Mass Memorial of St. Cecilia These days, we are reading about Revelation and we are fast approaching the end of the Liturgical Year where we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King (Sunday, November 24, 2024). Jesus was already in Jerusalem. He had had a grand welcome. But then He continued to teach, to preach. Christ Cleanses the Temple of Your Heart Today, we read that Jesus was cleansing the Temple-- of businesses, of those who cheat, of those who take advantage of the pilgrims, because they had no choice -- they had to pay, exchange money. It was at the Temple that cheating was rampant. And all these were with the approval of the priest and Temple carers. It should not be like so. But Christ now is cleansing the Temple-- the Temple of our hearts. The Temple of our hearts should be cleansed from... That’s why we have to practice humility obedience, and charity. ... And hence, today’s saint gives us an example-- St. Cecilia, who was very determined to keep her perpetual virginity, was willing to be beheaded for the sake of witnessing for Christ. Martyrs, by the way, are called witnesses for their faith, for their hope-- “The Lord will be my inheritance. You will be my reward, Lord. Even if we suffer, even if we get sick, it’s okay. We offer what we suffer. So that like You, we save the world.” ... I would like to invite all of us to ask the Holy Spirit to open our hearts, our minds, our ears, and to inspire also the speakers of this Conference that Let there be Light-- that we may be open to discern, to learn, to obey, and to do with charity the good things that we are going to hear about the speakers’ experiences. ... And so, in tribute to St. Cecilia, I’ll sing my message to you: Let your light shine for all the world to see The brightness of your love within peace that sets you free Let your light shine through all your nights and days And men will see the things you do and give your Father praise. We shall do this in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Welcome! BRO. ARUN GOGNA: Welcome to the happiest place on Earth: The FEAST CONFERENCE. Our theme for this year is Let There Be Light. ...What can light do to you? First, Light makes things clearer. ... Who among here have failures in life? You know what the Light of Jesus is telling you? The truth: Those are not failures. Those are lessons. Who among you have problems? The Light of Jesus is clarifying to you that those are not problems. They are disguised blessings. You are going through a crisis. The Light of Jesus is telling you: No, you are not going through a crisis. You are going through a transformational experience. You don’t have money. The Light of Jesus

Talk We are already at the culmination. We're nearing the end of the book of John. I pray that this has been blessing you. We are now at the tail end where we will see the part where Jesus is crucified but also the part where Jesus is enthroned as King. But I need to tell you that this is a different kind of enthronement. We are more familiar with the modern-day coronation such as the recent coronation of King Charles (left). Did you know that $125M was spent just for that coronation? But there's a different kind of coronation. The Coronation of Jesus looks like this (right): Do you see the difference? Jesus is the only King in our entire universe who chose to be crowned with thorns as King--and that's His throne, the Crucifix. About The Crucifix I need to tell you a little about the Crucifix. I believe that this is the rule of life: When you spend a long time with someone or something, it wears you out. How many of you have been married for more than 10 years? Be honest with me. There's a certain part in your marriage where you're just doing everything by ritual or by routine, right? Sometimes that happens. Things wear out over time. I realized that it's the same thing with the Cross. We appreciate the Cross. We appreciate the Crucifixion. But how many of us can honestly say that sometimes, we don't even acknowledge the Cross anymore with much reverence. Whenever we pray, some of us just do the ritual. You don't even do the Sign of the Cross. A lot of us are in that position simply because we never really experienced the Cross-- unlike the disciples did. Imagine those disciples seeing Jesus up on the Cross. Here's the difference: They saw the Cross as a tool or a symbol of execution. It was a tool for destruction. But as you experience the Cross, I want to make it a little deeper for you. Because to us, we believe in Jesus. And we know Jesus--as opposed to the people who did not believe in Jesus back then. To us, the Cross is not just a symbol of destruction. It's a symbol of the Resurrection. So that whenever we look at the Cross, we are reminded of what Jesus did for all of us. Today, I pray that you will discover a newfound passion and a newfound love for Jesus who died for all of us upon that wooden cross. Experience Jesus Anew Are you ready to experience Jesus in a fresh new way today? Put your heart over your chest and just say this with me: "Dear Jesus, I'm here. I'm present. I'm asking you to speak to me over my situation and over my difficulties. Change me. In Jesus' Name. Amen. Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet And a Light unto my path. It's time to lean in on the Word of God.

