Year-End Review

2013 was one heck of a great year. It brought not only new beginnings and opportunities but a lot more room for personal growth and improvement. This year gave way to a more intensive and integral formation. When a friend of mine asked me one time, "How have you changed for the past year?" I answered this way:

"The formation year made me grow into a more sociable person, one with confidence and a heart for others. I was able to be more sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others and taking into account their experiences not only mine."

The photo reminds me of the four pillars of seminary formation: Community (Upper right; with John Bartolome, Stevenson Labrague, and Niel Lopez), Academic (Upper left; an article I wrote before), Spiritual (Lower left; as the director for the seminary choir), and Apostolate (Lower right; with the Youth of ICP).

I thank the seminary for molding me according to its four pillars: Community, Academic, Spiritual, and Apostolate aspects. I've learned more to be with others, to bond in brotherhood, to live not in fear before superiors but rather in loving obedience and trust. In this community I learned how to share my resources and to make sacrifices for its betterment. It taught me how to level before others and to know where I position myself in different circumstances.

Academically, I believe I am not that intelligent. I know many things. I like being practical and to use my common sense. I believe there is always room for learning. Although I may say that I've lagged behind my usual reading habit, it is something to be recovered. Getting low grades are not a failure for me but a reminder for others that intelligence is not based on numerical grades but on how we are able to live it. Spiritually, 2013 has left a mark on my soul that demands for more time for serious prayer. There's more to form in terms of discipline and focus. Still, serving God is at the heart of my actions. Lastly, this year leaves a memory in me as I had my first apostolate in one of the small parishes in the diocese. Not only that, it was an experience that reminds me of the words of Pope Francis as he calls for a church that is active and ready to get dirty because of her missionary works.

From the Upper left with Azra Kabiri, a close friend now working at UPLB-IMSP; Upper right with my sibling Chin Pua who has finished his ChemEng course; Lower left with Litoy as we take on a KrispyKreme donut; and Lower right with Cayle who has finished his ElecEng, all from the same university.

2013 has been a good year for family bonding. My brothers were able to finish their college as the youngest of us still copes in his elementary schooling. Reminiscing the moments when I think why I am still studying when my brothers are graduating and planning for a job, my friends are getting married or are taking their MS's, others working and building a career, while I'm stuck in an old seminary building taking another bachelor's degree. It's unlikely for a UP graduate to take another bachelors degree. Yet all these sink in before the year telling that God has plans and we just go with the flow in the river of His grace.

There is always room for growth. Dreams are fulfilled when we take are steps in reaching the stars. The coming 2014 would surely be like the old passing years: full of surprises, opening new opportunities, meeting new friends, stronger bondings, new life directions, etc. We do not just leave behind the past year as if it is something to be forgotten. 2013 has taught me so much and all these are to be treasured. We look at the past with reflection, learning from its lessons and contemplating from its directions. We look at the past as a springboard towards a new and better tomorrow. 2014 enters and we make room for its blessings!

At the Laiya beach in Batangas; a photo with my parents in the Pakil church; with Niel Lopez during the closing celebration of the Year of Faith and a photo opp after a mass in STCJP with Eya Torres and Maja Espinas (old friends from charismatic youth group).

 2013 was a time for inner reflection. It was a journey of self-discovery and a renewed sense of dignity. It was a year of bonding with the family and new friends. Old friends come to meet you and it is refreshing to know that old bonds still exist amidst new people coming in our lives.

Meeting "The Abbot"

It is a rare opportunity that someone gets to meet one of the brilliant minds in the theological sphere of the contemporary period. On November 21, I was fortunate to have met the Rev. Dr. Heinrich Josef Maximilian Heim, O.Cist., Abbot of the Cistercian abbey in Germany. He came to the Philippines to celebrate his 25th sacerdotal anniversary with Rev. Fr. Gabriel Chumacera, O.Cist., who was once a seminary formator and a clergy from the Diocese of San Pablo. He also came to celebrate his thanksgiving as he had his final vows in the Cistercian community.

Fr. Maximilian Heim, O.Cist., was one of the first three recipients of the Ratzinger Prize in Theology.

As the director of the Schola Cantorum, I arranged to songs for his Mass. The abbot was grateful that he told me after the celebration, "Thank you! Wonderful that you used the de Angelis!" I knew that the abbot was not fluent in english so we sang Gregorian chant and some Italian and Spanish propers.

