The Splendor of the Church: DEFENSORES FIDEI FOUNDATION [DFF] - HOLY WEEK RECOLLECTION AND GENERAL MEETING

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

DEFENSORES FIDEI FOUNDATION [DFF] - HOLY WEEK RECOLLECTION AND GENERAL MEETING

DFF Chairman Bro. Henry Siy opens the Holy Week Recollection

After long weeks of failing to update you of my activities now I finally got the chance to post about my whereabouts these days. Actually, there are a lot of things to post and the events with photos to be posted have accumulated. Now I will download them piece by piece to be shared with you.

Fr. Varela, SDB our Recollection Master

After a gruelling Five Masses [3 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon] last Palm Sunday attended by thousands of people in different chapels and houses of worships I worked hard to wake up early last Monday, April 6, 2009 in order to attend on time the Recollection of the DFF. Thanks be to God even though I woke up a little late from my preferred time I was able to reach Don Bosco, Makati at exactly 8:00am. My driver without driving very fast traveled Minuyan, San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan to Don Bosco Makati for only 1:10 minutes. Amazing. I was praying the Rosary along the road and we were able to avoid traffics and every time we pass intersections with stop lights we were always reaching it with the go signal on. Marvelous. The Lord is kind and gracious.

Fr. Abe Arganiosa, CRS leads the Christological Hymn from the Christian Prayer during the Closing of the Afternoon Meeting

When I was about to enter the Church I fortunately met Sis. Clair, Bro. Miguel, Sis. Dwen and Bro. Mon Soncuya. We roamed around the place to look for simple place for breakfast until we found the Jollibee store nearby. Bro. Miguel and I were able to share a lot about the Liturgy during this time. It is amazing that a young man of his age and intellectual skills is so dedicated in serving the Lord in the Holy Mass as acolyte for the Tridentine Latin Mass and so in loved with the Church and faithful to the Pope.

Fr. Abe with Bro. Jayson Leones of CEU

When we finally received a text from the Chairman to proceed to the meeting hall we rushed toward the place and along the way we saw Dr. Paul Horrigan, tall and handsome in blue long sleeved attire. He was also looking for the meeting hall in order to attend the same DFF recollection and meeting. We followed Dr. Paul and we all climbed the wrong staircase and after returning outside we saw our Chairman waiting for us armed with his chinito smiles.

Fr. Abe with the image of Don Bosco at the entrance of the 3rd floor. The words of St. John Bosco on the wall is very beautiful: "I have promised God that I would give of myself to my last breath for my poor boys!" This is very similar to the words of St. Jerome Emiliani for his poor orphans: "With Them I Want To Live and Die!"

The talks given by Fr. Varela were short, simple but very and important for our spirituality and mission. Father concisely presented the interconnection between Love, Humility and Action or Mission. As Catholic Apologists we must be enflamed with the love of God, then must be filled with Humility and must apply both in our Mission.

Our lunch time. Bro. Mars and I delighted the staff of Amici Restaurant by our broken Italian. During this lunch Bro. Jun Dayrit arrived and I met him for the first time. Our discussions ranged from Apologetics to Moral Theology while the other side was immersed in the state of the Liturgy in the Philippine Church.

Then we were given ample time for reflections and meditations. Bro. Digoy Fernandez delivered a short and very solid application of the topic to our Christian Spirituality as servants of God. He reminded us of the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary who is the perfect image of the Human Soul if ever Sin didn't enter into the world. He also pointed to the fidelity of St. Michael and the angels in relation with the refusal to serve by Lucifer and his fallen angels. He beautifully explained that Lucifer's Non Serviam was echoed by intuition to the other angels after they were asked to serve the Incarnate God and the Immaculate Virgin. Lucifer submitted reluctantly at the first while rejected strongly the second. It was very striking because Lucifer means great light, he is the highest of Angels according to the Order of Nature. But, because of their refusal to obey God he was brought down with his rebel angels, defeated by an Archangel Michael who is from the lowest rank of the heavenly hierarchy. Yet by their humility and obedience these faithful angels were elevated to higher state by the Order of Grace.

Bro. Digoy's talk is wider and deeper than the angel talk but that of the Blessed Virgin and of the Angels remained in my mind because of my strong devotions to the Blessed Virgin and that of the Holy Angels.

