The Filipino

Transcription

The Filipino

PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
HEMPSTEAD, NY
PERMIT NO. 7
The Filipino
CATHOLIC
VOL. 13, NO. 10
Spreading the Good News
May 13 - June 10, 2009
Our Lady of Manaoag
Patroness of the sick
Protectress of the helpless
Benefactress of the needy
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News &
Commentaries
Devotions and Novenas
Reflections and Opinions
Sacramentals
Scripture
Pictorials
Stories of faith
... and more
The Lady Calls
Many answered the call to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of
Manaoag on May 3 at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Island in
Eastport, Long Island. The affair was organized by members Our
Lady of Manaoag Society of America which included Nida Cortez
(president), Michael and Jocelyn Calicdan, Lett Dayao, Dr. Fely
Malanum Santos and a host of other devotees from various prayer
groups in Long Island and Queens.
The affair started with the procession of the image of Our Lady.
A welcome address was delivered by Nida Cortez followed by the
crowning of the Our Lady of Manaoag by Dr. Norma Pascual, of the
Infant Jesus Prayer Group of Nassau. There was also a floral offering
by the congregation while the Family of Christ Choir provided songs
and hymns of praise to the Lady.
Readers were Tessie Carlos, Linda Castro and Carmen Malanum.
Offers were Dr. Fely Malanum Santos, Michael and Jocelyn Calicdan.
Linda Castro led in the prayer to Our Lady of Manaoag.
Fr. Joe Cadusale, mass celebrant, gave a stirring homily about our
Lady and our role as evangelists and faithful followers of Christ.
The Procession
Fr. Roy Tvrdik, director of the Shrine, gave a closing remark
encouraging the Filipinos to bring family and friends to the shrine.
A Filipino style salu-salo was held at the picnic of area.
Above: Offerers during the mass
were Dr. Fely Malanum Santos,
Michael and Jocelyn Calicdan. Dr.
Santos is the Program Director of
the Free Clinic at St. Lucy’s Church
in Manhattan, and is the Grand
Marshal of the PIDCI Independence
Day Celebration in June.
Dr. Norma Pascual reaches up to crown
Our Lady of Manaoag.
Page 2 • May 13 - June 10, 2009 • The Filipino Catholic
Left: Nida Cortez, president of
Our Lady of Manaoag Society
of America, welcomed the
congregation at the Shrine of Our
Lady of the Island.
FROM THE EDITOR
The
Filipino
Catholic
The Filipino Catholic
(BN96001443), an independent
newsmagazine with editorial
offices at
453 Hawthorne Ave.,
Uniondale, NY 11553, is
published monthly and
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The Filipino Catholic is staffed
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Contributing Writers
& Columnists:
Rev. Peter James R. Alindogan
Rev. Euly B. Belizar, Jr.
Rev. Basilio Colasito
Msgr. R. Dimaculangan
Art Esguerra
Robert Fernandez
Andrea Florendo
Fr. Alfred Guthrie
AA Medrano
Norma Pascual
John Primi
Fr. James Reuter
Sonia S. Salerni
Rene Tubilleja
Maria Pascual
Felix Vinluan, Esq.
Jeanne Young
Photography
Henry Medrano
Albert Betito
Circulation & Distribution
Jun Makinano
Wendel Javier
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Fr. Joe Cadusale
Editor & Publisher
Manny Pascual
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Ivisan was a beautiful, peaceful little town in the southern part of the Philippines. After the Second
World War, Pablo and his young wife Estrella settled there with their six-year-old son. It was a bucolic
kind of existence that offered rest and tranquility to a family that had just experienced the ravages of
war. But it was a place that offered none of what we would then consider as modern conveniences. No
lights. No radios. No electric fans. No movies.
And no ice cream.
One day, in the month of May, Pablo took his son to Roxas City ... a good 45-minute to an hour’s bus
ride from Ivisan. It was a beautiful sunny day. And it was hot! After taking care of his errand in that
city, Pablo and his little boy started getting ready for the trip back home when they spotted to their
delight a sorbetero. What a welcome sight: an ice cream vendor ... pushcart, campanilla, and all!
Manny Pascual
Father and son each had a cone, when the boy turned to his father and said, “What about Mama? She’d
love an ice cream, too!” Pablo realized the uselessness of that request. Ice cream on a hot bus on a
dusty road for almost an hour? No chance for any frozen food to survive!
But the boy was insistent, determined to take home an ice cream to his mother. The father finally gave in, but the boy would have to hold
the ice cream cone all the way home.
On the bus, the boy sat silently praying, “Please God don’t let it melt.” God, however, was not taking requests that day. Amid the stares
and occasional laughter of some passengers, the ice cream started to melt. Slowly the sticky white and brown liquid trickled down his
hand, dripped down his elbow and finally to the floor. By the time they got to Ivisan, what he had in hand was just a soggy mess.
Out of the bus he jumped and ran excitedly to his waiting mother. “Mama, mama,” he yelled handing her what used to be a frozen
delight. “Happy Mother’s Day!”
Many years had passed since that incident, and my mother would still talk about it. About her boy who endured discomfort,
disappointment and humility to show his love for one special person ... his mother.
Like many of us I had a very close and tender relationship with my mother. When she passed away, it felt as if a part of me also died.
When I recall the events of her life, I see no major accomplishments. She spent a lifetime being a housewife and a mother. In a time when
our life was a constant struggle, she was a constant source of comfort and strength. In moments of sadness, she was the gentle woman
who kissed her little child’s tears away. She taught me how to pray. I learned my first song from her. She made me laugh. She took care
of me when I was sick. There are no monuments, no statues, no books that chronicled her good deeds. All I have are memories of her
kindness that gave every one she touched a little taste of heaven.
I can picture her now with the angels and saints. And I can just imagine Estrella, my mother ... my star ... telling them the story of how,
once upon a time, a little boy and an ice cream melted her heart.
Of Faith And Practicality
“With God nothing shall be impossible.“
- Luke 1:37
In the name of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is just as much our Lord God as is God the Father and God the Son. Although that
may be stating the obvious, in practice we tend to think of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity as
somehow “third” in importance, too. There are many reasons for this diminished attention to God the
Holy Spirit. Perhaps it may be because He is hardly mentioned in the Gospels. If at all, He would be
pictured as a dove or a tongue of fire on Apostles’ head. In our mental images, those representations are
hardly God-like. They do not evoke “Almighty-ness” like God the Father’s image as a powerful king,
nor draw a loud “alleluia!” for the image of a Risen Savior. But the truth is, He is all that, too.
As promised at Ascension, the Holy Spirit is the immediate spiritual presence of Jesus Christ among
us (His immediate physical presence is the Eucharist). The Holy Spirit is here to guide us and empower us in all aspects of our life, but more especially in granting us wisdom to make the right choices
that would lead to the attainment of Heaven. This is the Age of the Holy Spirit. It began on the first
Pentecost Day, where the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, and stretches to the end of time at
the Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
by Rene Tubilleja
The Holy Spirit has many wonderful gifts as we have been reading in the Bible. When He first descended upon the Apostles, they started
to speak in tongues, to prophesy, and to even have the courage to begin the evangelical process. Each of us receives the same gifts at our
Confirmation; we just don’t know it yet, but they’re there. If we ask for them in prayer, the Holy Spirit will allow us to use those gifts.
Just remember that they are not the most important aspect of our Faith as Catholics. It is the Eucharist. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are
merely bonuses or, using the modern technologists’ lingo, add-ons. In fact, St. Paul has warned that there are those who could simulate
the gifts of the Holy Spirit and try to contaminate the minds of the early Christians. In his second letter to the Corinthians, he specifically
said that one may be able to speak in tongues or to prophesy, but if he has no Love he is just a noisy gong or a clanging bell.
There are Christian denominations that center their Faith on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Their prayer meetings are impressive, with
people speaking in tongues and prophesying, and they sing heavenly-sounding hymns not written by men. Their baptism in the Spirit
make one actually feel the warmth of the Holy Spirit encompassing one’s entire being, and immediately manifests the gift in the form of
speaking in tongues, of prophesying or of interpretation. I know this to be true because I was one of those who joined the first ecumenical
Pentecostal prayer meetings at the Assumption College in 1974. It greatly enhanced my prayers in our traditional Catholic way and especially made my receiving of the Eucharist more meaningful. Henceforth, I have been relying on the Holy Spirit to guide me in everything
I did, from matters of a spiritual nature to even more mundane things like saying the right things on a job interview.
