1. family and parenting
2. children

AT THE PHILIPPINE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTER
A Catholic Prayer Meeting of the Light of Jesus Family
March 2, 2014
WHY ARE SO MANY PEOPLE SICK?
ANSWER:
Because we are poisoning our body.
Yes, we poison our body by toxic food
and toxic feelings.
Today, I’d like to talk about toxic feelings.
For thousands of years, ancient
medicine already knew that toxic
feelings cause the lowering of the immune system, opening up your body
to all sorts of diseases. According to
ancient medicine, an illness is simply
your body sending you a loud signal
that there’s something wrong with
your feeling, thinking, and acting.
A sickness has one message:
Change your life! The disease is telling you-- rather painfully-- “Change
your feeling, thinking, and acting.”
But modern medicine makes us deaf to
this message. How? It drugs us, anesthetizes us, misdiagnoses us, and misdirects
our focus to the symptoms rather than
the cause. For some people, it’s easier to
pop a pill than to forgive yourself. For
some people, it’s easier to have surgery
than surrender your worries. It’s easier to
go through chemo rather than to root out
jealousy.
But modern medicine does not take feelings into consideration. Focused on the
physical body alone, doctors will try to
address physical causes of the disease by
their usual tools—antibiotics, surgery, and
chemotherapy. But the physical cause is
merely a symptom, not the causes.
To go to the real cause of your disease, you
need to go deeper—to the emotional toxic
overload in your being.
FEEL IT,
BUT
DON’T
FUEL IT
George Gabriel
(page 2)
In this amazing series, 100% DETOX, I’d like
to teach you powerful strategies on how you
can cleanse your body of this emotional toxic
overload.
Have a fantastic Feast today!
May your dreams come true,
BO SANCHEZ
TOXIC OR
PEACEFUL:
YOUR
CHOICE
Alvin Barcelona
(page 2)
FEEL IT, BUT DON’T FUEL IT
If you light a fire in the woods,
it will run on its own heat — for
a while. It will probably last a
few minutes, depending on the
atmosphere — the temperature,
the wind, etc.
And if you leave it alone, it will
eventually die naturally. It will
burn itself out.
But if you add wood, fan the
flame and continue to nurture
it, it could go on for hours, even
days.
So the way I see it, you have
several options:
• Leave the fire alone. Let your
emotions run their course until
they fade naturally.
• Fuel the fire. Keep talking
about the hurt, even inconsequentially. Think about it 24/7.
Rant about it day and night.
• Pour water on the fire. Focus
on something good. Count
your blessings. Pray. Worship.
Which one will you choose?
It’s the same with our feelings.
They’re neither right nor wrong. In Him,
Therefore, it is totally OK to feel
your feelings — even if they are
negative.
GEORGE GABRIEL
You can never be faulted for
feeling what you feel.
But you can be faulted for
fueling them.
Today, I receive all of God’s love for me.
Today, I open myself to the unbounded,
limitless, overflowing abundance
of God’s universe.
Today, I open myself to God’s blessings,
healing, and miracles.
Today, I open myself to God’s Word
so I would become more like Jesus
every day.
Today, I proclaim that I am God’s beloved,
I am God’s servant,
I am God’s powerful champion.
And because I am blessed, I am blessing
the world, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Talk 1: TOXIC FEELINGS
Own Your Emotions
Let the peace of heart that comes from Christ be always present
in your heart and life…
Colossians 3:15
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized
they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together
and made coverings for themselves.
Genesis 3:7
Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have
increased enough to take possession of the land.
Genesis 23:30
Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:23
TOXIC OR PEACEFUL: YOUR CHOICE
March is usually a toxic month
for me. I’m a school administrator and it’s the end of the
school year where closing and
graduation programs happen.
It’s therefore tied up to non-stop
deliberations, evaluations, brainstorming, and meetings. It’s also
a month for completion of forms
and documents, which is supposed to lead to vacation time.
But no, it’s just actually the start
of another round of planning
and preparations for the coming
school year.
