Alumni Visit to the Nuns 2008

Alumni visit to the RVM sisters 2008

My cherished apostolate to the RVM nuns continues….

Last February 23 in the afternoon, Joshua and I went to visit the sisters of the St. Joseph Infirmary inside the Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM) Convent compound in N. Domingo, San Juan.

Many years ago, the visit took place every year during one of the early pre-Christmas weekends of December; it was eventually moved to January. Last year, it was moved to February 3, making it somewhat of a pre-Valentine activity. This year it now has become a post-Valentine activity. Historically speaking, the visit according to Dean Gloria Santos had already been going on since the years following the Second World War. Since then, it has become a much anticipated and enjoyable alumni tradition.

Fellow St. Mary’s College (SMC) alumni Nerisse Aquino-Jose (High School 1976) and I (Grade School 1980) have as far as I can remember always been tapped to host the program during this wonderful visit. This year was no exception.

Joshua and I with members of SMC H.S. Batch’82

Celebrating jubilarians of the previous year’s grand alumni homecoming come to sponsor the event which likely turns out as their last major activity during their term of service among the Alumni Foundation’s various endeavors. This year’s sponsors were from SMC High School Batch 1982 led by their Batch leader Meiose Tan-Cristobal. To put a little perspective, these ladies were in second year high school when I was a sixth grader in St Mary’s.

With various SMCAF officers and Batch ’82 alumni

As expected, the visit proved to be a pleasing act of service and love to nuns who have for the most part of their lives offered themselves to God and his work. For a number of these servants of the Lord, the infirmary – well…as one would put it, serves as their “pre-departure area” to Heaven. I‘d like to believe that the joy we bring to these “traveling” sisters makes their last moments memorable and all the more worthwhile.

The visit also gives me the chance to touch base with old alumni friends from various batches and meet new ones in the process. This year, I was able to meet a school bus mate from the past. Irene Nadres (her maiden name) probably didn’t recognize me at first but as I brought to mind about our common school bus days, she remembered me as well. Now also married, she remains the fair and friendly person I remember her to be.

Bringing joy to God’s servants is such a joyful mission

As always, the visit ends with an unpretentious (but very satisfying I assure you!) dinner, a combination of food brought by the alumni and the sisters’ own supper meal. This year it was a combination of arroz caldo (congee with chicken), lumpiang ubod (fresh spring roll), relyenong bangus (stuffed milkfish), adobo, pansit (noodles), empanadas, pastries and other deserts.


As another visit drew to a close, I am reminded of the countless blessings and talents the Lord has given to each one of us and how much sweeter these blessings become when we share them with our fellowmen.


My cherished apostolate to the RVM nuns continues…

The Refined CFC Vision - Mission Statements

“Moved by the Holy Spirit, one with the Catholic Church,
Blessed to witness to Christ’s love and service,
Couples for Christ is a united global community of family evangelizers
That sets the world on fire with the fullness of God’s transforming love.”

According to Bro. Joe Tale, the Couples for Christ’s (CFC) current Director, “the seven-point statement was arrived at after months of deliberation, discussion, prayer and reflection triggered by the Pastoral Congresses held in the latter part of 2007.” The objective of those congresses was to re-examine the vision and mission of the community taking into consideration the events that occurred the year before. In North B, I became part of that consultative process. In my own little way, I conveyed to our leaders the problems that I have observed based on my personal experiences including many of those I have served with in our community as well as steps to address those concerns. Not surprisingly, many of these concerns were echoed by the various cluster during the pastoral congress held at the sector level. Surely, many of those concerns likewise resonated across the various sectors.

The resulting vision and mission was extensively elucidated during the CFC Leaders Conference last January at the Araneta Coliseum.

Essentially, the community hasn’t really changed its original vision, “Families in the Holy Spirit renewing the face of the earth.” Our leaders explain this remains what we should do. The 7 point statements stress how we are to achieve it. It is believed that along with the refined mission of “Building the Church of the Home and Building the Church of the Poor” such changes will provide a clearer direction for the CFC’s future.


I share my thoughts on the said 7 points:


Moved By the Holy Spirit

This community is a creation of the Holy Spirit. Through the years, despite human frailties of its members, it has continued to manifest the leadings of the Holy Spirit. I hope that more and more of our leaders and members realize the importance of this certainty. The more we positively respond to the callings of the Holy Spirit, allowing God to use us as His instruments, the more powerful our lives shall be as His disciples.