Alas, some of those who experienced the wonderful gifts of the Holy Spirit chose to leave the Catholic Faith. When we first coined the
term “born-again Christians,” we meant Catholics who have learned to pray more fervently utilizing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now
they have applied it to that break-away group that not only renounced some of our most cherished beliefs and practices, but also preached
loudly against them. One of them is the veneration of Our Blessed Mother. I feel bad for them insomuch as they would not be able to
benefit from her powerful intercession and would be deprived of the warmth of her love. This Pentecost Sunday, let’s especially pray for
them. Let’s ask that the Holy Spirit may enlighten them, if not to return fully to the fold, to at least desist from trying to draw others away
from the Church and from Our Lady. This month is Mama Mary’s special flower month. What a wonderful bouquet to put at her feet
would be the re-conversion of those souls.
The Filipino Catholic • May 13 - June 10, 2009 • Page 3
VIEWPOINT
by Rev. Alfred R. Guthrie
ANNUAL MAY PROCESSION
WITH MUCH GRATITUDE to our good
God for Jesus, his eternal Son, and for the special
gift of his dear Mother, whom we are privileged to
honor this month, we are happy to invite you to join
Our Lady of Fatima parish, 25-02 80th St., Jackson
Heights, Queens, N.Y. in their annual procession in
honor of Our Lady of Fatima.
The procession begins at 4 pm and ends with
Sunday mass at 5 pm on Saturday, May 9th.
As we honor Our Lady we are also reminded of
the urgency of her call to authentic discipleship during this increasingly dangerous moral climate from
which Our Blessed Mother wants so desperately to
defend us – and we are reminded of her urgent need
for our sincere, faithful and persevering response.
A look at our present situation is the spiritual
equivalent of the repulsive experience of having to
look at a badly decomposing corpse.
It may seem like a bit extreme to assert the following, but the evidence that the following is true
keeps piling up:
- that is that those who are actively promoting the culture of death – that is, those who
are behind the pro-death policies of the present administration, are continuing to promote
the appointment of extremely leftist judges and government officials, immorally permissive
laws and ideologically slanted and hedonistic legal interpretations – these promoters of the
atheistic culture of death are ruthless, well organized, consistently dishonest, determined,
unyielding, relentless, clever, unjust, unreasonable, without standards of decent morality,
deliberately illogical and hypocritical in their pursuit of their constantly clear goal to destroy
our morals, the faith of our youth, the lives of the helpless innocent, our values, our country
and our freedoms, especially our religious freedom – and are accomplishing all of this by
using, but only when convenient, a once healthy and constructive democratic process.
We need to face the fact that we are dealing with many characteristics usually associated
with the evil one. He will hide his hate and persecution of those who promote the truth of
human dignity behind any mask that he finds is socially “acceptable”.
One example of what is coming is the appointment of Dawn Johnson by President
Obama to head the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice.
To all of us, motherhood is not just a profession – it is a noble calling. While no mothers
are perfect, our mothers are gifted with the love and wisdom and nurturing we all need as
we enter into this world and grow into adulthood.
But what has Dawn Johnson said about motherhood?
“Statutes that curtail her [the mother’s] abortion choice are disturbingly suggestive of
involuntary servitude, prohibited by the Thirteenth Amendment, in that forced pregnancy
requires a woman to provide continuous physical service to the fetus in order to further
the state’s asserted interest.”
Ms. Johnson has also stated that mothers are “losers” and “fetal containers”.
This poor woman is very sick morally. And she is slated to become the head of the
Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice!
It is legitimate to suspect that her goal will be to insure that either our young women
become equally sick or they will be, in one way or the other, deprived of help, if needed,
or otherwise punished for being “stupid enough” (my interpretation of the attitude of those
who support her) to become mothers..
Deacon Bob Ellis, the new National Coordinator of the World Apostolate of Fatima
writes to us as members of the Apostolate:
“During a period of time when all manner of sin and degradation has increased far
beyond that which was occurring in 1917 the numbers of people honoring Our Lady’s
requests at Fatima has [sic] been steadily decreasing, as our faithful members pass into
eternity and those dedicated souls remaining for a time encounter the difficulties and
limitations of aging”
But then Deacon Bob adds a positive note: “While our situation is grave, we are attracting new, young and able-bodied members through our new and very successful Membership
Growth and Retention program.”
Deacon Ellis identifies three special problems: 1) Membership in the Apostolate is
shrinking. If membership is shrinking, the division is dying and will soon be dead. 2) The
Message of Fatima is not reaching all the parishes of most dioceses.
3) And this point by Deacon Ellis is extremely important:
“Forty-plus years of severely deficient catechesis and formation in the faith have yielded
a Catholic population almost illiterate with regard to the content of the faith and spiritual
practices.” And there is “No understanding of the need for reparation for sin”; most “don’t
know how to pray the Rosary”; they “never heard of a scapular”; with the result that they
“cannot possibly honor Our Lady’s requests.”
He is right. There are very few of us who are even able to help Our Lady to hold back
the Hand of God’s infinite justice. The real danger we are facing is the loss of so many
souls. Yes, we are in deep trouble.
And, as promised in last month’s Newsletter, we need to examine a little more another
of the many problems we are facing:
THE HOLOCAUST OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SOULS OF OUR
YOUTH
Past Newsletters have detailed this unconstitutional desecration of our young people
in our public schools. Those issues touched on the promotion of the “gay” lifestyle, the
obscene promotion of “safe sex”, and the destruction of our children’s faith in God by the
promotion of atheistic evolution.
This Newsletter has been bringing out these revolting realities on and off over the last
year. But the situation is so bad that it seems necessary to bring them out again in this Newsletter, this time with emphasis on what is happening in our colleges and universities.
On the elementary and secondary school levels:
Because of the ever-increasing cost of tuition, thousands of our young Catholic
students are forced to attend schools that, in many cases, and in spite of their many
praiseworthy and excellent educational programs in many public schools, many have
become training grounds for hedonism and atheism.
As described in a past Newsletter, using the 2005 edition of the HIV/AIDS Curriculum of the New York City Department of Education, (which follows the national
policy) I have step-by-step described the progressive addressing of issues of human
sexuality that have no place in the classroom – particularly when many parents are
not fully aware of what is really going on – and which actually lead the students to
morality-destructive and health-destructive promiscuity.
This systematic desecration of the morality of our young people is going on at every
level of our culture such as many different types of hedonistic, occult, and doctrinal
movies, and immoral TV programs (especially “sit-coms”, as well as soap operas,
slanted “news”) pouring out of Hollywood and elsewhere; as well as slick “tweenage”
or “science” magazines, and propagandizing newspapers (eg. the New York Times,
especially its atheistic Science Section).
WHAT’S HAPPENING TO OUR GRANDCHILDREN?
And while this horrible destruction is going on, many of our older people who were
raised in and are still living in an entirely different culture, wonder with real concern
why our young people seem to be so very negatively different from the young people
they remember from their own youthful experiences. By and large, they have no idea
of what our young people are really going through.
The vast majority of our older people largely live in the experiences of America’s
yesterday, characterized by Laurence Welk; Bing Crosby; the popularity of the American
Legion; the meaning of Memorial Day and the “poppy”; faithful attendance at Sunday
Mass or (for our non-Catholic brothers and sisters, Sunday church); and church dances
– from the Great Depression into the halcyon days of recent memory.
It is almost impossible for most of us older Catholics to even imagine the horrible
destruction of the souls of our children and grandchildren now going on.
This is crucially important not only because of the destruction of the Church of
tomorrow coming from the destruction of the souls of our youth today, but also because
in the past many vocations to the priesthood and religious life were given by God to
generous youth who attended public schools. Now, with the destruction of their faith
and morals, not to mention the wide-spread use of artificial contraception, potential
vocations, with very few exceptions, are lost.
AND NOW, AT THE COLLEGE LEVEL:
All of the above has set the stage for the “more fortunate” of our religiously illiterate and morally conditioned “Catholic” (i.e. who were baptized and made their First
Communion) youth to experience the present atmosphere of our nation’s colleges.
Our universities are, in too many cases, dictatorships of ideologically biased distortions of truth.
(All of the quotes that follow, unless otherwise noted, are from different issues of
SALVO, a young peoples’ magazine whose editors are wise to the brainwashing of our
students in our colleges and universities.)
One example is that of Professor Richard Rorty, a highly respected philosopher
(recently deceased). He “argued that professors in the university ought ‘to arrange
things so that students who enter as bigoted, homophobic religious fundamentalists
leave college with views more like our own.” And “… students would be fortunate
to find themselves under the control ‘of people like me, and to have escaped the grip
of their frightening, vicious, dangerous parents’” These professors, he stated, should
try to “discredit you [parents] in the eyes of your [parents’] children…”, and to try to
destroy the students’ respect for their parents’ allegedly “fundamentalist” family of
faith, and to try to make parents’ beliefs seem too silly to be even discussed. Professor
Rorty was not only a highly respected senior professor, but his above statements are
just what his colleagues also felt.
