REJOICE, the LORD is RISEN!

HAPPY EASTER to ALL. May the Lord bless your sacrifices for Lent and fill you will peace, prosperity, joy and love.

I would like to share with you a good reflection from SABBATH, a Kerygma Family reflection, written by Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL:

THE GRAVE IS EMPTY

It must have been one of the most remarkable, if not the most remarkable, experiences of human history — namely, going to the tomb and discovering that the body of Jesus is no longer there. And to make the experience even more extraordinary, it appears that Jesus has come back to life. I do not think anything could prepare anyone to face such an event without causing absolute and complete astonishment. Yet, this is what we celebrate in today’s liturgy.

As one relatively modern Church hymn puts it, ‘… death could not hold him down; he is risen!’ This is the proclamation of the Church today and it is a truth that has ramifications for all humanity, not just Christians, because the salvation Jesus wins today is for all men and women of all time. But, I hear you say, how can this be if people do not believe or know the truth? The simple answer to this rebuttal is that it is up to us, who believe and know the truth, to proclaim it to those who do not. This is why Jesus instituted the Church, not so that we can have a cozy club to pat one another on the back, but to stand up straight in the market place and proclaim the Good News that Jesus is risen from the dead and your sins are forgiven.

If we want to experience the fullness of the gift of salvation, we have to begin sharing the Good News with others. Let me assure you, there is no better feeling than that of having shared the Good News with someone and experiencing them undergo a conversion of heart to faith in Jesus Christ. More and more today, we need men and women willing to sacrifice their own desires for pleasure and a comfortable life in order to work for the goal of seeing heaven more populated than it is at the moment. This work is the most satisfying work anyone can do. Let us give God a chance to use us to bring about His Kingdom in the lives of others here on earth.

-Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL
(Thanks to Bro. Jacky Alcoriza from Batangas, a CFC-SFC member for sharing with me the link)

A Different Night

Photo Credit: Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Unknown to many Catholics in the Philippines, today's liturgy highlights that of the ancient Jewish Passover festival.

According to Exodus 12, this Passover should be retold from generation to generation how God saved his people from the bondage of slavery in Egypt.

The bitter herbs reminded them of the hardships their forefathers endured as slaves in Egypt, the loin and the sandals reminded them of the haste flight they have to take to a place God had appointed them. The promise Land which God was mindful of his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

This same Passover, Christ made his Last Supper and instituted his perpetual covenant that through the bread and wine consecrated, it's Christ's real body and real blood that everyone who partakes received salvation (Read John 6 or read further Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist as a Fact).

Tonight is something different among all nights because the Author of Life has to become one like us and sacrificed his own body as our "Holocaust" offering to God for the expiation of the sins of the world. "For God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16).

We are assured that tonight when we partake in the celebration of the Last Supper of Christ, we often remember his Redemptive Love for all mankind.

Be continuously blest for this Holy Week and be worthy to celebrate his Resurrection in Easter.

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Other worth reading for reflection:
1. Pope at Supper of the Lord Mass: Church’s preaching will not fail throughout history
2. http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=36032
3. http://www.catholic.org/clife/lent/story.php?id=36022
4. Holy Week
5. Holy Thursday: Pray for Priests
6. Why is this Week Called Holy? Take This Cup
7. Holy Thursday: 'Love is a Verb'

Solemnity of Christ the King

Today is the last Sunday in Ordinary Time in the Liturgical Calendar of the Church. This day is particularly dedicated to the Kingship of Jesus which was proclaimed by Pope Pius XI summoning the whole Universal Church of Christ to celebrate this day with utmost joy and holiness (Read: EWTN) of which every faithful should be thankful to God and the Church.

Philippines is not a monarchial form of government. Ours is the Presidential form of government just like many Western countries exercising election through the ballots. Ours has a long history of corruption and betrayal and to this day, we’ve ranked almost at the top as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. We as a people failed to united behind a seating president and we distrust our government officials chilling our spines.

I don't hate our present president. I believe we deserve to have her. I don't want to be like Myanmar, or Iran, or Cuba who are suppresing the freedom of their own people. If there is monarch I truly am grateful for is King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan. Unlike most of royal families in the Arab world, King Abdullah has only one wife whom he truly offers his dedication as a loving husband and father to his smart children.

Similarly, Queen Rania on the other hand has crossed the borders of indifference by visiting orphanages, charity houses, convents, children hospices, schools and attended world forums that tackle the protection of environment, equality of rights (though she’s a Muslim by faith), health awareness through responsible parenthood (not safe sex), religious tolerance and many other.

