Talk
INTRODUCTION BRO. BO SANCHEZ:
Give the Lord a big hand, Everybody. God is here. God is in our midst. Thank You, Father.
I want you to give each other a big hug or a big Hi-5, and just tell that person: “God is here. God is here.”
So, good. Amen. We need to give a big hand to our Worship team. Thank you so much, guys.
Amazing. So beautiful. And yes, as Fr. Mark said, hundreds of people serve us every Sunday.
And whether they be here in Worship, or whether they be the ushers or members of the Warmth Ministry, or the Security, or the people taking care of our kids, the Awesome Kids Ministry– let’s give them another big hand.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
The Dreamer
How many of you believe that God made you a dreamer? You are a dreamer. He designed you to dream. Raise your hand if you believe in that.
You see, we are made in God’s image and likeness. Therefore, if you are a dreamer, I have a suspicion that God is a dreamer. What do you think?
Is God a dreamer? He dreams. He has a vision for you. He sees your future.
And he sees it to be good. Do you believe in that? That your future is good?
God has a dream for your life.
Oh, believe in that. That is so good.
Now, there’s something I need you to know. You know, that’s how I sign my letters– most of them, by the way, 90% of the time.
I say, May your dreams come true.
There are two kinds of dreams. There are small dreams and then there are big dreams.
When I was a small boy, 10 years old, I had a favorite TV show: Voltes V. Now those of you my age, you know that. Voltes V is a robot — five connected spaceships. I’d even memorized the theme song…
Tatoe arashi ga hukou tomo…(Though the storm should blow…) Never mind
And I wanted to have my own Voltes V robot. My problem was it was incredibly expensive.
And I couldn’t buy it, of course.
But then my classmate, he was a rich kid. One day, he came to class, and he had in his bag a Voltes V robot.
And my classmates, I mean, we were just so awed.
We were worshipping that thing and we said, “Oh, my gosh, there it was!”
Dreams: Voltes V… Mercedes Benz
And then, the years went by, I grew up…
One day, my wife Marowe and I were in Japan, walking on the streets. And on one of those streets, we saw in one of the stores a Voltes V robot.
And my wife said, “You have the money now, Bo. Buy it.”
We went in, we looked at it… Oooh, aaah, made of steel! Wonderful!
The five spaceships connect to one big robot. Oh, amazing… “I won’t buy it,” I said.
And my wife said, “Wwwhy?”
She was insisting, “You know, you have the money. Yes, it’s expensive but now you’ve got the money. Buy it! It was a dream– the dream you’ve had ever since you were a kid. You couldn’t buy it before. You can buy it now. Buy it!”
“No.”
“Why?”
“What will I do with it? I’d put it in my house. Display it. It will just gather dust… No!”
You know, there are times I realize this: That what you want now, you might not want it in the future. Yes, or no? Because what you want now, you realize later on… you’ve grown up. And when you grow up, your dreams change.
Some of our dreams are small. We think they’re big, but actually, they’re small — in the bigger scheme of things. And now, I don’t want it. I would rather spend my money elsewhere. Like bringing my family to a meal, or bringing my friends on a trip, and we enjoy together, and we laugh together. These are my values now.
These are my priorities now.
I learned this from my first mentor, my father Gene. You see, he loved cars. And he became an executive of the biggest company at that time. And so, they would give him a car, a brand-new car every four years. And he loved that car. And then the next four years, they would give him another car. And it was brand-new. He would clean his car. He really liked cars.
Then, he retired. No more brand-new cars.
But he still had a dream: a Mercedes Benz.
He wanted to own one. It was his lifelong dream.
Then a friend of ours came and he said, “Bro. Gene, I know that it is your lifelong dream to have a car. A Mercedes Benz. Buy mine. “
So, he was selling his Benz to my Dad. And then my Mom approached me and whispered, “Oh, no… Oh, no… Your Dad is going to buy a Benz… Isn’t that expensive to maintain?”
Dreams: Benz and LOJ
Dad had the money to buy that Benz. And he looked and sat in the car on the seat, he tried it out, he got out of the car, closed the door…
And he said to his friend, “Thank you very much. I won’t take it.”
When I became an entrepreneur and I had the money to buy a Benz for my dad… My dad was already in Heaven.