The University of Delaware taught anti-white propaganda in a “Diversity Facilitation
Training” session forced on “an essentially captive and impressionable audience of new
freshmen with no room for argument or debate. Thus, the implication conveyed is that
anyone who denies them must be stupid, ignorant, or wicked. This is indoctrination,
not education.” [italics in original]
Students are “reprogramm[ed]” or “reeducate[ed]” on many university and college
campuses by a “concerted effort on the part of faculty, administrators, and student groups
to establish a new orthodoxy – the orthodoxy of the extreme left – and to silence and
shame any and all dissenters.”
This is accomplished by “sensitivity-training sessions… various campus speech
codes that characterize as ‘hate speech’ expressions of religious or conservative views
(opposition to abortion or same-sex marriage, for instance); loyalty oaths and litmus
tests for faculty, students, and staff; and dogmatic and one sided presentations by leftist professors. In some cases, entire programs of study have been established with the
clear intention of preparing social activists of a decidedly leftist mindset to become
‘catalysts of change.’ The sad truth is that on many college campuses, the far left enjoys
the power of the status quo, so conservative voices are either quite literally shouted
down (as was the case with David Horowitz on a recent visit to Emory University0 or
shut out altogether.”
In 2005, mandatory “anti-homophobia sensitivity” training was imposed on the
freshman class of Ohio State University at Manchester
In that same school a librarian who recommended a book which condemned homosexual activity was charged with “sexual harassment” and the book was banned as
“hate speech”.
The University of South Carolina at Columbia gave a women’s studies course
with guidelines for discussion which “acknowledged” that “racism, classism, sexism,
heterosexism, and other institutionalized forms of oppression exist.
“At Washington State University in Pullman, Ed Swan, a student in the College
(turn to page 20)
JUST SHARING
The
Apostolate of
Motherhood
“Running the race ...
fixing our eyes on Jesus”
-- Reflections on Heb 12:1-2
“What a cloud of innumerable witnesses surround us!
So let us be rid of every encumbrance and especially of
sin, to persevere in running the race marked out before
us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the founder of our faith
and who will bring it to completion. For the sake of the
joy reserved for him, he endured the cross, scorning its
shame, and then sat at the right hand of God” [From the
Christian Community Bible] (Heb 12:1-2).
by Fr. James Reuter, S.J.
Here is a beautiful experience of a high
school teacher in the United States. I found
it in “Pro-Life Philippines”, which comes to
me — I think — from Sister Pilar Verzosa of
Good Shepherd, who was an excellent actress
when she was in college. She was number one in the national board exam for nurses,
and is now in charge of the Pro-Life Ministry in the Archdiocese of Manila.
The high school teacher, who tells her own story, is Jacqueline M. Jackson.
This is what she says:
I found a new way to spread the pro-life message. With the expected arrival of
our first child, my pregnancy became a vehicle for sharing the pro-life message
with others.
My husband and I were ecstatic upon receiving the news that we were to be
parents. For several years I had witnessed innocent children being destroyed by the
venomous sex education courses of Planned Parenthood. Their pamphlets, pictures
and films, however, are ineffective when students are actually given the opportunity
to share the miracle of life by witnessing a pregnancy.
We must never underestimate the power of the pro-life example.
When I was seven weeks along, I told my classes that I was pregnant. Not only
was I too thrilled to hold the news in, my discomfort was showing as morning
sickness was taking its toll on me. Numerous mornings I would force to dash out
of the classroom in mid-sentence.
I first realized the impact my pregnancy was having on my students when the
class rebel came in one morning with soda crackers for me. “Mrs. Jackson,” he
said, “I told my mom about your baby and she said that crackers would solve your
problems. The baby needs food.” I thanked him and thought about how deeply
concerned he really was for the baby. This teenager never called the baby a “blob
of cells” as abortion advocates had instructed him to do. No matter what stage of
pregnancy I was in, my students viewed my child as a tiny human being.
As the weeks passed, more students showed interest in my pregnancy. After I
returned from a visit to the doctor, students would ask me how the baby looked and
what the doctor was checking the baby for.
I brought in pictures of the development stages of the baby; I brought a
“precious feet” reproduction to class; I told them of my thrill at hearing the
baby’s heartbeat. The students continued to ask questions; some fond answers. A
particularly rewarding comment came from a young woman who prided herself on
being “liberal and pro-choice.”
After a picture of the developing baby, she asked, “How could anyone have an
abortion?”
This may sound like a fairly-tale pregnancy, but it certainly wasn’t. Three days
before Mother’s Day, my husband and I were faced with the possibility of losing
the baby. This near tragedy further entrenched my belief that my students did in
fact care about my little baby. My husband and I were showered with phone calls,
cards, flowers and prayers. A tiny rose bush arrived on Mother’s Day. It bore the
greeting “Please take care of our baby. Love, your staff and students.”
As the final days of the school year arrived, many students stopped in to say
goodbye to the baby. They made me promise to come visit after the baby was born.
“We want to see our baby. After all he has grown up with us.” They were right, and
their words signaled their acknowledgment of life from the moment of conception.
No matter what these students had been taught in sex education classes or through
the medic, somehow they realized that, however tiny or fragile a pre-born baby is,
the child is worth protecting and loving.
As I stood in the doorway of my classroom on the last day of school, I thought
about all the long hours, good days and bad days I had that year. Was teaching
really worth it? This question was answered as several members of the graduating
class came to say thank you. Instead of gifts for me, they had brought a collection
of toys for the baby. Finally, the class feminist stepped forward and said: “I picked
this card out for you.” It contained this poem:
I wish I could find a way to thank you
for all that you’ve done for me,
for all that I’ve learned from you.
. . . You’ve taught me so many things
not with formal instructions,
but by your example. . . .
She added, “P.S. I think you will be a wonderful
mother.”
I do believe that the greatest victories in pro-life work are on “no with formal
instructions, but by. . . . example.” By sharing the joy of pregnancy and the miracle
of life with my students, I won some converts.
We must never assume that the enemy has the more powerful weapons. Our secret
weapon is the pre-born child. Most people, when they recognize that the baby in the
womb is someone, is an individual person, respond with love and compassion. Our
message is in fact the message of love, and in the end it will conquer all.
by Rev. Eutiquio ‘Euly’
The first thing that is rather surprising about the Letter
to
the Hebrews is that it is not really a letter. Most
B. Belizar, Jr., SThD
scholars would say today that it is actually a written
and extended homily. Unlike the letters of St. Paul and
other NT letters, Hebrews makes no preliminary greeting and no mention of any particular
addressee(s), be it specific persons or churches. Besides, it appears that the last part, Heb
13:22-25, was just added by another author to give the document the semblance of a letter.
If I were to write my Sunday homily and towards the end added these words: “Before I park
my pen, I just would like to extend to Rosita, Jose and all the kids my best regards. God
bless you all. Please take good care because I care. Sincerely yours, Fr. Euly”, I would have
done something that would not be too unlike the Letter to the Hebrews. Another surprising thing about this document is that, contrary to a long-held belief, it was not written by
St. Paul since its style and form are markedly different from his other letters that we are
familiar with. The third surprising thing is that its addressees were not necessarily simply
the Hebrews but all Christians, especially those on the verge of apostasy, although there is
basis to believe that originally it may have had in mind Christians of Jewish ancestry.
What is not surprising about this document is its popularity, especially among Christians
who are trying to re-discover, and more deeply, who Jesus Christ is, who they are and what
the journey or pilgrimage of faith in life to the heavenly Jerusalem is all about.
Let me reflect on several themes from the text that, to my mind, open to us what Hebrews teaches us on who we are, namely, as disciples of Jesus Christ.
1. “Cloud of Innumerable Witnesses”: Discipleship as a Team Effort
Hebrews speaks of OT heroes of faith in chapter 12. It makes mention of Abel, Enoch,
Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and many others, presenting them as models
of how to believe. Rather than simply focusing on the exemplary character of their lives
of faith, it is also clear that this cloud of innumerable witnesses is bonded by faith in the
reality we call God’s People and, precisely because of faith, links them with those witnesses
of faith who are followers of Jesus Christ. Faith makes a community out of believers. In
other words, these witnesses and heroes of faith are, in relation to us, fellow members of the
People of God, both in the OT and now the NT. We do not stand on different grounds. We
belong to the same family God calls his own. This sense of family and community among
believers applies even to the seemingly exclusive unit in the Church called ‘presbyters’.
