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BLD WASHINGTON NEWSLETTER
AUG 18, 2017
VOL. 17 NO. 175
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
BLD PICNIC
BLD NEWARK
CELEBRATES IT’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY
COMMUNITY EVENTS
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
“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But Jesus did not say a Word in answer to her.” Jesus’ initial reaction (or the lack of it) to the Canaanite woman was somewhat puzzling to the mind and eyes of the people. His disciples even asked Him, “Send her away for she keeps calling after us”. He then said in reply “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. The woman then persisted and said, “Lord, help me.” In reply, Jesus said to her, “It is not right to
take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” His second reply was again puzzling, even somewhat harsh, in Matthew’s account of the Gospel. Most often, we question why certain things happen. Jesus’ reply to the Canaanite woman, albeit puzzling, had a purpose. We have all heard that the Lord’s timing is always perfect, and surely, we all agree that this is true. We all have a lot to learn from this Canaanite woman. The first thing she teaches us in our Christian vocation to reconcile all humankind to God is courage and perseverance. Given her position as a foreigner and as a woman, it took phe-nomenal courage on her part to decide to take on the all-Jewish and all-male company of Jesus and His disciples. Most people at this point would give up and accept defeat. But not our Ca-naanite sister. Rather she intensifies her efforts and embarks on a one-woman demonstration to the point that the disciples had to ask Jesus to do something about it: “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us”. Her courage and her refusal to take no for an answer finally paid off.
Continued on page 2
Please Read Your
Bible daily
“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of
Christ”
" AND HE GAVE SOME AS APOSTLES, OTHERS AS PROPHETS, OTH-ERS AS EVANGELISTS, OTHERS AS PASTORS AND TEACHERS, TO
EQUIP THE HOLY ONES FOR THE WORK OF MINISTRY, FOR BUILD-ING UP THE BODY OF CHRIST, UNTIL WE ALL ATTAIN TO THE UNITY OF FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE SON OF GOD."
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Counsels Continued from Page 1
The second thing we can learn from this woman is focus or what we call “keep your eyes on the prize.” When Jesus spoke to her in lan-guage that demeaned her people: “It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs” (verse 26), she did not lose her cool but kept her eyes on the goal of her mission, which is to show that even non-Jews are entitled to God’s blessing in Christ.
Finally, Jesus said: “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish” and the woman got what she wanted. The message of this single woman outsider to every one of us today is: Be not afraid. Be not afraid to challenge prejudice and falsity even in high places, even in religious high places. The least among us can be a vehicle that God can use to bring justice and healing to all of God’s disadvantaged daughters and sons all over the world.
In the second reading, St. Paul tells us that the Good News was spread to the Gentiles due to the unbelief of the Jews, and he tells us that “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable”. We are truly blessed to have been called to serve Him, to love Him, and to know Him. Yet, we all know of so many people who go about their days not recognizing God’s presence in their lives. This is where we can respond to God’s great love for us, by spreading His Word to the other lost sheep. The Spirit will prompt us to step out in Faith and share the Good News, but at times, we fear the risk involved. It is at these times that we should trust that NO ONE is alone in the work of evangelization. As we encounter situations in our daily lives that call for God’s presence, remember that God has sent us there and is calling us to sow seeds to encour-agement, consolation and peace. He has repeatedly shown on many occasions that He can bless our imperfect efforts and produce wonderful results.
Jesus calls us to be His Disciples and He calls us to start by humbling ourselves and respecting others. Fortunately for us, “Jesus came for the lost sheep”. Brothers and sisters, we are the lost sheep He came for. He allowed events and circumstances to happen way back before our existence in order for us to receive Salvation. He also allows things to happen in our lives now which may not be too desirous in our eyes, yet if we believe in Faith, like the faith of the Canaan-ite woman***, we too will have a future full of Hope. Again and again, Scripture reminds us that those who are in Christ are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), and that those who believe in Him have passed from death to life and not come into judgment” John 5:24. He wants to teach us how to live “in Christ” everyday so that whatever may come our way, we can hold on to His promises of salvation and remain confident that we are redeemed in Him.
DIRECTIONS:
Let us always be humble, persevering and faithful when we pray, that the Lord will answer them according to His Most Holy will.
