PONTIFEX MAXIMUS TO VISIT THE PHILIPPINES VERY SOONER?

Pope Francis to visit the Philippines in 2014 or 2015?

Fr. Francis Gustilo SDB is the sole current Filipino member of the International Theological Commission and the third-ever Filipino to have been appointed to that august body (the other two having been Fr. Catalino Arevalo SJ and Fr. Luis Antonio Tagle, who would later on become Bishop of Imus, then Archbishop of Manila and Cardinal.)

He posted the following status on his Facebook page in the morning of the 7th of December, Manila time. As it is now being widely shared on Facebook I believe that the news can be considered to be sufficiently public to be also posted on this and other blogs. 

FRESH, FRESH NEWS FROM THE VATICAN. 

Two hours ago, all the members of the International Theological Commission {ITC} went to the Apostolic Palace {palazzo apostolic} where the Holy Father has his office. 

Alas dose en punto, there he was with us, smiling, waving, feeling so relaxed. Now here are the real news! 

[1] During his short speech to us, he did not simply read the prepared text but became extemporaneous. {a} the theologian must be pioneer not a soldier staying in the military barracks; he must be at the frontlines! {b} the theologian cannot have beautiful theological lessons with a heart that is dry; theology is not merely the mind speaking but the heart burning; {c} the theologian must teach catechism to the children especially the poor; St Ignatius {"I am not promoting with this my Ignatian roots"} told the Jesuits that they ought to teach catechism to the youth

[2] Each one was given time to kiss his hand and say some word tete-a-tete. When I approached him, he told me: "Oh, the Filipino I met yesterday at Santa Marta!" I replied: "Holy Father, thank you so much for helping my suffering people and specially for praying for them and encouraging others to help our devastated country." And he immediately added: "I will visit your country, it is in my agenda. Only I am not sure whether next year or at the end of 2015. But don't worry I will be with you all". 

There you are. What better news can I send than meeting our highest spiritual leader, having a wonderful exchange of kind words and being assured that he has the Filipinos at heart!!!!

VIVA GESU! VIVA MARIA! VIVA IL PAPA.

Blog article from Filipino Catholicism  http://philippineromancatholic.blogspot.com/2013/12/pope-francis-to-visit-philippines-in.html

The True Church of Christ is Revealed!

ANSWER ME : Tell me when is your Church existed - trace it from Jerusalem up to your place where your Church is standing right now. If you cannot answer how the Church of yours reached you from Jerusalem where it was first established, then, you are not the true Church that Christ established. It is better if you damn your false Church once you found the point:D Come home. Come home to the Church of the Lord our God! - Mary H. Distributist

How's The Smoke of Satan in the Church Now?

"Taong 1999, nirebisa ang ilang bahagi ng eksorsismo sa Roman Ritual 1614. Ang reporma ay sinimulan ng Vatican II. Layunin nito na iakma ang eksorsismo sa diwa ng makabagong panahon. Ngunit para kina Fr. Syquia at Fr. Zerrudo, mas matapang pa rin ang Roman Ritual 1614 kaya ito pa rin ang kanilang ginagamit. Ito rin ang opinyon ni Fr. Gabriele Amorth, ang exorcist ng Rome. (In the year 1999, some of the parts of exorcism in the Roman Ritual 1614 was revised. The revision was spearheaded by the Vatican II. The purpose of the revision was to suit the exorcism on the spirit of modern times. But for Fr. Syquia and Fr. Zerrudo, the Roman Ritual 1614 is stronger and much more powerful hence they remained on using this.) [from I-Witness, "Exorcist", documentary of Jay Taruc, GMA channel 7]

30 Days magazine (June 2000) carried an interview of Father Gabriel Amorth, chief exorcist of Rome and the most famous exorcist in the world. Fr. Amorth said that the new rite of exorcism is "a farce. An incredible obstacle that is likely to prevent us from acting against the demon." He observes that the new exorcism rite forbids exorcisms on people who have been reportedly subjected to evil spells. Fr. Amorth exclaimed, "Absurd. Evil spells are by far the most frequent causes of possessions and evil procure)d through the demon: at least 90% of cases. It is as good as telling exorcists they can no longer perform exorcisms." He also noted that it also "solemnly declares that one should not carry out exorcisms if one is not certain of the presence of the devil. This is a masterstroke of incompetence: the certainty that the devil is present in someone can only be obtained by carrying out an exorcism." He considers the new rite "a blunt weapon. Efficacious prayers, prayers that had been in existence for twelve centuries, were suppressed and replaced by new ineffective prayers."

