What kept me busy these days.....

What kept me busy these days....? I was not able to update this blog as I should because of many things to do and the travels. Last week I was in the big city of Manila, Makati in particular. I took these snap shots while doing business.

The picture below is a portion of the city on a hot and humid day. The climate was oppresively hot. Since I took public transport, I have to bear the long walks under the heat of the sun.

I also took time to visit the Sanctuario de San Antonio, a church within the affluent Forbes Park. Ironically the church was dedicated to a Saint Characterized by his poverty and love for God - St. Anthony of Padua (or Lisbon?).

The Mater Dolorosa.

The weeping and grieving Madonna.



St. Francis on a mural seen preaching to the birds.

New Translation for the Novus Ordo Mass

The USCCB has open a website that would educate the faithful on the upcoming new translation of the Missal. I read with interest the text. This is indeed a step forward from the old translation. I opine that the new translation is better because it reflects the original Latin Text. Those interested to look at the new translation you may visit the USCCB website entitled 3rd Edition Roman Missal

FABC Concludes Plenary

"Mixed marriages, dwindling entrants to the priesthood and violence against its members are among problems facing the Catholic church in Asia, bishops said at a conference here Saturday."

AFP report as published on yahoo news

My reflection: I agree with the statements of the Bishops of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conference that one of the pressing problems of the Church is the decline in the priesthood. An analysis said that it was because of secularization and poverty. However, I would say that the Bishops failed to mention that the diminished role of the priesthood and the many alteration in the liturgy are the main cause why young men are no longer encourage to join the priesthood. The nuns has already turned over the teachings to lay persons. And even in the liturgy, lay persons are now directing and the priest is merely reduced to seemingly minor role. Wgho would want to be a priest if the situation is like that. The false ecumenism currently promoted by some are also reasons why membership is dwendling. Catholics are instructed to understand more the members of other religions but are no longer encourage to convert their neighbors. The time that should be spent for proclaiming thel ight of Christ is now spent for perceiving the supposed light coming from religions who are incompatible with Christ's gospel.

THE IMMACULATA

"...although subject to [Jesus, who is] the new Adam, [Mary, the new Eve] is most intimately associated with him in that struggle against the infernal foe which, as foretold in the protoevangelium [i.e. Genesis 3:15], would finally result in that most complete victory over the sin and death which are always mentioned together in the writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles. Consequently, just as the glorious resurrection of Christ was an essential part and the final sign of this victory, so that struggle which was common to the Blessed Virgin and her divine Son should be brought to a close by the glorification of her virginal body, for the same Apostle says: "When this mortal thing hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory." - Pope Pius XII

My Reflection: The assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heave is a sure sign of triumph and victory of the entire church. Just as the resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of our Christian faith, so the assumption of the Virgin is an assurance and expression of the hope of the entire Church - the bride of Christ. This is the reason why we say maranatha! come Lord Jesus. Let us seek the intercession of our dear Lady so that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Lawrence of Rome, Deacon and Martyr

St. Lawrence as we celebrate the memory of your life and martyrdom, help us by your prayers that the Lord would strengthen us in our faith. We face no longer the sword and fire, but we face the temptations of secularism, relativism in morals, and godlessness. The testimony of your faith has immortalize you in the Liturgy and in the Canon of the Mass. St. Lawrence, pray for us sinners.

St. Philomena, Virgin and Martyr

As we celebrate the memory of St. Filomena, virgin and martyr, let us implore her intercession. St. Filomena, pray for us sinners. Some consider your existence as a myth but the power of your intercession is a proof of your witness for Christ as a virgin and martyr, worthy of emulation.

Defender of the Pope

There is a blog piece from Fr. Z that really interests me and that is the speech given by Marc Cardinal Ouellet of Quebec and Primate of Canada. In the 127 Supreme Annual Convention of the Knights of Columbus, the Cardinal decried the lack of support that Pope Benedict XVI received from some leaders of the Church. the Cardinal Spoke of the need for unity. Here are some qoutes from his speech and I hope that it sank into the ears and hearts of Catholics specially some Bishops who never stood to defend the truth. A true shepehered is not afraid of the wolves but takes the stand to defend the flock.

"It is fully time to take action and stand with our Holy Father who is himself so admirably peaceful and coherent in fulfilling all his duties. We are greatly blessed by the quality of his teaching."

"At every level of leadership in the Church, unity with Peter and solidarity with him has not been a great achievement in this past year,"

"Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us all to give stronger witness to our loving loyalty to the Church and its Chief Shepherd, successor of Peter," he said. "Unity in the Church is the key to the realization of its mission."

"When there is a lack of unity within the Church we quickly see a decline in vocations and in Church attendance and disintegration of family life,"

To the Cardinal Primate of Canada, may your kind increase. Thank you so much for defending our faith. The faithful will always look forward to their leaders for guidance. The truth of the Faith will always remain no matter how unpopular it is.

The Pope has taken the extra mile to bring the Society of St. Pius into communion with the Church. The Pope has spoken that the use of condom is morally wrong. And the world protested. Yes no matter how unpopular, these are truths - Artificial Contraception is morally wrong. And serving unity for all in the church is the duty of the Pontiff.

Let us pray harder for our Pope.

Tie a Yellow Ribbon

Wednesday was declared by the Philippine Government as public holiday to honor and pay respect to the heroine of "People Power" revolution that ousted the dictatorship. Here we express our love and admiration for Tita Cory as she is fondly called by her followers and by the Filipinos. She is first of all a woman devoted to her faith. Even while she held public office, she never wavered in times of peril and publicly declared her loyalty to the Church. She will be most remembered as a woman of great significance. Her humility and simplicity is exemplar. May she rest in peace. Amen.

The Arcilla Hall of the University where I teach is draped with yellow to signify our solidarity with Cory's cause and express our gratitude.

St. Jean-Marie Vianney: Model for Priests

Pope Benedict XVI has proclaimed this year as the year for Priests from June 2009-June 2010. He stated that St. Jean-Marie Vianney as model for priests. This is very timely because of the on going crisis in the church in terms of vocations and priestly life. Let us pray for our priests both for the good priests and for the bad priests.

"Our Lord is our model, let us take up our cross and follow Him. Let us do like the soldiers of Napoleon. They had to cross a bridge under the fire of grapeshot; no one dared to pass it. Napoleon took over the colors, marched over first and they all followed. Let us do the same; let us follow Our Lord, who has gone before us." - "The Little Catechism of the Curé of Ars," TAN Books 1987.

BISHOP BERNARD FELLAY: "The Problem in the Church of our age is not us."

Here is what Bishop Fellay has to say about Vatican II. quoted from an Interview granted by APcom as posted on Rorate Caeli.


"The problem in the Church of our age is not us. We have become a problem only because we say that there is a problem. Besides, even if we may give the impression of opposing or even contradictory declarations, there are no internal fractures. For example, on the Council, we may say that almost all of it is to be rejected. But it may also be said that what is possible should be salvaged. But we all can never say the same thing. The Council is a mixture: there are good things, and bad. Even the Pope, when he maintains that a hermeneutic of continuity is to be desired, that he does not want a rupture, rejects the Council interpreted as rupture."