OUR SERVANT LEADER

 

  Before going further, I let me state this fact very clearly. By religious affinity, I am a Catholic. And very clearly, I intend, or should I say, I am led and inspired to remain a light to the Catholic faith, as I am called to be. I do not pretend to know nothing about it, except that through it, in baptism, the Light of Christ Jesus has been handed down to me.

 

I am not in this Ministry to defend the Catholic faith, for it needs no defenders. As Jesus said: "Not even the gates of hell" can prevail against it. May be, just I have been called to rekindle life and light to a troubled church of my time. Whether our Bishops and Priests will agree or not, the Catholic Church in the Philippines in particular, and throughout the whole world in general, from a layman's point of view, seems to have lost, except for its doctrines and cannon laws, its light and power, forcing many weak Catholics to depart from it.

 

The life changing power of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, which I believe is the essence of our faith, is not easy to find, not even in the Eucharist. Not that the Eucharist  is without power, for indeed I believe it is the means whereby the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can be found, but that such power can no longer be felt, because it has become a ritual of sort a heavy burden of obligation to so many tired and a weary Catholics. I am speaking based on my own experience, to say the least. But after ten years in this Ministry, I am just restating the sentiments and feelings of practically every Catholic who have come in contact with me.

 

With all the troubles of life around us, the individual is once again looking for a Living Christ in our  midst-a simple, humble, and reachable Christ Who cares for the feelings and needs of lost souls; a Christ who is ready to listen and hear the cry of a troubled mother and father, because their child is being possessed by demons and evil spirits, or is afflicted with sickness; and a Christ Who is always ready to answer: "I will go and heal him".

 

To tell you the truth, I am still baffled up to now as to the reason for my being in this Ministry. More specially, the way this Ministry progresses so amazingly, in spite of the attacks against it and against my person, particularly. But I am consoled with what the Scripture says:"Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that builds it." I have prayed and thought of writing some sort of guideline for quite a time already, but I could not think of any, because I just wanted to be free to act in the manner that the Spirit of the Lord moves me.But today, February 14,1993, after witnessing once again the tremendous outpouring of the Holy Spirit during our Special Valentine's Overnight Appointment with El Shaddai at Luneta Grounds where more than two million people stayed the whole evening of February 13 from as early as 3:00pm, Saturday, to as late as 8:30am of February 14, Sunday; and with the forthcoming First National Workshop of El Shaddai Service Volunteer Workers on February 19 and 20, 1993, I forced myself to finally write down the following guidelines for the benefit of those who, like me, have also been touched by the Holy Spirit and are moved to make themselves available in the service of the Lord through this Ministry.

 

BRO. MIKE Z. VELARDE