I believe everything is about
choices – our being excited or
exhausted, our being fired up
or burned out, even our being
healthy or sick in mind, body,
and spirit.
Welcome to our brand new series, 100% Detox (How To Heal
Your Body, Soul, and Spirit).
In this empowering and lifenourishing series we will learn
how to get rid of Toxic Feelings
(Talk 1), Toxic Thinking (Talk
2), and Toxic Acting (Talk 3);
Add that to my being a Preacher and yes, on how we can have
and Feast Builder - and March
total healing and peace inside
is the start of the Lenten Season. and out.
That means more Lenten activities such as retreats and recolLet the peace of heart that
lections, more talks to schools,
comes from Christ be always
companies, and community.
present in your heart and life…
(Colossians. 3:15)
But you know what?
It’s also supposed to be a very
Mayroong Magandang
exciting month! It’s a month of
Mangyayari Sa ‘Yo!
achievement and victory! In fact,
we call our graduation programs Your Friend in Jesus,
Victory Ceremonies. It’s a month
of dreaming on and dreaming
for more. And yes, being the
Bro. Alvin Barcelona
Lenten season, it’s also a time
for reflection, for prayer, and for P.S. It’s the best time to invite
peace.
family and friends as we begin
a brand new series, and as we
So is it TOXIC or PEACEFUL? continue to JUMP for 3000
here in our Feast PICC 4pm
You know the answer. It’s in the Session! They will be blessed.
title. It’s my CHOICE!
You will be doubly blessed.
God loves you!
Personal Reflection and Group Discussion:
Do you blame people or circumstances for your negative
emotions? Or do you own them? How can you move away from
blame and move towards ownership?
Last Week
God Wants To Increase Your Blessings!
by Bo Sanchez
Increase the 4 W’s- the 4
increase will happen. Because
Laws of Wealth, which is Worth, God will add “all these things”
Work, Worship, and Wisdom.
to your life.
I have a very simple message:
As a young teenager, I put
God wants to increase your
God first. When I did this, at
blessings.
the back of my mind, I resigned
myself to a life of poverty, to
Don’t be complacent. Don’t mediocrity, to a very narrow
be stuck with where you are.
religious world.
I just came from Israel. I led a
pilgrimage of 143 terrific persons Here I was, expecting that
to the land where Jesus walked, my life would become boring,
lived, died, and rose again. I’ve dull, and monotonous. But the
been leading pilgrimages to the very opposite happened.
Holy Land for 20 years now.
When I was 13, I started
And every time I lead a pilgrim- serving God. I started
age, I ask myself this question:
preaching, composing songs,
“How can I make this year’s
leading worship, organizing
pilgrimage better than last year’s events, and raising funds…
pilgrimage?” “How can I bless When I was 14, I started the
the pilgrims more?”
Light of Jesus, worked for the
poor, and lived in the slums.
I do the same thing with
When I was 15, I was already
the Feast. Every week, I always crisscrossing the archipelago,
ask myself, “How can I make
sharing the Good News. When
this week’s Feast better than last I was 16, I won a Bible Quiz
week’s Feast?” “How can I bless that made me travel the world.
you more?”
To this day, my life is
Why do I do this?
exciting.Believe me, if you
put God first, your life will be
Because I believe God is
exciting too. NOT about decrease, but about
increase. God is not about
My Spiritual Error
shortage, but about surplus.
God is not about poverty but
Jesus didn’t say, “Seek only
about plenty.
the kingdom of God…” Jesus
said, “Seek first the kingdom of
But seek first the kingdom of God….”
God and his righteousness, and
all these things will be added to What does that mean? It
you. (Matthew 6:33)
means that after you seek God,
you’re going to seek something
If you seek God first,
else…
THE HOLY LIFE
Fr. Erik Santos recalled last
Sunday’s Gospel- we were
challenged to give life to the law
and go beyond the extra mile.
Last week’s Gospel seeks
sacrifice. Holiness means loving
even if it is the most difficult
thing to do- like to those who
do not love you, those who
despise you, those who reject
you. It is never easy, but Jesus
is calling us to love and to give
more.
