Welcome, Patty!

The year has already gone mid-way and the web looks back at the first 6 months with gratitude for the Lord’s continuous guidance, the perseverance of our staff, the support we receive from our readers, the networking that has been developed, and the growing number of our writers for God-speak.

Last month, we read in God-speak the reflections by Tita Rose Markell. We thank her for sharing her thoughts and experiences via her articles and look forward to receive and read more write-ups from her in the future.

As July ushers in a new leader in the Philippines, so is this month opening its doors to a new God-speaker in the person of Patty De la Rosa-Paat. Patty began contributing articles to us since 2007 when she was invited to take part in the web’s Advent special, The Nine Gifts. I must say that this special as well as The Seven Last Words, have been spring boards for recruitment!

By 2008, she was appointed as a Researcher for the web. Most of her work can be found in the Ano Yun? sub-section. Having taken her experience there on board, she has accepted the challenge to be part of God-speak.

Welcome to God-speak, Patty! Wishing you God’s blessings on your role this month and always.

We would welcome more volunteers to join us in our apostolate. God’s vineyard is so huge. The more workers the better!

God bless.


Piet

Welcome, Tita Rose!

It's almost June and in that month, we remember in particular all the lay faithful who are involved in the various ministries in the Church.

When I started serving in a parish many years ago, one of the lay persons that won my admiration was Tita Rose Guevarra Markell. A beauty in her own right, she was a lector in one of the many Sunday Masses in Gagalangin. Apart from that she was an active member and later Regent of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate which my late grandmother Pilar founded. Tita Rose was also involved in the Lions Clubs International; she is the Chartered President of Gagalangin Lions Club. I got to know more about her through my brother Giovanni whose high school classmate RJ is Tita Rose's youngest son.

Tita Rose is like a mom to me and I'm very glad that she has accepted our invitation to be part of the God-speak team. We appreciate her contribution and look forward to a fruitful collaboration with her.

We are indeed growing in numbers and are open to more volunteers. If you have the talent, please share it!

Looking forward to hear from you!

God bless!


Pietro S. Albano
Editor-in-Chief

Thank God it's Holy Week!

Hello everyone!

Please allow me to start this message by inviting you all to walk with us as we take that spiritually satisfying journey with Christ this Holy week and Easter. The spiritual journey includes meaningful reflections from our several invited guest priests through our special feature, The Seven Last Words; personal reflections from our writers in God-speak and other readings and videos related to Holy Week. May you encounter Christ and grow in Him as we go through this journey together, with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Holy Week might be the busiest time for the Church with the most meaningful events as we relive Jesus sufferings and victory over death. I remember how we in Anluwage, way back in the 1990s, are working double time to lead and participate in the different Holy Week activities while trying to renew and recharge our faith with the Lord. We have held street Senakulo, done visita iglesia on foot, participated in "Pabasa", Stations of the Cross, "Salubong", and many more. Indeed, Holy Week is filled with soul saving activities. It is the time fully dedicated to our Lord, to purify our souls and to strengthen our faith. It offers a lot of opportunities for us to reunite with the Lord, to repent and be renewed, to further strengthen our connection with Him and to savor the so many blessings we have received and are continuously receiving from Him.

Let us grab that chance to walk with Jesus this Holy Week and with Him, celebrate Easter, His victory, which won us the eternal life in heaven! And as we honor the gifts of Easter, may Jesus resurrect and reign in our hearts forever!

Mabuhay si Jesus!


Anabelle Payod-Balla
Faith Section Editor

Couples in Christ

I’m often touched to see couples having the same interest, profession, and the like, particularly serving the People of God. This only shows that both of them see things together and put their actions together. The Virgin Mary and St Joseph is a pair we could think of. Perhaps you could also recall your own parents or grandparents or any other relatives who have been together in worshipping and serving the Lord.