About Rome and the hierarchy, Fr. Amorth lamented, "We have a clergy and an episcopate who no longer believe in the devil, in exorcisms, in the extraordinary evil that the devil can cause, nor in the power that Jesus has given us to drive out demons." Explaining why he and other exorcists were denied an audience with the Pope, he warned, "The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Perhaps we were excluded from the audience with the Pope because they were afraid that such a large number of exorcists might succeed in chasing out the legions of demons that have installed themselves in the Vatican."

When asked by the reporter for 30 Days if he had made a joke, Fr. Amorth replied: "It may seem like a joke, but I do not believe it is. I have no doubt about the fact that the demon tempts the authorities of the Church especially, just as he tempts every authority, those of politics and industry."

Holy Days of Obligation in the Philippines

What are the Holy Days of Obligation in the Philippines? by Carlos Antonio Palad (From a Status Update of Sir Dennis Raymond P. Maturan)

Every time a well-known Solemnity / First Class Feast comes around, I hear the inevitable question: "Is this day a Holy Day of Obligation"? I saw this question get asked on various Facebook pages on August 15 (the Assumption of Our Lady), just like in previous years. 

In this post I will present the legislation on this matter that is currently recognized by Rome and the CBCP, without in any way delving into the question of its wisdom, propriety and fidelity to the Tradition of the Church. 

In this regard, Filipino Catholics are "lucky" (or unfortunate, depending on who gets asked) that, under the Code of Canon Law currently recognized by the Holy See and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, the Philippines has only three Holy Days of Obligation, namely, the Immaculate Conception (December  Christmas Day / Nativity of Our Lord (December 25), and the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God (January 1).

Three other days that are Holy Days of Obligation in the normative liturgical calendar of the Roman Rite, namely the solemnities / feasts of the Epiphany (January 6), Ascension Thursday (40 days after Easter Sunday) and Corpus Christi Thursday (the Thursday after Trinity Sunday), have been moved by the Philippine hierarchy (with Rome's blessings) to Sundays. Epiphany is observed in the Philippines on the first Sunday after January 1, while Ascension and Corpus Christi are moved to the Sunday after their traditional dates.

The remaining four Holy Days of Obligation in the normative calendar of the Roman Rite -- St. Joseph (March 19), SS. Peter and Paul (November 1), the Assumption of the BVM (August 15) and All Saints (November 1) -- are not considered as such in the Philippines. 

The list of Holy Days of Obligation for the entire Roman Rite, as well as the authority of the local episcopal conferences to suppress or transfer some or all of these, are delineated in the 1983 Code of Canon Law:

Can. 1246 §1 The Lord's Day, on which the paschal mystery is celebrated, is by apostolic tradition to be observed in the universal Church as the primary holyday of obligation. In the same way the following holydays are to be observed: the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension of Christ, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, the feast of Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, the feast of St Joseph, the feast of the Apostles SS Peter and Paul, and the feast of All Saints. 

§2 However, the Episcopal Conference may, with the prior approval of the Apostolic See, suppress certain holydays of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday.

On September 27, 1985, Pope John Paul II approved and confirmed the Norms Approved by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines for the Local Implementation of Some Provisions of the New Code of Canon Law. The entire text of this document can be found in CBCP Monitor, Vol. VI No. 6 (November - December 1985), pp. 32 - 43. To this very day this document has not been overturned or abolished. This document says the following regarding Holy Days of Obligation (pp. 39-40):

Can. 1246, 2: Holy Days of Obligation 

1. With reference to Canon 1246,2, the following feasts are holydays of obligation in the Philippines: 

a. January 1 - Motherhood of Mary (New Year)
b. December 8 - Immaculate Conception (Patroness of the Philippines)
c. December 25 - Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) 

Note: The Feast of Corpus Christi is not recommended by the CBCP because it always falls on a Thursday which is a working day; for this reason the solemnity of the feast will not be fostered because only very few people can go to church and the devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, instead of being enhanced, will be diminished. Why? Because the people who usually go to the church only on Sundays can no longer celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi because it is already observed on a Thursday and cannot join the procession. 

2. All other feasts mentioned in Canon 1246, 1, are transferred to the nearest Sunday, preceding or following the feast.

Note: Three other feasts are celebrated on the nearest Sunday, namely: Epiphany, Ascension and Corpus Christi. The reason why the Bishops do not want to change the present discipline is because, pastorally, they find it hard to have to explain to the people that it is again a mortal sin not to go to Mass on Epiphany or Ascension or Corpus Christi, when all these past years we have been preaching that it was not, because these feasts are no longer Holy Days of Obligation.

3. The parish priest has the obligation to apply the Missa pro populo for his parishioners on Sundays and holydays as stated above, in accord with Canon 543, 2.

Ironically, while December 8 (an official Holy Day of Obligation) is not an official holiday in the Philippines, November 1, All Saints' Day, which is not recognized by the Philippine hierarchy as a Holy Day of Obligation, is an official holiday. As a result many Filipinos go to church on November 1 in the belief that it is a Holy Day of Obligation.

