NEC ALAB: Fired Up Session Reflection

I am Jonelle Junio, the eldest daughter among the seven fruits of my parents’ love for each other. My parents raised us as devout Catholics, living the faith, defending and promoting life. Last Tuesday, during the Day 2 session entitled Fired Up with Hope, of the Online New Evangelization Conference: ALAB, my heart and spirit were reignited to protect what God has gifted us – our life. The world has redefined the meaning of life and family based on its subjective truths, based on personal feelings. It is telling us that we are brave if we stand up for what we think is right. Unfortunately, the world also covers cowardice behind what it dictates as comfortable and pleasurable. It has given more importance to life's pleasures than to life itself and to the Giver of Life. We have forgotten that God not only gave us life but also love – a love that will sustain our life, our family and the whole world. Before this pandemic, before this “new normal” that we now live in, some countries had already legalized a lot of policies that promote the culture of death. A lot of people believe that it's alright to redefine marriage into a union that is not limited between man and woman; that it's okay to get a divorce; that it's okay to have an abortion; that it's okay to end someone's life through the process of euthanasia; that it's okay to take birth control pills. We think it's okay …

I am Jonelle Junio, the eldest daughter among the seven fruits of my parents’ love for each other.

My parents raised us as devout Catholics, living the faith, defending and promoting life.

Last Tuesday, during the Day 2 session entitled Fired Up with Hope, of the Online New Evangelization Conference: ALAB, my heart and spirit were reignited to protect what God has gifted us – our life.

The world has redefined the meaning of life and family based on its subjective truths, based on personal feelings. It is telling us that we are brave if we stand up for what we think is right. Unfortunately, the world also covers cowardice behind what it dictates as comfortable and pleasurable. It has given more importance to life’s pleasures than to life itself and to the Giver of Life. We have forgotten that God not only gave us life but also love – a love that will sustain our life, our family and the whole world.

Before this pandemic, before this “new normal” that we now live in, some countries had already legalized a lot of policies that promote the culture of death. A lot of people believe that it’s alright to redefine marriage into a union that is not limited between man and woman; that it’s okay to get a divorce; that it’s okay to have an abortion; that it’s okay to end someone’s life through the process of euthanasia; that it’s okay to take birth control pills.

We think it’s okay to do things as long as we are “safe and comfortable” and we “do not hurt anyone,” or so we think. If you come to think of it, if we don’t speak the truth according to our Creator, if we fail to help them see what God wants them to see, aren’t we hurting them more?

The New Evangelization Conference’s Fired Up with Hope session, re-ignited the fire in me to stand up for God and to be brave for God. He calls all of us, each and every one of us, to be brave, to preserve our capacity to give life and to defend this most precious gift to us. I am fired up with hope keeping my confidence in God and that His plans for me are best. I am assured that this life which God breathed into me has a purpose and that I am destined to experience it to the full.