Coronation Night 2010

SantaCruzan 2010

After the oath taking of the officers of our subdivision, the St. Joseph the Worker Community (SJWC) invited the officers for a meeting concerning our fundraising within our subdivision. The SJWC explained the development of our church particularly how to augment our resources for the continuation of our construction (particularly the roofing of our church) and how homeowners can participate actively in our endeavor to build a church.

It is in this meeting that we disclose our plan to revive of Mutya ng Robinsons Homes - East. The meeting went well for all of us. Thanks for the mango cake with juice served after the meeting.

The following week we met our prospective candidates for the Mutya ng Robinsons 2010 together with their parents. We explained to them mechanics of our fundraising and their participation is an opportunity for them to help in building a church. After clarifying everything... we set the dates for the event. We have our first canvassing last April 9, 2010 Just after the Holy Week Season... I could still remember at the opening of our 1st canvassing, I announced that we will duplicate if not surpass the previous Mutya ng Robinsons held five years ago. And indeed, the event surpassed the previous event with its elegance and beauty because of the zeal and commitment of those who volunteered to help from St. Joseph the Worker Community.

Holding such fund raising proved to be tedious especially for those who volunteered to help from practicing the candidates, preparing the venue, preparing the tickets to be sold, taking care of the snacks, preparing the programs and line-up of presentations during the canvassings and the Coronation Night, preparing letters of invitations, for the photo and video coverage, etc. Adding to that, as if we still have enough energy, we incorporate it with our traditional Santacruzan.

Before the start of our Coronation Night, we experienced a heavy downpour of rain. Again, we understood it as a blessing for our event. After the downpour, the atmosphere was full of smartness and splendor as the Mutya ng Robinsons arrived and together with our guests. Truly, I could say, it was a night to remember.

Our Santacruzan also came with grace and beauty as we line up the procession of sagala. The image of Mother Mary was so impressive with beautiful flowers surrounded her float. After reciting the Holy Rosary, we rung the bell in our chapel signifying the start of the procession. After the procession and long line of sagala , we end up offering flowers for Mother Mary in the altar and singing Dios Te Salve.

photo essay of the feast of st. joseph the worker in our community
created by felicia

Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

Last May 1, 2010, we celebrated the feast of St. Joseph the Worker – the patron saint of our community. We were greatly honored by the presence of Bishop Gabriel V. Reyes, D.D. who presided the Holy Mass, together with our parish priest Fr. Nolly C. Buco, JCD and Fr. Leo Schmitt, SVD our former parish priest.

We are very grateful too for Mayor Danilo O. Leyble and Atty. Romeo Acop (and now newly elected congressman of our city) for gracing our celebration.

The beautiful celebration was attributed to the collaboration of the members of St. Joseph the Worker Community. Really, I could say that the weeks of preparation and creativity of the members of SJWC and their untiring effort paid-off by the solemnity and joyful atmosphere of thanksgiving celebration in honor of St. Joseph the Worker.

We would like also to thank our sponsors for their generosity. These sponsors who understood the complexity of building a church are always there to lend a helping hand.

The traditional procession in the afternoon was equally solemn when the image of St. Joseph was brought around the community to be gaze by everyone and many made the sign of the cross as the procession pass by their houses.

Our theme of this year “Working with gratitude and joy for God and family”, have been realized by the effort displayed by St. Joseph the Worker Community in the preparation and during the fiesta itself.

Maraming salamat sa aming mahal na patron

St. Joseph the Worker

at

Maraming Salamat sa lahat ng tumulong at nakibahagi sa aming pagdiriwang.

"Working with gratitude and joy for God and family"

With Easter Joy in our hearts, we are preparing for the feast of St. Joseph, the Worker, the patron of our community, on May 1, 2010. Once again, we will be visited by His Excelency Bishop Gabriel Reyes,D.D.,the Bishop of Antipolo, who will preside in our Thanksgiving Mass in honor of St. Joseph the Worker.