Talk We're still in our Feast Talk series, COME and SEE. We have been really chewing on the Gospel of John. Talk 8, The Foot-Washer Who Got Betrayed, we go a bit fast because we'll be discussing Chapters 13 to 17 of John. There are three main events that happened in those chapters.> These three events start with these words: “Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. (John 13:1a NABre) In the entire Gospel of John, Jesus was talking about the hour. If you remember the miracle of the Wedding in Cana, here, Jesus was telling Mother Mary, "The hour has not yet come for me to do this." In some other accounts in John, you will see Jesus telling people, "The hour is yet to come.” But in this verse, we're reading, the hour has come. The six signs (the miracles of our Lord Jesus) that we are talking about in this series, are pointing to the hour. This is that hour: The seventh sign. I love what is said in John 13:1B: Jesus loves you until death.> Imagine that Jesus was telling that to Himself: "It's my time." He knew the implications of that. He deliberately chose to go and do that because of His great love for you. Jesus loves you to the very end. Why? Because to Him, you are worth saving. You might say, "Bro, I am unworthy because I'm sinful. My life is not good." But God deems you worthy of His sacrifice. If there's still this question in your heart right now: "Does the Lord really love?" I think this answers it: The Lord loves you until death, to the very end. Let's pray: Lord, I know that You love me. Teach me to appreciate Your sacrifice for me. I am valuable. I am forgiven. I am loved. In Jesus' Name. Amen. Let's raise our hands to the Word of God. Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet And a Light unto my path. JESUS LOVES YOU. That is the big message of the talk today, from Chapters 13-17. You might notice that in the past, we were discussing the talks by chapter-- usually, one to two chapters per talk. This time, in Talk 8, we're taking five chapters-- but when you read them, you feel how John slows down time, retelling— blow by blow—what happened in the last 24 hours of the earthly life of Jesus. The hour begins with a common tradition-- washing the dirty, muddy, and smelly feet of the disciples. The washing of the feet was a common practice back then-- done by servants. For example, if you're in a rich household, you would have four kinds of servants: Servant No.1: The mayordoma or head servant who commands everyone. Servant No.2 : The PA or personal assistant of the boss. Servant No. 3: A group of skilled workers-- such as the cooks or gardeners.

Talk BRO. BENE SANCHEZ: Good Morning! May I tell you a secret? Actually, I really don’t like preaching. Because growing up, I was always compared with my Dad (Bro. Bo Sanchez). So, there’s this, I don’t know... I just don’t like doing it. So, here I am... I do like talking, though. So, be ready, I’m going to talk a lot. Today, we’re going to be talking about Lazarus...* Here, the person in the middle is Martha. She's preparing a feast for the Lord. Then you have Mary who's listening to Jesus (right side of Martha).> Where's Lazarus? We have no idea what he's doing, leaving everything to Mary and Martha. But today, we're going to be talking about Lazarus. *For those who have not followed our Feast Talk series, here’s a backgrounder: Talk 7, The God Who Grieves, is part of our series, Come and See, about the Gospel of John, presenting the seven miracles, called signs, of our Lord Jesus. From Talk 1 to Talk 6, we already went through the six signs-- which are all pointing to the seventh sign—the greatest miracle: The Resurrection of Jesus. Talk 7 recounts the death of Lazarus, Jesus weeping over losing this friend, but at the same time comforting his sisters, Martha and Mary. -- Editor Let’s sing together the song that we always sing before we read the Word: Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path.   Let's give God a big hand. I think this is what my Dad says after the song.J So, we're going to be reading from John 11:1: This is one of the most heartfelt stories in the whole Gospel of John. I want to highlight that line: "The one you love." Maybe, for some people here, we can feel unloved. We can feel like we're always wondering where God is: “My life right now is a mess. It's dark. It's crazy.” But what John reminds us is that Jesus’ kind of love was a personal kind of love. It was a kind of love that made Jesus weep over his friend's illness. The way that Jesus loved his friends was a personal, emotional, and a heartfelt kind of love. The way that Lazarus was loved by Jesus is the same way that Jesus loves you and me. That's a truth that we want to meditate on today. Pray with me: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, we want to open ourselves to that love. Help us see that despite our situation and despite whatever we may be going through, Your love is the constant faithful assurance that we can lean on and hope on. Help us experience Your love today. In Jesus' Name. In the Name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Symmetrical Story Let's give God a big hand because He deserves it. He's good. I don't like

