OUR PARISH PRIEST

PARISH YOUTH DISPLAYS TALENT (AN EASTER TREAT FROM MICHELLE CAGOMOC)

CLOSEST TO OUR HEARTS! A BLESSED EASTER! A great teacher of the faith said something intriguing about Easter.   He said that Easter is the feast most understandably human, the feast closest to our human experience, the feast most connected to our daily lives. How true is that?   We all know that Easter is a high mystery, perhaps the highest mystery of all. People in Jesus’ time did not understand it.   Even his disciples had difficulty believing it.   And today, many still deny that it ever happened. How can someone dead live again?   Maybe in the heart, in the memory, in his legacy but his body is certainly rotting down under the ground. That is why news of the Resurrection only brought a disbelieving shake of the head. In faith we accept the Easter event.   Jesus rose from the dead, for that is what the Father promised and fulfilled in his life. God who worked out the impossible in the Incarnation, now works out another...

WHAT MADE JESUS’ CROSS DIFFICULT? Good Friday Jesus’ life was no easy one.   We know his humble beginnings in Bethlehem, his simple life in Nazareth, his family and occupational background, at least from hints given to us in Scriptures.   Jesus was a working man, like his foster father, St. Joseph.   As a budding preacher, Jesus started out poor and simple too.   No place to lay his head.   No support from the powerful.   No screaming, adoring fans.   In fact, as he preached, Jesus gained, alongside admirers, many enemies for exposing the truth. As he spread his message, do did these adversaries spread their revilement of his reputation and good name. This mounting suspicion, anger and hatred led Jesus to where he is now on Good Friday afternoon.   He is now hanging on a cross, wounded, bruised and broken.   The epitome of the Good is now crucified for speaking of love and being himself that same love. We a...

Maundy Thursday: Jesus’ Prayer for Unity We have come again to start our celebration of the Triduum, the three days that form the high point of our relationship with Jesus our Lord and Savior.   The Evening Mass of Holy Thursday is important because of the event from which it springs, the Last Supper of the Lord Jesus with his apostles. It was his last gathering with them before he embraces the ultimate fate of the Cross.   After this supper, Jesus proceeds to the garden to pray, to wrestle with God, to prepare himself for surrender to the Father’s will. But the spirit of this day is not only the meal established as memorial of love and salvation, that will become central to our daily lives.   The spirit of this night also comes from prayer. For on this supper, Jesus prayed in the same way any Jew would pray on the Feast of the Atonement. What is this prayer of Jesus?   Among other things, it was a prayer for unity. Jesus prays that he may...

What is the point of holy week ? Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion Lent came very early this year and I couldn’t imagine that Holy Week is already here. Like many of you, I have been so busy with many things in my life and many personal pursuits that I haven’t really noticed how Lent moved from Ash Wednesday to Laetare Sunday and now, it is Palm Sunday once again.   Another Holy Week is beginning to unravel. What is the point of celebrating Holy Week each year?   The readings today set the tone for the entire week.   And the readings are one of violence, of sacrifice and rejection, of blood and tears, of pain and death. The first reading from Isaiah 50 describes the torture, albeit willingly received, inflicted on the suffering servant of Yahweh. “ I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.” The second reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians ...

POPE FRANCIS’ FIRST WORDS TO HIS BELOVED CHILDREN AND TO THE WORLD Brothers and sisters, good evening! You know how the duty of the Conclave is to give a bishop to Rome. It seems that my brother cardinals have gone to take him from the edge of the world... but here we are. I thank you for your welcome. The diocesan family of Rome has your bishop: thank you! And before anything else, I'd like for us to pray for our bishop-emeritus, Benedict XVI. Let us pray together for him, that the Lord bless him and Our Lady keep him in her care.... Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory Be.... And now, together, let us start this road: bishop and people. This [new] path of the church of Rome, which "presides in charity" [over] all the churches. A path of brotherhood, of love, of trust between us. Let us pray always for ourselves: one for the other. Let us pray for all the world, that we all might know a great fraternity. I wish you that this ...

HABEMUS PAPAM! WE PRAISE THE LORD FOR THE NEW POPE! THE FIRST LATIN AMERICAN POPE, THE FIRST JESUIT POPE! POPE FRANCIS I (CARDINAL JORGE BERGOGLIO, ARCHBISHOP OF BUENOS AIRES) New pope, Jesuit Bergoglio, was runner-up in 2005 conclave Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina John L. Allen Jr.   |   Mar. 3, 2013 NCR Today Conclave 2013 ROME In the days leading up to the conclave, John Allen offered a profile each day of one of the most frequently touted papabili, or men who could be pope. On March 3, he profiled Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was elected March 13 to be Pope Francis. Here is the profile Allen wrote: While there are still no tracking polls to establish who's got legs as a papal candidate, the 2013 conclave at least has one objective measure not available in 2005: past performance. Many of the cardinals seen as candidates now were also on offer the last time around, and so...

JESUS’ ATTITUDE TO SIN Today we are confronted with a moving image of a woman dragged before Jesus because people believed she was a sinner.   This heartless gesture by the mob provides us with one of the most beautiful encounters the Bible offers and one of the most powerful lessons in the ways of God. The Gospel (John 8) showcases two attitudes towards sin. The first attitude is that of the scribes and Pharisees and the crowd they managed to influence.   It is an attitude of accusation, of condemnation, self-righteousness and revenge.   See, there is this woman “caught” in adultery and she deserves punishment as stipulated in the law.   She must die!   Have you ever wondered how all these people caught the woman in what should be a most private transgression? Did they really see her committing sin? Was she not “caught” in the web of gossip, hearsay, malicious talk, discrimination and oppression?   I am not saying she was not ...

(thanks to Vatican Radio for the following) Filipino Cardinals, Rosales - Vidal - Tagle, attend meetings The eighth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals meeting in the Vatican Synod Hall Friday has decided that the Conclave for the election of the Pope will begin on Tuesday, 12 March 2013. A “pro eligendo Romano Pontifice” Mass will be celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica in the morning. Then Tuesday afternoon the 115 Cardinal Electors will gather in the Pauline Chapel for a moment of collection and prayer and from there they will process in order of precedence through the Sala Regia to the Sistine Chapel invoking the Holy Spirit. There they will take their seats, again observing the order of precedence, to elect the 265th Successor to St Peter. Once they have taken their seats they will hear the second meditation established by the Apostolic Constitution governing the papal transitions. It will be given by the Maltese Augustinian, Cardinal Pro...

THE HEAVENLY FATHER’S HEART 4th Sunday of Lent Luke’s parable today is the center of his magnificent work on the life of Jesus.   Bible experts readily point out that this is the summary of all the gospels put together.   Luke 15, with its story of the prodigal son and his merciful father, is the centerpiece of the teachings of Jesus as it makes us aware of God, of ourselves and of our response to the invitation to have a change of heart. The first thing that we notice in the parable is the amazing way of loving that the father exercised over his sons.   Those of us with children know that we cannot love our children in the same way, although we try to love them equally.   They have their proper and special needs and they demand to be treated accordingly. To the younger son, whose heart longed for freedom and rebellion, the father gave perfect freedom. Wanting to run after pleasures, the father, with a heavy heart no doubt, allo...