Holiness is also taking care of
the temple of the Holy Spirit,
which is our body. Our bodies
should be used as a witness to
the love of Christ.
It is important to ask ourselves
if we are able to communicate
this love; for living the holy life
is being like Jesus- loving even
those most difficult to love.
Angelo Taton
Once upon a time in my
spiritual life, I made an error.
I thought God wanted me to
focus on Him and to FORGET everything else. Today, I
realize God wants me to focus
on Him and to FLOURISH
everything else.
Fanaticism Has Caused So
Much Pain
What are fanatics? Fanatics
are people who focus on their
religion and forgot everything
else. Sometimes, they forget
their families, or their health,
or their work,—for the sake of
their religion or their church.
Fanaticism is NOT the will of
God. All throughout history,
religious fanatics cause so
much pain, so much murder,
and so much war. But it’s not
religions per se that creates
fanatics. It’s the twin evils of
ignorance and insecurity that
creates fanatics.
Misunderstanding Jesus
It’s easy to become a fanatic
if you misinterpret certain Bible verses. For example, it’s easy
to misunderstand Jesus when
He said, “If anyone comes to
me and does not hate his own
father and mother and wife
and children and brothers and
sisters, yes, and even his own
life, he cannot be my disciple.”
(Luke 14:26)
We Don’t Have an Insecure God
Some people picture God
telling us, “Focus on Me and forget
everything else.” If God did that,
then there’s something wrong.
We’re worshipping an abusive, selfish, and neurotic God.
Faulty Logic
I’m not saying we shouldn’t
put top priority on our spiritual
activities. We should. For
example, I always tell people to
commit to the Feast each week.
Yes, you need to put God first.
Once, I heard a Charismatic
preacher talked about missing his
daughter’s 18th birthday because
Why did Jesus use the word he had to attend a prayer meeting.
“Hate”?
There are 52 prayer meetings in a
year. Your daughter celebrates her
The Greek word for “Hate” 18th birthday once in a lifetime.
used here is Miseo, and Bible
Scholars say Miseo can also
Let me point out his faulty
mean “Love Less”. In other
logic:
words, Put God first before
your family. (The newer Bible First of all, the prayer meeting
versions reflect this second
is NOT equal to God. The church
meaning.) Jesus could never
is NOT equal to God. The
have meant, “hate your family” ministry is NOT equal to God.
because all over the Bible, God
says, “Children, obey your par- It’s because of this fanaticism
ents,” and “Husbands, love your that there’s such a thing called as
wife the way Christ loved the
PKS or Pastor Kid’s Syndrome.
church,” and “Wives, submit to They’ve noticed that some pastor’s
your husbands…”
kids rebel against religion. Why?
(Here’s a basic rule of reading
One reason is the kids end up
the Bible: Let scripture
resenting God for stealing away
interpret scripture.)
their parents from them.
(continued on next page)
Last Week
3. Family- our faith is meant
to be shared, most especially in
But God did not take away their the loving presence of our famparents from them. It was these ily members.
parents that imagined their God
at war with their kids.
4. Friends- Choose to be a
friend! But be a person of class
Which is insane.
and also choose your friends.
Surround yourselves with peoThe Blessing of Balance
ple you want to become like!
MULTIPLY!
GOD WANTS TO INCREASE... from
page 3
God does not call us to be
FANATICS; He calls us to be
FRIENDS.
5. Fitness- Health is wealth!
Let us do our very best to be
healthy so we can live long
enough for our families and our
service to God!
God does not call us to escape the world and reject it; God
calls us to engage the world and 6. Facilities- Attend seminars,
redeem it.
which will nourish our minds
and make us better version of
What is the opposite of
ourselves.
fanaticism?
7. Fun- Do what you love.
Balance.
Most of our waking moments
are spent at work, but if we do
As Thomas Merton said,
what we love for a living then
Happiness is not about intensity we won’t have to work for a
but balance.
single day in our lives!
