Women Priests anyone???

I found this article interesting from UCAN, the title of the article is  "Nuns' attack Vatican on women's ordination".  Sometimes I wonder why nuns advocating positions contrary to the teaching of the Church advocating ideas and advocacies contrary to the teachings. of the church.  Feminism is a worldly ideology and sadly it has found its inroads in some religious orders.  They erroneously equate equality of the sexes with sameness.  Man and women are equal in the sight of God but they are not the same.  They have specific roles to play in the Church and in this world.  As one reader commented: "Church can commit no mistake because it is the Body of Christ. God choose man to be His priest and woman as His Mother. (Eccl 7: 28.29) " which my mind has shought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. See, this alone I found, that God made human beings straightforward, but they have devised many schemes" Respected Sr. we should try to follow the rule that God wanted us to follow. " Chastity. poverty and obedience" not activism."

Why I remain a Catholic

The recent scandals that rocked the Church in Europe is indeed something for us to be sad about.  This is because it involves the clergy and our Leaders.  Sometimes I do not understand why these problems were to resurface at a time that the Church is battling with various issues that involves morality, materialism and life issues.  Some of my friends wonder why I remain a Catholic.  My answer is very simple but loud: I AM CONVINCED OF THE CLAIMS AND TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, it is apostolic, founded by Jesus Christ and on the apostles.  Nothing can shake that conviction from me.    

A Beautiful Reflection on Creation

Legazpi City, Sunset (Photo by Dr. Herbert R.). The Creation Speaks of the Beauty of God, His gentleness and Compassion.

Here is a quote that I would like to share.  This is from the late Thomas Merton.  The title of the book is "The New Man" Published by Bantam Books (1981) First published in 1962. Page 29.

"The glory, the strength, the suppleness, the life of all things came into being at a command from God and praised Him.  It was not because they praised Him that He looked at them: they praised Him because they were seen by Him: they praised Him because they were seen by Him.  Their being, their life and their beauty existed because they were known by Him. Their being, their reality, their existence, their movement, their life: these things praised Him because they were decided in His own wisdom and existed by an option of His liberty."

This is a very insightful reflection on the beauty and mystery of creation.  Had I not read this line, this idea will not come to me.  Indeed, we praised God because we were made by Him.  God does not need our praise and worship.  He sufficient unto Himself.  But he created us because He chose to love us.  Thus we owe everything to Him that we love and praise Him. 

On Becoming a Shelter

This afternoon while taking my coffee for the mid afternoon break, I saw five little birds (mayas) sitting on top of our air-conditioning unit outside of the window.  It was a stormy afternoon as Typhoon "Basyang" took a landfall in the north.  The little birds were all wet and it seems that the heat generated by the motor of the air-conditioning unit served their need for heat.  I was amused and I took pity on the birds.  I thought I would take a photo of them.  But I did not want to scare them with the flash so I simply leave them.  But as I sat on my desk I began to reflect on how trouble some is life on earth.  We have troubles, trials and tribulations.  Often the best charity we can offer our neighbors in need are our love and care.  Like those little birds, there are hundreds of souls out there suffering.  They need shelter from the storm, they the heat of love and tender loving care, a place to hide themselves from the storm.  Are we ready to be a shelter for our neighbors in need?  Let us do works of mercy by making our lives shelter for others.  Kind words and encouragement may indeed suffice.  But when we give and give until it hurts that is the test of the fullness of our love for our neighbors.

With Faith in God Nothing is Impossible!

"With faith in God nothing is impossible," says Pope Benedict XVI.  In his homily on the vespers on the eve of the feasts of Sts. Peter and Paul, he reiterated the need to trust and believe in God.  That things can be done not on our strength but it can be accomplished by our faith in God.  He also spoke of the need for the New Evangelization, to reach out to countries who has deep Christian root but now because of the influence of militant secularism has abandoned faith in God. Let me share with you this quote from the Holy Father's homily:

Taking up this legacy, I have been able to affirm, at the beginning of my Petrine ministry, that the Church is young, and open to the future. And I repeat it today, near the sepulcher of St. Paul: The Church is an immense force of renewal in the world, not because of her strength, but because of the force of the Gospel, in which the Holy Spirit of God breathes, the God Creator and Redeemer of the world. [emphasis supplied] The challenges of the present age are certainly beyond human capacities; they are the historical and social challenges, and with greater reason, the spiritual challenges. At times it seems to us pastors of the Church that we are reliving the experience of the Apostles, when thousands of needy persons followed Jesus, and he asked: What can we do for all these people? They then experienced their impotence. But Jesus had in fact demonstrated to them that with faith in God nothing is impossible, and that a few loaves and a few fish, blessed and shared, could satiate all. But it was not -- and is not -- only hunger for material food: There is a more profound hunger, which only God can satiate. (Source: zenit.org June 28,2010)

Today the profound challenge for the  pastors of the Church is how to respond to the need of the faithful who now in moder times are confronted with varied challenges.

Solemnity of Sts. Peter & Paul

June 29 is the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul,  here the church celebrates and recall the martyrdom of these two pillars of the Church.  What is the significance of St. Peter to the Church?  He was the chosen leader of the church, the head and symbol of unity.  St. Peter was not perfect he was a man fraught with weaknesses.  His first encounter with Jesus wan on the fishing boat.  In that story it was told that all night they went fishing and they catch nothing.  But in the early of morning our Lord stepped up and told them to lower the net.  And lo they gathered a hundredfold.  Simon Peter exclaimed "Stay away from me Lord for I am a sinful man."  Jesus said "from now on you shall no longer be fishers but fishers of men."  In one instance when there was a storm, they asked Jesus to save them and they saw Jesus walking on the water.  Simon Peter requested to be invited to walk on the water.  And once half way, he began to sink.  Jesus rebuked Peter for his lack of faith.  Simon-Peter was also an impulsive man, prone to imprudent decisions.  He steike the ears of Malchus when the High Priests servants tried to arrest Jesus.  Simon Peter also displayed cowardice when he denied our Lord three times.  But Jesus told him, "Satan has desired to sift you (Peter) like wheat, but I have prayed for you.  Once you are converted strengthened your brothers."  After the Ascension of Our Lord and after Pentecost Peter became the confirmed leader of the Apostles and of the Church.  The wisdom of God was upon him and by work, life and teaching he has nourished the church.  In the end he paid for it by his own life by dying the martyr's death on the cross.  He felt so unworthy to be crucified in the same manner with Our Lord so he requested that he be crucified upside down.  St. Peter, Vicar of Christ and chief of the apostles, pray for us.

On the Cross, Parables and Paradoxes

Cross marker in San Miguel Island, Tabaco City, Philippines

I am impressed by the homily delivered by the Holy Father in his mass at the Church of the Holy Cross in Paphos, Republic of Cyprus.  He spoke about the cross as form of capital punishment for the ancient Romans , on which our Lord Jesus was crucified.  Today we took on this symbol as a symbol of salvation and liberation.  It was carried by Christ and now carried forth by the Church as a symbol of God's saving power.  I wonder why our Lord often teach us precious lesson by means of parables and paradoxes.  Perhaps this is to challenge us and help us see that with God nothing is impossible.  Who would ever think that the instrument of cruel punishment will become the symbol of our salvation and freedom.  God works in many ways.  Our feeble mind will never be able to fathom such love.  God's ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts.  This brings us close to the core idea that we have to truly surrender our will to God's will.  This is our challenge, this is our battle.  We must overcome our "selves".  This may seem impossible at least for us but the Grace of the Lord is sufficient for us.  If only we will accept it with faith.