IC Advent Message

Nov 29th, 2011 | No Comments »

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Greetings of peace in Christ!

Advent is here, which means Christmas is just a few weeks away. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia  on NewAdvent.org, the word “Advent” finds its roots in the Latin word  ad-venio, which means “to come to.” This is exactly what we do at Advent — we prepare ourselves “to come to” our Lord Jesus, born in a manger on Christmas. 

For us in CFC, Advent is also a time of grace; of reflecting upon God’s goodness and faithfulness this past year, not only to the community but to our individual families as well. Many of our brothers and sisters have celebrated significant milestones in their personal lives, have been blessed with wonderful triumphs and victories and have endured great trials and challenges.  Some have been called early on by our Lord to enter His Kingdom. Many CFC communities all over the world have celebrated “milestone” anniversaries, and many still are just starting in their great adventure with the Lord. 

As we declared our commitment to be part of God’s army and to “put on the full armor of God” early this year, we also rejoice this Advent and coming Christmas, as we prepare to “proclaim the greatness of the Lord,” in line with our theme for 2012. 

For us in CFC, part of this preparation entails spending more time in prayer, Scripture reflection, and yes, even fasting, to prepare our hearts and homes for Christ’s coming this blessed season.  

May we remember too, that as we prepare our Christmas gift lists, God also calls us to share our blessings with others, especially those who are in need, like our brothers and sisters in ANCOP and our Cornerstone program. After all, Christmas is really more about giving than receiving. That is what Jesus did in the manger on Christmas day – He gave His very self to the world, by becoming human like us. 

May we all have a blessed, meaningful Christmas, and an inspiring, enlightening time preparing for it. 

The CFC International Council:

RICKY CUENCA      
NONOY DALMAN    
MANNY GARCIA                
MANNIX OCAMPO      
ROUQUEL PONTE          
JOE TALE                    
JUN URIARTE                         
MELO VILLAROMAN, JR.   
JOE YAMAMOTO