Spiritual Warfare (Part 4) : Lesser Forms of "Godlessness"

Becoming a religious is the greatest direction of life of the early Catholics.

When the Kingdom of God was announced victoriously for almost 2,000 years ago, and the fresh birth of the children of God was aflame by a burning desire in their own hearts to proclaim to all nations that "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand", the baptized Christians were battled by the devil  and his minions and his instrument to destroy the growth of the Church and the proclamation of the promised salvation and eternal life. The instrument that Satan used was the Roman Empire who were living in the darkness of paganism or animism. 

The Roman Empire then was a nation or a state that had so many gods. Polytheism was the reigning belief then. And on the coming of the Christians, they stand solidly in evangelizing the pagans that there is only One living God, and those gods that the Romans worship then in particular were not really gods at all. At this, the Romans became furious, for such proclamation were ultimately against the living law of the Roman Empire - gods must be served by rightful ceremonies, rites, rituals, offerings, sacrifices in accordance with the law, there are proper ways to deal with these gods, based on their observation on how to "control" these gods and be favorable to the Romans appeals or wishes.

So the Christians were considered as criminals, deserved to be put to death, and now bloody persecutions began.

But the killing of thousands of Christians didn't help to stop the spreading of the Christian Faith. 

How so?

Because the killing of the Christians, the living, strong and solid faith of Christians facing persecution even unto death, the martyrs who endured the cruel persecutions with  indescribable patience and faith in God and His words, the love and hopes that lives in the Christians hearts and always seen in their works or deeds in the Christian community and to the Gentiles, the victory of the God of Christians over "gods" or demons, were flourished altogether. And on these main reasons, the many exorcisms done by Christians was one of the factors that, the Romans believed when they saw then how the God of the Christians subdued and rebuked those demons that the Romans worshiped as "gods", and, how the Holy Name of Christ drove out all those evil spirits who were pretending and hiding themselves in the form of "gods".

The Roman Empire were now truly convinced to the authenticity and the Power of the God of Christians over their "gods", and after seeing these marvels of Christians, Romans received the Catholic Faith and established it as the official religion of the state. Catholicism quickly spread to the neighboring lands of the Roman Empire.

By that time, becoming a religious is the greatest direction of life, so Catholicism is full of grace of women and men then, and the "fashion" of themselves was to become a monk, an hermit, a nun, a religious sister, a religious brother who prepared themselves to serve God and to win souls for Him. The "popular modes" then was going to a deserted place somewhere or being in a community (monastery or convent) enjoying and living in solitude, silence, being in the presence of God and the focus is almost God alone, fighting the temptations of the devil and fighting him head-on, destroying his holds on the people of God and so on.

I think that they must be envied by us modern people of these modern times. How greatly different they are to us! I pity myself. Let me show you why.

In these modern times we see how people live nowadays, all bodies are so abundantly enjoying the deliciousness of the inventions of man and its fruits which the purpose is to develop and give easy and comfort to man's needs (and too many wants) in its day-to-day living. Now, God is mostly, mostly forgotten by billions of people because these material things' brings so much delicious comfort and are so swift on attending people's needs (and so many wants) rather than prayers to God. We are greatly surrounded by these things that always and always catches our attentions. So in addition to this, these inventions or things, as I typed, are so great in number that we focus only to these material things. Wherever a person goes elsewhere, there is always things that gives him/her comfort and entertainment (like from televisions, radios, air-conditioner, electric fan, cellphones, computers, laptops, iphones, ipads, etc.). These worldly material things are now Satan's instruments to keep us away from God and His presence in us, little by little we end up to these and after that we plunge ourselves to be completely unrelated to God. These may serve as doorways of the devil and his demons to us, in the form of these things that brings lesser form of "Godlessness".

Of course, it is super easy to listen to always available music on the music player (like ipods) rather than spend a 30-minute silence in prayer and or, reciting the Holy Rosary of five decades and or, reading spiritual books and or, studying catechism and or, reading the Holy Bible prayerfully and or, attending to one's own pious practices and devotions, etc.

It is so easy to click on the television button or having a remote control(er) just in hand for so many fancy channels offering so many shows.

It is so easy to relax in a comfortable bed while the head of the electric fan is just 12-inch away from your head giving you fresh air (one of the roots of laziness?).

It is so easy to on your hi-tech music players while eyes closed, waiting for the crows to become swans.

It is so easy to use the Internet and open so many windows as you like, bringing so many virtual realities: games, videos, movies, etc. Of course, Internet is a doorway to another world, the virtual world, full of infinite excitements and fun!

And many more...

Now the presence of God on the person will vanish little by little because the heart and mind of the person were so much so occupied by these material things. How the holy people of old were so always recollected! They were the people who "walked their feet on earth but their hearts were always in heaven."

