4 Living Water - August 14, 2015
PLEASE WEAR YOUR BLD ID EVERY FRIDAY
LIFE IN THE SPIRIT SEMINAR #32
September 26-27, 2015
Salubong is scheduled today Friday, Au-
gust 14, 2015.
Shepherding Schedule
August 21—God’s Love
August 28—Salvation
September 11—New Life & Receiving
God’s Gift
For more information, please contact Joven
and Beck Jimenez, LSS #32 Coordinators.
A N N O U N C E M E N T S
FAMILY ENCOUNTER #19
August 21-23, 2015
The Valley of the Mother of God Orange-
ville
For registration or any inquiries, please contact anyone of the
following:
Cliff & Cristy Jacinto - FE #18 Family Shepherds (647) 822 –
5387
[email protected] & [email protected]
Or Alain & Tracy Dela Cruz – FE #18 Head
Coordinators (416) 432-6149 [email protected]
YOUTH
MINISTRY
KORNER
SUMMER VACATION—There will be no youth praise and worship after
to-
night, August 14, 2015, to give the youth a chance to enjoy the
rest of the sum-
mer with their family and friends before going back to school.
Youth praise and
worship will resume on Friday, September 11, 2015. YE 17 Grand
Reunion will
be held on the following day, September 12, 2015. YE 17 Grads,
please save the
date.
YOUTH MISSION—A group of Toronto youth and adults are in
Cincinnati on a
‘youth mission’. The Toronto team was invited to do a youth
praise and wor-
ship and other youth activities for the Cincinnati youth
tomorrow, August 15,
2015. Please pray for their safety and a spirit filled youth
activities. Thank you.
Living Water - August 14, 2015
August 14, 2015
BUKÁS-LOÓB SA DIYÓS • OPEN IN SPIRIT TO GOD
www.bldworld.org www.bldtoronto.com
THEME
We will never hunger or thirst when we feed
on His word.
WORD Prov 9:1-6; Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7; Eph 5:15-20;
Jn 6:51-58
ORDER
“Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance
in the way of understanding.” (Prov 9)
“Watch carefully then how you live, not as fool-
ish persons but as wise, making the most of the
opportunity, because the days are evil.”
(Eph 5.15-16)
DIRECTION
1) Be filled with the Spirit as you eat my
Bread and drink my Blood.
2) Lay aside immaturity as you depart from
evil and Bless the Lord at all times.
REFLECTION
The 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time centers on
Jesus’ affirmation that He is The True Bread
from Heaven, the Bread of Life.
The text in this coming Sunday’s Gospel read-
ing in Jn 6:51-58, is about Jesus Christ’s call to
“eat his flesh and drink his blood”. If you may
recall, the Gospel reading three Sundays back,
Jn 6:1-15 deals with Jesus’ multiplication of
Loaves and Fish to feed a crowd of five thou-
sand people who followed Him. John’s Gospel
is continued on the following Sunday; in Jn
6:24-35, when Jesus, after feeding the multi-
tude, went with His disciples across the lake.
But the people still followed and found Him. It
was at this point that Jesus cautioned the
crowd that they were looking only for signs
and food. And He told them: “I am the bread of
life; whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
www.bldworld.org www.bldtoronto.com
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hanoverchurch.org.php53-5.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Youth-Mission-Trip.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.hanoverchurch.org.php53-5.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/youth-mission-trip-august-22-24/&h=1
2 Living Water - August 14, 2015
mily for John 6:51-58).
Following Jesus is the right thing to do, be-
cause it is what God wants us to do. It is the
proper thing to do if we appreciate our loving
Creator who has given us life and all the good
things we enjoy today. After all, it is only
through Jesus that we will achieve eternal
salvation. Yes, this is easier said than done.
But then again, who said life would be easy
when one commits to follow Jesus Christ?
The reference to eating and drinking could
also be treated as a metaphor for belief or
faith in Jesus. That whoever comes to HIM
and believes will not hunger and thirst. Serv-
ing God is one of the most important princi-
ples of the Christian faith, and believers are
expected to serve His church with a joyful
spirit. Serving God is synonymous to doing
God’s work.
It is also clear that Jesus, when asking the
crowd to “eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink his blood”, is alluding to the Eucharis-
tic Celebration where, during consecration,
transubstantiation occurs, converting the
bread and wine into the body and blood of
Christ Jesus. We partake of this food during
the Holy Communion, week after week, for
some, as often as daily, in order to unite our-
selves to Christ to form a single body.