For us priests in the Philippines this is especially made significant by the teaching of the
Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, namely: “The priests of the New Testament are
by their vocation to ordination set apart in some way in the midst of the People of God…(PO
3). Priests and their ministry cannot, therefore, be understood apart from this community
setting. The ordained priest does not stand outside the Christian community. He remains
in the community. He is ordained for the community” (PCP II, 510). Community living is
expressed in communal or team ministry. It is not only individuals but also communities or
teams that live as Christian disciples serving other Christian disciples, the royal priests, as
ministerial priests. Team ministries among priests are not only ideal; they are an expression
of discipleship.
2. “Ridding Ourselves of Every Encumbrance and Sin”: Discipleship as Continuing Conversion
The first thing that Jesus does in his public ministry is to proclaim: “This is the time
of fulfillment. The reign of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Good News” (Mk
1:15). Metanoia, the Greek for repentance, is a military word that means a one-hundred
eighty degrees about-face from a life of rebellion to a life of obedience towards God. As an
ROTC cadet I remember marching ahead of my battalion during a routine drill. We were
on a grassy field and were not alone. Carabaos were all over the place, some wallowing
in quagmire. We were marching directly into one, my eyes and emotions wide open with
fearful anticipation. As I was about to put one step onto a mud hole, our commanding officer barked a command: “Ready, halt. One. Two. About face!” Sin is like a mud hole into
which we make wrong decisions to step and then regret later what we did. That opens us
to conversion. Hebrews, I think, sounds a similar reminder when it urges us disciples to
rid ourselves of “every encumbrance” that is what sin is essentially, for sin hinders us, in
the language of Hebrews, from “moving forward to our heavenly goal”.
In a word, we are to make an about face constantly from our wounded nature’s inclination towards rebellion and sin. Unless we make an about-face from sin discipleship would
be a continuing non-reality, a sham. There are two movements in conversion: first, the
U-TURN from sin; and the second, facing up to Jesus the Master. PCP II teaches us: “The
spiritual life of the priest, like that of all Christians, begins with an encounter with Christ,
with faith and conversion. This is the beginning of all spirituality and leads to union with
God in grace, a state of being in love with God” (PCP II, 533). Continuing conversion is a
(turn to page 14)
Fr. Euly writes from the Cathedral Parish of the Nativity of Our Lady in Borongon, Samar, Philippines where he
is assigned as pastor and rector. He is the Founding Director of the Diocesan Lay Formation Institute there.
A Word from Fr. Erno
Zeny Abbariao: Our Lady of Piat and San Lorenzo
Note: This is the third chapter of the book in the making entitled The Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz: The First
Three Years [2005-2008]. Fr. Erno Diaz is the founder and first director of the chapel.
Zeny, I would say, typifies the devout San Lorenzo devotees who have given of their
time, service and resources to the Chapel. She reminds me of Peggy Noonan’s article on
devout Filipino women that was published in Magnificat and The Catholic Digest in the
mid-90’s. Peggy Noonan, one time speech writer for the late President Ronald Reagan,
has described the modern Filipino Catholic woman as very pious and devout whose
quiet spirituality and ubiquitous presence in New York’s churches including St. Patrick’s
Cathedral could not but remind her of the Irish women of old. When they pray, she
writes, they are ‘very much into it,’ meaning their entire self seems to be communicating
with God.
I know that Zeny and the Filipino women in Noonan’s estimation would be somewhat
embarrassed by how they are ‘sainted’ by Noonan and, in a way, by myself. But the truth
of the matter is that they have truly given the words ‘Filipino Catholic’ a real face in
America, whether it is by their prayerful life or by their volunteer work in the parish or by
their active promotion of religious devotions and spirituality programs. In the case of the
Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz, Zeny spearhearded the Our Lady of Piat shrine.
The beautiful three-foot statue of Our Lady of Piat is a real stunner. A bejewelled
crown compliments an exquisitely gold-painted body of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding
the Infant Jesus. The Virgin’s hands are holding an embroidered handkerchief.
Our Lady of Piat had a most auspicious enshrinement in 2006 when no less than
Archbishop Talamayan of Tuguegarao came to the Chapel to say Mass for that occasion.
Piat devotees came from from all over New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and
Pennsylvania to venerate the sacred image. It was on that occasion that Archbishop
Talamayan spoke about the common Chinese connection between Our Lady of Piat and
San Lorenzo Ruiz.
a.
The Shrine of Filipino Patron Saints. Although the shrinette of Our Lady of
Piat held an obvious prominence in the Chapel, statues of other saints adorned the other
common shrinette located on the other side of the vestibule. San Nino was there. So also
the Divine Mercy, St. Joseph, Sacred Heart, Holy Family, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady
of Fatima, Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Inang Poon na Bato, our Lady of Antipolo,
Blessed Eugenie, foundress of the Assumption Sisters, and Blessed Pedro Calungsod,
the second Filipino martyr whose cause for canonization is also being promoted in the
Chapel of San Lorenzo. It is to the credit of the individual devotees who either donated or
sponsored the statues and icons that the Chapel was able to put up the common shrinette
of Filipino patron saints making it possible for the Filipinos to publicly venerate their
favorite patron saint as they were used to do back home in the Philippines. The Chapel
will always be grateful to the donors and sponsors of the shrinette’s statues, namely: Our
Lady of Piat Legacy, Nancy Gourishankar, Dr. Cristy Pamaar, Dr. Lourdes Marasigan,
Mr. & Mrs Gabriel Rotor, Angela Gabasan, Rosalyn Magsaysay, Dr. Esperanza Braga,
the Assumption alumnae of New York and New Jersey.
The original concept of a common shrinette for Filipino patron saints was inspired by
the shrine for Marian patronesses of different nations at the Basilica of the Immaculate
Conception in Washington, D.C. where, among the Marian statues of the world, is
enshrined the Philippines’ Virgin of Antipolo, also known as Our Lady of Peace and
Good Voyage. It was back in 1997 when a grand enshrinement ceremony took place
in Washington, D.C. with no less than Cardinal John O’Connor officiating at the Mass
attended by more than thirty five bus loads of Filipino devotees who travelled all the
way from New York and New Jersey. Dr. Ruth Doyle, then director of the Pastoral
Research Office of the Archdiocese of New York and coordinator of the Asian Committee
asked the newly-organized Filipino Apostolate to help organize the enshrinement event in
Washington, D.C., to which the response was an enthusiastic collaboration by the Filipino
parish leaders who subsequently organized regional groups of participants covering the
deaneries of Manhattan, Staten Island, Bronx, Rockland, Westchester and Upstate New
York including Brooklyn, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rockville Center dioceses. The
Filipinos who are known for their strong Marian devotion were not bashful about their
Marian piety and came out in full force, including a 100-strong Filipino choir who sang
at the Mass. I had organized this choir the year before to sing at the feast day Mass
for San Lorenzo Ruiz in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and I know they were ready. And so,
on that beautiful sunny day of May, the Virgin of Antipolo took her place among other
Marian statues in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception forever to be honoured and
venerated there, a symbol of the Filipinos’ great love for Mary, the Mother of God.
The common shrine fro Marian patronesses in Washington, D.C. was to inspire me to
come up with a common shrine for Filipino patron saints in the Chapel of San Lorenzo
Ruiz, being the Filipinos ‘church’ in New York. In my wild dream, all the favorite patron
saints, whom the Filipinos honor and have built churches and chapels after their name
in their native Philippines, were visualized to have their own individual niche if space
would allow it I had even imagined putting the statues of the saints on top of a promenade
surrounding the church’s front yard in the same fashion that the statues of the saints were
put up with impressive results in St. Peter’s Square.
Unfortunately, the size of the Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz on Broome Street is small,
and the space of the Chapel’s interior is taken up mostly by the pews that are practically
touching the walls of the Chapel. In other words, there is no more space for the niches
of the individual saints other than the two
recessed corners of the vestibule that used to
be the an old confessional and a small storage
area for collection baskets, flower vases and
other church stuff. There, a common shrine
would be feasible but considering the small
space lengthwise and heightwise, only small
statues of two to three feet in height would be
acceptable. Then came Ping Panlilio.
b.
Ping Panlilio’s Shrine Design. A
landscape stylist and a religious antiques
collector, Marcos ‘Ping’ Panlilio offered to
design the shrinettes. In 2007, Ping came
to the Chapel with his crew bringing plastic
flowers and all kinds of furniture for his shrine
design. He set up columns and pedestals and
Fr. Erno Diaz
tables where he placed the statues beside one
another, some on platforms, others in slightly
higher ones, making sure that each statue is prominent. Richly textures curtains were
hung as elegant backdrops. The result was a very colourful and attractive shrinette,
thanks to the artistic touch of Ping Panlilio.
