A Life of Intercession – Faith In Action
He is able to save those who draw near to God through him, He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. (Heb 7:25)
“God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my Son.” (Gen 22:8).
“You have tried to live the Eucharist through various programs and sponsorships in different places all over the world. You have reached out, in particular, to the people in the peripheries of society, and by example, you have proclaimed that, before the Table of the Lord, everyone has a place, everyone is welcome, there are no margins, all are children of the One Father”
Bishop Julito Cortes
A life of prayer is a life of offering.
To offer ourselves as a victim does not mean that after a few days terrible suffering will come upon us, be it of the soul or the body. No, to offer ourselves as victim is to tell Our Lord that we are disposed to suffer whatever He wants. (The Venerable Archbishop Luis Maria Martinez)
Our apostolates are based on our life of prayer because the more we pray, the more we love, and the more we love, the more we pray. The way we live is the way we pray. The way we pray is the way we live. We become pray-ers, our lives consumed in praying always (1 Th 5:17).
As covenanted, consecrated and discipled, we lead in exercising the Association’s vision and mission of the Association by discerning, interceding, being animated by diversity of gifts of the Holy Spirit,
We have three main apostolates:
-Devotion to The Lamb, Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of The Lamb.
-Discipleship-making. And,
-Development for the care of the needy and the poor, the poor helping other poor, the least of Jesus’ brethren.
Devotion:
Devotion consists of enthroning the Altar of the Lamb in every household in rural and urban areas dedicating ourselves to praying the Chaplet of The Lamb and the Holy Rosary. The Blessed Virgin Mary has a special place in our spirituality and devotion. She is the Mother of The Lamb. She is our nurturer, formator, model of discipleship, and fidelity to the covenant because she is the first Disciple of The Lamb and the Ark of the New Covenant (Luke 1:39-44/2 Sam 6: 2-11). CCC #2676 says: “Mary, in whom the Lord himself made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the ark of the covenant, the place where the glory of the Lord dwells” (Rev 21:3). She is the dwelling of God… with men.
Discipleship-Making:
Our discipleship-making consists of cultivating and discipling individuals and groups according to different formation activities. Disciple leave mentoring when able to cultivate other disciples. For disciples make disciples, sheep make sheep. The ultimate goal is to cultivate disciple–lay, disciple-sister, disciple-brother, disciple-priest, disciple-doctor, disciple-nurse, disciple-public servant, disciple-farmer, disciple-fisherman, disciples-businessman, disciple-community organizer, disciple-formator, disciple-evangelist, disciple-catechist, etc
“They will know that you are my disciples when you love one another” (Jn 13:35).
Development for the care of the needy:
“While we enjoy the presence of each other, we renew our fervor to be channels always of God’s love, mercy, and compassion. It is likewise a moment to recommit ourselves to share whatever blessings we have received to our brothers and sisters in need” (Bishop Jacinto Jose).
By immersing ourselves with the sick, the elderly, the lost, the wounded, the chronically ill, the unchurched, the unaffiliated, and those in the periphery, we learned to identify with the least of Jesus’ brethren, for we too are broken.
Depending on the charism of our particular associations, we are encouraged to reach out and implement activities according to our capacity. While we are involved in direct services as a matter of principle we are considering, first, cultivating disciples among those who are going to manage the direct services this means that increasing and growing membership and adding disciples to our community is of paramount importance; secondly, integral development in a holistic fashion that will enhance not only the material and physical, but also the spiritual upliftment is essential in every decision when opening a development project; thirdly, formation and molding of managers are essential factors: 1) replication of generosity is inculcated with those involved with the heart of the Lamb for the needy; and 2) for sustainability, a multi-generational leadership and projects: self-reliance, self-governing and self-sustaining activities are essential elements in goal setting.
For some associations, self-consumption, income generating projects, healing missions, caregiving, care of children and elderly, cooperatives and other business activities are properly managed with the right preparation and personnel.
Lamb leadership in any development management is accompanied by proper dispositions and the right membership: with the right spirit, calling, gifts, values, culture, attitudes and presence.
“No one’s income is small, whose heart is big, and the measure of one’s mercy and goodness does not depend on the size of one’s means”
An Apostolate of Sacrificial Love
“Your mission of charity, mercy, and preferential option for the poor manifests the living and loving presence of Christ in our world. You have become a beacon of hope and an inspiration for our society” (Bishop Oscar A. Solis).
“Your people shall rebuild the ancient ruins; the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; “Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you, “Restorer of ruined dwellings” (Is 58: 7-12)
Centesimus Annus, Pope St John Paul II…. implored us to “address the spiritual, not merely the political and economic structures of society, because after all, the end goal is to seek and know God:” …development must not be understood solely in economic terms, but in a way that is fully human. It is not only a question of raising all people to the level currently enjoyed by the richest countries, but rather of building up a more decent life through united labor, of concretely enhancing every individual’s dignity and creativity, as well as capacity to respond to his personal vocation. Thus, to God’s call. (CA,29)
The “Church of the Poor” will also mean that the church will not only evangelize the poor, but that the poor in the Church will themselves become evangelizers. Pastors and leaders will learn to be with, work with, and learn from the poor. A ‘Church of the Poor’ will not only render preferential service to the poor but will practice preferential reliance on the poor in the work of evangelization” (Plenary Council of The Philippines II, 132).
From the Holy Eucharist, we derive the grace of sacrificial love in our ministry of peace, justice and reconciliation, and in our apostolate of empowerment with the poor and needy.
Jesus is Priest, Altar and Victim Lamb (Easter Preface V). Through Jesus, with Jesus, and In Jesus, we share in his work of intercession, offering, in prayer and action; that the grace of God poured upon us, his will and gifts be ours to use through our interaction on the altar sacrificing our own will in favor of God’s will. God operates through His Church, through us, with us and in us to serve His purposes.
Ministry, apostolate, and our community as a whole – our humble response to the unsought creative covenant love of God. Like Jesus, his sacrificial love, his ultimate obedience to the Father, and his love of us finds its manifestation in the sacrifice on the Cross. From this Cross, out of his love poured out from his side, water and blood, symbolizing Baptism and Holy Eucharist, the foundation of the Church, is at the heart of our personal and community grace, strength, intention, motivation and willingness to be involved in the life of the Church.
“Mission leads to communion, and communion leads to mission” (Pope St John Paul II-Redemptoris Missio). In communion and mission, am I truly concorporated to the vine dresser, the Father; to Jesus, the vine; and the sap of the vine, the Holy Spirit?
Am I really converted (in metanoia) 180 degrees, and are there things in my life that resist conversion and surrender to God’s will? Am I willing to witness the Lamb’s presence by my confirmation in the work of mediating Jesus, bringing the faithful to the covenant love, in the work of evangelization?
Am I convinced of the truth of my faith so that I may be a convincing instrument of drawing people to Jesus, to a personal relationship, the community of the Church, or to the Holy Sacrifice of The Mass and building up the Kingdom of God?
Am I truly immersed in my interior disposition of life in Jesus? “It is no longer I who live live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2;20). I am consecrated, set apart for the Lord, His mission and his kingdom. I do not own myself, but that God owns me. That I am a disciple, and the demand of being a disciple is to listen at the foot of the Master, remaining and staying with him, even in the midst of carrying the cross that gets heavier every day.
Am I like Jesus in his sacrificial love? As a lamb, am I willing to be offered, taken, and enjoined to Jesus as an acceptable sacrifice on the Altar of The Lamb, be blessed, be broken, be sent and given away? “For God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son” (Jn 3:16).
Jesus wants us to be his disciples first before we become his apostles.