Let the Children Come… to Jesus

ARTURO L. ZUÑIGA

BACKGROUNDER

The Lord has given us in North-B (NB) Couples for Christ (CFC) Sector (Quezon City area from Payatas to Project 2) the grace and the means to create a culture of encounter with others. In our Christian Life Program, our teachings, our work with the poor in ANCOP through scholarships, and the CORNERSTONE Program, we reach out to the children in the peripheries of our education system who are non-readers and slow learners. They are the forgotten and neglected ones in our public school education system.

In 2011, Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) under Carmela Oracion partnered with Couples for Christ. We took 30 kids from identified schools who reached Grades 2 & 3 but were still unable to read and write.

MISSION

ACED studies on the subject highlighted many factors that contributed to this situation. Poverty was the main culprit, as hungry stomachs and lack of parental guidance were the main drivers of the kids’ learning disabilities. Thus a holistic program approach was devised to address the situation. Tutoring the kids was the main component but included Kids and Parents Values Formation and feeding to allow for learning with full stomachs.

The pilot was done in 2011 in ten (10) Public Schools, five (5) of which are in Quezon City, CFC North B Sector. It grew to 229 Public Schools nationwide by 2020. The program runs for seven months for a particular school year and is conducted every Saturday from 8 am-12 noon.

OPPORTUNITY FOR GRACE

Our primary purpose is to be able to share our lives, our time, our talents, and our treasures… with the kids and their parents in a dialogue to TEACH and provide the opportunity to find, once more, the Christian values that may have eluded them in their daily struggles to put food in their tables and meet the daily needs of their families. We began to see the enormity of the challenges, and yet as we try to do so much, much more needs to be done.

North B Cornerstone started with five (5) Elementary Schools and one (1) High School in 2011-2012 in the pilot year, namely Dona Juana, Bagong Silangan, Old Balara, San Diego, and Manuel L. Quezon Elementary Schools. San Vicente Elementary School was added in 2015, and Balara Elementary School in 2017, and we hope to add more soon.

The NB sector dutifully has endeavored to continue raising more funds through the annual Ancop Global Walk and managed with God’s grace to secure a $20,000.00 grant from Zendesk, our daughter Joanna’s firm. The Child Scholarship Program of the sector currently provides scholarships for 149 students. We have been running for five (5) years, supporting our Cornerstone schools and many scholars.

REFLECTION

The Lord has granted us the inner joy that translates all our endeavors and encounters and gives these a new meaning. Seeing the smiles of the children is seeing the face of Jesus in this meaningful encounter. Love is given, love received and returned, with hearts on fire. In this exchange of gifts, we experience Jesus as we remember His words, LET THE CHILDREN COME TO ME…seeing him in a personal and intimate way and establishing a deeper relationship with him as our friend and Savior.

The encounter with Jesus is the game-changer in our life. Once encountered and accepted, we are never the same person again. This means a new horizon and a decisive direction. We become renewed men and women, transforming us wonderfully and amazingly. We are able to receive the grace to welcome the Holy Father’s apostolic exhortation – Evangelii Gaudium – the joy of the gospel.

New Evangelization is not a new evangelization program or mission we must fulfill as Jesus’ disciples. New Evangelization is rekindling the joy and the fire of God’s love in our hearts. It is to return to the first love we have lost along the way due to the many daily concerns we face. It is a call for an evangelization that is new in fervor, methods, and unique in expression. In doing so, we REKINDLE OUR GIFTS AND FULFILL OUR MINISTRY!