Hey commenters, I'd like to request that you take the time to include a name/pseudonym when you make comments. It doesn't have to be your real name, just something that you identify yourself with. Anonymous comments without even a nickname are a bit hard to keep track of.
Thanks!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
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13 comments:
GC
if Gawad Kalinga will operate beyond the values of CFC and beyond the vision/mission of CFC, then… let it be a civic organization or another organization. But since it is a child of CFC, it should follow the values, the directions of CFC. I never proposed that Gawad Kalinga be separate from CFC, what I am only insisting is that Gawad Kalinga is a very good program and it has helped the poor so much but it should follow the values of CFC.”
There you go!!!! GK is a very good work and we never opposed to it. for goodness sake it's one of our pillars. What we're against is the way the GK leadership is running it.
It totally veered from our mission and vision. The leadership doesn't care where the donations come as long as they will accomplish their man made goal of 777.
the accomplishment bloated their ego instead of giving the glory to God, it became their glory. wake up brother, be very discerning and allow the spirit of reason leads you to the right direction.
We are helping brethren to build home FIRST in heaven which is our eventual destiny and not building home HERE on earth which is temporary. PRIORITY IS HOME IN HEAVEN THEN HOME HERE ON EARTH.
God bless,
Gerry
Brethren Gerry,
It would be unfair to say "the accomplishment bloated their ego" because we cannot judge what is in the hearts of these leaders. We also can't assume that they did not give the glory to God and that they took all the glory to themselves because that is judging them. If they are not pure in their intention, then that's between them and God. Only God knows what is in the hearts of men then let Him be the judge.
If you have already rendered judgment on these leaders, the best thing you can do now is to pray to God the He will remove them. And then trust in the corrective power of the Lord that He will indeed remove them, if it's according to His will. You can also lift up GK to God and tell Him to do as He please with GK, after all, it's His.
There are many ways to build your HOME in heaven. One of such ways is to build HOMEs here on earth for the least of your brethren. Jesus said "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers you do it for me". Again, as I've said, there are many ways to build your HOME in heaven. You might have your own way which doesn't involve helping the poor and that is good too.
For people who have compassion for the poor and actually practicing it, it doesn't mean that he/she forgets being spiritual and that he automatically becomes just a social person. Sometimes, when the poor sees us helping them, we don't even have to wear our CFC ids and they would see the face of Jesus shining through us. In some cases, not all the time, action speaks louder than words.
God bless.
Dear sister Gerry,
You said,
"There you go!!!! GK is a very good work and we never opposed to it. for goodness sake it's one of our pillars. What we're against is the way the GK leadership is running it."
Thank you sis, for pointing it out, and for calling a spade a spade. This is an affirmation of what I said over and over that, this is not about GK but about Tony Meloto. It is just so sad that the saga of what was once a beautiful love story of Frank and Tony has turned out to be a nightmare for Couples For Christ.
You further said,
"It totally veered from our mission and vision. The leadership doesn't care where the donations come as long as they will accomplish their man made goal of 777."
GK777 is a vision of man, the mission is GODs work. If the goal is GK 111, what would GODs role be? That which is achievable is human, that which is impossible is a miracle only GOD can do. Please try to reflect on that. As St Paul said, “We do not fix our gaze on what is seen, but on what is unseen. What is seen is transitory; what is unseen lasts forever."
You also stated,
“The accomplishment bloated their ego instead of giving the glory to God, it became their glory. Wake up brother, be very discerning and allow the spirit of reason leads you to the right direction.”
Thank you for the reminder. Yes, egos have been bloated. Yours and mine as well, don’t you think so? Can we move on from here? Let us not dwell in yesterdays forever. Let us all learn the lessons of Lamentations. You have a new theme “Joy in the Lord”? Shouldn’t that be reason enough to go to the right direction. We can not be lamenting forever… ("My soul is deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is…Remembering it over and over leaves my soul downcast within me." Lamentations)
Lastly you mentioned,
“We are helping brethren to build home FIRST in heaven which is our eventual destiny and not building home HERE on earth which is temporary. PRIORITY IS HOME IN HEAVEN THEN HOME HERE ON EARTH.”
Yes, you are correct, however you missed out on one small but important detail, that is… we must start with ourselves! Build our homes in heaven. First we learn about what it means to be a Christian, then move on to repentance and faith. Next, learn about the ideal of loving GOD with all our mind, with all our heart and with all our strength. Then we can love our neighbors, the greatest commandment of GOD. Bishop Gabby told us last MCG teaching about the advise of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “Never to forget the poor. To forget the poor is to forget Christ.”