Members of the Schola Cantorum with the Abbot, Fr. Maximilian Heim, O.Cist. and Rev. Fr. Gabriel Chumacera, O.Cist. in the center. The photo was taken at the San Pablo Cathedral.

Greeting the Abbot after his Mass.

 Surprisingly on that very same day, a seminarian knocked on my dormitory room and as I opened it he told me that the rector asked me to assist in the Holy Hour as Fr. Maximilian presides. It is the first time that the abbot would expose the Blessed Sacrament in english and within it pray the Vespers. We prayed for the increase of Religious and Priestly Vocations during the hour of adoration followed by the office.

Fr. Maximilian Heim exposes the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel of the St. Peter's College Seminary.

After the evening hour of prayer, the community was fortunate to have a colloquium with our two Cistercian visitors. They related to us their lives in their religious community and also spiritual sharings. I asked the abbot at the end of the session, "What made you so interested with Pope Benedict XVI  that you were able to write such an extensive work?" With this he told us that the book was not really something he intended to be published. It was his doctoral thesis which the Ignatius Press kindly offered him to be translated in english and published.

The abbot with the philosophy seminarians of St. Peter's College Seminary after the colloquium.

The Rev. Abbot and I discussing about Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) as seminarians tried to have a photo taken with him.

I told the abbot that I am doing my thesis on the philosophy of Relativism wherein I take on John Paul II and Benedict XVI as key luminaries. He said he is interesting and gave me helpful insights.
I hope to meet him before he leaves for Germany and would ask him to autograph my copy of his work.

Journey with Mary of the Rosary

October 31 marks the end of the month of the holy rosary. To culminate it, let me share these wonderful sacramentals that have been journeying with me in my spiritual life. Much of them were given of which I am very much appreciative of (f.y.i. If someone would give me a rosary either as a birthday, thank you, christmas, etc. gift, I am very much delighted. It is a sign of Mary's call to pray harder and I remember the giver in my prayers).

This one was a surprise gift to me by Niño Rickson Acero, my co-seminarian and one close to my heart. He made it especially and in time for my birthday. It bore in it the 4 major basilicas of Rome as it's major beads with the salve bead that of Jesus the Eternal and High Priest. I had this held by the Blessed Virgin in the shrine at the seminary on her birthday. I keep this near me whenever I am in bed at night. I keeps evil forces away.

Grateful for helping her on her thesis (on the Trinity), Sr.Ma.Joy of the Leaven of the Immaculate Heart of Mary had this personally made for me. She said thank you coupled with her prayers. It is a wooden benedictine rosary. I remember all the religious and pious men and women when I pray with this rosary.

When he entered the Benedictine Monastery, Kuya Debaron Tivi learned how to make a rosary. This is a benedictine rosary from cat's eye beads. This is another of my favorites especially when I pray for vocations and the priesthood. My special intentions go to the maker of this rosary as well as Fr. Jerry Gaela, then rector, who gave the piece of Jerusalem Cross that I attached on its salve bead.

This rosary was made by members of the SSpSA. It was a graduation gift from my godmother, Lina Ilag, in 2010. I remember the intentions of the Society who made this as well as my godmothers in prayer through this.

This is my very first rosary given to me by my godfather, Leopold Ilag. He gave it to me after his trip from the Holy Land. A piece of stone from the Jordan River accompanies it but I seemed to have lost it way way back (I dropped it among the gravel near Lola Nana's house and I couldn't find it anymore, sorry). This is my favorite as I still keep it in my pocket. Maybe this has been with me for almost 20 years already and one of my most sentimental mementos.

When I had my first retreat in the seminary, I forgot to bring my rosary (which was unusual). I left it in my other pants. This came from the Capuchin Retreat Ceneter in Lipa and I was able to use this as a rosary just 3 times. All the rest, I use it to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy every Fridays.

This is a Christmas present from Fr.Nino then our Formation Director.

Get something from your room which has special meaning for you and give it to your batchmate- that was the instruction. This "summarized" rosary is especially themed with Our Lady of Guadalupe. The cross bears a magnifying glass where you can see the image of Our Lady. This was given by Jefferson Carmona, now our Liturgy chairman. Using this I remember his intentions, that of the batch, and for the defense of the culture of life.

This wooden rosary was a souvenir in the opening of our small religious store in the seminary. It was our formation batch that initiated in opening one to sustain a fund-raiser for the Institute.

