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ViDa October 2011

Verbum Dei Missionaries

73 Taman Mas Merah

Singapore 128195

Tel: 62740251

Email:

verbumdeispore@yahoo.com.sg

Website:

www. verbumdeisingapore.org/

Editor Says ‘Go! I am sending you like lambs among

wolves.’ (Luke 10,3)

What do I understand by the word,

‘mission’? Over the years, as I dedicate

my life in this Verbum Dei Mission of

prayer, preaching and living the Word of

God, I am starting to realise that mission

is not about the ‘What’, ‘How’, ‘Why’,

‘Where’ but is about the ‘Who’. Jesus is

the one who sends me out to be his

Missionary. Jesus is the one who tells me,

‘Go!’ Jesus is the one who entrusts me

with his mission.

I respond with love, with trust. In this

mission, I know that I am not alone. I

look to my Shepherd and follow Him to

each person, each event, each family,

each retreat, each formation... etc where

I have to give His Word of Life, of Love. I

am happy with my life. There is no way

that I will ever exchange it for another!

In a church document written by the

late Pope Paul VI, he wrote that the

deepest identity of the Church is to

evangelise, and expressed so

beautifully, ‘She (the Church) exists in

order to evangelise.’ (Paul VI,

Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii

Nuntiandi, n. 14)

Who is the Church? We are! Each

Christian is the Church. Each person

exists to evangelise! You and I are here

on this earth living this life for a

purpose! We exist in order to

evangelise.

Boom! Bang! What a realisation of our

existence...of our purpose here and

now! I am here today as a Verbum Dei

Missionary because I exist to

evangelise.

What about you?

Here is a test to find whether

your mission on Earth is

finished: If you're alive, it

isn't.

Richard Bach

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Challenge Week @ Tagaytay,

Philippines Four young boys from St Joseph’s Institution International School went to our Verbum Dei

Tagaytay Community for a week of mission experience. Grace, from Singapore

community, accompanied these boys and they had a great working time there with our

missionaries and people of Tagaytay.

The boys, accompanied by the missionaries, headed to a

nearby supermarket to buy foodstuff. They then packed

these into hampers and gave them to the needy people.

Spending time with the kids in an orphanage.

Visiting the nearby squatter

areas.

Visiting the Home for the physically disabled

people.

Teaching the kids

computer skills

Taking time off to enjoy the

beauty of Taal Lake.

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World Mission Sunday

Exhibition @ Blessed Sacrament Parish

On 23rd Oct, the Church celebrated World Mission Sunday. The Verbum Dei Community was

invited to participate, together with other religious communities, in an exhibition to share its

mission with the parishioners of Blessed Sacrament Parish.

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Month of Mission

Abstract of Debbie’s preaching during Thursday’s School of the Word: He, our Lord and master is love personified. He is a Love that goes beyond human understanding; a love that knows no boundaries, a love that is vulnerable, giving, selfless and sacrificial; a love that unites and reconciles. He needed his disciples to understand him, to understand love. That this is the type of God he is, a God who loves like crazy, a God who loves beyond imagination, beyond human comprehension. Words cannot teach this new concept of love Jesus wanted us to understand. It can only be understood by first being a ‘victim’ of his love. His “If I do not wash you, you can have no share of me” becomes if I did not love you first, you cannot understand love, you cannot know me. Having washed all of the disciples’ feet, with their eyes expectantly looking unto him, Jesus says, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly, so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master have washed your feet, you must wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you. And Jesus asks us this question too. Do you understand what I have done to you? He says. Do you know that I love you from the very start and will do so to the very end? Do you recognise that I am the Lord and Master of your life? Do you comprehend that I am Love? If yes, how can you not love others as I have loved you?... He needs us to be his hands, his feet, his mouthpiece. And he reminds us today that we are his beloved. He reminds us today that like his disciples, our feet too have been washed. We too have experienced his love, his peace, his joy. He tells us that if we have been reconciled to God, we have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. We are ambassadors for Christ, witnessing to all his love, his peace and his joy. (2 Cor 5:18-20) Jesus tells us tonight again - Do not be afraid but Peace be with you. As the Father sends me, so I am sending you. (Jn 20:21) Go, go back to your homes, your schools, your workplace, your friends, your families for I am needed there. I have placed you there for a reason. Do not be afraid to get smelly and dirty for your friends, your neighbours, your colleagues for I have already washed you clean. Do not be afraid to be vulnerable, for I will be your strength. Do not be afraid to be a servant to others, for I have already served and provided for you.

Our Verbum Dei Disciples in Action!

From left: Mark ( Thursday School of Word),

Paul (Sunday Couples Disciples Formation)

Debbie (Thursday School of the Word)

‘How can they hear the

message if the message is not

proclaimed? And how can the

message be proclaimed if the

messengers are not sent out?’

Romans 10, 14-15

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Verbum Dei Disciples Gathering

On 31st Oct, all our Verbum Dei Disciples from the various groups gathered to spend

an evening as one family. After days of heavy downpour, the weather that evening

was humid but No rain! What a miracle! We started with sharing by groups and then

we proceed to our favourite past-time, food! It was an enjoyable evening of catching

up with old friends.

The disciples from Tuesday, Saturday

(Couples) and Sunday (Couples) split into three

groups and shared the following questions:

1) What makes me be a Verbum Dei

Disciple?

2) How do I live the Verbum Dei mission

in the environment where I am?

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Tagaytay Retreat House, Philippines

Update!!!

Thank you for your prayers, kind donations... Continue to do so! We still need your

help!!! We are exultantly delighted that our retreat house in Tagaytay is

completing real soon! Wopee!

A group of Verbum Dei Family as well as missionaries from Singapore community

will be heading down in November for silent retreat. And we simply can’t wait!

The conference room

The front of the retreat

house

A view from

the balcony

The workers who toil hard daily

and the missionaries of Tagaytay

The reception area