There are defining moments that come every now and then in life in which we have to make painful choices. When value shifts, and we have to decide what we will hold on to and what we will turn loose. Making a choice of what is treasure and what is trash.
It is sad to see what once was a treasure to you and Frank has become trash. We've all had to trash things that were once of great value. We have tearfully and reluctantly taken things off the scale in some defining moments; cherished ideas, plans, persons, crumbling relationships, pride of mind and body. There are things tangible and intangible that have to go when life calls on us to "weigh our treasure".
I do not condemn you nor Frank for making your choices and decisions. By now, you must have your torments of “what ifs” questions. Perhaps you have asked some of them. I know, I have. Only GOD knows the failed plans that haunts us. They prowl the innermost chambers of our beings like restless ghosts.
I often pray for you and Frank. Life must be difficult. You have come to a fork in the road, you chose to take one path and we have chosen to take the other. Changes don’t come easy; friends fail you, people talk against you, the loss of Couples For Christ, a community you cherish etc.
Such is life, it is never fair. Plans fail. Dreams become nightmares, and our most sincere thoughts and visions lose their meaning. Man proposes, GOD disposes.
Let us all learn from St Paul who explains the distinction between the permanent and the passing, between things that change and things that don't. You know all these. Frank gave a beautiful exhortation last February during our Hope weekend in Baguio.
Corinthians 13: “All the things that will pass away…”, some of them are very important now; prophecy, knowledge, and all the secondary accomplishments of humankind, individually and collectively. Things we hold dear are relegated to their ultimate destiny of no permanent value. And then he says, "Now abideth these things," and he details the things we may count on forever. "Now abideth these three things: faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love."
You can’t be forever…”namamangka sa dalawang ilog.” Enough of the bitter words, enough of the endless bickerings, I plead on bended knees, please, let love be our aim. What loving persons we would all become if we could but see that this one characteristic is so saving in this world and in the next. Religion can get complicated; theology can become confusing and doctrines can be deceptive, but here is something simple we can hold onto and understand. It is that silent force that can make FFL and CFC move on.
Let us love one another.
Gerry, are you Gerry Padilla? Just like to make sure before I ask you questions as below:
1. What was the motive of Ms XYZ asking to withdraw the Ramon Magsaysay award of Tony M?
2. How about the Manny Villar AD using or with TEODORA/CFC without the Council Approval? Were these not the start of the enmity and conflict of the Fairy God Mother and the Seven Dwarfs?
3. Naikot nya na ba ang 160+ countries to RECRUIT Members from original CFC?
I suggest please make another round, Ikot uli, you MAY HAVE ANOTHER HARVEST.
Don't know where you can post this.
Last night i decided to look at the gallery of photos of the easter group and I saw the happy faces of Mimi david and her daughter, xavy and his cute baby, Vanya, (not happy ) face of Nonong...this morning I woke up with the thought that they are all happy where they are...and whatever they do, however they do things ( with regards to their own spiritual growth and happiness), it does not matter anymore to me...in fact i wish them all well.
However, I still feel obliged to defend/correct misleading labels like when they refer to us as CFCGK,CFCIC,CFCGM.
I pray that they will move on without having to mislead others by continuosly saying they are for family and life and we are for GK.
They can pursue their new charism...whatever that is....they can choose their ministry heads and chapter heads however they wish to do it...I pray they leave us aloneso we can all move on in peace .
thank you all for the comments, the insights, the encouraging and the not-so-encouraging. they have helped us in gathering information, allowing us to feel the pulse of brothers and sisters from all over and showing us the pain of a community that is now divided. these series of events have also defined us in our beliefs, what is important, what is essential, where we are as members or leaders of this community and what we are as Christians. as far as i am concerned, i have chosen to stay with CFC and if i may quote our brother frank, "i'll die with my CFC boots on." i don't need to hear another saga of "he says, she says" because there's work to be done at the CLPs, household to pastor and friends and strangers i have yet to bring to our CLP to listen to the good news.
in short, my period of lamentation is SSSO OVER! i appreciate being able to go into a website but it is beginning to look like a never-ending story of arguments,defense, rebuttals, not to mention bringing out also the un-nice in us. what is truth to me may not be truth to you; what is sauce for the goose ain't necessarily so for the gander. my prayer time has also suffered and i end up chewing on the negatives from both sides. at the end of the day, i am a less loving person than what God wants me to be and my blood pressure is lamenting!
i pray that we now encourage each other to go back to our vision and mission, pray for each other and pray for our leaders that they will be guided and empowered only in God's truth. we also pray for all those who have left the community simply because they were disappointed, confused and disillusioned by their leaders and peers as well. i have seen hurts and disappointments in all of us while serving in our community but i refuse to stop there because i have also seen blessings,healings, transformations, reconciliations, etc and i am strengthened. truly God works thru our own frailties and i love making this journey with brothers and sisters around me.
i pray that all of us will be made better by all these and that which becomes better in us will glorify our God.
moving onwards in hope and love - that's definitely a message for this one.