Talk BRO. BO SANCHEZ:We're reading The Gospel of John. And I wantto preach this Word for you: I want you to see Jesus -- that He is healing you.How many of you need physical healing? How many of you need relationship healing? How many of you need financial healing? Most of all, how many of you need spiritual healing?I want you to know that Jesus is here. Jesus is in your life. He really wants you to see Him.In the Gospel of John, there are seven miracles and we've been going through them Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. John did not call them miracles.He called them signs because signs are important-- but they point to something more important.We've been talking about five signs already:Turning water into wine at CanaHealing of the official's son in CanaHealing of the paralyzed man in BethesdaFeeding of the 5,000 in GalileeHealing of the blind manToday, we're going to talk about the healing of the blind man. This is one of the most fascinating stories.They’re all signs. A sign is important--but it points to something even more important.The FEAST FAMILY October 27, 2024 15 The SignWhat John was saying is that sometimes, we're so caught up in miracles.What Fr. Albert Garong was talking about is that we're so caught up with the answer to our prayer that we forget about something. It's just a sign and it points to something more.Way back, 29 years ago, we built Anawim Home for Abandoned Elderly.Way back, 29 years ago, there was no running water there. There was no electricity there.It was all in the boondocks.It was surrounded by nothing else but grass.And people were having a hard time going there. So, what we did was we put signboards that showed directions on how to go to Anawim.Now, I want you to humor me for a while and I want you to imagine the preposterous-- that you're driving to Anawim during that time, 29 years ago... As you're driving there, you see something peculiar. You see a bunch of people beneath a signboard, sitting around it, having a picnic, sipping their coffee, roasting their marshmallows.You stop by, you go down the car, and you ask them, "What are you doing?"Then, somebody says, "Oh, we were going to Anawim, but then, we love the signs so much that we decided to linger and stay here."You tell them, "No, this is just a sign going there!” Then they say, "Yeah, but we love it here."It was like John saying, "This is a sign. It's a great sign. It's a great miracle." How many of you like it when God answers your prayer? We love it, right?How many of you love it when there's a miracle that happens in your life? You love it, right?But what John, the Gospel writer, was saying is to not get caught up with that and to not stick around it-- because the sign points to the One whose name is Jesus, the Miracle Worker, who will bless

Talk We're walking through The Book of John. Today, there's a special treat for you because we're unpacking not just one story-- but two miracle stories. The first one is the miracle healing of that man on the waters of Bethesda, and the second one is Jesus feeding the multitude. We'll read the first one from John 5:1 “After this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, there in Jerusalem, by the sheepgate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda which has five roof colonnades. In this lay a multitude of invalids: the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. All of them were waiting for a certain movement of the water, for an angel of the Lord came from time to time and stirred up the water, and the first person to step in after the water was stirred was healed of whatever disease he had.” This is not your regular five-star hotel where you swim in the pool. This is a different water. It's a water that can heal people and they believe that whoever gets in once the water was stirred would be healed because an angel was stirring. Now, here's the story: One man who had been an invalid for 38 years was by the pool of Bethesda. Let me pause in that moment... The number 38 sounds like simply a random number-- but it's not. Why 38 Years? John is making a connection and he's pointing us to a time in the Old Testament-- to Deuteronomy 2:14-- where the Israelites themselves had to wait for 38 years to get to the Promised Land. Why? Because they were waiting for the rebels to die.* So, John was simply saying, "Look, this is the same moment that the Israelites had to wait. They were "paralyzed" just like the sick man who could not do anything for 38 years. I'm wondering right now if there's somebody here that the reason you're not receiving God's promise is there's a paralysis in your heart. There's a sin, an unforgiveness, and an unbelief that you're carrying. I want you to check your heart this week, come before the Lord, and pray: Lord, search my heart if there's anything that does not belong here. I want You to cleanse it because I want to be freed from this spiritual, emotional, and physical paralysis. *Backstory: The Israelites were descendants of Jacob who was renamed as Israel. They lived in Canaan, the land God promised to give their ancestor Abraham for his faithfulness to God. But following a severe drought in Canaan, the Israelites fled to Egypt where earlier, one of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, became governor. Some 400 years (as estimated by Biblical scholars) after Joseph’s death, the succeeding Pharoah enslaved the Israelites. God sent Moses, a prophet, to lead the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt. But they were unfaithful and rebellious, so God ordered them to wander in the desert for 38 or 40 years

