GO,

PREACH

THE

LOVE OF GOD!

PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE FROM CALAMITIES

Almighty Father, we raise our hearts to You in gratitude for the wonders of creation of which we are part, for your providence in sustaining us in our needs, and for your wisdom that guides the course of the universe.

We acknowledge our sins against You and the rest of creation.

We have not been good stewards of Nature.

We have confused Your command to subdue the Earth.

The environment is made to suffer our wrongdoing, and how we reap the harvest of our abuse and indifference.

Global warming is upon us. Typhoons, floods, volcanic eruption, and other natural calamities occur in increasing number and intensity.

We turn to You, our loving Father, and beg forgiveness for our sins.

We ask that we, our loved ones and our hard earned possessions be spared from the threat of calamities, natural and man-made.

We bessech You to inspire us all to grow into responsible stewards of Your creation, and generous neighbors to those in need. Amen.

Epic Flood: A Call for Compassion

THE pictures we see in the newspapers and television screen in these days, after the epic flood brought about by devastating tropical storm “Ondoy” have many stories to tell which are beyond words. Many of the victims of super typhoon Ondoy has a scary experience to narrate.
While we keep in our imagination the pictures that invite our deepest sympathy, and even listen in our hearts to their desperate cries for help, the victims agonizing and angry complaints at the slowness or absence of response from Disaster Preparedness Program, let us see in this situation a call to everyone for compassion. If there were no graft and corruption in our government, our government would be more prepared to respond to such crisis.
Typhoon Ondoy’s destructive path may be the worst flood in more than half a century. Through the ravages of nature in the past, the Filipino sense of compassion, which we also call “bayanihan,” has been called forth. The pictures we have seen in the past few days are pictures of Filipinos responding to the call for compassion, of people willing to “suffer with,” people with the spirit of “bayanihan.”
We pray against typhoons, earthquakes, floods and other natural calamities. But when they do occur, the heroism of the Filipino comes out. We salute, for example, to that 18-year old teen-ager, Muelmar Magallanes, who lost his life after saving more than a dozen neighbors, the last of whom was a six-month old baby.
This one heroic example is an inspiration of our appeal with the CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action. The CBCP NASSA has been mobilized to help with its limited resources the victims of the flood. Relief goods have started to be gathered and distributed to the flood-affected provinces around Metro Manila. Caritas Manila has started to respond to the flood victims in Metro Manila. Compassion is drawing many Filipinos to unite with their unfortunate brothers and sisters. Social Action Centers of other Dioceses may join the campaign by sending to CBCP NASSA whatever they may collect. Profound gratitude to the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council and the US Bishops’ Conference – Catholic Relief Services. They were among the first to respond.
Other Institutions like the RED CROSS, have also started to respond to the call for compassion, as we have seen in GMA network and ABS-CBN network in the spirit respectively of “KAPUSO” and “KAPAMILYA.”
We bend our knees in prayer for salvation against natural calamities, but when they do come, we are not so helpless as not to respond with heroism. We have said it before and we say it again “In the Church, no one is so poor as to have nothing to give, and no one is so rich as to have nothing to receive.” We are humbled by the crises that come to us. We pray to God and appeal for our neighbor.

+ANGEL N. LAGDAMEO

Archbishop of Jaro

CBCP President

September 29, 2009

PANALANGIN PARA SA MGA PARI

Panginoon, kami’y nananalangin nawa’y ang Mahal na Birhen ang maging kulandong na bumabalot sa iyong kaparian, at sa pamamagitan niya, sila’y magingmatatag sa kanilang paglilingkod.

Nawa’y si Maria ay maging gabay ng mga pari sa pagsunod sa kanyang mga salita:

“Gawin ninyo ang sasabihin niya sa inyo”(Jn. 2:5)

Nawa’y ang iyong mga pari ay magkaroon ng puso katulad ni San Jose, matuwid na Esposo ni Maria.

Nawa’y ang pusong nasugatan ng Mahal na Ina, ay maging inspirasyon ng mga pari upang yakapin ang lahat na sino mang nagpapakasakit sa paanan ng krus.

Dalangin namin na ang mga pari ay maging banal, puspusin ng apoy ng iyong pagibig na walang hinahangad kundi ang iyong higit na kaluwalhatian at kaligtasan ng mga kaluluwa. Amen

San Juan Maria Vianney, ipanalangin mo kami.

Prayer for Priests

Dear Lord,
we pray that the Blessed Mother
wrap her mantle around your priests
and through her intercession
strengthen them for their ministry.
We pray that Mary will guide your priests
to follow her own words,
“Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5).
May your priests have the heart of St. Joseph,
Mary’s most chaste spouse.
May the Blessed Mother’s own pierced heart
inspire them to embrace
all who suffer at the foot of the cross.
May your priests be holy,
filled with the fire of your love
seeking nothing but your greater glory
and the salvation of souls.
Amen.
Saint John Vianney, pray for us.

Panalangin ng Isang Pari

Amang minamahal,
Pinupuri kita, Minamahal kita, Sinasamba kita,
Isugo mo ang iyong Espiritu upang tanglawan ang aking isipan at akayin tungo sa mga katotohanan ng iyong anak na si Jesus, Pari at Handog.
Sa Espiritung ito, gabayan mo ang aking puso na matulad sa Mahal na Puso ni Jesus, upang panibaguhin sa akin ang marubdob na pagmamahal ng isang pari; na ako rin ay handang maghandog ng sarili sa paglilingkod sa banal mong altar.
Sa Espiritung ito, linisin mo ang aking mga kahalayan at palayain sa aking mga pagsalangsang sa pamamagitan ng Kalis ng kaligtasan. Nawa ang iyong kalooban ang aking tanging masundan.