When I first visited other ffl sites, I was restless because I found myself n opposite pole of this conflict. At first, I was driven to prove people wrong, especially those who differed from my point of view. But then I realized that this break is just like a broken relationship, divorce, being dumped, or disillusionment.
Who would be civil in the midst of a divorce?
Who can be happy after breaking up with the love of your life?
Who can be proud after being disillusioned with that which one has put on the highest pedestal?
Putting it in this context, we learn that everyone is hurting. Everyone feels lost and disillusioned. Everyone's heart is broken.
People deal or react to such experience differently. Some people are better in letting go. Some are able to deal with their loss, and some still struggle with it. There are others who deal with their grief by lashing out. We are only human and we pray that with God's grace, time will heal our wounds.
I might not agree with many ffl's comments, or anonymous' flaming remarks, but i could try to understand were they are coming from. I understand our anger could be misplaced (for both CFC and FFL side) but I could only empathize to the pain and grief we are all going thru. I could pray for others and I ask that God change me to be more supportive and understanding to those who are hurting.
see you in my prayers,
Mickey
to Gerry,
Still my brethren, it is not enough reason to separate from the community. GK, massive and rapid (sounds familiar?)as it is, has allowed us to open new grounds for evangelization. Veering away from our mission and vision? I think it is allowing us to see a wonderful attempt to ecumenism which our Popes have been advocating to our CAtholic brethren to respond to the changing times in our faith.
When we become too literal in our passion to evangelize, sometimes we became blind and fail to respond to the "obvious"needs that our poor brothers and sisters have. Our leaders are not perfect, same with Tito Frank, and these lamentation that we are experiencing right now has become a wake up call, a reawakening and a revival for us not only to intensify evangelization, but to face the problem of poverty, and even Christianity, face to face.
I believe that the isolated cases of GK which your camp has allegedly branded as "veering away" have hurt a lot of volunteers and partners who have made GK a part of their lifestyle. I say, as a GK advocate and volunteer, those are generalized accusations that is better thought about before broadcasting it to the public. Let us not allow people to look at us Catholics as doing only lip service, for GK has allowed us to fulfill our mission that the church has mandated. GK may just be part of the pillars, but the gravity of the work and the response that this works needs is so huge that it should involve a massive volunteerism.
MRocker for Christ
Praise God for the freedom to express our inner-most-self.
Delivery of responses to Sister Gerry's post (I assumed from members of IC/BOE/personal friends due to familiarity with her)is so uplifting because I felt nothing but love for Sister Gerry.
Sister,let us move on. May I suggest review of the Catholic Letters, specifically the Letter of James.
May the Good Lord grants you and your family abundant blessings,
Prayers for you,
showme,usa
Something tells me, the "Gerry" - who posted a comment here about the need to build homes in heaven first before homes on earth - is NOT GERRY PADILLA!
So the replies or subsequent remarks addressed to her do not compute.
But of course I could be wrong.
"Delivery of responses to Sister Gerry's post (I assumed from members of IC/BOE...)"
IC/BOE members commenting in this blog? If true, that would really be nice. I had always thought that they are merely online observers. I hope if they do, that there would be proper identification.
But take note, brothers and sisters, anyone can claim to be an IC/BOE member when posting in the blog.
Gerry said:
"What we're against is the way the GK leadership is running it.
It totally veered from our mission and vision. The leadership doesn't care where the donations come as long as they will accomplish their man made goal of 777."
"the accomplishment bloated their ego instead of giving the glory to God, it became their glory. wake up brother, be very discerning and allow the spirit of reason leads you to the right direction."
I have to wonder about the merit of these statements...
- why is it that GK office meetings include prayer, praise and worship, and deep searching for God...and yet they are accused of losing the spiritual?
- why is it that the GK leaders can constantly highlight the role of the many volunteers (example, Tony M when receiving the Filipino of the Year award)...yet this is never acknowledged?
- finally, why is the contraceptive issue still being bandied about like a police baton when the Vatican-commended Priests For Life have pointed out there is no issue?
I don't know...sometimes I just get tired of hearing the same things and knowing that they don't match the things I've seen on the ground...it's saddening.
CD, I noticed that ever since you requested commenter's to put a pseudo -name, we've been reading a lot of very creative "blog-names".
When I find the time, I'll make a alpha-listing of all those name tags, and perhaps let's get a vote on who has the best....just to lighten up the site.
Do you like that bloggers?
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