This wooden rosary came from Rome. It is simple indeed and has an oak casing (the image of the Immaculate Heart and Sacred Heart interchange). This I keep in the hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady MMediatrix of All Grace, in my room atop my bookshelf. I had this when I was mid-college already.

The Wisdom of the Pope

Pope Benedict exhorts the young to "love."

"Separating" Church and State

December 2, 1956 - President Ramon Magsaysay, with wife Luz, read the Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

 

 

Recently I found an old picture of the Consecration of the Philippines to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in December 2, 1956. It was President Ramon Magsaysay who read the prayer. Beside him was his first lady, Ms. Luz Magsaysay. In a souvenir publication for the Second National Eucharistic Congress of the Philippines, it recounts how the president strongly and willingly pursued this endeavor "even if it meant his political graveyard... He received thousands of threatening letters and telegrams urging him not to read the act of consecration. The President, with clear and unhalting voice, read the formula of consecration."

A journey to the inner self

"Many cry to God, but not with the voice of the soul, but with the voice of the body; only the cry of the heart, of the soul, reaches God."
-Saint Augustine

"We set forth our petitions before God, not in order to make known to Him our needs and desires, but rather so that we ourselves may realize that in these things it is necessary to turn to God for help."
-Saint Thomas Aquinas

This 30th Sunday in the Ordinary Time we are reminded of how our internal disposition in prayer is important. How do we approach the throne of grace, with humility and confidence or with boastfulness and pride? No one is righteous before the infinite majesty of God. No one is worthy to stand before His presence. Yet in this unworthiness God tells us that we are not worthless. Still one who humbles himself will be exulted; from our imperfections, there strength builds up confidence to approach God and tell Him how we are dependent on Him.

I remembered talking with a priest the other day and asked what is the most important aspect in human formation. He said it is prayer and spirituality. But there is this specific part in prayer that he gave emphasis and which is given less attention nowadays- that of what he called "internalization." It is a going to the inner most depths of one's self. It is a journey within to see and search God in one's heart. God dwells in each one and it is in this journey that we find not only God but who we are as His created beings. We come to an examination of our values, our morals, our actions, and totality in light of God's wonderful work for us.

Pope Francis greets the Filipino people: Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS

POPE FRANCIS

TO THE PHILIPPINE CONFERENCE ON THE NEW EVANGELIZATION

18 October 2013

University of Sto. Toman

Manila, Philippines

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ,

I greet all of you with the peace and joy of our Lord. The first Philippine Conference on the New Evangelization is our offering to the Year of Faith. For this I thank all of you: brother Bishops, the priests, religious men and women, seminarians, and the lay faithful who organize and are participating in the conference. I am happy to learn that you came to Manila from different parts of the Philippines and Asia. The Holy Spirit is actively at work in you.

The Church of Christ is alive. Through this conference, I hope you would experience again the loving presence of Jesus in your lives, that you would love the Church more and that you would share the Gospel to other people with humility and joy. Don’t get tired of bringing the mercy of the Father to the poor, the sick, the abandoned the young people and the family. Let Jesus speak now in the world of politics, business, arts, science, technology and social media. Let the Holy Spirit renew the creation and bring forth justice and peace in the Philippines and in the great continent of Asia that is close to my heart.

Please pray for me. I need it. I promise to pray for you especially to our Mother, the blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the New Evangelization.

Mabuhay ang Filipinas! Mabuhay ang Asia! Pagpalain kayo ng Diyos.

God bless you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

-------------------------------------------------

audio file in the Vatican Radio: http://media01.radiovaticana.va/audiomp3/00395512.MP3

I-Thou

It's brain wrecking to study philosophy especially those of the modern thinkers!
I couldn't think of a world without the Divine.

Just to share, my favorite groups are the existentialists like Kierkegaard, Buber, and Wojtyla.
They not only hold that man's essence cannot be separated from God but also it's height consists in a transcended relationship, one that not only sees each man as an object but a person as a subject.

This they called the I-Thou relationship.

Praying for the Carmelites

Carmelites have a special place in my heart. I grew in a parish where the patron is a discalced carmelite, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. Since then I was devoted to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Through the years, I learned more about them and their spirituality and I grew in love too with Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross.

As we has the Mass in honor of Saint Teresa de Avila yesterday, October 15, I prayed for my prayer partner, Sr. Bernina of the Holy Family, O.C.D., who in faith never abandoned me and constantly prays for my intentions. I also remembered my professor, Ms. Cleofe O. Ciar, M.A., who never failed to exhort me in prayer. This evening as I knelt in from of the pilgrim image of Our Lady of Fatima in the cathedral, I asked the Blessed Mother to enlighten me more in my vocation. Carmel has been my first love and feel I am still called to ascent to the spiritual mountain.

