December 2010

Vol 1. Issue 5, December 2010

Brought to you by YCOM - YFC Communications1

YFC NSWLetter

At the end of 2009, my

grandmother had been

diagnosed with terminal

cancer. In late November it was

decided that my dad and I would

fly over to Florida before it was

too late. When we arrived she was

incredibly weak and her state was

beyond what I had imagined.

However, she still managed to

maintain her charisma and down to

earth personality. Christmas 2009

for the Guevara’s seemed somewhat

inappropriate and contradictory. How

could we possibly celebrate and be

joyful while my grandmother was

deteriorating before our eyes? I spent

the 3 weeks in prayer, hoping for a

Christmas miracle that would cure my

grandmother’s condition but it didn’t

happen. We arrived back in Australia

on the 23rd of December - just in time

for Christmas and a week later, my

grandmother passed away.

Looking back on that Christmas, I

find it hard not to wonder how things

could have been had Nanay’s health

improved. Maybe Christmas would

have been happier, less solemn.

Maybe I would have been able to

attend Hawkesbury’s 2009 Christmas

party; maybe I would have been able to

buy more people Christmas presents or

caught up with friends I had not spoken

to in a while.

When I was asked to write this

article, I thought I knew exactly

what I would write. But I kept getting

distracted. I eventually started reading

the Gospels explaining the birth of

Christmas. In Luke 2: 8-14, there is one

particular line that caught my attention

when I read the Bible passage

"Today, Your Savior is born!"Then it hit me. How could God have

put it any simpler? If there is anything

we should be celebrating, it should

THE AGE OLD QUESTION:

Photography from Screamcolors (tumblr)

What is the meaning of Chistmas?



tumblr.comgoogle.com

be the birth of our Lord. The

beginning of hope for humanity,

beginning of truth, our blessing

of peace, true forgiveness and

sacrifice, but above all perfect,

unconditional, and selfless love.

The Holy Spirit inspired John to

write, "For God so loved the world

that he gave his only son, so that

everyone who believes on him

may not perish but have eternal

life" (John 3:16). The foundation

and very core of Christmas is built

on love. This is truly the Spirit of

Christmas! Where there is love –

there is hope, joy, peace, laughter,

memories, and good times that will

be made and imprinted in our

hearts for years to come. Simply

expressed? The spirit of Christmas is

rooted in God who is love and in love who is God.

Although my Christmas miracle

didn'’t happen, I realize that our

family is truly God’'s gift to us

during Christmas and that love that

God offers during Christmas can

also be offered to others. My dad

was able to say goodbye before

(continued from pg 1)

by Qwayne Guevara, Quakers Hill

my grandmother passed, the trust

was strengthened and there was

forgiveness between family members,

I was blessed enough to have spent

time with her and most of all

Nanay was given peace from her

cancer.

So, before we spend the

last few days before Christmas at

shopping centres, frantically bidding

online, lining up for hours to

capture the last picture with Santa

Claus, stressing to host the perfect

party - juggling a truck load of

tasks to ensure that this Christmas

is the ‘it’ Christmas, take the time

to be with your family, be thankful

for the love you have and pray

hard for the year to come. For

God is reminding me, and you, in

everything we do this Christmas

and for all Christmases to come -

from the presents, to the food, to

the parties and decorations - two

things:

Celebrate Jesus and Love First.

NSWLetter / DECh 10

CFC Youth For Christ

3

The Oceania Great Adventure

Tour (GAT) in the Philippines is

an annual trip that YFC's from

all over Oceania are invited

to participate in. Participants

travel throughout Philippines

visiting historical sites, meeting

YFCs, building GK houses and

worshipping God every day.

Past GATters (the term used for

people who've been to GAT) have

described the experience as life-

changing and eye opening, but

each experience is different, and

you'll never know until you go.

The 2011 GAT goes from January

7 - 25, and costs $550 for

registration (which covers internal

travel costs, accommodation,

meals, entry to events/sites and

materials). If you're interested,

contact

JC Roventa on 0423818604 or

Meliza Bencio on 0450923502

Want to give more this

Christmas?Come to GAT '11!

We live in dark times. We live in

a morally confused world. We live

in an era where the meaning of

Christmas is lost amid all the noise

and distractions in the world.

Brothers and sisters, let us be honest

with ourselves and open up our eyes.

There are dark and anti-Christian forces

out there that are actively trying to

hijack Christmas by taking away its real

meaning. Their goal, to put it crudely, is

to erase Jesus Christ from CHRISTmas.

