(Worship) The Feast

I believe 2013 was a defining year for Love and myself.  She experienced a big life change and I was getting from low point to low point one after the other.  It seemed that the life I was living was immature and incomplete so I was trying to reconnect spiritually.  Then came Love. 

I remember the first time Love and I went to mass together, we went out on a Sunday (it was a friendly date) and she invited me to join her in celebrating the mass in the chapel at Greenbelt.  Hearing mass and having her beside me felt right and I believe it was God who led us there through our experiences.  It was God's perfect timing, any other time before that would've not been successful.

It was also a Sunday when we officially became a couple and we attended our first Catholic prayer gathering.  It's called "The Feast" and is led by Bro. Bo Sanchez. The main Feast we attend during Sundays is at the PICC and runs for 2 hours per session, 1 hour for the traditional mass and 1 hour for the talk.  

Here's the schedule:

Since then, we attend The Feast as much as possible and here's why:

1. The priests leading the traditional mass are great.  My favorite is Fr. Bob McConaghy, and recently Fr. Erick Santos.  The former is deep and the latter is funny.
2. The talks deal with modern and practical topics on how to handle relationships, work, money, time and even stress and health while still being centered in worship.
3. It's well organized.
4. The music is nice.  They have a five to six person choir and a full band, although I'd like it if they sang famous church songs also.  (The best music I've experienced was in the 4:00pm session with Bro. Alvin)
5. Great lay preachers.  They're called the Feast Builders and it's not just Bro. Bo, George and Alvin, there are more great speakers gracing the stage from time to time like J.C. Libiran and Arun Gogna (Feast Builders in other Feasts besides PICC)
6. The community is great.  They have different ministries to join and they conduct focus groups after the celebration.
7. The Love offering we give is being used effectively in great charitable causes, like Bro. Bo's home for the abandoned elderly, orphanage and also his center for pregnant women in crisis.

Some articles I've read states that now's a great time to be Catholic.  This is mostly because we have a great Pope now in Pope Francis.   It's not just that, we also have gatherings like The Feast where we can worship, learn and be entertained at the same time.  They also inspire us to love others and be a blessing to the less fortunate.  I also believe that a relationship needs a spiritual component to succeed.