While preparing for the fiesta, We are also preparing for the continuation of the construction of the roof. We have savings for the trusses after two years of fund raising. Kudos again to the lay volunteers in our community who patiently organized the districts in Sponsoring the Holy Mass every Sunday. Early this year, we met with the newly elected leaders of the districts in our community. We explain to them the importance of participation of everyone for the completion of the place of worship in our community. We all agreed to have another fund raising with the cooperation of the district representatives in a fund raising contest called Mutya ng Robinsons.. reviving the successful fund raising we had in the year 2005, when the district representatives joined us in our fund raising effort. We hope to duplicate, or even surpass the Mutya ng Robinsons 2005 this time around.

All this activities we do it with gratitude and joy in our hearts for God and family and always through the intercession of our patron saint - St. Joseph the Worker.

Saint Joseph was a just man, a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those entrusted to his care. May he always guard, protect and enlighten families (John Paul II).

Happy Fiesta!

Gift Giving 2009

The natural calamities that struck our parish last year led us to knock at the doors of the faithful in our community to help and be generous for the victims in our parish. They responded generously and some even went out of their comfort zone and volunteered for the actual re-packing and distribution of relief.

Once again in our simbang gabi we asked the faithful to be generous for our traditional gift giving for the less privilege. We didnt expect much because of the help they had already provided on the victims of Typhoon Ketsana (locally named 'Ondoy) but somehow we were still hopeful that the traditional gift giving push through.

But as the nine (9) days novena Mass on the advent ended, we found that most of the churchgoers were bighearted. As we were repacking the offered gifts, we discovered that most of the offererd gifts for gift giving were not the usual noddles but canned goods, coffee and powdered milk. Others provided sack of rice. Our chrisian community continues to surprise us of their generosity in helping especially when they had already given much on the recent relief effort.

This time we went to Sitio Sumilang (one of the most remote community in our parish) last December 27, 2009. As we arrived at Sitio Sumilang we were greeted by the smiles of the people of that simple community. We were jam-packed in the small chapel of Sitio Sumilang but again the church workers and faithful of Sitio Sumilang had fun that day. They received their bag of groceries and the children their chocolate,candies and cookies.

We thank the christian community who offered gifts for our traditional gift giving last advent season. We, christians can only be like Christ if we also become blessing to others.

Simbang Gabi 2009

Once again, we celebrated nine (9) days Novena Mass (Simbang Gabi) in our community. Hundreds gather for the Simbang Gabi in St. Joseph the Worker Church which we are slowly building. We started our anticipated Novena Mass last December 15, 2009 and continued up to December 23, 2009.

Kudos to the members of St. Joseph the Worker Community who made exceptional job in preparing everything for the nine days Novena Mass. This is to include selling Christmas balls for our traditional fund raising, inviting sponsors and preparing the place for the Holy Mass. The choirs were also outstanding every night. We have the CFC Kids Choir, the Young Volunteers of St. Joseph the Worker Choir, the Handmaid of the Lord – Global Choir, the St. Joseph the Worker Adult Choir and the CFC Handmaid of the Lord – Family Life Choir. These choir groups regularly sing in our Sunday Mass alternately the whole year round.

We want to thank our parish priest - Fr. Nolly C. Buco, JCD who continuously support our activities including our effort in building a place of worship in our communities.

We also want to thank Fr. Freddie, Fr. Luc, Fr. Joel and Fr. Eugene - all from the Missionaries of Jesus who presided over our Simbang Gabi. The Missionaries of Jesus have been serving our Simbang Gabi for three years now and helps our parish during Sunday Mass.

Our gratitude to our sponsors for the Simbang Gabi who have been very generous to us.

COMING BACK TO THE LOVING CARE OF GOD

Last November 21, 2009, we have our recollection to prepare ourselves for the Advent and Christmas Season. In the morning we have Fr. Dom, OFM, who taught us about prayers. The two hour talk of Fr. Dom was barely notice because of the down to earth examples and insights about prayer that he shared with us.

After sharing our food (potluck) for the lunch, we continued with our recollection. We talked about Transformed Community. We discussed about basic community like family, marriage and lay organizations in the church, how to preserve the unity in these basic communities based on the unity desired in the Holy Bible.