Earthly Kings and Queens like them captured our utmost appreciation and love. And in return, we pledge our utmost loyalty and allegiance to their governance. That's how to live in a monarchial government.

From this idea, I can relate to the Solemnity of Christ the King just as how I truly love the monarchs of Jordan. I feel that by taking Jesus as my King (and Lord), I have ceased to be free except than to love, honor and obey him and pledge my allegiance him alone.

Pope Pius XI’s declaration of the Last Sunday in Ordinary Time as the Feast of Christ the King truly makes all Christians renew their allegiance to his Majesty, correct their lives according to the directives of this loving King, show love and charity to those in need regardless of their color, race, gender, social status, or faith—just seeing Christ in them. The same King who humbly offered his life for the expiation of our sins is asking every Christian to take up his own cross and follow his footsteps.

Today, the Church is asking every Christian to heed Christ’s commandments—to love. A love that doesn’t distinguish colors, race, genders, social status, faiths but simply love—no question asked.

As my gift to Christ my King, I sought his forgiveness through the Sacrament of Penance. Now, I have renewed my allegiance to him and pray that by his constant loving mercy he would keep me safe and my loved ones—through my guardian angel whom I named Joshua.

Hail! Jesus! King of the Universe!

Remembering the Lord who Died for Us

"Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed." (Isaiah 53:5)

This is a powerful biblical text prophesying about the "Suffering Servant" in The Passion of the Christ filmed by Mel Gibson taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah who lived in the 8th Century B.C. There are who denied that Christ had ever been crucified, instead it was somebody who looks like him replaced him to be hanged on the cross.

We Christians particularly the whole Catholic Church commemorates this day when our Salvation has made possible through Christ's passion and death.

St. Paul's letter to the Philippians says "[T]hough he was in the form of God, [Jesus] did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; 5 and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:6-9)."

Because of this day's theme, it makes it different from the rest of the days in a year. There is no Mass. There's no candles lit in the tabernacle. There's no fancy altar sheets. All is bare. You can feel the gloom inside the Church and the sadness we remember more than 2000 years ago.

I have been a Catholic for years since birth and I vow to remain in Christ's Church until he takes my soul back in due time. Just like any of the "un-informed" Catholics who jumped off the Church due to ignorance and joining churches built by men, I too came to a point that almost made me do the same. Some scandals within the hierarchy of the Church and the unusual individual and collective "Catholic" practices some were displaying as an expression of their devotion to the the Divine, due to my ignorance, I was almost persuaded by those anti-Catholic rhetoricians. Among the charges which were long been refuted many many centuries ago was the accusation that Catholics worship Mary and the Saints.

I thought being a good and true Catholic, one must attend the Mass on Sundays and holidays of obligation appointed by the Church, or say the Rosary or the Novena. i didn't know they're just devotions aiding our faith and not as a commandment. Again this is one of the accusations our separated brethren are accusing us. Thanks, my parents are devout Catholics. Although they'd be considered less catechized but their faith was strong enough to keep in-tact.

I was exposed to different religious views from other non-Catholics when I was in college. Some would deny the perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, others view Jesus as their Personal Lord and Savior and having faith alone can save them in an instant. Others have opposing views such as Jesus was a man only, some says Jesus was the Archangel Gabriel and many more.

What they have in common is that all are against the Catholic Church.

So instead of joining any of their groups, I start reading Catholic books written by different apologetic whose wisdom and knowledge has been tested. I was surprised to know that all of the accusations from our separated brethren have been thoroughly answered thousands of years ago. What we are hearing now from them are just 'recycled' ones. The latest in the Philippines with un-biblical teachings was the Iglesia ni Cristo also founded by a self-proclaimed "Last Messenger", a man named Felix Manalo.

Today, the true Church of Christ which dates back to the time of the Apostles, no other churches can claim is remembering how our founder suffered crucifixion on the cross to save all those who wish to be saved. It was through his salvific action one is saved and not by merely joining a church founded by a mere man with questionable morality during his lifetime.

As I reflect today through the unusual long list of "prayers of the faithful" we remember all those who deny Christ that God in his mercy would send the spirit to illumine their hearts and to appreciate what is true and what is good. We also remember all those non-Catholics who in one way or the other thought of considering the Church as their own too.


One of the most energetic and holy Catholic Indian Priests serving at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Parish first in Doha