TalkBRO. JOHN BEN RODRIGUEZ:We're still on our series, Come and See. This series is about breaking down the Gospel of John, verse by verse.Today, we're doing something different. I'm excited to share this with you. We will multitask in studying The Book of John. We're doing two chapters:John 3 and John Chapter 4.These two stories from Chapters 3 and 4 are parallel. The author, John, intended for us to do it this way to see and compare the difference of these two persons encountering Jesus. We meet two persons with different backgrounds here. One person has power and authority. The other person was treated with shame in society. One person was a teacher of the law, and the other person was a violator of the law.Here they are with Jesus: Nicodemus, the Pharisee (right) and the Samaritan Woman (extreme right).Sounds familiar? It's like a drama series. There is the rich and the poor. There is the protagonist and the antagonist.That's why John wrote it as a reflective literature (a critical analysis of an experience on how it impacted the reader and what one plans to do with the new knowledge). Let’s Start with the Introductions Notice that aside from differences in their backgrounds, there is a glaring difference in their encounter with the Lord.Nicodemus went to Jesus. But as for the Samaritan Woman,Jesus was the one who went to her.Nicodemus went to Jesus at night.Jesus met the Samaritan Woman at noon.Although there were many differences, there was something common between the two: They both needed Jesus.That's why they met Jesus. They encountered Jesus.I believe that we all need Jesus. I believe this because it was said that Jesus met the SamaritanWoman at noon, and He met Nicodemus at night. This means that in different seasons of our lives, we need Jesus.I don't know about you. It may be nighttime in your life right now. Everything seems dark. You're losing hope. Bills are piling up. You don't know what to do with the problems...Go to Jesus! He will meet you. The MessageMaybe, it's noon time in your life.The scorching heat of the challenges are wearing you down, causing you to sweat blood already...Jesus will meet you where you are. That's the big message of our talk today:Jesus Meets You Where You Are.We will discover why.Jesus will meet us today as we break open His Word. With that, I invite you to pray.Put your hands over your heart:"Thank You, Jesus, for this good news that You are here. Thank You for setting time to be in this place right now to reveal Your Presence and Your Love.Lord, I want to receive what You want to give me today. Make me open to receive everything You want to pour out in my life. This I ask in Your Name. Amen. Let’s raise our hands to the Word of God and sing:Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path. Three Truths about JesusToday, we will unpack three truths about Jesus

Talk REV. FR. BOB McCONAGHY: Good morning, Everyone! You came here today with certain expectations. You came here expecting to listen to Bro. Bo. You came here expecting Bro. Alvin to walk down the aisle singing a powerful song. You expect to hear the dynamic Bro. Audee and Bro. Tony come out here to preach to you. That's what you expect. Our God is a God of the unexpected. A God of surprises. Guess what? Instead of all of that talent, you got me! Now, you'll notice that I will not be giving a dynamic talk. I will not be singing. I will not be walking all over the stage. Why? Because I'm old. Today, we will be centering in on an emotion. We talked about it in the past series. That emotion is anger. What we learned in that series was that feelings are neither bad nor good-- they're just feelings. You didn't wake up today and said, "Today, I'll be angry. I'll yell at somebody." Most folks know that I'm kind of a laidback guy. I rarely yell. I'm pretty calm. That's the way I was my whole life-- until I moved here, and bought a car, and began driving along EDSA. Intellectually, I knew what road rage was, but I didn't think I was capable of road rage. That was before they had bus lanes. Driving home from doing counseling at the Greenbelt Chapel back to the seminary, I would be in a fit of rage. Somebody would beep their horn because I'm going too slow. Two buses would come together and pinch me back. And I began saying words that I didn't know I could say... Road Rage! I would wind up at the seminary seething. A seminarian would come out and say it's my turn for spiritual direction. I would have to go in for spiritual direction with this rage still within me. I knew I was going to drive just about every day on EDSA and I better do something about this because it's going to give me a second heart attack. I don't drive much anymore. Nico is my driver. He has been driving only for six months. People are cutting him off just like what happened to me but I've never seen him get upset or angry. But something tells me once he lets me off, his rage will arise. To keep calm, this is what I do. I would get in my car and start the car, and I say, "Lord, I know that on my way to Greenbelt Chapel, somebody will cut me off. There might be people going slow and I'll be tempted to beep the horn. If a bus or jeepney passes too close, I'll be tempted to go into a rage. Lord, when I'm most tempted to do that, I'm going to pray for all the people who are waiting for a non- aircon bus and realize I'm so blessed to be able to be in