May the Lord show me the true way. Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us!

When a good samaritan came

Doing my usual course and an "apostolate" for seminarians I drove for the evening recolletion to and fro the cathedral. After two  short drives, I decided to have my dinner and take a break before commencing on my reviews (oh, I'm still a student by the way and it really is hard when you have a lot of things to manage and do plus two major philosophy exams coming on the next day... and I still took the time to blog this out).

After I parked the vehicle, I alighted and guess what, the gate of the entrance is locked. I waited there for almost 5 minutes until a seminarian saw me. I waved at him hoping that he notices me and call the gatekeeper to have it opened. No. He just laughed at me. Another came and I also called his attention. Unlike the first one, he waved, then left. After almost 10 minutes, someone passed by and seeing me just seemed to ignored my presence. I took a chair and sat down. Looking around, I thought, WHO WOULD BE A GOOD SAMARITAN THIS EVENING?

Much like the story of the man beaten by robbers on his way to Jerusalem, many passed by and saw him but none responded generously. Is this selfishness that we think of our own benefits, of what is good only for ourselves? It is as if saying that being generous now entails something coming back to me after I do it. Well, one could say, "I am busy and I am doing a lot of things so I wasn't able to call the gatekeeper." Couldn't we give a short time for someone in need? This demands a heart of compassion, one that is sensitive to the needs of others.

There are just people who remember you when they need something from you but forgets you or not even remembers how you are doing when they are already happy and contented. Waiting was not a problem for me but it saddens me to see how insensitive others are especially when they call you their own brother, or do they? After 15 minutes, someone came and seeing me called the gatekeeper. Thank God there is still one who cares and I pray he makes a difference. This is more than a locked gate, when our hearts are locked and we do not open them for others. When our hearts have grown cold and selfish, we fail to see that there are others who like us, are in need of love.  What is in the heart of an apostolic work is not work per se. It is the heart open to one another as if seeing Christ in every person we encounter.

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary with... who are they?

The Blessed Virgin Mary handling the rosary to Saint Dominic
and Saint Catherine of Siena.

Beginning the month of October, I had an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary carrying the Child Jesus on her lap while handling the rosary to two saintly figures in kneeling posture enthroned in the chapel. The intention was catechetical, that is, in order for people to get curious (if they do not know) who are the two characters depicted and so have a glimpse of Church history.

Almost a week past and no one reacts. I thought maybe they already know. I tried to ask several people if they know who the two saints are and surprisingly, out of 10, only 2 know! Sadly disappointed for their lack of initiative to know who these figures are, let me share.

So, who are the two saintly figures?

The first is Saint Dominic de Guzman who established the mendicant Order of Preachers. It was said that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him and gave him the rosary as a powerful prayer to attack the Albigensian heresy. True enough, the Dominicans won over such enemies of the Church.

The second is Saint Catherine of Siena. She was not a contemporary of Saint Dominic but came later. She is not a nun but a lay woman who entered the Dominican Tertiary. She was heavily instrumental for the return of the papacy in Rome which ended the great schism. Through her prayers and the rosary, unity was restored in the Church.

Let's not calculate

And this is the wisdom of one did not obtain a doctorate degree in theology but only did what she said- to love.

A blessed mishap

I left our house at 10:30 AM bound for Pacita Complex to pass our presentations planning that I should be back in LB in time to serve for Mass. When already in San Pedro I thought of passing by a co-seminarian's house then proceed with my endeavor. I did and as I was on my way to Pacita crossing the San Pedro bridge, the van's clutch malfunctioned and I couldn't shift gears. I only had a thousand in my pocket and I was problematic how things might work out. I was in the side way for almost two hours. Thank God there was a tricycle driver who generously offered me help by pushing the van to a better station and pointed me to an auto-shop a few meters across the street. I also extend my gratitude to Mr. Simatu who was about to go home but was interrupted just so fix my vehicle. He wasn't really a mechanic but a patrol officer I think as he said and a part-time jeepney driver.

It was a new experience. I had my cellphone with me but I did not call home for help. I thought there are a lot of people around and I could have used their help, which I did. If I were bringing the seminary van and I don't have a phone with me, what would I do? That I did.