(Brothers George Gabriel and
Alvin Barcelona talked about
how balance applies to our
finances…)
Eight Kinds of Wealth
1. Faith- Let us have a loving
relationship with our loving
God, not a fanatical god.
8. Finances- Work hard, work
well and work smart. It is a
must for us to work on this area
as it affects all other important
things.
For it was said “The glory of
God is man fully alive”
So I encourage you to open
your life to more of God’s
2. Fire- this is our purpose; our financial blessings—to
dreams that keep us going and
experience the 8 Kinds of
reason for existence. Let us not Wealth.
associate this with our careers
or titles. Our worth is more than Seek God first. And He
what we do for a living.
promises that He will add all
other things unto you.
From the BANK OF DIVINE PROVISION
God is a God of abundance! The attendees were asked to claim
their dream paychecks by writing it on an actual check from
heaven!
God does not call us to be FANATICS;
He calls us to be FRIENDS.
“Live out
your purpose,
be great at it,
and give it
as your gift
to the world,”
START LOVING
Jesus said to his disciples,
So be perfect , just as your
heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:38-48
FR. HERBIE CAÑETE
asked, “Can you be perfect?”
The readings tell us YES! We
can be holy and perfect because
God has given us the privilege
to be.
The problem is, “We don’t want
to be holy and perfect,” Fr. Herbie said. Our minds are telling
us otherwise. The Lord is telling
us to take away the hatred in
our hearts, the grudges, and
the resentments because these
things keep us away from being
holy. It’s very simple to love but
we make it difficult because we
are teaching ourselves not to do
so. Siblings fight, spouses have
alibis, and children lie to their
parents. Simple little things
are priceless, but are stepping
stones to our holiness.
BRO. GEORGE GABRIEL
capped the series Increase with
Talk 4, Wisdom- the Gift of Balance.
We experience God’s goodness
in different kinds of wealth:
Faith. God wants us to be rich
in faith. We read in Mark 8:36,
What would it profit a man if he
gains the whole world but forfeits his soul? Rich people also
have the same problems with
those who are not- like problems
with their health, children, and
other matters. What keeps them
from giving up is their relationship with a loving God. What
we believe in is what makes us
wealthy. That’s why The Feast
attendees are the richest people
in the world!
Fire. God wants us to be rich in
our life purpose—what drives
us to be what we want to be. In
the past, Bro. George equated
his identity with his work. But
he discovered his purpose is
to communicate God’s Word
in any place in the world! He
then realized that his work does
not define him. “Live out your
People are called to love and to purpose, be great at it, and give
excel in it. We should double
it as your gift to the world,” Bro.
our efforts on simple acts of
George added.
love. When someone strikes us
on one cheek, we are hurt and Family. God wants us to be rich
we seek revenge. By offering the in family life. It was the parents
other cheek, we kill our ego and of Bro. George who brought him
we start to be kind. Start to love to community life. His wife, Sis.
more! Jesus was our model of Dinah also serves in the comperfection here on earth. Love munity. We double our joy if
increases our faith.
Jesus Christ is the center of our
relationship. We triple it if we are
We are privileged to be holy
serving the Lord. We multiply
and perfect because God says it if our family is bringing other
so. So be it!
families to God.
Lucy Aresco
Friends. God wants us to be rich
in friendships. The first thing we
must do is be a great friend first.
Be someone with class- treat
people properly, respect others.
Then we can decide to choose
our close friends and not just
anybody. Are we surrounded
by the right kind of people? Our
friends are our wealth.
SEEK FIRST
THE KINGDOM
BRO. ALVIN BARCELONA
started Talk 4 entitled Wisdom:
Receive the Gift of Balance of
the series Increase by singing
Tanging Yaman, reminding us
of our true wealth – the Provider Himself.
Fitness. Co-preaching with Bro.
George was Bro. Alvin Barcelona. “God wants you to be
physically fit and healthy. He
wants you to be rich in knowledge in your faculty-- the mind.
