history of Jesus of nazareth (JON)
Jesus of Nazareth Prayer Group (JONPG)
traces its origin to the Jesus of Nazareth Catholic
Community (JONCC), an affiliate of the Hearts of Jesus and
Mary Prayer Community (HJMPC).
Sometime in the early 1990’s, thirteen (13)
couple-graduates of the Marriage Encounter Weekend Seminars
(MEWS) of the Pag-Ibig sa Diyos Catholic Community (PDCC),
after having experienced the power of God’s love and the
joy, peace and fulfillment that transformed and enriched
their lives, were imbued with the burning desire to belong
to Jesus Christ and to serve Him by proclaiming His Words to
others so that they too might feel the miracle of God’s love
in their lives.
The need to proclaim God’s love led these 13 couples to
gather as a group in prayer at Valle Verde to share their
experiences, and soon the bonds of friendship and community
were formed.
In May 1995, the group, led by Tito
Thenny and Tita Norma Dar, organized themselves as the
JONCC. They
applied for affiliation with HJMPC and requested Tito
Naning/Tita Mila Alinea to be their Elder and Shepherd
Couple. Through the assistance of two (2) of their members
who were officers of the Presidential Security Group (PSG),
JONCC was given the privilege of using the Sto. Niño Chapel
located inside the PSG Compound in Malacañang as venue of
their regular prayer meetings.
HJMPC, in the true spirit of Christian
love and generosity, responded positively to the application
for affiliation.
This enabled JONCC members to conduct MEWS and to grow in
spiritually through their attendance in the Life in the
Spirit Seminars and Growth on the Spirit Seminars of HJMPC.
During the period July 1995 to November
1996, JONCC conducted ten (10) MEWS at two months intervals.
The first MEWS was held on July 14-16, 1995 at Divino
Amor (Redemptorists) at Lipa City, where MEWS Classes 3, 5
and 6 were also held.
MEWS Classes 2 and 4 were conducted at the PSG
Compound with PSG personnel as candidates.
Venue of MEWS Class 7 was the Las Brisas Hotel and
Conference Center at Antipolo City, while the Loyola Retreat
House in Angono, Rizal was the venue for MEWS Classes 8, 9
and 10.
In December 1997, the Pastoral Team
scouted for another venue in Tagaytay City. The Pastoral
Team was then composed of Pastoral Head Tito Deo/Tita
Shirley Acupan, PT1 Tito Chito/Tita Cecil Gomez, PT2 Tito
Jolly/Tita Cora Cristobal, PT3 Tito Fil/Tita Lou Ramos and
PT4 Tito Raffy/Tita Des Setosta.
Shepherd Couple was Tito Ben/Tita Luz Gadi.
They found the Sta. Monica Retreat House and were
able to convince Mother Jesusa and the Augustinian nuns to
allow them to use the Retreat House as venue of the MEWS.
They offered to construct partitions in the basement
of the retreat house in order to provide additional rooms to
the couple-candidates.
MEWS Class 11 was held at Sta. Monica Retreat House
in February 1997, followed by all other MEWS until the early
years of 2000.
Meanwhile, having met the required
number of covenanted members to become a regular prayer
group, JONCC was recognized as the 8th regular prayer group
of HJMPC in July 1997.
It was renamed Jesus of Nazareth Prayer Group.
JONPG participated in the election of the BSL in the
February 1998 elections, and in the election of its first
Pastoral Team as JONPG chose to be headed and led by the
same Pastoral Team until the year 2000.
Shepherd Couple for 1998-1999 was Tito Jojie/Tita
Rose Beltran and for 1999-2000, Tito Mel/Tita Norma Fajardo.
Until the onset of the pandemic, JONPG
has been holding regular prayer meetings at the Sto. Niño
Chapel every Wednesday from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm.
and providing music service during the Sunday Mass.
Weekly prayer meetings are now being conducted
on-line. JONPG
will be celebrating its 24th Anniversary this year 2021.