Aside from the shrinettes, the sanctuary of the Chapel was also decorated by Ping
thereby enhancing an otherwise bare place. He brought in two end tables with Capiz shell
frames that can be illuminated from inside. These end tables were used as platforms for
huge brown-colored claypots that contained flower arrangements of all sorts for various
liturgical season of the church. The claypots were used alternatively beside the altar or
beside the presider’s chair or on top of the wooden platforms attached to the wall by the
pulpit side and by the piano side. Behind the claypots on top of these elevated paltfoms,
Ping would set up a bamboo lattice that served as a backdrop for flower arrangements. At
Christmas, the bamboo lattices were adorned with lights giving a very festive atmosphere,
to the delight of everyone who came to this ‘obscure house of worship’ on Broome Street.
I must add that no one who came to the Chapel and saw Ping’s design would fail to notice
the Filipino motif.
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FROM THE PULPIT
Driver
by Fr. Peter James R. Alindogan
At a nursing home a group of seniors were sitting
around talking about what they were suffering from.
“My arms have gotten so weak, I can hardly lift this
cup of coffee,” said one. “Yes, I know,” said another.
“My cataracts are so bad I can’t even see my cup of
coffee.” “I can’t turn my head because of the arthritis
in my neck,” said a third, to which several nodded
weakly in agreement. “I forgot where I am and where
I’m going,” said an elderly gent. “I guess that’s the
price we pay for getting old,” winced an old man as
he slowly shook his head and all agreed. “Well, count
your blessings,” said Betty cheerfully, “Thank God we
can all still drive.”
We were brought to the desert with Jesus last week. This time, we are on the mountaintop
with Him. One pictured desolation and the other showed glory. One manifested loneliness
and temptation, the other affirmation and acceptance. One exemplified the bitterness of the
winter of sacrifice while the other had the radiant birth of spring. Both places, however,
manifested a reality all of us know by now: the only way to glory is sacrificial suffering.
During Lent, the readings about the transfiguration of Jesus always come after the readings
about his 40 days in the desert.
When Jesus was transfigured on that mountain, he opened to us the idea of a suffering
Savior. The time will come when our faith will be tested. The time will come when we
will be like Abraham when we have to surrender to God people we love as they depart
this world. The time will come when we have to remind ourselves what St. Paul said, “If
God is for us, who can be against us?”
Nobody among us wants to suffer. Nobody among us wants to be in pain. We asked
the same questions ourselves, “If God loves us, why do we have to suffer? If He is an all
loving God, why does He have to take our loved ones away? If God is love, why do we
see so much hatred around?”
Our religion is filled with helpful contradictions. We know that it is only when we
suffer that we are glorified. It is only when we die that we are born again. It is only when
we embrace the painful Cross that we are blessed and sanctified.
Only those who have been purified can say that they have been victorious. Only those
who have passed through the painful phases of growing and its difficult stages can say that
they have really grown up: our baby steps that journeyed from learning how to walk, talk,
reason out and being independent. Those were the days when we had pimples, freckles,
braces, first car, first friends, first crushes, first loves, first marriages, and for some, first
divorces. And we say from all these experiences that we can fully appreciate the view from
the mountaintop only when we have gone through the desert of our lives.
As children, we somehow know part of the answers to suffering. Better to study, do
our homework assignments and prepare for class for that is what we are being called to
do. Playing videogames, surfing the Internet, texting and calling up friends have its own
time and moment. As parents, we somehow know part of the answers to suffering. Spare
the rod and spoil the child. It is better for us to endure some growing pains, than to grow
enduring pain.
And as adults, we know part of the answers to suffering. Jesus Himself is a picture of
it. Whenever we look at the Cross, we see a sacrificial Lord and we can just remember
what St. Paul said that the sufferings of the present time are as nothing compared to the
glory that is revealed for us.
When St. Teresa of Avila in a vision was once heard asking our good Lord why a lot
of people are suffering, it was said that God replied, “That’s how I treat my friends. I let
them suffer for awhile.” And St. Teresa was heard to say, “Now I understand why you
only have a few friends.”
Those who are in the midst of suffering right now, be thankful and be grateful to God,
who is your friend. Only those who want us away from God would not let us suffer. Only
those who want us apart from God would hate the meaning of love and sacrifice. And only
those who tempt us in wanting for pleasure and not pain, comfort and not inconvenience,
diversion and not reality would prevent us from being at peace.
When Jesus was transfigured, his face shone and his clothes became dazzling white.
He was at peace with His Father. Whether it is in the desert or on the mountaintop, he
knew that His Father will always be with him. We should never forget that in moments of
happiness, contentment, peace and mountaintop experiences, God is there with us. And
in moments of suffering and uncertainty, in moments of doubt and pain, during our own
desert experiences, God will never be far from us.
Thank God, He is driving!
REFLECTIONS
Unity with God
The engaged couple had come to talk about
the details of their forthcoming wedding. “We
would like to have the candle ceremony,” the
groom said politely. “And we would also
want both our parents to be
part of the ceremony,” he
added, looking lovingly at
his future wife. The starryeyed lady looked at his eyes
as she tenderly clasped
and gathered his hands to
her heart as if to say, “Yes,
by Rev. Basil C. Colasito
I love you so much, and
I long for you to remain
forever in my heart.”
“Yes, of course,” I said casually. “I think that the candle
ceremony is a beautiful statement of your longing for unity.”
I then described for the couple the candle-lighting ritual: the
bride and groom each receive a lit candle from their respective
parents. With their own two lights, the couple in turn light the
one big candle.. I explained how the two candles represent the
two families (the bride’s and groom’s) who will now be forming
their own one family. .
A lover long to be one with the beloved. It is not surprising
that Jesus, the Tremendous Lover, would pray for unity. He
prayed for the disciples to be one in Him, as He is one in the
Father. At the Last Supper,
Jesus prayed: “That they may be one as You, Father, and I are One. That they
may be one in Me as I am in You.” Elsewhere He had told His disciples: “If you
love Me, the
Father and I will love you, and We will make our home in you.” Today He
evokes an image of unity. “I am the vine, you are the branches,” and He urges us
to abide in Him as He abides in us.
The goal of Christian life is the same as that of Christian marriage: unity. And
the two shall become one flesh. The sacrament of marriage mirrors the “marriage”
between two natures of Jesus: the divine and the human. Jesus, the Word (Love)
made flesh, is the Super Sign of unity. Just as Jesus is the Incarnation or the human
enfleshment of Divine Love, so am I called to continually become the incarnation
or the human enfleshment of God’s love for me.
I am a walking, talking, sign of the love of my father
and my mother. I am the enfleshment of their love. I am
their love with a name. Both Mom and Dad abide in me
as I abide in them. This reality helps me understand how
my goal as a Christian is also to become another Christ,
an Alter Christus, the incarnation of God’s love. To put
it another way: to be the “face of Christ on earth.” And
just as I am a child of human parents who are in me, I am
likewise a child of God Who dwells in me. I am a child of
God, a temple of the Holy Trinity, an heir to Heaven.
Unity is difficult to describe. Someone said, “unity is
when someone cries, the other tastes salt.” In
Annie’s Song, John Denver paints unity “like a night in
the forest” (the blackness of the night and the forest are
one); “like a mountain in springtime” (the color green and
the mountain are one); “like a walk in the rain” (soaked one
with the rain); “like a sleepy blue ocean” (the color blue
and the ocean are one); “like a storm in the desert” (the
sand and the person in the desert sandstorm are one).
Sacred Scriptures evoke a multitude of images on
unity: “One Bread” composed of many grains of wheat;
“One Body” made up of many members; “”One Cup” of
wine fermented from thousands of grapes. Being one with
Jesus in His Father’s house: “In my Father’s house, there are many mansions. I
go and prepare a place for you, and I will come back to take you with me so that
where I am, you also may be.” Jesus, in His Infinite Wisdom, wills to be one with
me in the most routine event of my life: in my communion with the Bread of Life,
the pledge of Eternal glory.
Happenings
by AA Medrano
19th Sayawan sa Village
For years the Sayawan sa Village has always
been the leading event in the village because of
your support. The Filipino Pastoral Ministry hosted
another successful event this year sponsored by the
Santo Nino Prayer Groups of New York (SPGNY)
on Saturday April 18, 2009. We are grateful to all of
you for your continued patronage. Congratulations
to the new members who energized the event. And
for all those who missed the all night dancing event,
we hope to see you next year.
Easter
Sunday
egg hunt at
our Lady
of Pompei
Church in
Manhattan.
Village.