After our snacks in the afternoon, Fr. Joel, MJ talked about the importance of advent and how to respond to this season of the church.

We end the recollection with a beautiful reflection on returning to the loving care of God. Each one of us lighted a candle placing it on the altar while listening to the scriptures and singing a song of mercy. Then we pray together the Lord's Prayer with a new meaning to us and made the sign of peace to reconcile us with one another. We brought home our candles and placing it in our altar to remind us always of the mercy and love of God, to persevere for and preserve the unity in our basic communities and to pray as sons and daughters of God.

Feast of our Lady of the Holy Rosary

October 7, 2009

We all came in the afternoon for the procession, the coordinators of the different block rosary brought their images of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They also brought flowers for Mother Mary, candles for the procession and umbrellas for the rain. Yes, we all brought umbrellas because we are quite sure it will rain that afternoon and evening. We even brought a raincoat for the image of Mother Mary for the procession. Everyone was asking if we have to proceed with the procession since there were heavy clouds above us and rain my come anytime during the procession. But again we were determined to go on with our plan and prayed... exactly 5:00p.m. we began the procession by praying the Hail Mary then sung a marian song. We tried to light our candles but the strong winds prevented us.

While praying the Holy Rosary and singing Marians Songs we braised ourselves for the heavy downpour of rain that is about to come but something beautiful happened... the rains never came that afternoon. Soon I realized that heaven intervenes and God does not want to spoil our humble way of honoring Mary on her Feast - Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. I was moved by the beauty of Mother Mary during the procession, and at the Holy Mass. Before the Mass the faithfuls brought flowers in the altar while singing marian songs. And before the final blessing, kids went in front to serenade Our Lady of the Holy Rosary with action song. Trully, I can say that Heaven intervened so we could honor the Queen of Heaven and Earth.

I would like to thank all those who helped in the preparation and all who participated in honoring our Lady. My especial thanks and prayers to Alexander and Vilma who provided the flowers and the food after the event.

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Pray For Us. Amen.

Mass for the Elderly and the Sick

We held our Healing Mass for the Elderly and the Sick in our community last August 1, 2009. Every year, we invite the faithful in our community to bring their relatives and friends who could not regularly attend the Holy Mass on Sundays because of advance age or ailment. Fr. Rey, a guest priest from our parish administered the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick and presided the Holy Mass especially for the Elderly and Sick in our community. We would like to thank our parish priest, Fr. Nolly for the support he has given us. The elderly and sick in our community were treated a delicious chicken arroz caldo after the Holy Mass, courtesy of St. Joseph the Worker Community. The elderly and sick together with their relatives thank us for organizing such an activity. But deep in our hearts we thank them for giving us opportunity to serve..

…But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Matthew 20:25-28

FEAST OF ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER

Few days before the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, we experienced heavy rains in our community. This is all due to the approaching tropical depression reported by PAGASA. In the eve our of Fiesta in honor of St. Joseph the Worker, we have one last final briefing - heavy rains continue to pour. After checking the weather forecast in the internet, I told my fellow volunteers that there is 70 percent probability of rain. We all agree to welcome the rain as blessing from above. But deep in our heart, we were still hoping it will not rain on our Fiesta. We prayed after our meeting and asked the intercession of St. Joseph the Worker.

On the feast of St. Joseph the Worker(May 1, 2009), a miracle happen, there was a cloudy sky but no rain.. The weather was just perfect. Our former parish priests – Fr. Leo Schmitt, SVD and Fr. Rhing Malbog, SVD arrived early, also our guest priest who is helping in our parish – Fr. Lope Jarapa. Eventually our present parish priest – Fr. Nolly Buco also arrived and we had a beautiful and solemn celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Even in the afternoon when we had our procession there was no sign of rain. And the image of St. Joseph which was beautifully decorated by the volunteers passed by the houses in our community. After the procession, we decided to go home for a much needed rest. It is when it begin to rain again late in the evening and continued a heavy downpour the following day that we realized that our patron- St. Joseph interceded for us. St. Joseph, the Worker.. Always Pray For Us.

