West C Celebrates Beloved Weekend

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ast Friday, February 28, all roads led to Baguio City as far as leaders and members of Couples for Christ West C Sector is concerned.  A good number brought along their cars and vans while others took the ever reliable Victory Liner buses and others rode the buses chartered for the occasion. For those who brought their cars like us, the luggage compartment was packed to the rafters with cooked and uncooked food, cooler with all kinds of drinks, shoes, clothes, pillows for those who cannot sleep without the familiar cushion under their head, junk food for munching while listening to the speakers.

West C really knew how to have fun.  Everyone had a fantastic time last Friday during the Fellowship Night.  Just like Facebook, the theme for this special night is Flashback Friday.  All six clusters had prepared presentations representing the era assigned to them, from the Rolling 60s to the present decade, 2010s.  It was an opportunity for the different clusters to be adjudged the best through the usual contest criteria and audience vote.  For the “Best Ka-look-alike”, audience vote made it for the winner who came from the cluster with the most number of delegates.  The moral of the story is to be in Baguio for the first activity to lend support to one's cluster.  For the cluster presentations, it did not result to a popularity contest though as there was a panel of judges composed of leaders from different sectors.  The announcement of the winners was made at the close of the conference two days after. 

The following two days commenced with the recitation of the Holy Rosary.  A Holy Mass and worship were held before Bro. Mandy Constantino, one of the members of West C’s SGT, gave the Prologue of the Beloved Weekend.  Bro. Joel Dayao, Provincial Area Head of Capiz, tackled talk 1 entitled Ponder, The Family of Love. Two more talks were given in the afternoon by Bro. James Solano, a member of the International Council and Bro. Rommel Ancheta of Ablaze Communications.  As always there were sharings by our brothers and sisters to highlight and underscore the message of the talks.  The Saturday program was ended with the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, a way of honouring the Holy Eucharist by exposing it in proper solemnity so the faithful will pay homage and devotion to it.  Though tired and hungry from a day long activity, everyone went home to their respective dwellings spiritually fulfilled.

Still sleepy from the fellowship that happened in the various cottages and dwellings the night before, everyone trooped to the Teachers' Camp for the culmination of the conference and the Holy Mass. The fourth and last talk was given by Bro. Manny Garcia, another member of the International Council with a heart rending sharing from his wife Sis. Ditas.  

Just like previous conferences, the Beloved Weekend ended with a rousing praise fest led by our very own sector head, Bro. Steve Maningat and the announcement of the clusters which best presented the era assigned to them.  Though not everybody could be proclaimed winners, the important part is everyone had fun practicing for the presentations.

Meet the Ancop Scholars

Much has been said about Ancop's Child Sponsorship Program which is the direct beneficiary of the Ancop Global Walk but seldom can an article be found featuring an Ancop scholar. At the presscon of the Ancop Global Walk 2012, I was fortunate to talk with three of the Ancop scholars, namely, Simon Jake Beringuela, Ken Mark Agustin and John Ray Supera, all of Bagong Silang, Kalookan City.  All of them are residents of the Ancop sites at Bagong Silang.  Each one of them has a story to tell.

Simon, Ken and John Ray, the faces of Ancop Global Walk

Simon Jake Beringuela at 19 years old, is the oldest among the three.  He took up Accountancy at  the University of Caloocan and is currently attending review classes at CPAR for the CPA board in November. Orphaned by his father when he was in third year high school, his mother raised all four children by selling soda.  There never was not enough money for food and other basic expenses and the education of Simon and his siblings was sidelined.  Simon is grateful for being chosen as one of the Ancop scholars.  His dream of becoming an accountant is fast becoming a reality and hopefully this will help in plucking his mother and siblings out of poverty.

Another future accountant is Ken Mark Agustin, the poster boy of Ancop Global Walk.    Like Simon, he is in review classes at CPAR.  He is very grateful to his benefactor for sending him to college and as an added bonus, shouldered his fees for the review classes.  Second child of four children of a taxi driver and a housewife, he is the embodiment of his parents' hope for a better life.  Ken did not stop going to school even if there was not enough to start with.  His siblings stopped their schooling to give way to Ken's.  Unlike his siblings, Ken is smart and intelligent and his parents staked whatever meager resources they had on him.  They were not disappointed, he graduated magna cum laude from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

John Ray Supera is a Grade 6 pupil at the Amparo Elementary School. At a tender age of 11, he dreams of becoming a scientist someday.  With an Ancop scholarship, John Ray is confident that he will be able to alleviate his family's plight as it answers not only the tuition fees but have enough left for transportation and projects.

Simon's, Ken's and John Ray's stories are stories of faith and hope.  In seeing Jesus Christ in the faces of thousands of Simons, Kens and John Rays, hope springs eternal.  Contact us through this website or through email at cfc.westc@gmail.com.

Small Things... Big Dreams

Mother Teresa of Calcutta often said that little things done with great love often leave a lasting impact on a person. Thus, one need not perform grandiose things to make a mark. This is exactly the concept behind Ancop's Global Walk (AGW). By setting aside a measly P10 a day for a month,  one can participate in the walkathon that would help send a poor child to school.