I'm home safe, 7:45 PM, and wasn't able to serve in the Mass. I'll make up for it tomorrow and thank the Lord for not leaving me abandoned in the unfamiliar streets of San Pedro. 

God was at work!

The TAU Cross

Before Msgr. Jerry Bitoon of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples went back to Rome two weeks ago, he gave me a Tau Cross suspended on a brown threading.

For year's I have wondered what this letter "T" meant for Christians.
Lately I knew it was the "Tau Cross."
It is the Greek "Tau" which is, in ancient Tradition, forms the abbreviated symbol of the Cross in New Testament accounts (that is, together with the Rho).
Franciscans have used this widely.

On this Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, we are reminded of a simple and humble lifestyle. Poverty is not literally owning nothing but having a full and loving trust in the abundant provision of God. Pax et bonum!

Have you talked to your Guardian Angel?

Let's not forget to greet our Guardian Angels today. A short prayer to them would do.
Let us thank them for continuously guiding us, protecting us from danger and from the snares of the evil, and for giving us light, leading us to God.

PRAYER TO ONE'S GUARDIAN ANGEL

ANGELE DEI,

qui custos es mei,

Me tibi commissum pietate superna;

(Hodie, Hac nocte) illumina, custodi, rege, et guberna.

Amen.

ANGEL OF GOD,

my guardian dear,

To whom his love commits me here;

Ever this (day, night) be at my side,

To light and guard, to rule and guide.

Amen.

When Human Love Reaches Perfection: St. Therese, Model of the New Millenium

WHEN HUMAN LOVE REACHES PERFECTION:

Saint Thérèse, Model of the New Millenium

written by Sem. Carl Angelo Pua for the 3rd Visit of the Pilgrim Relics of St. Therese in the Philippines, Diocese of San Pablo

Therese may have lost her mother during childhood
but still found comfort in the arms of the Blessed
Virgin who led her to Her Son.

            Love is repaid by love alone. It is in love that the youngest Doctor of the Church found her vocation in prayer and holiness. Saint Thérèse, at the age of 15, received a papal dispensation to enter the Carmelite Monastery of Lisieux. The ardent love of this nun for Jesus was so pure that her desire to win souls through prayer moved her to the confines of the discalced order. Her departure to the eternal world left many saddened yet inspired millions. She has been a patron of many pontiffs, religious, and lay people. It is interesting that in the canonization process, Benedict XV exempted the cause from the fifty years delay imposed by law and in 1921 promulgated the decree on the heroic quality of the virtues of Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Pius XI, succeeding the Holy See, made her the ‘star of his pontificate.’ It was said that the relics and picture of the Little Flower never left his working office. By May 17, 1925, in the presence of 33 Cardinals and 250 bishops, Thérèse was proclaimed saint. More than 50,000 people attended the ceremony inside the St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome; not mentioning the overwhelming 500,000 more standing outside. Two years later she was declared one of the patrons of foreign missions together with Saint Francis Xavier. The theology of Saint Thérèse, though not explicitly mentioned, was instrumental in the work of the Second Vatican Council: “the return to the word of God, the priority given to the theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity) in everyday life, the Church seen as the Body of Christ, the universal mission, the call of each baptized person to sanctify, fraternal attention paid to those who have different beliefs or who do not believe.”

            There is nothing new with the words of this young saint. Many theologians would say she devised nothing ingenious. However, her way of serving God through little acts of love inspired and touched many hearts to conversion. This love is the very message of Christ as He commanded to love God and neighbor (cf. Mk. 12:30,31) and the calling of every Christian of which is the end of human existence. But what really sets the love of this Little Flower is how she conceives it in simplicity. Love should not need to be grand for God to notice one – the mere heartfelt prayer is already an expression of deep love. She never forgot to pray. She never ran out of something to pray for. Like what she wrote to her sister Celine, “Let us not stop praying; confidence produces miracles… let us not forget souls, but forget ourselves for them.” This love which Saint Thérèse teaches is the very act that the world needs today; a love that is pure and holy, eternal and perfected in God.

The young Therese, burning with the fire
of love, showed how it meant to be a true
follower of Christ even at an early age.

