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IN
THIS ISSUE:
From the Head Servant
by Bro.
Pete Lapid
SPECIAL FEATURE:
Messages
By Bro. Bo Sanchez
Our Faith
By
Fr. KJ Veeger, MSC
Surabaya Corner
By Ramon Martillano
Place of Refuge
By
Philip Yuson
Sharing
By
Fred and Beth Manibog
Here's
the Latest
By
Tintin Magbitang
Sharing
By Carolle Bautista
God
Answers Prayers
By
Beth Manibog
The Children's Ministry
By Tintin Magbitang
Sharing
By Nenette Dizon
Saint for the Month
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Catholic
Links
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- PROFILE
OF THE
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GENESIS
CATHOLIC COMMUNITY
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SURABAYA CORNER
 
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On October 15, 2002,
Fr. Bart Pastor, a Filipino charismatic priest was invited by an
Indonesian community to give a talk in Surabaya. Some of our brothers
and sisters were able to listen to his talk held at the Surabaya
Sports Center (GOR-Surabaya). I would like to share with you some of
the more important points of his talk entitled,
“Be Purified as Gold.”
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He compared our spiritual purification to the
refinement of gold or silver. Accordingly, the gold or silver is
purified by a process called electrolysis or chlorination by using
acids to remove the impurities and then heating and melting it into
blocks of gold.
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How then do you purify the human heart in order to
convert a heart of stone to a natural heart of flesh? (Ezekiel 36:26).
By letting the fire of the Holy Spirit of love melt it, mold it and
fill it through (1) sincere repentance and (2) deep faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
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According to Fr. Bart, true repentance is not just
being sorry and asking forgiveness for this or that sin but is really
rejecting and dying to our old selves and embracing and arising to a
new life because of being touched by the fire of God’s love. Moreover,
he emphasized that genuine repentance means a new orientation of our
lives to Jesus Christ, a 180-degree about face – a change of direction
towards Jesus Christ. Therefore, a new set of values, attitudes,
behavior, relationships and lifestyle to be embraced. A genuinely
repentant person literally becomes a new person who is “born” into a
new life in Christ – hence a new creation of grace by the Holy Spirit.
Thus a radical change of values would ensue such as: from greedy
possessiveness to generous sharing of money and possessions; from
pride of prestige, positions, and privileges to smallness and humility
of heart and from the power to dominate to the power to serve others.
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On the other hand, Fr. Bart mentioned three kinds of
faith: (a) Faith of the head, “I believe in God the Father, Son and
the Holy Spirit” (b) faith of the heart, “I trust God fully and with
all my heart because God cares, God knows and God can.” and (c) faith
of the hands, “I wholeheartedly surrender myself in the hands of the
Lord.” He emphasized that all three are necessary in order to be
purified completely into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Then a few weeks ago after I prayed for the grace of
the Holy Spirit to continuously purify us from our sins, my wife later
shared to me that she sensed the Lord “telling” her that the grace of
the Lord is already and will always be with us. And it is just a
matter of allowing that grace to be operative in our lives. A few days
later, a sister shared an article which emphasized that the
purification process should be balanced - purification of the inside
and the outside has to be simultaneous – through faith and good works.
Jesus said in the Gospel: “The inside and the outside of the cup.
Both need to be clean!”
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I truly believe that the Lord wanted me to share these
blessings to our brothers and sisters in the community especially on
the occasion of the Genesis Catholic Community’s 7th anniversary.
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Therefore, on behalf of the Genesis –Surabaya,
congratulations on your 7th anniversary and we pray that the good Lord
will continue to bless each and everyone of us, as we set a new
direction, a new beginning and as we aspire and struggle each day of
our lives to be purified as gold, through the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Glory to God in the highest! Alleluia, Amen!!!
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- - Bro.
Ramon is Genesis Surabaya’s Head Servant
For comments, suggestions or ideas,
Write us: Jl. Bacang No. 20 Kebayoran
Baru, Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia
Call us: (6221) 720-3824
Fax us: (6221) 662-7384
Genesis
Catholic Community - All Rights Reserved 2002
No part of this website may be copied, reproduced or modified without
the permission from the webmaster.
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