God wants you to have fun and
to be rich in your finances,” Bro.
Alvin declared.
The original Greek word
used for the word hate is Miseo
– which means “love less”. Our
Father is not an insecure God.
Hating our own family
members for our faith will
contradict His commandment
of honouring our parents and
loving our brethren as
ourselves. Bro. Alvin
emphasized: “The Bible is a great
tool but it should be read with an
open mind and an open heart.
The Bible should not be taken
literally.”
His big message last week:
Our Father wants to bless every
aspect of our lives. We should
seek Him, for He longs to bless
us more. As Matthew 6:33, puts
it: But seek first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and
all these things will be added to
Abundance is experiencing
you.
God’s love in every aspect of our
When God blesses us, there is
life. However, God’s blessing re
Most
of
the
time
we
total/full increase in all areas of
quires action and choice. “I am a
struggle with our distorted
our life.
part-time preacher. A part-time
image
of
God.
We
often
think
Lucy Aresco
that God would like us to focus entrepreneur. But I’ll always be a
on Him alone and then forget fulltime family man.”, Bro. Alvin
all the other important things added.
We must choose the blessings
in our life. – which is already
“...doing something fanaticism.
that we want to receive. Great
relationships either at work or at
more for others Fanaticism stems from our home are not built overnight.
translation and
is His call to us wrong
The Eight Kinds of Wealth:
interpretation of Luke 14:26:
1. Faith. Our faith is a form
so we can be like “If anyone comes to me and
of wealth that we have with us
does not hate his own father
Him.” and mother and wife and chil- every day. It is a grace from God.
dren and brothers and sisters,
2. Fire. We should know our
yes, and even his own life, he
purpose. We are created for a
cannot be my disciple.”
specific reason. Once we realize
it, it can be a burning fire that
will fuel our actions.
THE PERFECT YOU
3. Family. We must strive to
uphold our family relationships.
God gave us families to uphold,
protect and cherish. We must
first reflect the love of God to
them.
5. Fitness. Bro. Alvin shared
that last year he was diagnosed
with hypertension. He considers the event as a wake-up call.
He’s now exercising regularly not
only for himself but for his family as well.
6. Facilities. Education is a
never ending journey. Bro. Alvin
said that social media, video or
computer games are often time
stealers. He exhorted: “Manage
your time and do more productive things.”
7. Fun. Our God is a fun-loving
God. You should have fun at
work. We dedicate most of your
time at work and we must
therefore find joy in it.
8. Finances. Money affects most
of the areas of our lives. We must
ensure that we handle it well. We
could use it as a tool to bless our
brethren.
Bro. Alvin concluded:
“I proclaim that blessing will
4. Friends. We often ask God to outpour into your life. Why?
bless us with good friends but we Because you sought God’s
Rev. Fr. Silvestre Robinol
asked, “Can you be perfect just Fr. Robinol added that doing forget that we must first be one. kingdom first.”
Candice Manaog
like God?”
something more for others is
His call to us so we can be like
Our baptism is the begin- Him. Being perfect should not
ning of our holiness, of our
be hard because the Holy Spirit
being perfect just like God. He is with us, and we are the temple
created us with His own image of God. The Spirit remains in us
and with His holiness, and
and strengthen us to be holy.
“Abundance is experiencing
He gave us His will so we can
God’s love in every aspect
be the perfect person that He
The response to holiness or to
of our life.”
wants us to be. But it’s us who being perfect is always up to us
don’t want to be perfect and we because God already gave us
decide to commit sins instead. the power and His will to be his
We are not being perfect or
perfect disciple.
holy because of the things that
Faye Ricafrente
we do like hate and commit
grudges.
Ministries
New Book for Single Women…and Married Women Too!
RISSA Singson Kawpeng,
bestselling author of books for
single women, recently launched
her fifth book, titled
International Convention
Center.