TalkBRO. AUDEE VILLARAZA:How many of you are familiar with that verse that I just read? This is not the first time that you're reading it, right?You know, one thing that I love about the Word of God is that it's alive and active.You might ask me: "Bro. Audee, why is it that sometimes when I read the Word, I fall asleep?"The Bible is not the suspect. There's nothing wrong with the Word.The problem is you. Because when you don't allow the Word to seep into your heart, of course, you'll feel asleep or dead. But when you chew, and when you digest the Word of God, it's going to keep you alive, awake, and it will sustain your life.So, the goal for today is that we would not just look at the surface-level of the story, but look deep within.I'm so excited to preach this Word to you because there are lessons that I learned for the very first time-- even if I've read the story countless times.We're doing expository preaching and learning.So, we're going to look at the verses line by line and we're going to study them together. If you've got your Bible, it's a good time to bring it out.Why the Wedding at Cana? Let me pause there for a moment.Mary gets a mention in the vlog of John.Good for her because she'll gain some subscribersJBut where was Joseph in all of these?By this time, experts believe that Joseph was already dead. That explains the reason Jesus had to stay in Nazareth for 18 years. He needed to take care of His first ministry: His family.That's amazing because we see that Jesus was responsible not just as a Son of God but also as a Son of Mary.The common question that people often ask is this:Why did Jesus choose this wedding as the setting of His first miracle?Were there famous people, influencers, and vloggers at the wedding?I mean it would be different if it was the wedding of celebrities Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera (left) or Cong TV and Viy Cortez (right).Because there would be people to spread the news: #BestWeddingEver. Two ReasonsIf you did your research, you’ll note that there was nobody famous at that wedding.It was a small, intimate wedding. So, why did Jesus choose this wedding?I'll give you two reasons.First ReasonThe first one is very simple and yet so powerful.Verse 2 gives us the answer>How can Jesus do the miracle if He's not invited?Some of you pray for a miracle from the Lord but you never invite Him to your life. Am I right?You'll be shocked by this: God will show up in places that you invite Him to.It doesn't even need to be a significant event. You don't even need to be in church.Today is Sunday. Tomorrow is Monday and you'll go to work.If you're traveling in your car or you commute, you say, "Lord, this is my chapel."You know what God is going to do? He's going to turn your travel into

Talk BRO. BO SANCHEZ:I'd like to call on the guy who will help me preach this. I've known this guy for 24 years. Before he was born, I already knew him.Please welcome, my son, Bene.This is the first time we're doing this. This is history. We'll not talk about coffee or dinosaurs. We will talk about John 1. Let's do it. Let's dive in.BRO. BENE SANCHEZ: John 1 opens with such a monumental first verse John 1 says, "In the beginning..."Do you know of any other book in the Bible that has the same opening? You're right: Genesis.So, what does it mean that John opens with the very same line that the entire Bible opens with?BRO. BO: This is very bold for him to do that. He was telling everybody that if Genesis was about Creation, his Gospel was about New Creation. BRO. BENE: That's right. So, whatever John is going to be about, it's going to be as important as the Book of Genesis. Whatever the story is going to be about, it's going to be about New Creation. Same Words, Different Perspectives BRO. BENE: "In the beginning was the Word..."What's the Word? Who’s the Word? What’s interesting about the Gospel of John is that it opens with the same words as Genesis 1: "In the beginning, there was God. He created the heavens and the earth."But in John's version, it's "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God."I'm just going to give you a spoiler. John is talking about Jesus. But the way that John likes to tell a story, he wants to draw you in. He's almost written this part of his Gospel like a song where there are verses and chorus.He's an artist, right? He's drawing us in and he's saving the big reveal that thisWord there in the beginning is Jesus--at the very end, right?At first, John sets up the scene: "In the beginning, there was a Word, who was God, and is God."If you're already kind of confused, this is just the first verse. The way to look at it is to imagine you're watching a movie.Have you seen behind-the-scenes clips of Avengers? You find out that the characters are not actually on some other planet. They're in a big sound stage with a green or blue screen. There are lots of people with cameras and various assistants.What we see in the movie is the edited version.But when you search on Google or YouTube, you will see behind-the-scenes clips with the crew and how everything is being set up.This is what I love about the Gospel of John. It's almost as if retelling Genesis from a behind-the-scenes point of view.BRO. BO: So, Genesis 1 and John are about the same story.BRO. BENE: The same story but from a different perspective, from a different camera angle. Isn't that cool? God’s Word BRO. BO: Genesis 1 only showed God creating the universe. John 1 was about the same thing but