...and now the daily grind.
A Cell Group in every Street
This morning, we reached another milestone of sorts in our parish's BEC Project. For the first time, those who have been actively involved in promoting the growth of basic ecclesial communities in parish talked about the present status of the cell communities they are helping sustain. Our cell groups have come from different directions and are only now coming together under our PREX BEC Project. The goal that we have set before us is "a cell group in every street". It is a goal that translates into practical terms the Church's mission of evangelization: to build up the reign of Christ.
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Outlining a Bible Passage IV: Working on Themes
An outline of a bible passage is a summary for the close reading you make of a passage when you make a sentence flow of it. A well-made outline can serve one a lot of purposes later on, especially when one has to to work on consecutive sections of a book (as the example we have from Colossians) or to work on a theme.
Outlining A Bible Passage III: Colossians
Updated on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 11:14PM by
The Mystical Geek
It is one thing to outline a bible passage from a narrative like the Gospel of Mark. It is another thing to outline a passage from the Pauline letters or any discursive type of biblical literature. The key is to make a good sentence flow of the text and then to see where one idea ends and another one begins. If in narratives, the key for the division of a pericope are most often the changes in characters, places, actions, in a discourse, it is most often the words or the theme that is crucial. Below are two examples from the selections from Colossions for Wednesday and Thursday of the 23rd week of OT Year B
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Outlining A Bible Passage II: Mark 10:17-31
Mark 10:17-31 is the gospel reading for the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year B). Below is an outline of the text based on the sentence flow found here.
Outlining A Bible Passage
Two Saturdays ago, I introduced the activity of outlining a bible passage in our BEC Training Module. We associate outlines for term papers and speeches we are assigned to write. But outlines are also important for understanding an article one is reading or to follow a lecture that is complicated. Outlining can also be important for reading and studying Scriptures especially when one has the responsibility of helping other people to understand the message of Scriptures. From the list of links below, one would observe that outlining is very similar to what I have called "creating Sentence Flows". The only difference is that in outlines, one presents a bible passage as a list of ideas together with their verse references.
Building Communities through the PREX
Since 2005, I have been harping about the need to provide for a PREX Advanced Module for those who complete the Parish Renewal Experience. This was due to the discovery that not all PREX graduates join parish mandated organizations and not all religious organizations in the parish are responsive to the need of the PREX graduates for on-going formation in the faith. The "PREX 201 Module" I suggested years ago was designed to lead new PREX graduates to join Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) and to exercise a ministry geared towards the building-up of the Church through the BEC.
Lay Augustinian Spirituality
Geocities is closing down so I have moved some articles housed at the old Agilawan website to AgustinongPinoy. I did not move all the articles though ; I moved only those which I and others still continually go back to.
The articles revolve around the theme of Augustinian education and date back to the years when I was still at the University of San Agustin.
Records of an Ecclesial Experiment
The BEC Project at the MGCP is progressing. Since the last time I wrote about it (three months ago) we have begun holding training sessions for our BEC leaders regularly. We have more than ten cell leaders under advanced training now coming from four areas of the parish and three more under basic training. The BEC Training modules were developed from the seminars we have been holding since 2005. Below are BEC-related posts in this site; they are also records of what we are doing at the parish. There are others, but the ones below are representative and carry links to the other articles. I am posting this here as a record for those who are interested to find out about this ongoing experiment. Most of the articles are from the year 2008. Links to the articles written before that are in the article entitled “Milestones in a Journey”
Sentence Flows: Making Sense of It
The most recent addition to AgustinongPinoy is a website that extends Res Biblica. It is called The Bible Workshop. It was created to meet the needs of some of our parishioners who are engaged in the biblical apostolate. It has articles on the Sunday Gospels written in the form of a how-to. The method of study that underlies these "how-tos" is exegetical diagramming called "the Sentence Flow." The Sentence Flow is not original to me. In fact, others have written about it. We have applied the method to the gospels since it is easier to use on narratives. But it can work well with discourses too, like the letters of Paul.
Milestones in a Journey
I am reviewing my journey taken until this point in relation to the BEC Ministry. An article I posted last year gives an overview of what I've accomplished from 2005 until last year (See My Interest in the BEC). In sum, here are the milestones in that journey
Full Editorial for Tambuli
The Tambuli Newsletter didn’t have enough space so I had to reduce image sizes and cut off some parts from the article I prepared. The image that was reduced shows how the PREX graduates move from the basic program to the BEC Ministry program. Click on the image for a larger view.
The full editorial is found below. It is written in Tagalog and its singular merit is that it presents a translation of some key paragraphs from Evangelii Nuntiandi, the papal document that inspired Fr. Gallagher, SJ to create the Parish Renewal Experience.
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The Eye-Ear/Heart/Hands (Feet) Metaphor
Updated on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 10:11PM by
The Mystical Geek
The Eye-Ear/Heart/Hand Metaphor is a theoretical framework that I often use for illustrating what is meant by an integrated human formation. What is known or learned should become the basis for one’s decisions in life. One’s decisions in life in turn are consolidated in one’s lifestyle. Thus from one’s Worldview, the Life-Project is realized and the Lifestyle is formed. This latter however can be known only retrospectively, that is, when one evaluates one’s life.
Posts for Advent
Advent is here and I am busy at the Bible Workshop and Daily Inspirations posting articles that match the season. I have posted articles for Advent two weeks in advance at the Workshop so that those who are handling BEC groups can have the materials they need.
Sentence Flows: Towards A More Objective Study of the Sacred Text
A post at the Bible Workshop Forums simply illustrates the importance that an exercise such as the creation of Sentence Flows can contribute to a Bible study session in a cell group. The post goes:
I visited my Sunday night bible study group last Sunday, after another meeting. And I thought a good sentence flow could have focused the discussions on the text itself. and possibly keep the study to an hour?
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The Tools of a BEC Leader
Updated on Sunday, October 12, 2008 at 09:58PM by
The Mystical Geek
One of the problems BEC leaders in urban areas have is that the members of their cell groups are professionals, college graduates and individuals who are daily in contact with representatives of other religions. To get ahead of them and be able to present a gospel reading for reflection would seem to require a broader biblical and liturgical culture. That is true of course; it is for this reason that formation programs for the laity are offered by dioceses (e.g. the GAWARASAL). It is also for this reason that during the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, it was decided that Lay Ministers of the Word should also be installed alongside the Lay Ministers of the Eucharist. Parishes have also been sending chosen members to pastoral programs where these are existent. I together with three other parishioners have attended the Scripture Ventures program in Tagaytay. But training programs are not enough.&