The Filipino Pastoral Ministry of Our Lady of Pompei is now accepting Sagalas or applicants for the 19th Annual Flores de Mayo and Santakrusan sa Village. If you would
like your sons and daughters to participate in this yearly event in the village, please contact
Nelia Cloma, the Santakrusan sa Village Hermana Mayor and Aida Valdeviezo, Assistant
Hermana Mayor.
Novena Mass to Santo Nino
The Sayawan Village kicked off the many activities at Lady of Pompei Church in Manhattan of
the Santo Nino
Baclaran sa Village - Feast of Mother of
Prayer Groups of New York (SPGNY). The Santo
Perpetual Help
Nino Prayer Groups of New York, now on its 26th year
The Filipino Pastoral Ministry (FPM) continues
anniversary propagating the devotion to Santo Nino,
to welcome devotees every Wednesday at Pompei
continues to be the link to our kababayans that the
for the Novena Mass in honor of Our Mother of PerFilipino Pastoral Ministry serves. Its members have
petual Help. The Baclaran sa Village is now on its
a vital role in promoting the programs and activities
21st year. On April 22, 2009 the perpetual Novena
of the ministry.
Mass at Our Lady of Pompei Church in preparation
The Novena Mass in preparation for the 26th Santo
for the 21st Feast Day of Our Mother Perpetual
Nino Fiesta started on April 19 and every Sunday
Help on June 24 began. Every Wednesday through
thereafter until the Feast day on June 21. The family
the feast day, there will be the Exposition of the
members of the different chapters of the SPG/NY atHoly Eucharist, Rosary and Novena at 6:00 P.M
tend the Novena Mass.
followed by the Mass at 6:30 P.M. Mr. and Mrs.
The SPGNY Brooklyn Chapter is the host for this
Mel and Lulu Escobar are the Hermano and Heryear’s celebration. Norma de Jesus, coordinator and
mana Mayor of the 2009 Baclaran sa Village.
Corazon del Mar, the hermana mayor coordinate the
weekly novena and the preparation of the Santo Nino
Thanksgiving for the Incardination of Fr.
Fiesta celebration.
Joseph Marabe, JCD
If you would like to be one of the sponsors during
Deo Gratias! The newly incardinated to the Archeach week, or if you have petitions and thanksgiving
diocese of New York Fr. Joseph G. Marabe, JCD
prayer to Santo Nino, please contact the Filipino PasMsgr. Romy Montero baptized Christopher Salvador Go last and Francisco Lanzaderas celebrated a thanksgiving
toral Ministry c/o Fr. Romy Montero (212) 727 0214
April 25 at our Lady of Pompei Church. Christopher’s parents party at the Our Lady of Pompei Church Fr. Demo
or the Chapter Coordinators of the Santo Nino Prayer
Hall sponsored by the friends and volunteers of the
are Elvira Macaraeg and Joon Go.
Groups of New York : Norma de Jesus -Brooklyn,
Simbang Gabi sa Katedral (SGSK), San Lorenzo
Josie Bueno - Manhattan, Noemi Alfaro - Queens and
Ruiz Chapel. The party was held on April 26 hosted
Alma Cruz - Bronx.
by the Filipino Pastoral Ministry of Pompei.
Fr. Marabe and Fr. Lanzaderas were incardinated into the Archdiocese of New York on
Flores de Mayo and Santakrusan sa Village 2009
March 16, 2009 in a ceremony officiated by his Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan.
Flores De Mayo started on Sunday May 3 at Our Lady of Pompei with the children and
There were several priests who attended the party. A special dance number was performed
adults participating in the offering of flowers to the Virgin Mary. The Sunday celebration by the Team Ministry of San Lorenzo Ruiz Chapel led by Fr. Joseph Marabe, Fr. Romy
is in preparation for the Crowning of the Blessed Mother and the Santakrusan sa Village Montero, Fr. Nil Villavisa, Fr. Romy Hontiveros with Fr. Lito Cabatuan and the members
on May 31.
of the Filipino Pastoral Ministry of Pompei line dance group.
We are grateful to Bro. Michael of Our Lady of Pompei and his helpers who every year
set up the life size image of our Lady for the Sunday activities.
SLRAA Project Thailand
Welcome back to Nick Libramonte and Casto Changho of the San Lorenzo Ruiz AssoSave the Date: May 31, 2009 – 19th Annual Flores de Mayo and Santakrusan sa ciation of America, (SLRAA) who came from their mission to Thailand. It was indeed a
Photos by Henry Medrano
Thanksgiving party for the incardination of Fr. Joseph Marabe and Fr. Francis Lanzaderas at Our Lady of Pompei Church.
ON SCHEDULE
Masses, novenas, fiestas and other
important religious celebrations.
“This is the day which the Lord hath
made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
-- Ps 118:24
Special dance performed by Pompei line dancers during the Sayawan sa
Village with Fr. Romy Montero, Fr. Mike Lagrimas, Fr. Nil Villavisa, Fr. Lito
Cabatuan
very successful journey for both of them enduring the eighteen hours travel by bus from
the city of Bangkok to reach the Muhakhi village in Mae Song. Traveling with them was
the life size image of San Lorenzo Ruiz which is now enshrined in the church. They met
the village people who were so grateful because their prayers to have their own church was
answered. They attended the inauguration of the newly built church named San Lorenzo
Ruiz Catholic church located in a cleared area on top of the mountain in Muhakhi. The
inauguration and the first Mass was officiated by Bishop Joseph Sangval, Bishop of Chiang
Mai Diocese on April 18, 2009. Fr. Sutee Charoenkul was contact person of SLRAA for
the project.
Project Thailand is a religious, social and humanitarian outreach program of the SLRAA
Foreign Mission initiated by Casto Changho. The San Lorenzo Ruiz Catholic Church
will be used by the village people as a place of worship with space to hold more than 50
people. Currently, they pack the village leader’s house for services. A center for community gatherings and other community function. A Village Shelter during typhoons since
the village houses are mostly made of bamboo and leaves. Welcoming center for visiting
village leaders from other tribes. As showcase for the Catholic church to the mountain hill
tribes and also to propagate the devotion to San Lorenzo Ruiz and Blessed John Baptist
Scalabrini. Learning center for educating the village people about Christianity.
Another project of the SLRAA in Bangkok is to support the newly established Migrant
Center for Filipinos at the Mary Help of Christian Church. The center was initiated by
Fr. Tamayo, a Salesian priest to help the displaced migrant Filipinos who need help in
the city.
(turn to page 10)
Hermana Mayor Celeste Gomez crowns the Lady of Manaoag at the
Immaculate Conception Church in Jamaica, Queens.
FILIPINO PASTORAL MINISTRY of Our Lady of Pompei
SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES
May 2009
Wednesday
Sunday
First Friday
6:30 P.M.
3:00 6:30 P.M.
Mother of Perpetual Help
P.M.Misang Pilipino *
Mass and Holy Hour
May
01
Fri
6:30 PM
1st Friday Mass & Holy Hour
03
Sun
3:00 PM Start of FLORES DE MAYO (All Sundays of May)
09
Sat
6:00 PM
Seminar DIVINE ECONOMICS
by Fr. Mike Lagrimas
10,17,24Sun
3:00 PM
Novena Mass for Santo Nino
06
Wed 6:30 PM
Perpetual Novena Mother of Perpetual Help
10
Sun
3:00 PM
Mother’s Day
24
Sun 3:00 PM
May Birthday Celebration
31
Sun 3:00 PM
19th Annual May Crowning &
SANTAKRUSAN
*Free Ballroom and Line Dancing & Fellowship after the Sunday Mass
MAY 2009 EVENTS
May 16, 2009
Diocesan Feast of Our Lay of Peace and
Good Voyage (Antipolo)
3:00 PM Procession and Rosary
5:00 PM Filipino Mass
St. Robert Bellarmine Church
56-12 213 Street, Bayside, NY 11364
May 17, 2009
1:30 PM - Filipino Mass
St. Joan of Arc Church
82-00 35th Ave. Jackson Heights, NY 11372
(Every 2nd Sunday of the Month)
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church,
101-41 91st Street, Ozone Park, NY 11416
(Every 3rd Sunday of the Month)
Guardian Angel Church
2978 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY, 11235
5:00 PM – Filipino Mass
St. Bartolomew Church
43-22 Ithaca Street, Elmshurst NY 11373
May 17, 2009 Flores de Mayo
3:30 PM - Procession
Our Lady of the Snows Church
258-17 80th Avenue, Floral Park, NY 11004
May 23, 2009 Flores de Mayo
5:30 PM - Procession
Our Lady of Mercy Church
70-01 Kessel Street, Forest Hills, NY 11375
(Every 4th Saturday of the Month)
May 24, 2009
Corpus Christi Church
31-30 61st Street, Woodside, NY
(Every 4th Sunday of the Month)
Most PreciousBlood Church (Basement)
32-23 36st Street,
Long Island City, NY 11006
JUNE 2009 EVENTS
June 5, 2009
7:30 PM - Filipino Mass – First Friday
Sponsored by FDA and Apostleship of
Prayer
St. Jude Church
1677 Canarsie Road, Brooklyn, NY 11236
(Every 1st Friday of the Month)
June 6, 2009
St. Brigid Church,
409 Linden Street, Brooklyn, NY 11227
(Every 1st Saturday of the Month)
Presentation Church,
88-19 Parsons Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11432
(Every 1st Saturday of the Month)
June 7, 2009
Our Lady Help of Christians Church,
1315 E. 28th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11210
(Every 1st Sunday of the Month)
by Gene Salle
Our Lady of the Island
Eastport, Long Island
Long Island Expressway, Exit 70
(Every 1st Sunday of the month)
June 14, 2009
St. Patrick Church,
39-38 29th Street, LIC, NY 11101
(Every 1st Sunday of the Month)