Ang Mahal na Birhen, Ina ni Hesus, ang siya nawang maging aking kulandong at sanggalang sa lahat ng masama. Gabayan nawa niya ako na gawin lamang ang naisin ni Hesus. Turuan nawa niya ako na magkaroon ng katulad ng puso ni San Jose, na kanyang esposo, na ipagtanggol at pangalagaan ang Simbahan. Nawa ang kanyang pusong nasugatan ang aking maging inspirasyon at tanggapin ito bilang isang anak na handang magpakasakit sa paanan ng krus. Ako’y nagsusumamo na ikaw sana ay maging mapag-ampong Ina sa akin, at tulungang ako’y maging isang mabuting anak.

Panginoon, gawin mo akong isang banal na pari, pag-alabin mo sa apoy ng iyong pag-ibig, na walang hinahangad kundi ang iyong higit na kaluwalhatian at kaligtasan ng mga kaluluwa.

Pakumbabang nanalangin at nagpapasalamat ako sa iyo, aking Ama, sa pamamagitan ng Espiritu Santo, kay Kristo Jesus na iyong anak at aking kapatid. Amen.

O Maria, Ina ng mga pari, ipanalangin mo kami.
San Juan Maria Vianney, ipanalangin mo kami.

Body and Blood of Christ

We have a saying: "You are what you eat!". This means that whatever we take, it somehow becomes part of ourselves. Not only becoming part of ourselves but gives something good within ourselves. Take for example the food we take. It gives nourishment which made us strong. Moreover, when we take something inside ourselves it gives not only something good to us but in fact, does something within us. Take another example when we take medicines or an antibiotic pill. When the pill dissolves, a substance begins to work in order to inhibit or kill microorganism or the virus inside our body. In this way, it makes us feel good and restore our health.

This leads us to think on the food that our Lord Jesus is talking about in the Gospel reading today. "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."(Jn 6:51). For the Jews, it was hard for them to imagine taking the very flesh of Christ for their food. But they missed the point of Jesus in saying that He is giving his flesh for the life of the world. This promise finds its fulfillment in the celebration of the Eucharist, as mentioned in the second reading, where the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. This is a real food. And we have to partake of it, as Jesus wished to do so. This happens when we receive the Sacred Host in the Holy Communion. So much so that he really enters into our being and becomes one with us.

But does he make something different within us after we received him in the communion? It should!

I had a chance in seeing and venerating in Lanciano, Italy, the very species of the bread became real flesh and the wine turned into real blood of Christ. What touched me much is the result of the scientific investigation conducted in 1970 by a group of scientists and experts when they found out that the flesh came from the muscular tissue of the heart: the myocardium. This made me conclude that whenever we received the Body of Christ, we also received His Heart, the seat of his unfathomable love. I can imagine love passing through our own veins, mixed with our own blood that supplies our mind, our extremities, our whole being. Indeed, my whole body is full of love.

This finds full meaning at the end of the Mass when the priest says, "Go, the mass is ended!". What is next?

Solemnity of the Pentecost

"Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth!"

These words from the Responsorial Psalm eloquently capture the atmosphere of joy and thanksgiving that characterizes our gathering today. It is the Solemnity of Pentecost, or the descent of the Holy Spirit upon God's People. On this day, we also commemorate the birth of the Church because this very occasion signalled the spreading of the Gospel of Christ among the nations under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost opened a new dimension in the life of the Church. With the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles who were assembled with the Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the era of the Church began. The Holy Spirit brought together all humanity and formed them into one body, the Mystical Body of Christ. Likewise, the same Spirit became the guiding principle of the Church into all truth and unity in communion and in service. And through the centuries, the Church continues to exist and journey by the power of the Holy Spirit which bestows different gifts or "charisms" on each and every member of the Church in order to perpetuate the mission entrusted to her by Jesus Christ.

Moreover, Pentecost is also a time of commissioning. Jesus Christ sent by the Father was anointed by the Spirit and fulfilled His mission. But as He returned to the Father He entrusted His disciples with His own mission to continue. So, the disciples too received the Holy Spirit so that they could discharge their mission as Jesus did. Hence, this feast of Pentecost reminds us anew of our apostolic mission to proclaim the Good News of Salvation in words and in deeds. Eventually, this must lead us to the realization of the continual presence of the Holy Spirit not only in the Church but also in each and every one of us, as Christians and as members of the Church. We all know that the Holy Spirit was infused in all of us when we were baptized and especially when we received the Sacrament of Confirmation. This is the reason why we consider the reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation as our personal pentecost.

Today, therefore, as we commemorate the day of Pentecost, we need to recall and renew the graces that come to us that moment when we received the Holy Spirit, graces which we perhaps long forgotten, graces which we have not used, and graces which we need today in our disunited and turbulent times.

"Receive the Holy Spirit!" Today, Jesus re-echoes his words to all of us. He offers us the Life-giving Spirit, who is the manifestation of the love between the Father and the Son. And this same Holy Spirit impels each and every one of us to manifest also our love through our sharing in the mission of the Church and our sharing in the communion which is inherent to the life of the Church.