitated by Sheila Cabarrubias, Jay-anne Desabelle, and Adriana Haro, all of them from Verbum Dei Cebu. They started by telling us that Jesus’ invitation to go to the ends of the Earth means now to enter in the digital continent. We got to meet the characteristics of the digital citizens from different generations and what they are searching online: themselves, their people and their place in the world. We learned that the Church sees social media positively and is making many efforts in reaching out to the people of today. Jay-anne shared with us the different projects that Verbum Dei is doing here in the Philippines, which inspired us to think on our own context. We were invited to think on the profile of the digital citizen in our cities and try to think on initiatives to reach out to them though digital platform. The workshop certainly opened our desire to enter in the digital world with courage and creativity to reach out to our brothers and sisters so that Jesus may catch them as they surf the digital world. Workshop 4 - Pay out your nets for a catch of people
The workshop discussed about one’s Vocation. They say that we all have a vocation, whether it is being single, married, religious, pursuing a career, or taking care of someone who is incapacitated or with a permanent disability, everything is a calling! But, what is vocation? It comes from the Latin noun, “vocare”, meaning, “to call”. It could be a particular occupation, business or profession. Or, it could be a divine call to God’s service or a call to Christian life. The question which could be drawn is: What if your job/occupation, or being married, having a family, staying single is both a vocation and a call from God and is a way to serve Him? Can we say no to the call? How do we know what to do with our gifts, talents and passions? They say, “vocation happens when you take what you love to the world’s needs...” Our life has a purpose but, it doesn’t just belong to us. It belongs to others as well and we all belong to God. Just like what Jesus said, “Come follow me,” with your talents, riches, struggles, etc. |
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