And it was this regret: “I wish I should have been an entrepreneur earlier…
Then I would have been able to have that money…”
Children, would you want to fulfill the dreams of your father and mother?
Would you want to do that? Wouldn’t that be sweet?
Yet, that was my regret. I said, “Sayang– Too bad. I wish I was the one who should have bought a Benz for my father.”
But too late.
I went to prayer. I brought that before the Lord and I sensed the Lord speak to my heart: “Ano ka ba?
Hey, what your dad is driving now is a spaceship.”
Do you know why my Dad did not buy that Benz? At that time, he was already serving the Lord. He was giving his life to God.
He was very active in the Ministry. He would rather spend his money on Ministry. The Light of Jesus Community was very, very small. The Feast was small. But he was so active in that and he would rather spend for that than for a Benz.
I learned what it meant to have small dreams and big dreams from my Dad.
My Dad knew the difference. Yes, he liked that Benz but he was not attached to it. It was a small dream. His bigger dream was to serve the Lord and use his money for the Ministry.
I need to say this to you. Parents, do not pass on your small dreams to your children. You want your son to be an engineer. You want your daughter to be a doctor. Don’t pass your dreams to your children. Pass on the big dreams.
I told my sons: “I have only one dream for both of you: that you serve God.” That’s it. My big dream.
No small dreams. Big dreams. Amen.
And the Big Dream
So, I have only one message for you. We’re going to be talking about
Fulfillment. Philip Sumera will be giving the talk.
I just need to say this to you. Be honest with me. You want stuff. You want some things. Even not stuff. You have dreams for your life and for your future– whether it be a job, whether it be a relationship, whatever…
May I announce this: All of those are small dreams. Do not be attached to them.
Be attached only to your big dream– which is to love God and to serve God.
Amen.
Am I saying your small dreams will not happen? I’m not saying that.
All I’m saying is don’t be attached to them. Be attached to your big dream.
Actually, don’t be attached to your big dream. Be attached to the Dreamer who gave you life and who gave you your big dream.
Extend your hand …
Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path.
I need to greet all those who graduated from our Jesus Encounter yesterday– about a hundred of you. I just want to say thank you. I hope that next time those of you who did not join, you come and join us in our Jesus Encounter– it’s a whole day where the purpose is yes, to encounter Jesus.
BRO. PHILIP SUMERA:
Excerpts:
In today’s talk, we will try to answer the question:
I believe that God wants us to live our life to the fullest.
When I prayed for a Word for this talk, the Holy Spirit led me to John 10:10.
And our Gospel today happens to be John 10: 11-18! I don’t know about you, but I believe God has an agenda today and His agenda is you.
Let’s go to our Word:
The thief does not want you to prosper in life. He does not want you to become the person that God has planned you to be. I realized that a thief would not come into an empty house. A thief would not come into a house with stuff of no real value. It only means that the thief is targeting you because there is something precious within you…
The enemy has no power against God. So, what will he do? He will hurt God by hurting the people whom God loves — and that’s us. That’s what the thief wants to rob from us — that love, connection, and faith. The thief does not want you to listen to the promises of Jesus.
The Good News is that the Good Shepherd is with us, journeying with us, and caring for us. The Good Shepherd knows His sheep and His sheep knows His voice.
We know the voice of the Lord. That’s why we can come here at The Feast every Sunday despite the hardships of life.
I just had done my grocery shopping, and I was shocked by my bill.
Life is difficult but we have the confidence to stand here and raise our hands when we worship Him because we know the voice of God.
That voice is telling us: “I got you. You’re my child. You’re my beloved.
I’m here for you. I’m taking care of you. I’m going to leave the 99 sheep for you.” That’s why we have the confidence to worship Him, love Him, and say:
“I am here, Lord. It’s difficult but I believe in you.” We can declare that indeed, the best is yet to come.
My beloved Friends, believe me when I say that when things are not yet good, then God is not yet done. You just need to listen to that voice. You just need to be with the Good Shepherd.
Two Mothers and Some Gossips
I have a story about two mothers and about Mariteses (slang for gossips, stemming from what they usually say when they want to know the latest gossip: “Mare, ano ang latest?– Friend, what is the latest?)
The first mom is hardworking. She wakes up early to prepare the household before she leaves for work.
One day, while she was on the way to her car in a parking lot to leave for work, a bunch of Mariteses saw her.