Although a must-read for
singles, Something Happened
The 154-page turner is a col- On My Way to Happy Ever
lection of her editor’s column in After also appeals to married
Kerygma, a widely read inspira- women but struggling with
tional magazine where Rissa is
motherhood, as Rissa candidly
editor-in-chief.
shares trials she encountered
during her long single life as
The new book starts with
well as challenges she now faces
a foreword by lay preacher,
as wife and mother.
Bro. Bo Sanchez, founder of
Kerygma magazine, and the
Says Bro. Bo in his
faith community called Light of foreword: “You can easily relate
Jesus, which mounts The Feast, to her stories and she never
a weekly prayer gathering led by fails to draw timeless lessons
Bro. Bo at the Philippine
that will inspire you as you
Calling all Married Couples!
walk your own journey.”
Rissa’s true-to-life stories
show that your happy ever after
does not naturally unfold one
joyous occasion after another.
Rissa says, “Reality is far from
that! Life happens. And with it,
conflicts enough to make any
sane person pull her own hair.”
But Rissa’s stories always
end with lessons she has
learned—how she “discovered
blessings amid seeming
misfortunes.” Such lessons
make this book a delightful,
not-to-be missed guide yes, to
happy ever after.
Other books authored
by Rissa are: Confessions of
an Impatient Bride, Discover
Your Inner Beauty Queen, Oh,
God, I’m Still Single, and Love
Handles: How To Find and Date
Your Lifetime Love.
For details, log on to
rissasingsonkawpeng.com or
subscribe to her Facebook
updates. For copies of her book,
call 725-9999; 725-1115; 7251190. Or email sales@shepherdsvoice.com.ph.
Shout out to all Youth ages 12 - 16!
Connect Groups
Gallery
Connected by God’s Love
(From left) Elaine Eusebio, Teth Biya, Joy Macalintal, Seth Sarmiento, Jovie Casenio, Noreen
Manzano, Jen Bagaforo, Kat Zapanta and Joseph Allan Torculas
I am excited every Monday! There
is something I look forward to every
Monday night after my 9 to 6 work in
the office- my Connect Group.
We are a group of single men
and women in our late 20’s and early
30’s who share with each other our
experiences, blessings and struggles in
our daily lives. In our CG, we discuss
anything and everything about the
intricacies of relationships — in our
family, friends, and most especially
our everyday encounter with God.
We are first hand witnesses to the
transformation in each of us. We have
seen the real life struggles of serving God and battled this out through
prayers. This taught us to pray not just
for ourselves but for each one of us
despite our own challenges in life.
Because we are all singles, our favorite topic every time we’re together
is relationships. I guess I can say that
one of our secret goals in life is to
find that One True Love.
Today, we meet not only on
Mondays but during special occasions as well! And every time we’re
together, we make sure that we spend
memorable moments with each
other.
And that’s why I love my Connect
Group! They are precious blessings
from God and source of inspiration.
We are connected because we are
bound by the unconditional love of
our God.
Seth Sarmiento
Attention: Single People!
(Counterclockwise, fom top:
Feasters worshipping; Feast
chorus singing; Bro. Migs
Ramirez leading worship; A
Feaster writes down his dream
Increase income; Attendees
offering their dream Increase
checks; Bro. Johnben Rodriguez
leading worship; Attendees
reflecting; Bene Sanchez rocking
out the guitar in worship;
Announcements
Calling all Youth!
JOIN OUR WEEKLY YOUTH FELLOWSHIP
EVERY SUNDAY, 11:30 A.M. - 1:00 P.M.
For high school students, go to Banquet Hall 2.
For college students, go to Function Room A.
meet new friends & be blessed immensely!
see you there!
for more details, contact chai at 09175514161
The FEAST Bulletin, published by the Light of Jesus Family, is distributed during
The Feast PICC, a weekly prayer gathering of the Light of Jesus held at the Philippine International Convention Center, CCP Complex, Roxas Boulevard, Manila,
every Sunday, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. to 12:30
p.m., 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., adn 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The FEAST holds office at The Lighthouse, 60 Chicago St., Cubao, Quezon City,
with telephone numbers 725-9999. Contact us thru www.lightfam.com.