We see it in our shopping centres

where only Santa Claus and other pagan

stuff are shown. Very rarely do we see

a nativity scene. "Merry Christmas" is

increasingly being replaced by "Happy

holidays" or if you want to go hardcore

it's "Happy non-denominational, gift-

giving holiday". (What a joke). We see

it in our increasingly godless culture

where ridiculing the name Jesus Christ is

"normal". And now the world is trying to

take Christ away from CHRISTmas!

I think it's pretty clear that our

Lord Jesus is coming under attack.

CHRISTmas Time! So it's time for Catholic youths

such as ourselves to stand up and

defend our Lord Jesus! We can do this

by putting Christ back into CHRISTmas.

There's CHRIST in CHRISTmas after all.

We can start telling people about the

real message behind Christmas; the birth

of our LORD and SAVIOUR who was

sent by God to reconcile mankind back

with Him. Praise God! THIS is the REAL

message of Christmas. THIS is the reason

why Christmas exists in the first place!

And we've got to remind people of

this. And I wouldn't be surprised if there

are some people out there who don't

even know about it considering our

world's become so pagan lately.

And we can also do our bit by

simply saying "Merry Christmas" more

with genuine love and joy in our faces.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Let us show to the world that youths

like ourselves are still passionate about

Jesus Christ by joining in on arguably

the world's biggest party for any single

person who ever lived!

Let us reclaim Christmas back for

CHRIST!

"Be on your guard; stand firm

in the faith; be courageous;

be strong. Do everything in love."

(1 Corinthians 16:13-14)

by Ron Ao, Campus - City


Brought to you by YCOM - YFC Communications

When The Three Magi came to visit Jesus after he

was born, They bestowed Jesus with 3 gifts; Gold,

Frankincense and Myrrh. These gifts each have their

own significant meaning. Gold was a gift reserved

only for royalty. This signified Jesus was to be a king.

Frankincense is a rare substance which Jewish people

burned which gives off a sweet smelling smoke used to

represent the people's prayers rising to God in Heaven.

This Was a symbol of Jesus' Divinity. Myrrh Is the most

Gospel Reading & Reflection (The Nativity of the Lord Christmas: Mass at Dawn)

The Gift of His Birth

4

Luke 2 : 15 - 20

When the angels went away from them to

heaven, the shepherds said to one another,

“Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this

thing that has taken place, which the Lord

has made known to us.” So they went in

haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the

infant lying in the manger. When they saw

this, they made known the message that

had been told them about this child. All who

heard it were amazed by what had been told

them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all

these things, reflecting on them in her heart.

Then the shepherds returned, glorifying

and praising God for all they had heard and

seen, just as it had been told to them.

odd of these gifts as it is used during funeral's to get

rid of the stench of the decaying body. This was a

symbol that Jesus would one day die.

Yes Christmas is a time of giving and receiving but we

should always remember that these gifts are not what

we're really celebrating. We're really celebrating The

Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ! No, we may not have

such royal presents such as Gold Frankincense and

Myrrh but we have another gift. Our Hearts, our praise

and our worship. We should Praise Jesus for he is our

King, We should worship him for he is our God and

we should give him our hearts for he died to give us

eternal life.

by Daniel Alfaro, Kellyville

NSWLetter / DECh 10

CFC Youth For Christ

5

We are seeking young artists to submit their work to us and give God glory through their talents. You don't have to have an SLR to be a photographer - just a vision. If your photo gets chosen, you will receive two free movie tickets.

Photos must be at least 600 x 400 (72dpi). Email entries to [email protected]

PHOTO OF THEMONTH

Photo taken by Daniel Alfaro, KV



DECEMBER BABIES1 Chantelle Uvero

2 Daryll Mojica

3 Rafael Obedoza

4 Aldrae Cruz, Chris Adraneda, Sean Torres

5 Jeremy Angeles, Noel Vinoya

6 Christine-Joy Dalangin

7 Jason Cano

10 Yves Urbano, Arturo Lopez

11 Chris Rivero

16 Hans Almorade

17 Gelina Montierro

18 JM Sebastian,

22 Rhianne Delgado

26 Albon Averion

27 Noel Custodio

30 Ciantal Bigornia

31 Milly Kwe

YFC NSWLetter is a YCOM initiative compiled monthly with the help of the leaders, Coordinators and members of CFC Youth for Christ NSW. Special thanks go to all contributors and Our Heavenly Father for making this possible through us.

What's On?January 22

YFC NSW Sector Assembly

If you would like to know more about any of these events,

e-mail [email protected]

January 7 - 25

YFC Oceania Great Adventure Tour

YCOM TEAM:

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December 2010