The web is truly blessed to have Benj and Fely Santiago as part of the God-speak Team. Benj, as you know, was our writer for last month. This month, it’s his better half’s turn to share with us her insights and experiences in the Sunday Mass readings. The Santiagos have been active in the Magis Deo Marriage Encounter Community as well as the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals. They have been blessed with four children: Reuben James, Chai, Rocky, and Chiara.

We thank both Benj and Fely for being part of our evangelization and look forward to a fruitful relationship with them. May they inspire other couples out there to always remain in the Lord’s love and to stay focused in bringing His message of hope to a world that is continuously being dragged to despair.

As Lent goes into full swing, we would like to invite all of you especially married and would-be married couples to do something different this season. Why not join us in our apostolate, for a change? Whatever talent you have would be most welcome.

Let me also take this opportunity to ask for your prayers for the success of our forthcoming ‘The Seven Last Words’ which will come ‘live’ on 28th March, Palm Sunday. This year, being the Year of Priests, we have invited 7 priests to share their reflection on the words of Jesus.

In March we also celebrate the feast of St Joseph (19th). We continue to thank the Lord for the blessings received through St Joseph’s intercession. In preparation for his feast, please join us in praying ‘The Seven Sorrows and Joys of St Joseph’.

May God bless us all!



Pietro S Albano

Editor-in-Chief

Five Years Na!

Five years ago, Tanghalang Anluwage, Inc brought forth a new, innovative, and challenging ministry into the World Wide Web. It was an opportune time – the organization was then in a healing process following its disbandment in 2003.


One of the first features of our website was the reflection on the Sunday Mass Readings. This was previously known as ‘Before Sundays’. As the name suggests, reflections are made available to web surfers days before the Sunday when the particular readings would be proclaimed at Mass. Apart from ‘Before Sundays’ were opinion columns like ‘Tanggero’ penned by Mike Flores and ‘Bits and Bobs’ by yours truly. We never lose time in having our devotional specials too that year: ‘The Seven Last Words’ in Holy Week, while ‘The Nine Gifts’ in Advent. These and many more became our main stays in the web since then. In 2008, we streamlined our web contents and classified them under their respective sections.

By 2007, we started to recruit more hands to write the reflections for ‘Before Sundays’ which was renamed ‘God-speak’ to emphasize that what is being ‘spoken about’ is God and His message as contained in the Mass readings. We had our ‘Tres Marias’ taking turns in sharing their reflection to our readers: Anabelle Payod-Balla, Elizabeth Eguia, and Nicola Albano.

In 2008/09, ‘God-speak’ was able to attract more ‘God-speakers’ each sharing their experience on God’s Word which has been a source of inspiration and hope for our readers. We welcomed Grace Madriñan in 2008; the following year we opened our doors to Fidji Rivera-Sarmiento, Gharri Tulabut, Mayzelle Atienza, and Nette Andres. Anabelle is currently leading the Faith Section where ‘God-speak’ belongs. Incidentally, Grace has recently been tasked to head ‘Pahina 3’, another promising sub-section in the web.

This year, I am happy to announce that we will be having 12 writers in ‘God-speak’. Gharri, who is on his second year stint with us, ushered our readers in January. We thank Gharri for his lively and personal writings and look forward to his contribution in the future not only in ‘God-speak’ but elsewhere.

We welcome now Engr Benjamin ‘Benj’ Santiago, our February God-speaker. A family man whose apostolate is to keep families together and help them gain financial independence, Sir Benj was one of our writers in ‘The Nine Gifts’ last year. Rest assured, Sir Benj, of our prayers and support as you guides us in reflecting God’s Word this month.

More faces will be introduced as go through the year. Of course, there's still more spaces for everyone who would like to hone their skills in the web. We would need additional news writers and researchers as well as layout artists. Whatever talent you could contribute, you're more than welcome in this ministry! So feel free to contact us.

In the mean time, let’s continue to remember each other in our prayers and keep that light of Christ burning and shining for all to see, for all to follow, for all to abide with.

Thanks you once again for your unrelenting support. May the good Lord bless us all.

Happy 5th Birthday, www.anluwage.com !

Regards,

Piet