One with the Catholic Church

While CFC remains open to brothers and sisters of different Christian denominations who willingly decide to join the community, the refined vision further emphasized the need to express the Catholic faith of majority of its members, working hand in hand with the Church’s clergy in our shared responsibility of global evangelization.


Blessed to Witness to Christ’s Love and Service

We model our lives on Christ’s example. He shows us how to genuinely love God and our neighbor. By this same selfless love, Jesus showed us how to serve God through serving others.

Through the CFC, we are given the humbling task of serving as light for others.


Couples for Christ is a United Global Community

The CFC is a world wide community. It is united in vision, mission and culture. I have experienced this truth time and again. Anywhere I went, I could always count on brothers and sisters to extend a helping hand to a person they have only met for the very first time. Yet, because of the sense of belongingness to just one big family, you are not treated as a stranger in distant lands.


Of Family Evangelizers

The Community is a community of “family evangelizers”. What once focused only on the relationship of married couples now ministers to all the members of a family. Thus the womb to tomb thrust of evangelization. A strong family ministry in God will ensure the future of the community.


That Sets the World on Fire

Families in the Holy Spirit are filled with the fire of God’s Love. Members of this community have to rediscover the charisms, the gifts that the Holy Spirit has bestowed on each one of us. Furthermore, invoking the power of the Wonderful Counselor and Paraclete and submitting ourselves to God’s Will strengthens our commitment and passion to do His work to the ends of the earth.


With the Fullness of God’s Transforming Love

CFC members are “works in progress”. Through the years, God continues to transform persons and families through spiritual renewal, a renewal that involves a deepening of our personal relationship with the Lord through prayer, scripture, service and fellowship. It was in this community that I began feeling the fullness of God’s unconditional love.




Members of the CFC community are defined by their vision, mission, values and culture. These are the things that give us our identity as members of the Body of Christ. I share the prayer of the community’s leadership that these statements are not only remembered but lived out in our daily lives.

The MER 1 and KBMT Experience Continues

With members of the MER 1 service team
(Bulacan South Sector A & B)

The pastoral work to enrich Christian marriages is all year round.

Bro. Lito Depanes from CFC North A has time and again honored us with opportunities to serve the Lord through participation in pastoral work with many brothers and sisters from various different chapter and areas. Last February 2, Bro Jun Palma and I were again able to answer the call to serve. This time we were invited to deliver MER 1 talks to brethren from various clusters and chapters from the province of Bulacan. The venue though was relatively closer to home, a building owned by a fellow CFC leader in Camarin, North Caloocan.

The music ministry leads participants in practicing the songs

Some of the leaders and participants even came from the Municipality of Bocaue where my father has many relatives. It’s always a pleasure to know people from different places which gets a lot more interesting when you discover common roots or friends.

Bro. Jun Palma delivered Talk # 1

Brother Jun Palma how CFC couples should serve God through their Christian marriage. He emphasized the need to recognize our families are central to God’s plan, to understand what He wants us to do to our families, and carry out such work in accordance to His plan. This starts with rededicating our families, our homes and our marriages to Christ.

I gave the second MER 1 talk

My talk underscored the role of couples to act as pastoral leaders in their respective families. The task to build strong families for Christ entails help from the Holy Spirit who empowers and guides husbands and wives and children to perform their respectively roles effectively.

Our own pastoral work as CFC leaders is always ongoing. As new families are established, the task to assist them to develop strong Christ–centered families will always be there.


On a similar note, our work with the poor is never over too.

KBMT participants mainly came from Sitio Ruby’s Phase 5 area

I gave a Kapitbahayan Membership Training (KBMT) talk the following day at the multi-purpose building at Sition Ruby. Many of the participants came from the newly created Phase 5 which falls under the auspices of the caretaker team led by Bro. Edwin Aquino. The main benefactor of this area is St. Paul’s University (formerly St. Paul’s College, Quezon City).

My talk (the first of four KBMT talks) orients the participants about the concept of a genuine community and local versions such as “Kapitbahayan” and “Bayanihan”. The vision and mission of Gawad Kalinga (GK) is also presented and explained to enable participants to embrace it and experience a true sense of ownership of its programs. During the workshop stage, participants are broken down to several groups and tasked to identify common problems encountered in their community as well as to determine agreed solutions to these problems.

Phase 5 GK Caretaker team led by Bro. Edwin Aquino

It’s always heartening to see common folk rediscovering their self dignity and trying to establish unity in their community. I can only hope that they will continue to pursue these admirable ideals as their very own. For what is GK but “…less for self, more for others, enough for all!”


The experience of servant hood continues…..