KERYGMA - Grand Feast Canada 2016
Kerygma Grand Feast Canada 2016 events were organized at the International Convention Center in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada sponsored by the Light of Jesus Community Canada (LOJC) on September 24, 2016. It was indeed soul-elevating and gave the audience a heavenly experience that stirred over 1000 faithfuls. The theme of this event was "Coming Home".
The powerful Praise and Worship led by the servant leader Bro. George Gabriel together with LOJC Choir was harmonious and saintly singing of truly soul-searching episode. The Youth Group staged a stunning dance number. It was astonishing performance for our future leaders. Holy Mass was conducted by Fr. Terence Mckenna, spiritual adviser in the morning and Fr. Joe Pena in the afternoon and assisted by Deacon Carlos Noguiera that was actively participated by all who attended the event.
We have distinguished Charismatic speakers, Bro. Pio Español, Head Feast International Operation of the Light of Jesus, who gave a powerful talk on the prodigal son. Bro. Don Quilao, Head Servant of the Filipino Canadian Catholic Charismatic Prayer Communities discussed on how to stay emotionally intense during times of adversity and to tolerate high levels of stress in the midst of storms in life. Bro. Bo Sanchez, founder of the Light of Jesus Philippines who talked on the physical and spiritual restoration, where healing and miracles were seen in the atmosphere. There was great joy among the congregation who spent their time in the presence of the Lord. Thereby, undoubtedly, it was a life changing experience for all who had a presence.
The Year that Was
We just celebrated our 5th year anniversary but our community is technically more than a year old.
Our community has been in existence for more than 2 decades and had gone through a lot of major changes. The latest being our confirmation as the Living for Christ Prayer Community in November 2010.
It was not an easy task trying to separate from an entity that had fed and nourished us spiritually but at the same time had shackled our freedom and controlled us. After a lot of prayers, intercession, deliberation and more prayers, we have finally decided that we would want to be freed from this stronghold and be what we have always wanted to be - a pillar of support to the Catholic Church - a guiding light for souls under the directions of the magisterium.
Our first year sure was an eye opener for all of us. We have never seen our membership so active and excited in participating in all our community activities. In the past, seldom have I seen our members stay beyond 9pm and if they did, it is always with grumbling and complaining. After we became the Living for Christ Prayer Community, it became the opposite. Our members have become more involved and would stay even beyond 10 pm!
Our members' involvement did not end with staying late after the prayer meetings. They have also become more actively involved in our ministries.
In the past we have been told that we will never know what our gifts are until we try and exercise them. Unfortunately, this teaching did not seem to resonate in our community until now.
Not all the members had the initiative to join the ministries so we brought the ministries to them. Members were assigned to lead prayers - members, who in the past would be contented to just be mere audiences. Some were given the task of calling up other members who have seemed to have taken a different path. The Music Ministry has more guitarists than an ordinary band has. And our prayers were answered as we now have a keyboard player! All these happened in our first year.
One of our major activities during our first year is the summer picnic. We went to the Christie Park and shared food and laughter. And what a turnout it was in terms of attendees! It was like bringing the prayer meeting out in the open fields and everyone including their families and friends came. It was such a very wonderful and joyous event that we have vowed to have it every year.
Another major activity is when we invited Fr. McKenna to conduct the seminar on Healing the Family Tree. Healing did happen not just in the respective families of each member but also within our community as well. It was an activity that brought us closer to each other and to the God we adore, who is the greatest healer.
As one of our missions as a support to the Catholic church is to bring more souls back to Christ and make people aware of how the Holy Spirit works in our lives, we conducted a Life in the Spirit Seminar. We invited powerful speakers who not only spoke to our minds but to our souls as well. We may have been very familiar with the topics but this time the teachings resonated and made an impact not only to our invitees but also to the members as well - it gave us a fresher look at what it means to really live with the Holy Spirit.
Aside from all these activities, there were so many wonderful changes that also occurred in the community - we now have a better involvement with FCCCPC, we have become more visible in the parish activities and we do not have to worry being scolded for inviting priests to talk in our prayer meetings.
One major thing we had in the Community is that we were finally able to set up and organize our Youth Ministry. Our youth have now, more than ever, become more active and involved in the community activities. We have started to provide separate teachings for the youth, catered to their needs and interests. Our Community even had the joy to send some of these young ones to a weekend youth retreat organized by CCRC.
And although we can say that we have been able to accomplish so much in the span of 12 months, we know that we still have a long way to go. We need to continue to pray and find ways of growing and maturing in the spirit so that we can truly claim and proclaim that we are indeed living our lives for Christ.
Thank you to all of you. The work of the Lord is a success.