Verbum Dei Taiwan 2012 Newsletter

Hi everyone! This is Verbum Dei Taiwan 2012 Newsletter. As we approach the end of 2012, we want to look back and share with you the joy of seeing, once again, the miracles and wonders that God has worked in and through His people. The first part of this newsletter includes the all-year-round activities and groups. The Verbum Dei Family meetings, Schools of the Word in the different cities in Taiwan like Taichung, Kaoshiong, Hsinchu and Taipei, the Youth Group in Our Lady of Fatima Parish; the daily blog with online guidelines and the monthly prayer booklet . It is always a joy to see how the desire to know God better makes new activities emerge. This year, we started with the Childrens Liturgy in Our Lady of Fatima Parish. Initially, it was only for the Chinese Mass, but after two weeks, the English-speaking community of the Parish also asked for it. Since then, we are offering the kids an approach to the Word that is suitable to their age. We pray that this will make them grow in the life of faith as they grow older. In the second part of this newsletter, you will find some of the one-off activities that we have organized. We could not include everything, so some of our normal activities, such as the Easter Encounter, the Family retreats, Parish retreats, activities in the University etc. are not included in this newsletter. Nevertheless we hope that those activities we have chosen to include will give everyone a good idea of the greatness and generosity of God towards all those who approach him. Solets start our journey.

Verbum Dei Family

The Verbum Dei Family meetings have been precious moments of praying together, formations and preparation of the various activities. We have seen new members coming in; and we have also enjoyed the unique talents and richness that each one has to offer to the work of spreading Gods Word and Love The various revisions of life have become a way of helping each other to grow in our relationship with God and with the World around us.

SCHOOLS OF
The Schools of the Word in various areas around Taiwan continue to grow in faith and in the knowledge of the Word. Together with people from Taichung, Kaoshiong, Hsinchu and Taipei, we enjoyed the richness of our faith and Gods capacity to touch our hearts.

THE WORD

The Angels Club

Verbum Dei is the pastoral guide for the Tamkang University Catholic Students Group: The Angels Club (). We reach out to students through weekly meetings, recollections and outings.

Both the Youth Group and the newly started Childrens Liturgy in Fatima Parish are for us a way of sharing with the younger ones the love and friendship that God offers to all of us. With the youth group, we made cookies for fundraising, prepared the summer camp, and we deepened into the Sacraments of the Church. With Gods help, the young ones are walking their own journey of faith.

Fatima Parish

We share the Gospel every Sunday with the little ones. With the aid of power-points, videos, crafts etc., we make the Gospel message available to them. Children are just wonderful when it comes to understanding Jesus words and actions. We have so much to learn from them!

Publications

As a way of reaching out to more and more people, we publish a blog with daily meditations of the Word of God.

We publish a monthly booklet containing the daily readings of the Mass, a short meditation and prayer, guiding people to learn to pray with the Word of God. The numbers of subscribers have continuously increased and people are using the booklet as a personal tool to pray, to lead bible-sharing groups in parishes and homes, and as a tool of evangelization with the Word.

Activities throughout the year

In January, we went to the Zoo with children and youths of Our Lady of Fatima Parish. We enjoyed each others company tremendously. Everyone had a wonderful time.

In February, Verbum Dei was invited by the Association of Major Religious Superiors in Taiwan to run a three-day formation workshop for the young religious in Taiwan. The theme was The Evangelical Counsels and the Word of God. In March, we started our Verbum Dei Jubilee Year with a Thanksgiving Mass and dinner together. It was wonderful to see old friends again and to celebrate Gods faithfulness towards our community

In April, we organized a workshop on Non-Violent Communication for the University students. It was an eye-opener for them and a good opportunity to share in depth about how we treat each other.

In May, with the help of the Verbum Dei Family members, we held one of our favorite activities: an outreach to non-Christians. We had a wonderful day, walking, playing and sharing.

In June, we had an end-of the-school year outing with the Angels as well as a graduation dinner. We also had a one-day activity for the Angels Club for all members since 1965. More than 40 people turned up for a meal and Mass. It was a real joy to share with people who had graduated 40 years ago and who still remember their days with the Angels with such affection.

July was the time for the younger ones. An 8-day summer camp for about 70 aboriginal kids, ages 6-14, was held in the mountains. From day one to day 8, they delighted in games, time for prayer, classes, workshops etc. The kids enjoyed and the youth-volunteers had a great experience of self-giving and of Gods sustaining love.

We are already in August!! Verbum Dei participated in the Taiwan Youth Day and gave a one-day workshop on the Mystical Body of Christ. We had a great time and certainly hope that each of the 30 participants became life-givers after the two sessions

September was the moment to enjoy with the Verbum Dei Missionary Family Asian Encounter held in Taiwan. Members from Singapore, the Philippines and Taiwan got together to share our faith and love for God. It was a great time to get to know our communities in different countries. We also enjoyed the Spirits creativity in helping Verbum Dei to adapt its charism to every culture.

After

the

encounter,

some

remained in Taiwan to visit some places and the house of the missionaries in Tamsui.

In October, we started the Childrens Liturgy in the English Mass. Fatima Parish has two masses on Sunday: Chinese and English. We share the Sundays Gospel with the children of both masses, helping them to understand Gods Word.

November saw the beginning of the work for the new CD that should be out early next year.

VD. Family!

December is a time to prepare for Christmas. We wanted to have a special time of prayer and we organized Advent recollections for different groups and a Christmas party to which all of you are invited.
Angels Club

This has been the year 2012 for Verbum Dei in Taiwan. We are very grateful to God for all his love and kindness towards us. We are living witnesses of Gods power and his capacity to sustain his own people and fulfill all his promises!!! May He bless you and give you a great year in 2013!

Verbum Dei in Taiwan wishes you a very Happy Christmas and Happy New Year! 2013