To jumpstart the preparations for this year's Global Walk,  the West C sector under Steve Maningat launched the 2012 Global Walk last April 25 at the Santuario de San Vicente de Paul.  The main speaker for the night was Eric delos Reyes, ANCOP President. He rallied the members of the sector to support this cause which aims to raise funds in order to send less fortunate children to school, hopefully twice as many as those who were given scholarships as a result of last year's walk activity.  Adding pizzaz to the occasion was the attendance of the reigning Miss Philippines-Earth, ANCOP Global Walk advocate and SFC member Athena Imperial.  ANCOP Global Walk overall head Paolo Maningat talked on the importance of getting more walkers and donations to meet the overall target.

The sector activity was a prelude to the second ANCOP Global Walk that will be held on August 12 at 5 in the morning at the Quirino Grandstand.  The Walk will be done near simultaneously with other ANCOP Walks all over the world.  Walkers are encouraged to be a disciple of change, a harbinger of hope for children, whose continuing education provides that spark of light for a future that will be bright for them and their families.


This article came out recently at the Ugnayan supplement of the CBCP Monitor.

On Being God's Children

From the Catholic encyclopedia, recollection means attention to the presence of God in the soul.  It consists of detaching oneself from worldly matters to attend to God and to one’s soul.  Such departure from the usual distractions helps in rekindling one’s relationship with God and hopefully will lead to a spiritual renewal.

The West C Sector was fortunate to have Fr. Sonny Ramirez, OP as its speaker for this year’s Lenten Recollection. It was held in the evening of Holy Tuesday at the Our Lady of Consolation Parish at the Mira Nila Homes in Quezon City.

Fr. Sonny Ramirez, OP

The church was jam packed to the last pew so with the parking lot.  All came ready to do some soul searching and relaxation.  It also helped that Fr. Sonny was the guest speaker and after two years of not hearing or seeing him on TV and radio due to a near fatal stroke, everyone was eager to hear him out.

He started with the question “Sino ka?”  One answered that he is a child of God.  Fr. Sonny said that we are all God’s children and being such, He has only good plans for us, His children.  He sent His Son to live on earth only to die on the cross for our salvation. 

Problems occur when we do things that are not pleasing to Him.  Power that doesn’t fail to intoxicate us, material things that make us secure and invincible, sudden fame. All of these may hinder us from having a relationship with Him.  When we remain complacent and unresponsive to the cares in the world, we might find ourselves one day stripped of everything that are valuable to us.

Not all is lost.  Pleasing God, which is everyone’s primary reason for existence, is easy.  We can do things that make us and our loved ones happy provided that we do only good things.  Let us open our hearts and listen to the musings of the people around us.  Do you see Jesus in their faces, hear Jesus’ voice?

2000 Hail Marys

Last Sunday was an auspicious day for me.  It marked my first participation in the 2000 Hail Mary's.  It was sponsored by our chapter and as such, my husband and I arrived early at the venue, the ground floor of Bahay Rekoleto at Our Lady of Consolation Parish in Quezon City.

From home, I brought food to be shared with everyone, crucifix, table cloth, candles, projector, laptop and of course, a rosary.  The image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, flowers, prayer guides and a tall vase to be used as a receptacle for the personal petitions were brought by Sis. Rose Banzon and Sis. Estela Baytan.

It was on March 25, 1933 when a teenage Salesian seminarian, Juan Riu Farran, heard from a co-seminarian that he will obtain at least three graces if he prays 2000 Hail Mary's on  the feast of the Incarnation of the Son of God.  When the day arrived, Riu prayed the 2000 Hail Mary's and asked that he become a Salesian, to become a priest and to become a missionary.  In a span of 19 years, Riu obtained all three graces.  The devotion of the 2000 Holy Mary's has spread to many countries with the Marian devotion and fervor of the Filipino people.

How do you go about with the 2000 Hail Mary's?  From the 2000 Hail Mary's, a sample schedule is attached though the time could be adjusted.  The sequence of the prayers are included plus the Divine Mercy chaplet and other prayers.  There are 20 petitions and the prayer leaders for each petition have to lead in praying 100 Hail Mary's.  After completing the 100 Hail Mary's, personal petitions that are written in small pieces of paper could be dropped in a vase, box or any container.  To mark each petition that just ended, a rose is put in a vase.  To check on how many petitions had been prayed for, one has to count the roses in the vase.  Dropping of petitions while in the midst of praying the 100 Hail Mary's is allowed though it would be better if it will be done in between praying of the petitions so as not to distract the body.  

After singing praises to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the petitions in the vase should be burned. Usually it takes nine hours for the entire proceeding to be completed.

While I was writing down my petitions, I sensed a liberating experience in entrusting my cares and woes to the Lord through the intercession of Mama Mary.  Now I have somebody else praying with me and for me.for all my troubles and aspirations.  Days after Sunday, my husband and I received several blessings, most of which were included in the petitions we wrote.