Reflections
This Community Brings God Closer To Me
By:
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.
-- Mark 10:14-17 (New American Bible)
I would without a doubt consider myself a "BCBP kid." My brothers and sisters at the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP), a community introduced to me by my parents since I was four years old, call me a "BCBP kid" mainly because I grew up with that community. I am 28 years old now and BCBP has celebrated its 26th anniversary last month.
This community has been part of my growing up as a kid and up to my adulthood. It had and has indeed been a tool to my spiritual growth. Besides that my parents certainly wanted their children to grow up knowing God and made sure that we go to church as a family on Sundays and prayed the rosary together, they also made a point of bringing me along to BCBP activities as much as possible. Both my parents are active members of the BCBP up to this time.
At the age of about four, my father used to tag me along with him to prayer meetings. I still remember those times that he took me to a "father and son" BCBP Breakfast Fellowship. Since then and as a child, I always looked forward to these activities. I had fun, I got to meet friends and play with other kids, too. The BCBP community has always been like an extended family - always warm - to me.
I had attended the first and subsequent Christian Life Programs (CLPs) with my parents. I have really lost track of how many breakfast fellowships, CLPs, family days and sports festivals (to name just a few of the activities) I have been to as part of the BCBP community.
My community life has not just been centered on BCBP though. As I entered college, I found myself serving Christ's Youth in Action (CYA), a partner community of BCBP. To me, CYA was the "formal" way of entering community life. My calling to serve God was manifested in CYA. Though I really enjoyed participating in the BCBP activities and considering that I was a child then, I felt that I was still only "dancing" on the periphery of community, but not truly joining it.
This had changed when I took the Christian Life Series (CLS), the CYA equivalent of the BCBP's CLP, during the summer prior to my senior year of high school. It was at that point in time through CYA that I began to make my fledging steps of truly joining the community by making a real commitment to serving God and my brothers and sisters in the community.
From then on, I found myself growing up maturely with the community and become more involved in the music ministry. My involvement in the music ministry, which started with BCBP, continued in CYA. I had just started to learn how to play the guitar (primarily through the tutelage of the brothers and sisters in community, though they never gave me formal lessons) in my junior year of high school. Also, through the grace of God, I found myself being able to serve with the music ministry of CYA in my senior year of high school, playing the guitar at various activities.
My odyssey to serving God through CYA, which began in my senior year, continued throughout my college career when I entered the Ateneo de Manila University to pursue my undergraduate degree. I joined the CYA community of Ateneo on day one and since I had already been serving with CYA the year prior and had in fact met several of the Ateneo brothers and sisters at a training conference prior to the start of that school year.
Music has been the medium I used to serve God. I continued to serve Him through music up to my college years at the Ateneo de Manila University, serving as the music ministry head.
In addition, I also found myself serving the Service Council by helping in the planning and implementing its various activities that CYA had throughout the school year.
Serving God and serving the brothers and sisters of CYA was always a joy. I always love to look back at the years that I was an active CYA member with fondness. It was there that I built many relationships with the brothers and sisters I had the pleasure of serving with. I mean relationships that we keep alive and cherish even today.
Through CYA, I was able to lay the foundation of my relationship with God. With my exposure to CYA, I found that the true value of a community is in the support that it provides. For it was in my brothers and sisters in community that I found the support that I needed to live out Christian ideals.
I was molded and tuned in to God's desires through and through and moment by moment over the years. As I step up and take on more responsibilities in my life, I still think of the community where I started and grew up with.
Now, I am not just a mere observer at any BCBP activities. I am part of its growth as an outreach here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Though I know I have grown up, my brothers and sisters still want to call me "BCBP boy 'yan".
I man the music being the assistant to the music ministry head here. I already knew way back in those early years that my desire of serving God is through music. It actually started with manning the "projector." As I became proficient in manning the projector, I also learned the lyrics and sequences of the music and get acquainted well with the music ministry members.
It was there that my love for music and love for serving God found its roots and has now grown to the point that I now serve in community primarily through playing guitar at the various activities.
The odyssey continues and I have come full circle, rejoining the BCBP community through its Northern California outreach. There was a gap of several years wherein I was not active in community life (I ended my stint of service with CYA when I graduated college in 1998 and it was only recently resuscitated when the BCBP Northern California outreach was setup in 2004) and it was through that hiatus that I have grown to better appreciate how being in community can truly enrich your spiritual life.
It was by not having it with me for several years that I gained a deeper understanding and sense of gratitude for how community has helped my relationship with God. Now that I have reconnected with community life I want my relationship with God to be a lot stronger than it has been in the past.
Community has once again helped provide support and strength to my relationship with God. I continue to look forward to serving God and my brothers and sisters in the days to come.
Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
-- 1 Peter 2:5-6 (New American Bible)
Leonides "Junby" Saguisag, Jr. is a Software Engineer by trade. He is based out of San Jose, California. He can be reached at .
Copyright © 2006 Leonides T. Saguisag, Jr. Used with permission.