            Why the need for a millennium saint? During the pontificate of the late Pope John Paul II, he ushered the whole Church in entering the new millennium most significantly with the celebration of the Great Jubilee Year 2000. This called forth for a renewed relationship with one another – mending divisions, healing strife, and breaking the chains and yokes of oppression, hatred, and iniquities. Saint Thérèse’s simple message of love is seen as the solution for all these. This attracted the pontiff’s vision of telling the world about God who is love Himself. Through Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection, love reached its climax with a kenosis (a self-emptying). The Little Flower’s devotion to the Child Jesus and the Holy Face expresses both the joy of nativity and the sorrow of Calvary. She teaches that our service and love for the Lord is not limited to moments of success and comfort but in hardships as well. Saint Thérèse knew and felt God’s presence in the most real and authentic manner and her response is that same love. She reciprocated love which emanated from her Master with the same by spending her life doing good on earth: I do not want to rest as long as there are souls to save. But when the angel says: ‘Time is no more’, then I will take my rest. It is a selfless giving of one’s self for the good of others.

            This forms the challenge of devotion to our Millennium Saint: to be transformed by the Divine love, and animated for the service of others. True devotion to a saint entails living-out and imitation of his or her life. Saint Thérèse is our model of simplicity, a way which seems easy yet tough. Saint Thérèse is our model of love, one that emanates from the hearts of the Creator and the created. Saint Thérèse is our millennium saint escorting us to holiness and prepares ourselves to open the door to Christ.

FILIPINOS, Where is your faith?

Image of San Lorenzo;
photo credits to Oliver Oliveros

"I shall die for God, and for Him I would give many thousands of lives if I had them."
-St. Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila, first Filipino Martyr


Would there still be a soul in this world, in this country, burning with the same fervent spirit?

FILIPINOS, LOOK at our protomartyr!
FILIPINOS, RISE up as men of God!
FILIPINOS, DEFEND and LIVE our your faith!

I don't like being used

Have you experienced waking up one morning and suddenly a person you have been treating as a friend just turns out not talking to you anymore? Whether you have or not, it is saddening. It is sad when people make friends, or in proper words, befriend you because they just need something from you. It is injustice to friendship. It is immature. It is selfish.

One aspect of insensitivity is utilitarianism. This attitude lacks the proper virtues necessary to see that each person is not merely an object of one's pleasure but as subjects of relationships. The great John Paul II while still a prelate of Poland once wrote in a book he entitled Love and Responsibility (1960) commented how persons should not be treated as things which we just use and leave away afterwards; sounds like saying, no strings attached. He pointed out that “A person's rightful due is to be treated as an object of love, not as an object for use.” People are meant to be loved and not used.

Care, trust, and love - these are some of the essential parts in keeping a good friendship alive. They are not ideas floating in thin air but attitudes and expressions that needed to be acted upon. The insensitivity of utilitarianism stems from a frightening ego, one that devours even the wholeness of the person. When we allow ourselves to be pampered so much, when we always think we can get what we want, when we feel that all eyes are on us as if we are always the star of the show - this is ego.

This morning His Excellency Bishop Famadico celebrated Mass for us in honor of Sts. Cosmas and Damian. He reiterated the value and essence of having a relationship with Jesus. He repeatedly challenged us to know the Lord through a meditative question, "Who are You, Jesus?" It is a challenge because this question can be answered by academic research, by reading the scriptures, articles, books, etc. but the key to knowing who He really is is through a personal encounter, a relationship. The Bishop also reminded us of our commitment to the Lord. He said, "How could you commit to someone you do not know?" and this ignited our hearts to really encounter the Lord. Friendship is a person to person relationship and unless we know nothing of the other person, we would not have a real commitment because "friendship is not developed from information from others." Lastly he noted that will power to create friendship is not enough, it also requires the grace of God and one's openness and trust.

We meet different people daily and everyone is not expected to be a close friend of us. The challenge is how we look at them and deal with them. A smile is not bad. A simple "Hi!" or "Good morning" would not be a burden.

CBCP NEWS: Leave the 'selfie' mindset, go back to God

A headline in the CBCP's website reads
Leave the 'selfie' mindset, go back to God
Here's a repost of the news:
___________________________________

MANILA, Sept. 23, 2013—An excess of ‘selfie’ photos may not just be a symptom of selfishness, but may show a need to go back to God, a prelate said. 

“We are selfish, this is what we need to do away with. [It's all about] I, me, myself [like] those who keep on taking selfie photos,” Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani, Jr. said in a homily to some 2,000 people gathered to see the international pilgrim image of Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal last Wednesday. 

This kind of mindset is reflected in the social media phenomenon of the ‘selfie’ photo, a self-taken picture made possible by front-facing cameras, according to Bishop Bacani. 

