OUR PARISH PRIEST

WHEN MEMORY TURNS TO FESTIVITY Filipino Catholics will flock to churches, cemeteries and memorial parks November 1and 2 to celebrate monuments of faith. Both feasts point to life. Both feasts are rooted in memory. Both feasts are fuelled by love. All Saints Day and All Souls Day are twin spiritual and cultural occasions. These are occasions of rest, family bonding and prayer. To some, these days sadly, reveal only the social aspect. This situation gives rise to misconceptions by non-Catholics who question our biblical bases. But what can be more biblical than God’s love that transforms sinners into saints and purifies souls so they can inherit heaven. It’s all very biblical! Why do we remember? Why do we hope in a life promised to us? It is because we have experienced love. God’s love is so powerful an invitation and so attractive a prospect that many people lived their lives as a preparation for a fuller, richer, more abundant life with God in heaven...

WHAT CATHOLICS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT RESPECT FOR THE DEAD, THE SOULS IN PURGATORY, AND CREMATION 1. Why do Catholics pray for the dead? We Catholics believe in the power of love. Love is present among us who live on earth. But love does not stop after a person dies. Love can reach even into the after life. After death, it is possible to experience a reciprocal giving and receiving. Our affection for each other continues even after death has occurred.  Our dead brothers and sisters “seem, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace…yet their hope full of immortality” (Wisdom 3:3-4). This means that the departed are alive in the eyes of God. “He is not God of the dead but of the living” (MK12:27).  Prayers for the dead reflect this fundamental Christian belief that through the love of Christ, we are still connected to those who have gon...

when you need to shout 30th Sunday It is already giving us mental and emotional fatigue to follow up on current events. Calamity after calamity yielded sad stories on television and radio news and programs. After the typhoons, came the floods and more typhoons preparing to invade our territory. Last week, an earthquake shook some places. What’s next in coming keeps people on tiptoes and watchful guard. And these happening do not only impact nature and the environment. They affect people whose lives are already heavy with problems in relationships, in finances, in the workplace and a host of other personal concerns. Sometimes, remembering all these makes you just want to cry out: Why are all these happening now? When will all these cease? Bartimaeus was a man who can understand the load we are now carrying as a people and as individuals. He was blind, in a society that looks upon blindness as a pitiable malady. He was poor, because his blindness excludes him fro...

the sisters in my class in tagaytay

OUR MISSION IS TO SERVE 29th Sunday Before the killer floods became headline, the news fed us with the scenario of politicians out to get each other’s throats. We have what we call “the quarrel of thieves” – people in authority accusing each other of unspeakable crimes. One day, this senator takes the floor for his privilege speech, destroying the reputation of a public figure. The next day, another senator takes the stand to lambast the previous day’s exposè. Those who have promised to work for the welfare of the nation are entangled in the shameful cycle revealing each other’s faults. The gospel begins with a request of the disciples for power. James and John, approach Jesus to ask for the right and left seats closest to Jesus’ throne in the Kingdom. The Lord directs the conversation to his cup of suffering, but refuses to give a pointed answer to the request for recognition and honor. If only the two disciples knew that in the end, the right and left places on ...

WE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR AND SUPPORT OUR FELLOW MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE STILL SUFFERING FROM THE EFFECTS OF THE KILLER TYPHOONS, ESPECIALLY THOSE IN THE NORTH LUZON AREA AND OTHER PARTS OF CENTRAL LUZON. MAY THE SOULS OF THE DEAD BE WELCOMED BY THE ANGELS OF GOD IN THE PEACE OF HEAVEN. MAY THE FAMILIES THEY LEFT BEHIND IN SORROW BE CONSOLED BY GOD AND THEIR NEIGHBORS.

Transformation of the Rosary By James A. Rurak (thanks to the National Catholic Reporter) My fishing buddy’s a Freemason. Who would have thought that he would transform my experience of the Rosary? One day he handed me a box. Someone had given him a set of Rosary beads with instructions how to use them. He figured that I’d know what to do with them. I’d been praying the Rosary since my father drew me back to it during his terminal illness some 20 years earlier. But the instructions were new. I’d heard about how John Paul II introduced five new mysteries, but I was quite content with the traditional fifteen. My buddy’s instruction sheet included the new ones. That’s where the transformation started. Comfort I’d taken great comfort from the Rosary. I loved how the daily prayers joined a set of five “mysteries” of redemption, and the way each one of the three sets of the mysteries matched its given day of the week. I felt that “new” mysteries would be an irritation but, I l...

WHAT'S YOUR CENTER? 28th Sunday There are moments when we must answer the crucial questions about the core of our lives, the center our hearts, the thing we treasure the most. The recent disastrous typhoons, when people were fleeing their homes and running for safety, unleashed the priorities of every human heart. Some people fled with their money and jewelry. Others immediately took their favorite appliances to higher grounds. Still there were people who took care that pictures, diplomas and documents were saved at once. Many people thought of things to save from the threatening floods. But many also were those who thought of their children and elderly parents or sick relatives. Heroes emerged among us when people indiscriminately dived into the murky waters to save whoever was drowning among their neighbors. What would you have saved if you were in the same frightening and near-death experience? Who would you have dragged to safety in the midst of the rushing...

DIVORCE IN MARRIAGE, DIVORCE IN NATURE 27th Sunday We are still in the process of recovery from the devastating effects of the “killer typhoon” in Manila last week. After wreaking havoc in our country, the typhoon proceeded to disrupt the peace and serenity of surrounding countries. In the midst of seemingly desperate situations, the real sign of hope is the avalanche of love and support of Filipinos for each other. It’s a mystery that tragedies make us realize that we are connected, that we can transcend the artificial boundaries we create between us. In moments of suffering, it is a tremendous grace to see in the face of another the face of a brother and sister to be loved, if we only try to open wide our hearts. The readings today remind us that God created us for a special purpose. All creation is interrelated and intertwined in the mind of God. No one was fashioned for a life of isolation or seclusion. Our relationships define who we are. Relationships give pu...