After Bro. Digoy, Ate Shirley read a meditational material then Bro. Rudolf read the guide for the examination of conscience.

Bro. Digoy Fernandez giving a short reflection during the morning Recollection.

After the recollection we had our picture taking outside the Meeting Hall wherein I got the chance to talk further to Bro. Jayson Leones. The guy is a campus minister in the university and is taking Masters of Science in Guidance and Counseling. He visits this Blog regularly. Bro. Jayson shared to me his activities in the school where he is working hard to bring the youth to be closer to Jesus and to the Church.

And then we took lunch at Amici Restaurant. We shared our pasta and pizza. Bro. Mars and I take into full use our broken Italian to the delight of the ladies in the staff. I enjoyed the pasta very much. It was very delicious. I chose one with seafoods. Marvelous. I avoided the meat but came across a very delicious meal instead. The abstinence, however, was brought by the fact that I didn't eat rice which is a big sacrifice for Filipinos.

The assembly during the presentations of reports collected from group sharings and discussions.

When we returned in the afternoon, one of the founders Gerry Castro presented to us the Vision-Mission of the DFF and divided us into 3 groups for discussions in order to plan our course of action and common objectives for the year. Then we were separated by groups and we had our sharings and discussions. Then, reporters presented the outcome of these discussions in the plenary.

Sis. Shirley Monreal presenting the report of Group 3 and she was assisted by Bro. Miguel. After the presentations spearheaded by Bro. Mars and Ate Claire, Sis. Crissy, then finally by Ate Shirly and Bro. Miguel our President Bro. Alex Tan summed them up, added his input and asked the leaders of each group to meet together to unify the points into a single document.

Atty. Mars Llasos and Ate Claire Navarro presented the reports of our group, Group 1. Then after the Chairman patched things up. He called me to lead the closing prayer and at the end bestowed the blessings on each one. Going home, I offered a ride to Bro. Jayson Leones whom I found out is living relatively near our place.

Bro. Caloy, Carlos Antonio Palad, was caught with his cherubic laugh. Although we only sit, listened, talked and prayed during the event but still it was a very tiring day for me but the spiritual graces I have received from this occasion is too many to be counted. The new friends found whose faith is so strong is priceless.

For the first time I also met Atty. Cristina 'Sis. Crissy' Montes. She is also a graduate of the prestigious University of the Philippines College of Law [The best in the country] like Atty. Mars. Our DFF is truly being blessed by the Lord. I am witnessing its rapid growth from year to year. Regularly new members are coming in and most of them are very talented and intelligent people and many are very young which means that under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as long as we are faithful to the Lord, to the Church and to our mission the future of the organization is secure. MAY THE HOLY SPIRIT FILL OUR HEARTS TO REMAIN FAITHFUL AND MAY HE USE THE DFF FOR HIS GREATER GLORY. AMEN.

Our group picture at the finale. This is not complete because some of the founders were no longer around and others were not able to attend. From left, those who are sitting on the floor are Bro. Miguel [AB Philo from UST, now taking MA in Philosophy in Ateneo de Manila], Bro. Alex Tan [DFF President, a Chemical Engineer], Atty. Marwil Llasos, Chief Ed de Vera [one of the founders, the resident apologist of Kerygma Magazine and an expert catechist], Bro. Henry Siy [Chemical Engineer, with MBA and a businessman], with Henry is Bro. Mon Socuya. Those who are sitting on second row: Sis. Malou Dominguiano, Sis. Claire Navarro, Sis. Shirley Monreal [former Dating Daan], Sis. Nancy Siy [DFF's First Lady, being the wife of the Chairman], Fr. Abe, CRS, Sis. Chit Delfin [another First Lady because she is the only lady among the founders], Sis. Dwen and Atty. Crissy Montes. On the third row, those standing are: Bro. Jimmy Ortigas, Bro. Jayson Leones of CEU, Bro. Harold Calderon of Calamba, Bro. Carlos Antonio Palad, Bro. PV Belley, Dr. Paul Horrigan, Bro. Kit Rapido, Bro. Rudolf Camaclang and Bro. Digoy Fernandez [another founder, renown speaker, writer and catechist]