All taking, no giving 

“I joked some people, telling them, ‘You’re all about picture-taking, but never about picture-giving.’ This is the world today, it’s all about taking,” he said. 

In an intended pun, Bacani said this selfishness is evident even in the halls of political power, saying, “If by any chance, you don’t take pictures yourself, you take from the pork barrel instead.” 

According to Bacani, this shows an unnatural self-centeredness in the “smallest to the most powerful” in society — with 90 million selfie photos posted on Instagram alone, this does not seem hard to believe. 

Talking about a topic that seemed to strike a chord with many of the faithful, he said, this phenomenon also reveals a culture that needs God more than ever before. 

“What God wants to say is, ‘Leave your selfishness.’ This is what you need to leave and live in God instead because in God is true peace,” Bacani said during a 9 a.m. mass at the San Fernande De Dilao Parish, Paco in honor of the visit of the Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal image. 

Penance, a return to God 

He explained that this return to God or repentance is part of the message Our Lady gave to three children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. 

“The original meaning of penance is to return to God,” Bacani said, dispelling widely-held notions that penance is about extreme physical mortifications like self-inflicted pain. 

Together with prayer, penance forms a formula of sorts for lasting peace, he explained. 

The image of Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal is on pilgrimage in the Philippines until December 18, 2013 and is currently in the Diocese of Pasig.

Nuestra Senora dela Merced

Today we celebrated the feast of Our Lady under the title of Nuestra Senora dela Merced (Lady of Mercy). She is also called Our Lady of Ransom. This devotion began in Spain of which She became the principal patroness of Barcelona and in some parts of Italy. It is believed that the Blessed Virgin Mary in white scapular appeared to St. Peter Nolasco and with St. Raymond Penafort., founded the Order of Mercedarians who cared primarily for the oppressed, the chained, and those in prison.

The celebration reminds us of how powerful the prayers of the Blessed Mother are. She care for her sons and daughters whom Jesus entrusted to her, "Woman, behold your son..." What else could Jesus give while hanging on the cross but her own mother, the very last person He had during that time. Yes, Jesus Christ did give His all to us, even to the point of giving up His own mother.

PRAYER

Mary, our Mother of Mercy,

the fullness of God’s own mercy dwells in you.

With the eyes of a mother, look upon your sons.

Intercede for everyone who suffers in body or soul

and for all who are enslaved in mind or spirit.

We give ourselves to you totally-ind, heart and senses.

Keep them and help us always to be a sign of God’s love.

Reveal to us what it means to be yours,

and teach us to live in that same generosity

with which you responded to the grace of Jesus our Redeemer. Amen.

To be Willing is Enough

The image of the Little Flower that stands in
the Parish Church of St. Therese of the Child
Jesus, UP Los Banos.

                     "Our Lord has deigned to explain this mystery to me. He showed me the book of nature, and I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its spring-tide beauty, and the fields would no longer be enameled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord's living garden. He has been pleased to create great Saints who may be compared to the lily and the rose, but He has also created lesser ones, who must be content to be daisies or simple violets flowering at His Feet, and whose mission it is to gladden His Divine Eyes when He deigns to look down on them. And the more gladly they do His Will the greater is their perfection."

- St. Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul

When the young Therese wanted to go on missions, she was unable and was prevented because of her poor sickly health. She understood that she cannot do anything and everything she wanted even if those are forms of service for the Lord. In her account she wrote that God was pleased to see even the mere WILLINGNESS to serve. We may not be given the chance to do all we want even if we can but it is that fire in our hearts, the zeal to serve, and the willingness to honor and glorify God that give our desires the benefit. She accepted the fact humbly and turned to prayer for the missions as her contribution. In a letter to her brother missionaries she wrote: "Our Divine Lord asks no sacrifice beyond our strength. At times, it is true, He makes us taste to the full the bitterness of the chalice He puts to our lips. And when He demands the sacrifice of all that is dearest on earth, it is impossible without a very special grace not to cry out as He did during His Agony in the Garden: 'My Father, let this chalice pass from me!' But we must hasten to add: 'Yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.' It is so consoling to think that Jesus, 'the Strong God,' has felt all our weaknesses and shuddered at the sight of the bitter chalice--that very chalice He had so ardently desired."

Chief Pastor admonishes co-shepherds

Pope Francis addresses 120 new bishops on September 19 urging them to be more pastoral than living a "princely" lifestyle.