Brothers and Sisters, Jn 6:51-58, is an open
invitation for us to join the feast of celebrating
His victory over His death on the cross for
our salvation and the birth of Christianity. It
is a call for us to honor the Solemnity of the
Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ
and to do God’s work.
whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”. Unfor-
tunately, the crowd, including the disciples, did
not understand what Jesus was trying to reveal to
them. They took the meaning of bread literally
and related it to physical nourishment, rather
than spiritual and sacramental. In last Sunday’s
Gospel reading, Jn 6:41-51, the people started to
complain when Jesus said that “I am the bread that
came down from heaven, again, showing their mis-
interpretation of Jesus’ revelation. They simply
did not understand what Jesus was talking about.
Today, we are more blessed with resources that
enable us to research about practically anything
under the sun, in order to have a better under-
standing of a particular subject. All you have to
do is “Google it!” Yet, after having gathered reli-
able information consistent with our Catholic
faith, the ever present temptation is to prefer to
believe and follow what suits our preference, in
order to satisfy selfish motivations. Worse is,
when we are led to try to justify our action in or-
der to make ourselves believe that we are doing
the right thing, when in fact, our conscience, as
Christians, says otherwise. In retrospect, we find
ourselves wishing that we should have done
some things differently. I often ask myself this
question – Am I really a good Christian? In this
information age, we do not have an excuse for not
understanding and practicing our chosen faith,
unlike the people who initially followed Jesus
Christ 2000 years ago.
Going back to the Gospel of Jn 6:51-58, what did
Jesus really mean when he said, “In all truth I tell
you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and
drink his blood, you have no life in you”? “It means to
follow His ways. It means to accept the call to sacrifice
ourselves for the sake of His everlasting Kingdom. It
means to live the Kingdom here, now, before the King-
dom is even finalized” (A Flesh & Blood Jesus? Ho-
Living Water - August 14, 2015
Next month, as we are well aware, we will be
celebrating the 25th Anniversary of BLD To-
ronto’s existence. It is a testament of our commit-
ment to do God’s work with a faithful heart and
with love for others. It is a testament of our abil-
ity to endure, if not overcome, all the challenges
to the end, in righteousness and humility. It is a
testament of our community’s resolve to focus
on doing God’s work. All these, for His Glory,
knowing that, “God is not unjust; he will not forget
your work and the love you have shown him as you
have helped his people and continue to help
them” (Heb 6:10). Let us move on and look for-
ward to the next milestone as we continue to
serve Him, constantly reminding ourselves that
He is the only reason why we joined our beloved
BLD community, and not for anything or anyone
else.
May we be filled with the Holy Spirit as we “Eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His
Blood”, forsaking foolishness and laying aside
immaturity, in the way of understanding”.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
PROMISE
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eter-
nal life and I will raise him on the last day.”
(Jn 6:54)
25TH ANNIVERSARY - EARLY
TICKET BUYERS WIN!
Tickets are now on sale for BLD Toronto's
exciting 25th Anniversary celebration
on Sept 19!
Congratulations to 7 BLD members who
bought tickets early. Their names were
drawn last Friday, August 7, and they
won the following prizes:
Lito Martin: $50 cash
Joel Marilla: Melt-in-your-Mouth
Chocolate cake donated by Cely Kitane
Ely Misa: Nelia Tonido’s ‘famous na
famous’ Pandan Cake
Violy Santos: Super sarap Rellenong
Manok from Bernadette Prollamante
Minda Panday: 1 tray of patok na
patok Pancit Palabok from Emily Quin-
doy
Josephine Marilla: 1 Kaldero ‘Bloody
Amazing’ Dinuguan from Annette &
Willy Guillermo
Seth Bueller: 1 tray of Special Cas-
sava Cake from Linda Fullante
Buy your tickets now, the earlier you
join, the more chances you have to win!
AUGUST LECTORS
August 14th
1st reading……… Alan and Rosella Prollamante
Psalm…………………..Edmar Aquino
2nd reading…….……. Bing and Emma Ongteco
August 21st
1st reading…………….Odette Maralit
Psalm…………………..Marife Capistrano
2nd reading………..… Felix and Linda Fullante
August 28th
1st reading……………. .Pat and Eric Lazaro
Psalm……………………Nila Soriano
2nd reading……………..Monina Malolos