They started mumbling, “Money is her top priority.
She has no time for her family!”
On the other side of the parking lot is the second mom, a housewife, playing with her children.
When the kids got tired, they dozed off. This mother would then start cleaning the house and preparing food for the family.
This time, the Mariteses remarked, “She doesn’t work and only stays at home. I pity her husband!”
What the Mariteses do not know is that the housewife had a dream and that was to work and even go abroad. But she set aside her dream for a bigger purpose.
On the other hand, the working mom desires to spend quality time with the kids but she also worries about the future–so she works hard to provide for the kids.
Question: Who do you think has the more fulfilling life? The housewife or the working mom?
Friends, the answer is both. My definition of a fulfilled life is living a life with deep meaning.
Our one big message today is God wants you to live life to the fullest.
Two Traps Against a Fulfilled Life
The meaning of living a full life is not the same with everybody. What we find fulfilling differs from others because it’s based on values, beliefs, and satisfaction.
Whenever my wife Sally watches a Korean Drama on television, she feels a sense of fulfillment. She still gets romantically excited even if she has seen that drama 10 times already. Sometimes, she would ask me to join her and I would
reluctantly comply. In that area, I think I need more mentoring from Bro. Bo (who earlier said he also watches K-Drama with his wife Sis. Marowe)J
But whenever I watch X-Men ’97, NBA, and action movies, I get thrilled!
Whenever I ask my wife to join me, she gladly declines and says, “I leave you in peace.”
We have different definitions of living a fulfilled life.
Two traps against getting to that fulfilled life– two Cs:
1. Comparing. You can’t live your life to the fullest if your attention is focused on what other people are achieving — for all that you will feel is envy, jealousy. All that you will recognize is what you’re lacking.
Know that God has plans for you.
2. Controlling. One day, I was coaching a college student. She told me that she doesn’t like the course she is taking now. She preferred Marketing but her parents told her to take up Nursing. Since her parents would pay for her tuition, she didn’t have a choice. Her parents believe that she can earn more money if she becomes a nurse and that she can even work abroad.
Parents, a fulfilled life is different for everyone– even within the family. I understand the situation of the parents because I am now a parent myself. We want only what’s best for our children. But then again, their definition of a fulfilled life may be different from ours.
Why is it that we need to pursue this fulfilled life? Because soon, we will all die.
There was one priest who said in his homily, “Some of us think we have enough time– but we don’t have much time.”
One day, I was reading an article about a doctor who normally gives first aid to patients in an ambulance car.
The doctor said that patients who are in a 50/50 condition would normally ask: “Did I live a fulfilling life? Have I loved enough?”
The 5 Ps to a Fulfilled Life
There are a lot of burdens in life that I don’t want to have such as sickness, worries, misunderstandings, and stress. But most of all, I don’t want regrets.
That’s why all the more I want to live my life to the fullest.
So, how? How do we live a full life? Let’s look at the 5 Ps to a Full life:
1. Passion. My task as a Feast Builder is not easy. I must attend to my family but at the same time, I have to attend to my flock.
One day, I was invited to give a talk in Baguio City. I needed to lead a recollection consecutively for nine days. It was challenging. It was tiring.
But at the end of the day, I was happy. That’s passion.
Put your heart into what you do. You do not know who is watching you. You do not know the impact of your influence.
2. Personal Growth. Joseph the Dreamer* had a hard life. He was betrayed by his siblings. He was sold to become a slave. He was even jailed. But long story short, Joseph the Dreamer ended up as the Pharaoh’s second-in-command officer.
Why? Because he never complained about the hardships he went through.
Personal growth is embracing every scenario– even the hard ones– in life as an opportunity for growth. In every difficulty, seek what you can learn from it.
Personal growth is important for self-discovery, confidence, and resiliency. Let’s check ourselves. Are we growing or are we complaining?
*Editor’s Note: Joseph comes from the line of Abraham, the father of all nations. Abraham’s son, Isaac, had a son, Jacob, who had 12 sons– one of whom was Joseph. Jacob favored Joseph because he seemed to do the right thing– and, more important, for the right reason. So, his brothers were jealous of him, especially when their father gave Joseph a colored cloak.