A cold, selfish reality: A Throwaway Culture

What has become of this world?

It has grown cold and selfish.

It has become too individualistic that it lost its sense of solidarity; what is left of man is an exultation of his own self blind and deaf from the needs and efforts of others. The world has taught him to live by his own, to do whatever he wants, and to enjoy the world as if everything, even life itself, are in his disposal. He has become the master of himself to the point of enslaving his humanity.

Man has created a worldview of indifference. From "No man is an island" he shifts to an object of solitude. Man becomes his own island. He separated himself from the bond of the mainland, from the solidarity of a community life. How many of us would think that the beggar on the church door is a part of the worshiping community? Home many of us would dare to let in a homeless into our dinner table? How many of us would really care about the misfortunes of others that we watch on television news or hear in radio reports; have we grown too comfortable in our seats just sitting back and feeling relaxed?

We are challenged to us our gifts in building the Kingdom of God. The first reading taken from Ezra (1:1-6) shows how King Cyrus, who inspired by the Lord, ordered the construction of the temple in Jerusalem: "All their neighbors gave them help in every way, with silver, gold, goods, and cattle, and with many precious gifts besides all their free-will offerings." They knew how to give. They knew how to offer help. They knew what it meant to be a community one in faith. They knew how everything they had came from God and how it is only fitting that these be returned and used for His glory.

Our talents, skills, strength, power, and resources are all but from the Lord. We are called to do the same - to use all these for His Kingdom. Blessings are not given to us to flaunt and be proud off. What we have are not to glorify our own abilities and to raise ourselves above others. Jesus in the Gospel (Lk 8:16-18) admonishes us to be light to every one. We should not hinder ourselves from doing what we can for the benefit of the community. We are a part of it. How stern does the Lord tells us, "To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away." When we are rich in whatever, these riches must be offered in order to continually build up the Kingdom. We must share the same light to those who have less that the fire burning in their hearts would inflame more.

Would you go off your pew and turn to the beggar and greet him or her with the sign of peace?
Would you be kind enough to offer a loaf to hungry child in the street after you have fed yourself in communion?
Would you dare defend one hopeless and innocent baby from the brutality of the world?
But the gravest question is not always easily answerable with a yes or no, but one asked with a HOW.

What has become of this world? Pope Francis remarks that this world has become a "throwaway culture." Everything is disposable. Everything is temporary. He noted in his inaugural homily that "Everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it." This shows only that we are a part of a whole that should take care of one another and not only of ourselves. It is touching that he adds as he left Brazil during the World Youth Day: "Show by your life, that it is worth giving your time and talents in order to attain high ideals, it is worth recognizing the dignity of each human person, and it is worth taking risks for Christ and the Gospel."

Live like the Little Flower

Browsing a commemorative calendar of the Missionary Catechists of St. Therese which was founded by the late Archbishop of Lipa, Rufino Obviar, I stumbled upon one of his excellency's notes. It wrote:

"Live like the Little Flower, to offer the little things that came to your life,

little displeasures and everything that you could offer to the Lord."

I began meditating and deeply pondered on his words that followed:

"Look at the branches of the mango trees.

They are bent when they are filled with fruits. They are erect when they are empty."

Today starts the novena to St. Therese of the Child Jesus who teaches us the sure way to heaven - a gaze of loving humility. She taught no dogma but lived her life totally out of love. This is why she was declared a Doctor of the Church, the Doctor Amoris (Doctor of Love), and was esteemed as the Millennium Saint. She is a model for our contemporary life where we need love the most. For the next days, we pray to her intercession asking that we too may live as she deed, to follow her example and be truly conformed to the image and likeness of Christ, who gives His total self for love of God and others.

The relics of St. Therese in her 3rd Pilgrim Visit to the Philippines.
My hand, in black cassock and laced surplice, touching her.

NOVENA PRAYER

Dearest Saint Therese of Lisieux, you said that you would spend your time in heaven doing good on earth. Your trust in God was complete. Pray that He may increase my trust in His goodness and mercy as I ask for the following petitions…

(State your intentions)

Pray for me that I, like you, may have great and innocent confidence in the loving promises of our God. Pray that I may live my life in union with God’s plan for me, and one day see the Face of God whom you loved so deeply.

Saint Therese, you were faithful to God up until the moment of your death. Pray for me that I may be faithful to our loving God. May my life bring peace and love to the world through faithful endurance in love for God our savior. Amen.