Let us all strive to become SAINTS!

Spiritual Warfare (Part 1) : You Can Never Escape From It!

"The Church believes that each day, there is an on-going fight between the good and the evil - between God and the Devil. The Church calls it Spiritual Warfare...." - from Liwanag sa Dilim (Light in Darkness), a documentary of Jesuit Communications Foundation and Archdiocese of Manila Office of Exorcism

It is clear that Spiritual Warfare deals with two opposing powers - powers that were on the side of Good and God who are called angels while the other side were once good angels, but became evil ones - Satan and His demons.

And it should or must be clear that these two opposing powers are not battling by just themselves - because we, humans, are in the middle of them, in the middle of their battle, in the middle of their fight.

"Many are unaware of the on-going fight between angels and demons over the destiny of human beings. The two groups of invisible spirits, the holy angels on one side and the demons on the other, are engaged in a tug-of-war with us in the middle." [From Of Angels and Saints, authored by a columnist of Philippine Daily Inquirer, one of the biggest broadsheets in the Philippines.]

So we are also a part of it, and we cannot escape from it. Now I asked myself : Is God a cheater? Why then He placed me and included me on this on-going war if He is a Goodly God? Why? Why is it so?

Then an answer popped up, came from St. Padre Pio saying that, "Jesus permits the spiritual combat as purification, not as a punishment. The trial is not unto death but unto salvation."

If we can never escape from it, what a person must do? Is their other means not to be part of it? Anyway it is on the language of the Catholic Church who knows anything and everything about this warfare. Can I just change my religion or become lukewarm knowing that this methods will save me from these attacks? That these so called demons will not waste their time attacking me because I do not participate on the ways a Catholic does which are against these demons and I'm not joining myself especially in prayers in the spiritual battle against these wicked ones?

Now these questions can enter ones own mind if a person has a first step view about this Spiritual Warfare but, I honestly say to you, that I was just "accidentally" opened a book about Exorcism and, here I am now, making efforts to spread these "sleeping" necessary information about this invisible world of the spirits - that
sees us here on earth - we are visible to them, but they are invisible to us(unfair, right? But their are people who can see them. Not too many, however.)

The good way of keeping oneself on the right track in this warfare is to choose what is good and living an authentic Christian life that centers on prayer, the Church, the Sacraments, the Sacramentals and everything that is of Jesus and those things or ways that are of or belong to Jesus and those persons who are close or with Jesus.

Now, in changing religion, you are not sure if this option can protect you or can save you or can help you to enter heaven. I may say that if a demon "ceases" his attacks through a person who became "good" after changing his religion or faith from being a Catholic to another, that demon was already numbered that person to all those he will bring down to hell. It may seem that the person is at "peace" like no worries, the career or living is smooth with no "bad luck", or not getting struck of misfortunes. And pardon me that I am not saying that those Catholics who are experiencing these things that I just typed were belong to the evil one but, the reasons can be found out if one is discerning or thinking over those things why they are happening. Maybe, the people experiences these "misfortunes" because they are living in sin, or maybe because, they are living a holy life and they are on the way of purification and tried by these, of course, trials. Another reason that I may add is this that if a person move himself away from the Holy Church and he is now living a "prosperous" life, it can be said that the evil one is using this person to become his "example" or "model" or instrument in proselytizing people to change their religion and move themselves away from the Holy Church and to the Holy and Real Presence of Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist showing and testifies also that no one can live a merry life and cannot attain progress in life while being a member of the Holy Church - the Catholic Church.

Now, on the part of being a lukewarm Catholic is like swaying of oneself in the wind, a boat that is just floating in the ocean with no desire to push and sail oneself to progress in knowing, loving, and serving God. It is mellowness of spirit to go on and  to take courage and to go forward to fight for God and to win souls for the love of Him shown by our love for our neighbor. In the Revelations 3:16 we read that, "The lukewarm I will spew out of my mouth", says the Lord. Then one must choose who will he/she wholly belong : to the good or bad; to God or to the Evil One. It is just like this scenario - that no one can escape from earthly death. But we can attain eternal life living on the way of holiness started in Baptism, and then later on the Confirmation of belonging oneself to Christ together with uniting ourselves bodily with the Body of Christ in the Mass of the Faithful or the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, frequent use of the sacramentals that are in line with the Sacred Traditions of the Church, patronizing the Sacrament of Confession, et cetera. 

The warfare is about us humans. We are at war every second of our days. No one can escape from it. We should or must go forward, no turning backs from it. No giving up. No surrender. Because we are not alone on this fight. We are not alone. And those who are fighting with us is so much so greater and powerful than those of hell. COURAGE! FORWARD! The real Christians are those who belong to the Catholic Church!
Do not desert our Holy Commanders in Heaven!

Become a saint!