Let us do what is right, treating others with respect and dignity, and have great compassion for everyone.
Devote and focus more time learning the Scriptures for our spiritual growth than in pursuing worldly wealth and material possessions.
Page 3
UPCOMING EVENTS: Mark your calendars
August 26, 2017 Teaching Day LSS10 TO LSS17
St. Raphael Church/Rockville, MD
October 27— 29, 2017 Singles Encounter #8
November 4 – 5, 2017 Marriage Encounter #18
December 22, 2017 BLD Christmas Party— OLV
Love Offering July 21, 2017 $484.00
July 28, 2017 $ 855.00 August 4, 2017 $ 559.00 August 11, 2017 $ 676.00
Thank you for your faithful and consistent giv-ing. Your donations are so very important be-
cause they allow us to carry on the work of evangelization.
BLD WASHINGTON NEWSLETTER
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BLD NEWARK CELEBRATES 25 YEARS! As BLD reaches a very important milestone, the Community is brought to reflect on its journey of 25 years of a covenant lifestyle. The fire of the Spirit impelled the first members of the Community to live a life that, at that time, was novel and unusual. It is a lifestyle that has changed the lives of families forever. It is not by coincidence that God’s Word for this
Sunday Reading in Isaiah 56 reminds us of His covenant promise when He called us to this community:.
“…and foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, to be-come his servants - all who keep the sabbath without profaning it and hold fast to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer” (Is 56:6-7a)
The 25 years of BLD has indeed been a journey of faith. We are foreigners and immigrants to this great land. For many of us, this is the promised land, the land where we expected to carve out careers and raise families, where we expected hard work to pay in terms of financial and material rewards. Indeed, the Lord blessed us in every way, especially in our expectation of self-sufficiency, but more importantly, He used this Community to nurture our faith and the faith of our friends and family, forming a beautiful Community in ways we could not have ever imagined. For many of us, life without this Community would have been tremendously difficult and challenging, spiritually, emo-tionally and psychologically, especially with regards to the quality of our marriages and family relationships.
However, as we persevered in this new life, we were learning the ways of discipleship; we were growing in our prayer lives we were witnessing to the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and learning to repair and enrich our relationships with oth-ers and with God. Together we learned the practical application of humility, forgiveness and faith. We learned to over-
come our differences and misunderstandings, and avoid disunity
Although, there are many moments when it seems that the effort of serving and belonging to a covenant community
is more difficult and painful than necessary, God gives us the grace to persevere.
God’s plan is perfect. It may be difficult to understand, but He knows us intimately. He knows our weaknesses and is
familiar with our pride. Our hearts rebel and disobey the call to humility, and we ignore mercy in our desire to be right, but in the example and witnessing of Christ, nothing justifies man to act more superior than others especially in a Chris-tian community. We stand only by His love and mercy, and it is mercy and love that He expects all of us to offer to our
brethren in return.
By His Grace, we look forward to many more years of serving the household of God, of walking hand in hand, pass-
ing on the work of evangelization to our children, gratefully accepting challenges, trials, and sacrifices, and trusting that God will continue the work that He had begun in us.
May our witnessing and speech continue to build a strong fabric that will support the struggles, transformation and renewal of all of us in this Community. We pray that God may continue to use this Community to enrich lives and deliver others from disobedience, just as it has done for us. We pray that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. And that we may be rooted and established in love, and together with all the Lord’s Holy people, be granted the wisdom to grasp the depth, and breadth, height and width of the love of Christ. To know the love that surpasses all knowledge – that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
May all persevere in this wonderful walk of faith, let us continue to hold on to each other, uplift each other through our journey of sanctification so that when we are called to stand before Him on His Holy Mountain, joyfully in His house of prayer, we will proclaim – To God be Glory forevermore!
BLD Feed the Homeless Every 3rd Saturday of the Month
For information on how to become a volunteer, please contact Melchor & Zeny dela Cruz, District Mission Coordinators.
Share your time and talent!
We need writers and editors for upcom-ing newsletters. Kindly email
if you are interested in writing a short reflection or being an editor
*** Thank you to those who already volunteered!