Moreover, Joseph had a gift: He could interpret dreams with the help of God. And one of his dreams was that his brothers would one day bow to him. Irked, they sold him to slavery in Egypt. In Egypt, his master was Potiphar, the captain of the Egyptian Pharoah’s guards, said to be the one who purchased Joseph. — Genesis 37: 5-10
3. Positive Relationships. Joseph the Dreamer was seduced by the wife of Potiphar– his
But Joseph was so committed and loyal to Potiphar that he rejected the wife’s advances. Embarrassed, the wife lied to Potiphar, accusing Joseph of taking advantage of her.
As a result, Potiphar put Joseph behind bars. But while in jail, he formed connections with everyone there. Something like a version of our Feast Light Group.
Also, focused on maintaining harmonious relationships, Joseph forgave his brothers.
Later, Joseph interpreted a dream of the Pharoah, predicting famine in the country.
And so, the Pharoah appointed him governor in preparation for the famine.
How To Forgive
I just have to tell this story…
One day, I was invited to lead a retreat for senior high school students.
But here’s the catch: the school admin told me: “Bro. Lep, not all students are Catholic. Please don’t talk that much about Jesus.”
I was startled because whenever I conduct retreats, the highlight of my talk is always Jesus.
So, I prayed about it and I came up with a plan to not talk about Jesus but to introduce Jesus by talking about forgiveness and about loving others.
During the retreat, I never said the name of Jesus but my talk was all pointing to Him. After the Ministry time, everyone was crying.
Suddenly, a beautiful girl approached me and said, “Bro. Lep, I am curious.
How do you truly forgive?”
I had a one-on-one session with her and I learned of her story. She confessed that she was sexually molested by her grandfather. My heart was broken not only because of what she went through but also because she was asking about forgiveness despite what she went through. She said that her grandfather was already old and that she wanted him to still have a fulfilled life despite what happened. That’s grace.
What’s more amazing was that she was one of the non-Catholic students.
4. Purpose. When the Pharaoh entrusted Joseph with the huge role of leading the entire kingdom, Joseph did it with dedication because he had a purpose.
Purpose provides direction. It gives you meaning and a sense of significance.
If you’re still struggling to know your purpose, you just need to copy Christ.
At the end of the day, our purpose is just to love. Start with those nearest to you.
5. Present.Being fully mindful in the moment. I’m sure that if we were in the shoes of Joseph, all that we would do is complain.
But Joseph didn’t complain.
In the heat of the moment, he was enduring, fighting, coping, praying, and finding ways. He was present.
Life is hard but don’t overthink. Stay in the present.
Fight battles one day at a time.
Joseph was able to cope, endure, and even outlast the challenges because of another Presence — the Presence of God.
God was present when he was in the pit, when he was in the house of Potiphar, and when he was in jail.
Instead of the name of Joseph, put your name:
For God desires a fulfilled life for .
Among the Seven Last Words of Jesus on the Cross, my favorite is: “It is finished.”
It signifies victory over sin and death.
But Jesus has a personal message for me through that last word.
Let me be vulnerable to you, Friends. After the Coronavirus Disease (COVID)
Pandemic, my wife and I decided to bring our son, Migs, to a developmental pediatrician. We were then told that Migs needed to undergo some therapies such as occupational therapy and speech therapy.
They’re expensive but for our son, we would do it.
In October 2023, my son was diagnosed with a social communication disorder.
In medical studies, this is something new. My son soon got a label. As a father, I was in denial. But I took the posture of humility because I was talking to an expert and maybe God was speaking to me through this person.
When we got home, I just embraced my son. I was in tears. I’m a life coach and labels for me are very important.
I said to my son, “I rebuke this label. This is only temporary. Daddy will do his best for you no matter how expensive the treatments are. Your Mom and I will be with you on this journey.”
I am worried. My son is only four years old. I want him to have a fulfilled life.
That’s my prayer every day. In my prayers, I am crying, begging, and asking.
But God has spoken this to my heart: “I honor you for loving your son but don’t forget, I love your son more. If you desire a beautiful life for your son, hey,
I’m already there. I’m already working on it.”
Now, my son has made a lot of progress. He is doing well.
Your burden is only temporary because the God that we worship desires a life with meaning for you, a beautiful life, a life of abundance, a fulfilled life for you.
You need to believe it. God already did something about it.
Look at the Cross. It will take you to your fulfilled life. It is finished.