Remembering and Renewing

I'm glad the district meetings is almost finished. We had to pause for awhile to give way to Holy Week. We are back with the Joy of Easter, as we are preparing for an important event in our community - the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, our patron saint. We are trying to invite our former parish priests to join us this special occassion together with our present parish priest. Inviting our former parish priests means a lot to us. For in special occassion like this ... we want to reminisce our past.

REMEBERING....

The happy days of our community as well as our struggles in building St. Joseph the Worker Church.

We want to recognize the people who had been involved in our continuing effort of building the house of God in our community...

as we look back... we see individuals who have helped us, but along the way they were hurt or had become disoriented. Eventually they stop helping and distance themselves..

we also see individuals, those people who became our partners in building but in one way or another, we had to part ways with because they have to leave to settle somewhere else.

we also remember our new co-workers who are starting to take part in building the place of worship we call St. Joseph the Worker Church. Full of enthusiasm and desire..

we also remember those who have been with us for a long time...who have been hurt but decided to continue journeying with us.. some of them have moved to other places, but still drop by to attend meetings and help.

We also want to remember the mistakes we have made along the way... and try to learn from them....

But most of all we want to remember the happy days we have had...while building St. Joseph the Worker Church.... for these are our treasures... they give us hope and joy.... and in the future when we encounter difficulties, struggles and challenges in this journey .. we have these happy memories that would hold us together and make us smile...

RENEWING....

However, we don't just want to remember. After reminiscing, we desire also to renew ourselves, to renew our vision and mission... so we can continue building St. Joseph the Worker Church. We renew our desire, our hope... our commitments in continuing this humble endeavor to finish building a place of worship where we gather together despite our differences...despite our difficulties..and sometimes being hurt... to worship our loving and merciful God in the Holy Eucharist.

Renewing, like the Joy of Easter filled with love and peace.

DISTRICT MEETINGS BEGAN

Our community is divided into 7 Districts. We started meeting with District 3 and 4 in the past two Sundays. Although we didn't have much attendance (only few came to our meetings). We are glad that after explaining to them our concerns regarding the situation of SJWC, they are willing to help in our endeavor to put up a permanent roof for St. Joseph the Worker Church. They also pledged as a district to sponsor a Sunday Mass every month and gave their support to the project "Bubong ng Simbahan Sa P20 Bigay Mo". Thanks again to St. Joseph, whom we ask for intercession for this meetings with the different districts in our community.

St. Joseph Continue To Intercede For Us.

"Bubong Ng Simbahan sa P20 Bigay Mo!"

We are planning to launch our fund raising campaign for this year for the roof of St. Joseph the Worker Church. With our several meeting trying to study the feasibility of this campaign we decided go for it. The mechanics is to encourage the members of our Christian community to at least donate a P20 regularly until we meet our target of P3 million. It is a tall order for St. Joseph the Worker Community, especially with the global financial crisis that everyone is experiencing. But again, with the intercession of St. Joseph the Worker, we hope members of our community will participate fully and at least donate 20 pesos regularly for the roof of St. Joseph the Worker. "Bubong Ng Simbahan sa P20 Bigay Mo!" We will try to meet with the different districts about the importance of their participation in building a place of worship in our community.

St. Joseph the Worker, Pray for us.

GIFT GIVING 2008

Once again, the members of St. Joseph the Worker Community (SJWC) went to deliver the gifts offered during 9 - days vigil Mass (Simbang Gabi). We went back to Sitio Galilee last December 27, 2008. Sitio Galilee is a part of our parish (San Antonio de Padua Parish). We were able to pack 114 bags of groceries. We asked the help of the church workers and the local leader of Sitio Galilee to help us select the indigent families in their community as recipients of the bags of groceries. We were also able to prepare 100 bags of assorted candies for the kids of Sitio Galilee. Young and old enjoyed the games prepared for them.

We wish to thank the christian community of Robinsons Homes East, who heed our call to be generous during the Advent and Christmas Season especially to the underprivileged in our parish.

Sitio Galilee

Next Generation SJWC

actual gift giving