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BLD WASHINGTON NEWSLETTER
July 21, 2017
VOL. 17 NO. 171
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
Member’s Corner
Upcoming Events
Teachings July 22
BLD offers the follow-ing Encounter for your entire Family.
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
We bear much fruit when our works of faith prosper the Kingdom of God through the mas-tery of God's love, His care, justice, clemency, leniency, and patience. Jesus uses three scenarios to explain the mas-tery of God's love and presence, His transform-ing grace, His words and His works which will never be in vain. St. Matthew, in his gospel, brought this up in parables.
The first parable speaks of discernment. As the master judged, to pull the weeds too soon could sacrifice the crop. He says "Let them grow together" and in the end it will be clear what to keep and what to throw out. Discernment always involves care, distinc-tion, and judgment. The second parable speaks of full growth. With patience and care, the tiny seed can grow into a full-grown bush that offers protection and dwelling for God's creatures. Full growth always involves becoming more than we are for the good of others. 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, OTHERS AS EVANGELISTS, OTHERS AS PASTORS AND TEACHERS, TO EQUIP THE HOLY ONES FOR THE WORK OF MIN-ISTRY, FOR BUILDING 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
BLD WASHINGTON NEWSLETTER
Continued from Page1
The third parable speaks of transformation; just a little yeast gives life, softness, and readiness to the dough. Transfor-mation always involves new energy toward life, rising to new possibilities, being fashioned into new creations, much like those who have decided to live their new lives in the Spirit. We experience the Kingdom of Heaven when we discern God's will, grow into full stature as "children of the Kingdom " and when we open ourselves to vessels of transformation until the "end of the age". In Romans 8:26-27, St. Paul said: "The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit, Himself, intercedes with inexpressible groaning. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because He intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will." How are we going to receive God's touch, His grace, His intervention? How are we supposed to receive this greater good after going through some-thing bad, after being crushed, deeply hurt, or disappointed? This is where the Holy Spirit takes over as the Holy Spirit, Himself, will pray for us and intercede for us with sighs too deep for words. He searches our hearts and makes true intercessions on our behalf. God's grace is limitless. He is incredibly generous. His grace is deeper, higher, wider than what we can ever imag-ine. Our God is constantly calling us to seek His grace to strengthen our faith. His desire is for us to stay close to the Sacraments. We should never let anything, including our emotions, prevent God from flooding us with His love, peace and consolation. Jesus is our salvation. Jesus makes us righteous. He is the Truth as He gives us new life through the Spirit. God’s grace and our openness to accept that we are sinful and imperfect is to allow God to work in us and truly receive all that He has for us. When our lives become living testimonies of His grace, we are healed, transformed and become fruitful. God’s grace makes us do good, enables us to persevere and break through His glory! “You, O LORD, are good and forgiving, abounding in kindness to all who call upon You. Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer and attend to the sound of my pleading.” (Psalm 86:5-6) In your goodness and loving care, make me bear much fruit! DIRECTIONS:
1. Pray to the Holy Spirit for understanding of God’s kingdom of heaven.
2. Let us live our lives based on the wisdom given by the Holy Spirit about the Kingdom of Heaven.
3. Let us joyfully share the good news of our understanding of the kingdom of heaven with others.
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BLD PICNIC 2016
Marriage Encounter #17
The readings for this Sunday tells us that our God is a loving God because He is love and He gives love to all, no matter what or who we are. As I reflected on this Sunday's readings, I was
reminded of when I was growing up, I recalled my father teaching me how to use a fishing rod and how to catch fish. I tried my best to learn from my father so I can impress him and maybe one day I would be able to catch one for him. As I thought more about this, I could relate to be-ing a fishing rod, with hook, a sinker and a bubbler. Every time I cast my rod, I would either pull weeds or a piece of wood at the end of my line. I remember thinking “why do I keep getting gar-bage? I am supposed to catch fish, not garbage”.
How blessed we all are that our Heavenly Father does not think the same way as we do. His love for all of his creations, good or bad, wheat or weed, do not ever change. Unfortunately, you and I carry garbage within us as we are all sinners. It is just a matter of how we slowly dispose of this garbage within us. When we commit sin, we are collecting garbage within us and it gets heavier and heavier the longer it stays within us. How awesome it is that we have the sacrament of reconciliation to help us get rid of our sins so that we can receive the enormous Grace He wants to bestow on us. Also, when we do good deeds among our fellow brothers and sisters, we are slowly disposing the garbage in us. Slowly but surely, we become more like Christ and thus, become WHEAT.
Jesus said, “Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn” Matthew 13:29-30.
It is not too late for all of us to transform ourselves into the liking of our Savior Jesus Christ. At the end of time, I will be judged with how I lived my life and what I did for the least of my brethren. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I know that today is a good day to start working on becoming WHEAT so that at the end of time, hopefully, I will be gathered along with the wheat in my Heavenly Father’s barn.” It is a daily choice I have to make!
