TFSMM Bulletin | Fullness Talk 2

January 26, 2018
THE MIDDLE CHILD
PROBLEM
Are you the middle child
of your family? I am. At first, I
felt that middle children tend
to compete with their siblings.
I thought that the favorite of
my mom was the eldest and
the favorite of my Dad was
the youngest. So, I asked, “how
about me? Who wants me?
Who likes me? Who loves
me?”
I remember one day, when
my sister advised her class
adviser that she wouldn’t be
able to come to class because of
fever, I insisted that my mom
should call my class adviser
as well to tell her that I also
wouldn’t be able to come to
class. When my father bought
a new toy for our youngest
sibling, I immediately threw
myself on the floor, rolled
from one side to another and
threatened my Dad that I
wouldn’t stop rolling on the
floor until he also bought me
what I wanted. (I am sure my
Dad was happy, for I really
cleaned our floor. No need to
sweep the floor.)
I realized that all of those
were about selfishness, but not
because of a situation called
middle child problem. My
parents had no favoritism, but
because of my selfish attitude,
I judged them of loving my
siblings more than me. Because
I was selfish, it became difficult
for me to see my blessings. I
only saw what I wanted to see.
It seemed like I had my own
negative blinkers in my eyes.
When I started to love
myself, and choose to have a
grateful heart, that was the
time when I removed my
blinkers, and opened up my
eyes and heart to find out that I
have always been loved. When
I started to become selfless, I
started to enjoy every moment
with my siblings. Competition
was replaced by compassion.
I stopped being envious and
started being happy. Every
embrace now comes with grace.
Be mightily blessed,
Kuya Lep Sumera
The Feast SM Manila
Yes, I splurge on luxury
designer bags and shoes every so
often. And yes, I “splurge” as well
on my generosity to the Church
and to people in need.
Loving yourself and loving
others are not mutually exclusive.
I believe that my attitude of
selflessness and generosity
developed from my conviction to
reward myself for the hard work
January 26, 2018
that I’ve committed myself to
do. There is a natural progression
from “self-love” to “love-forothers”.
PRAISEcription: Treat yourself
at least once a week.
Be well and make a difference,
RYAN B. CAPITULO, MD
The Feast SM Manila, MD
Feast Declaration of Abundance
Today, I receive all of God’s love for me.
Today, I open myself to the unbounded, limitless,
overflowing abundance of God’s universe.
Today, I open myself to God’s blessings,
healing, and miracles.
Today, I open myself to God’s Word so I would become more
like Jesus every day.
Today, I proclaim that I am God’s beloved,
I am God’s servant, I am God’s powerful champion.
And because I am blessed, I am blessing the world,
in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Personal Reflection and Group Discussion
Which do you need to work on more – self-love
or selflessness? How?
THERE IS
NO CONFLICT
Selfishness and selflessness
are polar opposites.
Some people think selflove
is equal to selfishness
so they think self-love is the
enemy of selflessness.
I made that mistake before.
It made my life hell. And
made other people around me
experience hell, too, because
I taught them my wrong
paradigm.
From my experience of
trying to follow Jesus for
almost 40 years, I now believe
that self-love is essential
to selflessness. You can’t be
selfless without self-love.
I believe self-love is the
foundation of selflessness.
That’s the exciting and
powerful message we’re going
to talk about today.
Have an awesome Feast.
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez
FULLNESS
How to Begin with the And in Mind
Talk 2: Self-Love AND Selflessness
Psalm 139:17-18
How precious to me are your thoughts,
O God! How vast is the sum of them! If
I would count them, they are more than
the sand. I awake, and I am still with
you.
Psalm 8:3-5
When I look at your heavens, the work
of your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place, what is man
that you are mindful of him, and the son
of man that you care for him? Yet you
have made him a little lower than the
heavenly beings and crowned him with
glory and honor.
1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are God’s
temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in
you?
Mark 12:31
The second is this: ‘You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other
commandment greater than these.”
Matthew 16:24
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If
anyone wishes to come after Me, he
must deny himself, and take up his cross
and follow Me.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; and it
is no longer I who live, but Christ lives
in me; and [a]the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave Himself up
for me.

