BCBP Imus Chapter

Happy Easter, everyone! Let's rejoice in the risen Savior!
How does Jesus' resurrection inspire hope in your life? Share your reflections below!

As we wait for Easter, let's remember that even in the dark, there's always hope.

𝘽𝘾𝘽𝙋 𝙄𝙢𝙪𝙨 𝙀𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙖 𝘽𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙄𝙩𝙨 𝙎𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙒𝙖𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝟮𝟴 𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨!

The Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP) expects a bigger chapter after its successful Way of Life retreat of a robust 28 participants on March 16, 2024 at Bukas Loob sa Diyos (BLD) Covenant House and Retreat Center, Piela Sampaloc III Dasmarinas, Cavite.

The retreat was a whole day event from 7:30am to 5:00pm, which serves as the final stage of preparation before the Members-in-Formation (MIF) become fully pledged members of BCBP.

The Way of Life retreat wraps up all the preparatory seminars and programs which prepare the aspiring members as they embark the life of a true BCBP member.

Composed of 6 talks, the retreat talks about the huge responsibility of a BCBP member to its country, environment, religion, marketplace, community, family, and to their fellow BCBP members. The way of life is an all encompassing role of a good Christian citizen in the society where they live in which all boil down to one goal– honoring God.

Simply put, honoring God is honoring ones family, religion, community, environment, marketplace and country.

As former BCBP National Treasurer B**g Santos put it, “Always be a blessing to one another so others may see Christ in you.”

While BCBP’s advocacy focuses on bringing Christ to the marketplace and winning the marketplace for Christ, it emphasizes on the value of putting ones family in order as its core priority, in order to fulfill its mission to the marketplace.

The MIF’s formation program is composed of Christian Life Program, Free to Follow and Business Retreat, Marriage Retreat for married couples, and Way of Life retreat, which took the MIFs a year and even more than a year for some to complete.

Given the long formation to prepare the 28 MIFs to entering the BCBP Way of Life, the MIFs and the Imus Chapter are equally excited to finally welcome them in the BCBP community.

Congratulations MIFs! Congratulations Imus Chapter!

Contributed by Alcris Agno Poyos, Member-in-Formation

🌅 Rise and shine, BCBP family! 🌟 Something incredible is brewing, and we can't wait to share it with you at our Saturday breakfast. 🍳 Save the date - Saturday, February 24, 2024. Join us for a morning filled with inspiration, fellowship, and a hearty breakfast. Trust us, you won't want to miss this!
Drop a 🙌 if you're joining!

𝑨 𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝑱𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅
𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐞: 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞

Fridays in Lent should be days of penance. Why? What is penance? What’s the value of penance? First of all, Fridays are days of penance because our Lord died on the Cross on a Friday. We should see every Friday as a commemoration of that saving sacrifice. By doing penance on Fridays, we willingly participate in the penance Jesus did through His passion and death. So every Friday is a day on which we should more fully share in Jesus’ Cross, just as every Sunday should be celebrated with great solemnity as we rejoice in His Resurrection.

Penance can be mysterious. Why would we deny ourselves pleasures? Why wouldn’t God want us to enjoy everything this life has to offer every day of our lives? Jesus already destroyed sin and death, so one might conclude that we should only focus on the joy of the Resurrection, always!

The problem with this thinking is that Jesus Himself said numerous times that if we are to rise with Him, we must die with Him. We will save our lives only by losing our lives for Christ’s sake. We must take up our cross and follow Jesus.

Penance is necessary in this life because our human nature remains in a state of Original Sin. As a result, our desires, appetites, passions, and emotions are not easily aligned with the will of God. These good human qualities are subject to confusion, indulgence, and sin. Penance is a way of helping every part of our humanity to enter into submission to God’s will by overcoming those inordinate tendencies that lead us to sin. Penance helps those disorders within us to die so that every part of our humanity may rise with Christ, conform to His humanity, and be set free from the sins and temptations that keep us bound.

On a personal level, Jesus did not need to enter into the penitential state of the desert to curb His appetites, desires, and passions. His soul was already perfect in every way, and He always felt, desired, and chose only the eternal goods. Jesus’ choice to embrace the penitential state of the desert was not for Him; it was for us. By doing penance in the desert, by denying his appetites and human desires, He endowed penitential acts with power. For that reason, when we choose to imitate Jesus’ penance in the desert and choose to embrace His Cross as our own, we receive that power and grace that are now hidden within penitential acts, waiting to be discovered and received.

Ponder your attitude and approach to penance. Though the Church only prescribes abstinence from meat today, our penance should go much further if we are serious about becoming more like Christ. Think about ways in which you can live more sacrificially today. Make concrete choices to do so. As you do, offer them to the Father in Heaven, in union with the penitential life of Jesus in the desert, and anticipate the blessings of grace you will discover in this holy act.

My penitential Lord, by doing penance within Your human nature, You endowed penitential acts with Your grace. Please fill my heart with a burning desire for that grace, as well as with a desire for how Your grace is received. Give me a desire to live a penitential life. Help me to find You, dwelling within those acts of love, to be strengthened to overcome the disorders and temptations I endure every day. Jesus, I trust in You.