My Lord, you have a good sense of humor, always tickling our minds with your Words. Thank you for giving me ears to hear and eyes to see. Shield me and protect me from the bad weeds that will come my way. Harvest my heart and till it until the soil in me becomes fertile. Pour down your Holly Spirit on me, my Lord, and keep me under you wings. I also pray for Ella, a 2-year-old girl who has SMA, and her parents - that they find comfort, strength and shelter under your protection. Mother Mary, pray for us. Saint Michael guard us.
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UPCOMING EVENTS: Mark your calendars
July 22, 2017 TEACHING DAY (LSS GRAD, LSS10—LSS17)
July 28-30, 2017 YLSS #7 Shrine of St. Anthony
August 13, 2017 Community Day—Lake Fairfax
October 27— 29, 2017 Singles Encounter #8
November 4 – 5, 2017 Marriage Encounter #18
December 22, 2017 BLD Christmas Party
Love Offering June 23, 2017 $402.00 June 30, 2017 $350.00 July 07, 2017 $406.00
July 14, 2017 $732.00
Thank you for your faithful and consistent giving. Your donations are so very impor-tant because they allow us to carry on the
work of evangelization.
MEMBER’S CORNER
BLD WASHINGTON NEWSLETTER
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Structure of BLD JULY TEACHINGS will be held on Saturday, July 22, 2017 at the McCarrick Family Center in Silver Spring, MD. All teachings will start PROMPTLY at 9:30 a.m.—2:00 P.M.
Venue: 12247 Georgia Ave. Silver Spring MD
Please bring your Bibles to class. The teachings for each LSS Class are as follows:
LSS16 and 17 – New Creation Realities (NCR).
LSS15 – Christian Maturity Program Part 1 – Overcoming the World, Flesh and Devil and the Body and Blood of Christ
LSS 14 – Christian Maturity Program Part 2 – Christian Servant hood.
LSS’s 10, 11, 12 and 13 – Christian Maturity Program 1 and 2.
Please mark your calendars. Much preparations are made for each scheduled teachings and the courtesy of a prompt reply would be greatly appreciated. Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
“Let us All Pray for our Pope”
BLDWashington
Catholic Charismatic Covenant Community also offers your Family the Following: For more Info, email us at [email protected]
Please bring your entire Family to our Praise and Worship every Friday. Marriage Encounter : The Marriage Encounter Weekend is a positive and personal experience for a couple, which of-fers them the ability to communicate lovingly, that can be use for the rest of their lives. It is an opportunity to look deeply in their relationship with one another and with God. It is also a time to share with your spouse your feelings, hopes, fears, joys and frustrations in a private manner. Marriage Encounter is not a retreat, nor it is a marriage clinic or sensitiv-ity course. It is not a time to look at the past, but rather to look at your future together. The weekend is a positive, simple, common sense experience between husband and wife, that revitalizes marriage by helping couples to see what their relationship could and should be. Family Encounter: The Family Encounter is a live-in weekend where your entire family can experience true intimacies and discover the many wonderful things that you may not be aware of because of the hectic phase and pressures we go about on our daily lives. It is also a natural progression of the fruits that you and your spouse experienced during your Marriage Encounter Weekend, but this time, those fruits – the love, the joy and the peace will be shared among your children. The Family Encounter Weekend (FEW) will also be a cornerstone that can build a strong foundation to build your domestic church. Solo Parents: The Solo Parent Encounter (SPE) is a spiritual renewal program. It is an encounter/retreat weekend and not a workshop, conducted in an atmosphere of prayerful reflection. Since the ultimate goal of any spiritual encounter is a conversion of heart, a renewal of mind, and a transformation of life. The SPE is open to: • Roman Catholics/Christians • All age groups, provided they fit the profile of a solo parent • All nationalities Singles Encounter: The Single Encounter is a refreshing experience of withdrawing to a quite place to take a fresh look at life and to interact on common ground with other Christians Singles. There is something for everyone regardless of age or stage in life. It is a retreat weekend focusing on the needs of Christian men and woman. Youth Encounter: The Youth Encounter (referred to as YE) is a weekend program that provides the youth with an op-portunity to grow in faith among their peers. The youth encounter provides a venue where they can share, reflect and exercise their God-given spiritual gifts in a youthful environment. The youth encounter will help them realize that they need to “come home to the Lord”. It is the hope that the program will help the youth make a conscious effort to live a Christ-centered life. John 6: (ages 12 - 14) was created to solve the large range of ages both in the Mark 10 and Youth Ministries. They are a special class by themselves due to the physical, emotional and mental development peculiar to their age group. Their needs have to be met in their particular area of growth processes. The name of John 6 was inspired by the Gospel of John chapter 6 which narrates the story of how a young lad offered his own provisions of bread and fishes to Jesus. We saw this as a significant inspirational story for young people - offering themselves and their talents to bring honor and glory to our Lord.
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 upcoming newsletters. Kindly email
if you are interested in writing a short re-flection or being an editor
*** Thank you to those who already volunteered!