LAST FEAST:
FULLNESS TALK 1: GRATITUDE AND GOALS
Connect to the One Who Called
by Vetina Segovia
Fr. Joel Rescober said last Friday that we
should not disconnect our life to the One who
called us so that He may help us sustain our
call and become faithful to our calling.
“God is continuously calling us. Kapag
tinatawag tayo, mag-respond tayo. Nawawala
lang naman ‘yung ating pagsunod sa tawag
kapag nadi-disconnect tayo,” he mentioned
in his homily during the celebration of the
holy mass at The Feast SM Manila, SM City
Manila Cinema 4.
As the Gospel tells about Christ’s naming
and calling of His apostles, the mass celebrant
stated that this, however, was no ordinary call
or invitation because the summoning of the
twelve apostles entailed great responsibilities.
Though their mission simply began with an
invitation, it meant sharing with the mission of
Jesus, Himself.
“A calling comes in many forms and ways.
God meets us in the situation where we are,
and where we are right now and what we do is
our calling,” he mentioned. Fr. Joel explained
further by saying that what we need to do is to
just offer what we are doing to God and give it
up for His greater glory.
He concluded his homily by encouraging
everyone to be not afraid of responding
to God’s call because even though we are
unqualified, God equips and qualifies us when
He calls.
In Everything, Be with God
by Kareen Rodriguez
During their respective sessions last Friday,
The Feast SM Manila leaders, Bro. Philip
Sumera and Dr. Ryan Capitulo, encouraged
everyone to set goals in life and to return with
gratitude to God by making Jesus the center of
our lives.
“Kapatid, ‘wag mong balikan ‘yung mga
pangit na nangyari sayo. ‘Wag mong balikan na
nasaktan ka ng taong ‘yon,” stated Bro. Philip
during the first and second sessions for the
Talk 1, Goals and Gratitude, of The Feast SM
Manila’s new series, Fullness: How to Begin
with “and” in Life, at SM City Manila Cinema
4. He reminded everyone to always go back to
our God wherever we are and no matter what
we have gone through.
The preacher revealed that when our goals
and gratitude do not match, the imbalances
between the two – having goals without
gratitude, and having gratitude without
goals – may hinder us from experiencing
real happiness. He emphasized that having
goals alone without gratitude would make
us fail to realize that God is already blessing
us. He further added that we must enjoy and
be grateful of each journey because God’s
blessings may come not only in the end but
also at the beginning and during the ‘in
betweens.’
As for the second imbalance between goal
and gratitude, the first and second session
preacher reminded that we must take action
and must never give up in achieving our goals
for it not to be wasted.
“Di naman ibig sabihin na if you’re
beginning as a hurting person, ang ending
mo ay hurting na. Your beginning is not your
ending. You can change your ending,” said Bro.
Philip.
Delivering the same message during The
Feast SM Manila M.D. session, Doc Ryan said
that as we make Jesus the focus of our lives, He
harmonizes our goals and gratitude for us to
succeed and be truly happy.
To emphasize how important having goals
in life is, the M.D. session leader revealed, “We
need a little stress in our lives – to push us to
do good, to push us to be excellent. We need to
have dreams. We need to achieve our dreams
because we were designed to dream. We were
designed to work for our goals and to live our
purpose.”
He also said that because God is a God of
purpose, that He has dreams for us and that
He gave us the ability to dream, we must have
dreams and goals, otherwise, we die inside as
we lose any hope for happiness in the future.
Encouraging gratefulness to God, Doc
Ryan concluded his talk by sharing how
he expresses gratitude to Him – through
connecting to Him in prayers, in generosity,
and in giving his best in everything he does.

While I was searching for a God to
love, I have to admit that it was not easy. I
struggled a lot especially in praying every
day and keeping a journal for the Lord.
Time was ( and always has been) my
mortal enemy. I was too busy and too tired
for the King of all nations, that I took His
grace for granted.
Despite taking the other side of the
road, I still considered myself a Godfearing
woman. People close to me would
always remind me how God loves me and
God always sends miracles. I kept that in
my heart, but deep inside, I know that I
desired more than that.
In 2016, I felt two kinds of pain; the
pain of being in an unhealthy friendship
and the pain of falling in love with a player.
These two relationships pulled me away
from the Lord despite my brokenness. It
was more of being ashamed than angry to
God. I was a bad daughter, I took Him for
granted. I thought I deserved my pain.
A Grateful Heart
by Alyssa Marie G, Ilagan
I glorified pain. I could not take things
light due to my unnecessary thoughts
of being not good enough, over-acting,
uptight, too conservative, overstated,
people-pleaser, childlike, not pretty enough,
not worthy of God’s love, and the list goes
on. The pain stayed until 2017.
I was searching for a God to love, but I
was glorifying pain.
As the search went on, my sister took
me to The Feast SM Manila. Then, I
realized that the God I was searching was
just inside me, waiting for me to come back
and His name is Jesus.
In a spark, my 2017 highlights flashed
in my head. God granted His promise and
I graduated with honors. I was hired in less
than a month. I joined The Feast Manila’s
iGen squad and met different people who
choose to love me as well, and through the
ministry, I now have the chance to write
and share my story to you. It all happened
so fast, as if God has always wanted me to
be here.
Pain demands to be felt, for it teaches
us things. Pain taught me humility,
acceptance of oneself and love. I converted
my pain into love. I loved my family and
friends and other people more. I loved
myself more. I am less afraid to face that I
am not perfect. And more than anything
else, I now feel grateful for what I have
because these are all from Jesus.
I now look at the clouds and say, “Wow,
Lord! Nice view. Thank You. I love You.”
I used to think that happiness could
be compared to a thin ice, wonderful, but
easily melts. My friends, let us think of
abundance in Jesus.
Live is best-lived with a grateful heart.
Life is not always easy, but life in Christ is
always worth it.
The FEAST SM Manila Bulletin, published by the Light of Jesus Family, is distributed during The Feast SM Manila, a weekly prayer gathering of the Light of Jesus held at the Cinema 4 of SM City Manila,
every Friday, 3:00 p.m., 5:30 p.m., and 8:00 p.m. The FEAST holds office at The Lighthouse, 60 Chicago St., Cubao, Quezon City, with telephone numbers 725-9999.
Contact us thru www.lightfam.com.