Through the assistance of several clerics (Bishop Cantillas, Fr. Fernando, Fr. Ison, Fr. Neuhaus) and with the written permission of my local ordinary, His Eminence, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, I arrived in Tel Aviv on April 14, 2011. I would like to visit and pray in the places made holy by Our Lord Jesus Christ. Because faith without works is dead (James 2:26), I shall also serve the Filipinos in Tel Aviv, my base. I shall be happy to share my knowledge and education in the faith with the Filipinos at DMC. I hope that they would accept joyfully and with open hearts my teaching for their growth and development in the faith. Such is the essence of discipleship.
I facilitated two groups for their Recollection during the Holy Week. Tackled in the first group was their individual growth in the faith based on their particular situations. The second group focused on the different aspects of the Holy Mass and how these make present the Paschal Mystery (the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ). I was pleased that the participants appeared truly interested and learned something significant from their Recollection. It seems, however, that they will need follow-up seminars to sustain their continuing education in the faith. I have placed the decision in their hands. I suggested that they discuss among themselves and arrive at a decision and inform me as to their concrete needs for future seminars.
Seminar workshops have been lined up for those actively involved at DMC and for all those interested to attend. For interested parties, there is a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board at DMC. To deepen the knowledge, understanding, appreciation and love of those at DMC for the Sacred Scriptures and for them to prepare well for the celebration of the liturgy at DMC, especially on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, it will be good and beautiful for them to learn the Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC) style of Bible study. It will be nice to do this on Friday evening after the novena and Mass at DMC. As the envisioned different groups grow, they can have the Bible study in their residence.
During this short span of my sojourn in Tel Aviv, I feel like a newly-ordained priest all over again. This is because, like a newly-ordained and newly-assigned priest, I have to do tasks for myself and for the liturgy: do my laundry, cook my food, clean my room and other places and things that need to be cleaned, dispose of the garbage, prepare the things needed for the liturgy when no one is available to do it. I have no complaints, however. For my body aches and pains and the sacrifices I do are nothing compared to the great suffering of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In my pilgrimage in Jerusalem and the different parts of Galilee, I think and feel how lucky I am to tread at my own pace on the places sanctified by the footsteps of Our Lord Jesus Christ and those of his first disciples. Indeed, to those who receive the Spirit of the Resurrection, a new day is a new beginning.