Incarnation Church
89-43 Francis Lewis Blvd.,
Queens Village, NY 11427
St. Rose of Lima Church
269 Parkville Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11230.
Church of Holy Child Jesus
111-11 86th Avenue
Richmond Hill, NY 11418
1:30 PM 28th Anniversary & Fiesta
in honor of Santo Nino
St. Ladislaus Church
18 Richardson Pl. Hempstead, NY
June 21, 2009 (Father’s Day)
St. Joan of Arc Church
82-00 35th Ave. Jackson Heights, NY 11372
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church
101-41 91st Street, Ozone Park, NY 11416
Guardian Angel Church
2978 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY, 11235
St. Bartolomew Chapel
43-22 Ithaca Street, Elmshurst NY 11373
June 27, 2009
Our Lady of Mercy Church
70-01 Kessel Street, Forest Hills, NY 11375
(Every 4th Saturday of the Month)
June 28, 2009
Corpus Christi Church
31-30 61st Street, Woodside, NY 11377
(Every 4th Sunday of the Month)
Most PreciousBlood Church (Basement)
32-23 36st Street,
3:00 PM – Our Lady of Perpetual Help Mass
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church
111-50 115th Street, South Ozone Park, NY
TAGALOG
Syanga Naman!
Msgr. Ruben M. Dimaculangan
Pahiram na Kaligayahan. Salamat kay Kuya Manny
Pacquiao. Pinahiram niya ang mga Pinoy ng kahit ilang
sandali ng kaligayahan dahil sa kanyang pagwawagi
laban kay Ricky Hatton noong Linggo, ika-3 ng Mayo
2009. Ipinatikim niya muli ang saya, gaya sa Edsa 1
noong 1986, na dulot ng pagkakaisa. Dahil sa pambansang kamao merong mga MNLF noong ika-3 ng
Mayo na nakipanood sa “pay per view” sa loob ng
kubol ng mga Marines. Walang naganap na krimen
sa mga oras na yaon. Naging isa itong injection ng
pag-asa at pride sa pagiging Pinoy. Sa tingin ko, ang
ipinagbunyi ng mga Pinoy ay hindi lang ang kanyang pagkapanalo kundi ang kanyang
pagiging maginoo, maka-Diyos at mababang-loob sa kabila ng kanyang pagiging kampeon.
Syanga naman.
An Inconvenient Truth. Sinabi ni Al Gore: Ilagay mo ang palaka sa isang palayok ng
kumukulong tubig at maglululundag ito nang katakut-takot. Ilagay mo naman ang pareho
ding palaka sa isang pitsel ng tubig. Dahan-dahan mo itong pakuluan. Mananatili ang
palaka hanggang sa ito ay maging exquisite na frog’s legs. Tungkol dito, sinabi ng isang
kolumnista ng Philippine Daily Inquirer: Kung anong nangyayari sa unti-unting pagwasak ng ating kapaligiran sa ating planeta, ganito rin ang ginagawang pagwasak sa ating
bansa sa larangan ng politika. Subukan mong ideklara ng Pangulo ang Martial Law at
napakaraming Pinoy ang maglululundag nang katakot-takot … sa galit! Pero walang Pinoy
na magpoprotesta kung ang magiging style ng pagsira ng bansa ay sa pamamagitan ng
pagpapatalsik ng mga elementong mabuti at pag-upa sa serbisyo ng mga bugok na itlog
na gagawa ng disenyo na akda ng “panginoon (hindi alipin) ng kadiliman”. Parurusahan
niya ang mga desenteng tao sa isang banda at papabuyaan naman niya ang mga bulok sa
kabilang banda. Hindi natin mapapansin na tayo pala ay isa nang “frog’s legs”. Hindi
rin mapapansin ng military na ang ibig sabihin na ng PMA ay “Philippine Malacañang
Academy”. “Very inconvenient truth to hear.” Syanga naman.
Guilty for not using common sense. Maraming nakikiusap kay Kuya Pacman (Manny
Pacquiao) na huwag nang pasukin ang politika. Pakiusap ito na may halong matibay
na malasakit. Hindi nila maatim na ang “bayaning” kanilang ipinagbubunyi ngayon ay
kanilang isusumpa bukas. Pakiusap ito na nagbababala sa kanya. Hindi nila maatim at
malubos maisip na balang araw, kung hindi siya magiging maingat sa mga jabs, left hook,
right hook at uppercut ng mga bad eggs sa politika, pwede siyang maakusahan ng “guilty
by association” o ng “guilty for not using common sense”. Syanga naman.
Bravo, Mary Ann Glendon! Isa siyang katolikang Professor sa Harvard. Mas naging
tanyag ang pangalan niya nang pamunuan niya ang delegasyon ng Holy See sa 1995 World
Conference on Women sa Beijing - tungkol sa pagtatanggol sa dignidad at karapatan ng mga
Happenings ... from page 8
Feast Day of Our Lady of Manaoag sa Jamaica
On Sunday May 3, San Lorenzo Ruiz Association in America, Inc. (SLRAA) held a
successful celebration of the Feast Day of the Most Holy Rosary or Our Lady of Manaoag
held at the Immaculate Conception Church in Jamaica, Queens. The celebration was hosted
by the San Lorenzo Ruiz Devotional chapter – Jamaica Estates.
Despite the rainy afternoon, many devotees of Our Lady of Manaoag and San Lorenzo
Ruiz came to participate in the celebration. The procession was held inside the church.
Msgr. Oscar Aquino officiated the installation of the new Hermana Mayores Ms. Lita
Solis and Ms. Celeste Gomez. The two Hermanas received the medals of our Lady of
Manaoag as the symbol of their hermanidad. Celeste Gomez crowned the Virgin Mary
with flowers assisted by her nephew Ronald Bregendahl. Lita Solis lighted the candles
assisted by his son Watus Solis. Lita led the Prayer to Lady of Manaoag.
The concelebrating priests were Msgr. Oscar Aquino, J.C.D., main celebrant, Fr. Jed
Sumampong, C.P., Pastor of the Immaculate Conception Church, the homilist, Fr. Ninoy
Vinluan, Fr. Lito Cabatuan and Fr. Mike Lagrimas, the master of ceremonies. The San
Lorenzo Ruiz Knights led by Romy Zamudio, Douglas Ealdama, Dado Acayan and Ed
Pascual were the altar servers.
The congregation participated in the offering of flowers to Our Lady of Manaoag led by
the flower girls – Rita Bregendahl and Kate Bautista during the offertory. Each one were
given a red rose to offer. Other offerers were Elna and Evan Prado – basket of fruits, Celeste
Gomez – Wine, Lita Solis – Ciborium, James Bautista for the petition basket.
Other participants in the Mass were: Lectors - Geraldine Solis & Joepet de Venecia; Petition readers – Menchie Pulido, Alex Dy, Rose Calicdan, Eleanor Parico, Ramon Filoteo,
Baby de la Isla, Willie Pacleba, Raul Calicdan. The offerers were Elna & Evan Prado. Mr.
Ed Burkard the music director of the Immaculate Conception and the cantor Sally Alonso
of Our Lady of Pompei church collaborated in providing the music for the Mass.
A reception followed after the Mass. There were music, good food and raffle prizes
for the attendees. Congratulations to the Hermana Mayores and their families – Celeste
Gomez and Lita Solis. And of course to the officers and members of the San Lorenzo Ruiz
Devotional chapter for doing the heavy work in making the event very successful.
kababaihan. Napaka-makasaysayan ang conference na ito dahil dito, sa pamumuno ng Holy
See, nahadlangan ang maitim na balak ng maraming bansa, international agencies, mga
organisasyon at pharmaceutical companies na isama sa “reproductive health” ang abortion.
At hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa nababago ang pagkaunawang ito. Nang lumaon, noong
2004, si Mary Ann Glendon, kahit hindi isang Obispo, ay ginawa ng Vatican na maging
Presidente ng Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Sinabi ni Glendon, “Kalungkot-lungkot na
ilang beses nang nangyari na ginamit ang relihiyon sa mundo ng politika”. Idinugtong pa
niya, “Kaya naman, ang dahilan kung bakit hindi magkasundo ang iba’t-ibang relihiyon
ay sapagkat ang diyalogo ay nilalahukan ng mga tao na ang buhay ay hindi naman talaga
naka-ugat sa kanilang pananampalataya.” Kinailangang bitiwan niya ang posisyong ito
noong 29 Pebrero 2008 pagkalipas ng ilang taon dahil tinawag naman siya ni Pangulong
Bush na maging Ambassador ng Estados Unidos para sa Holy See.
Ang problema ay ito: Kamakailan, inimbitahan si Presidente Obama ng sikat na pamantasang Notre Dame, sa ilalim ng pangangalaga ng Holy Cross Fathers, para magsalita sa
kanilang Commencement Exercises sa ika-17 ng Mayo 2009. Ang tradisyonal na pinapapagsalita rito ay yaong mga personalidad na nagpakita ng gilas at giting bilang mga
katoliko. Higit pa rito, kasali sa programa na bigyan si Obama ng honorary degree ng
Notre Dame. Naging controversial ito dahil simula nang umupo si Presidente Obama ay
marami na siyang mga inaprubahang bills na laban sa buhay ng tao gaya ng abortion at
embryonic stem cell research. Sa katunayan, 46 na Obispo ng Tate ang nagprotesta laban
sa pag-aanyayang ito ni Fr. Jenkins, pangulo ng pamantasan, kay Pres. Obama.
Kaso, inimbitahan rin si Mary Ann Glendon na tumanggap ng “Laetare Medal” sa nasabing commencement exercises. Ito ang pinakamataas na award para sa isang katoliko na
ibinibigay ng pamantasan simula pa nang 1883. Ang nakaukit sa medalya ay ito: “Truth
is mighty, and it shall prevail”. Bilang katugunan, tinanggihan ni Mary Ann Glendon ang
nasabing medalya. Subukan ninyong tunghayan sa “Zenit” o sa “Google” ang sulat ni Ms.
Glendon kay Fr. Jenkins. Masasabi ninyong, “Bravo! Bravo! Bagay na bagay sa iyo ang
pangalang ‘Mary Ann’! Buwan pa naman ng Mayo, buwan ni Maria, nang mangyari
itong pagsaksi mo sa katotohanan.” Syanga naman.
Pagdalaw ni Pope Benedict sa Holy Land. Ito ay mula ika-8 hanggang sa ika-15 ng
buwang ito ng Mayo. Sa loob ng walong araw dadaan siya sa Jordan, Bethlehem, Jerusalem at Palestinian Territories para bisitahin lalo’t higit ang mga Kristiyano doon na dahil
sa krisis ng kapayapaan at dialogo ay unti-unti nang nagsisilikas (exodus). Wika nga ng
yumaong Papa Paulo VI, “Kung mauubos ang mga Kristyano roon, manganganib na
ang lahat ng ito ay magmimistulang isa na lang museum.” Inaasahan din na bibigyan ng
pansin ng Papa ang memorya ng holocaust (organisadong pagpaslang sa mga Hudiyo).
Ipapaala-ala rin ng Papa na ang solusyon sa suliranin sa lupa, tubig at sa mga lugal na banal
ay hindi sa pamamagitan ng dahas at terorismo kundi sa daan ng diyalogo, kapayapaan,
pag-asa at pagtitiwala sa isa’t-isa. Napakahalaga ng mga solusyong ito dahil sa mga taong
nagkakaunawaan at nagmamalasakit sa isa’t-isa, di mangyayari na ang interview sa Papa
ay lagi na lang taken out of context. Syanga naman.
Salu-Salo Para Kay San Lorenzo sa Philippine Center
Judging by the attendance, the Salu-salo Para Kay San Lorenzo Ruiz hosted by the
Philippine Consul General Cecile Rebong at the Philippine consulate on April 24 was a
success.
Consul Rebong gave the welcome address saying that she will do everything to bring
the Filipino American community together. She appealed to the community to support
the Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz to show to the archdiocese of New York and the city of
New York of our unity as a Filipino community.
Fr. Joseph Marabe and Ambassador Hilario Davide gave inspirational appeals to the
community. Ambassador Davide hopes that the Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz will be the
symbol of our unity and prays that the Team Ministry will be able to do its work in accordance with the plan of God.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how the team can continue to minister to the
spiritual needs of the Filipino Catholic community. The idea was initiated by Architect
Zonny Lerum.
A question and answer forum was conducted by Fr. Joseph Marabe and Fr. Nil Villavisa.
Simbang Gabi sa Katedral (SGSK)
The SGSK will kickoff the celebration with a fund raising dinner dance, “People’s Ball,”
to be held on August 8, 2009. It will be a joint project of the SGSK and the Philippine
Fiesta. Reservations for the dance are now available.
Save the Date – September 20, 2009
The Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz will celebrate the feast day celebration of San Lorenzo
Ruiz on September 20 to be held at Cathedral of Saint Patrick. Bishop Oscar Solis,
Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles will be the main celebrant of Mass for the feast day
celebration of San Lorenzo Ruiz. The Novena Masses in preparation for the feast day
will be held at the Chapel.
Birthdays and baptism
Congratulations to the newly baptized Christopher Salvador Go, son of the proud Mom
and Dad Elvira Macaraig and Joon Go. Msgr. Romy Montero officiated the ceremony at
Our Lady of Pompei on April 25.
Happy Birthday to all the celebrants for the month of April and May.
Rey Lauron
Awit ni Ka Naldo
~ Alay sa Inay ~
Ginang Severa Torres Lauron
“Di baga’t maramimg puso sa sagingan;
May pusong saba’t may puso ng tundan;
May pusong dalaga at puso-pusuan,
Mayroong pusong tapat at pusong salawahan.”
“Ako’y nagtanim sa lagwerta ng puso;
Puso ang tinamnam, puso ang tumubo;
Puso ang nagbunga, ibinunga ay puso;
Puso ang kumitil, kinitil ay puso.”
“Ang tao pa raw ang buhay parang dagat
Sa tao ang puso’y tunay na layag;
Layag ay timbangan ng paraw sa lawak,
Ang puso ng tao’y timbangan ng palad.”
“Sa paglalayag mo sa dagat ng buhay;
Ang layag ng puso’y dapat alagaan;
Kung humahabagat, magdagdag ng tibay;
Huwag katiwala kung umaamihan.”
“Ngunit ang puso ng magulang
Ang may tunay na pagmamahal.”
- Katutubong awit sa
Batangas, Laguna at Bulacan
Mandi’y isang awit duon sa Batangan;
Siyang tanging bayan, aking sinilangan;
Katutubong awit sa ugoy ng duyan;
Ang angking pamagat ay “Puso-pusuan”.
Ang ikatututo niyong isang bata;
Marinig sa Ina yaong binabadha
Niyong isang himig na awit patula;
Ang tanging may katha ay isang makata.
Duon lamang muli sa pinagaralan
Yaong tanging awit ay masusumpungan;
Sa gabay ng guro’t aklat na batayan
Na pinagtulungan niyong makabayan.
At siyang katabi sa kabilang dahon
Na siyang nilalayon ng aklat na yaon
Ay “Pagibig-Ina”, siya ring katugon
Niyong pagdiriwang ng araw sa ngayon.
Sa Inang kapanig sa simbahang koro
Niyong kabataan sa tanging bayan ko;
Kinatagpuan din ng naging ama ko.
Minsan sa harapan niyon ngang simbahan;
Araw ng palengke duon sa gulayan;
Isang mamimili na sakdal ng yaman
Tungkol sa Ina ko napakiusapan.
“Heto pong anak ko na isang dalaga,
Katulong ko ditong pagsigaw ng tinda;
Manong paaralin, hindi ko po kaya;
Ay baka po kayo’y matulungan siya.”
Yaong mama naman, isang maginoo;
Buhat pang Maynila, sa Batangan dayo
Upang simulain, ang siyang totoo
Ay ang maitatag ang unang BTCo.
Nuon nga natagpo kasamang binata,
Laki sa Katedral, aral sa Maynila;
Lumusot sa Barko, galing pang Bisaya;
Iniwang kalabaw na tanging alaga.
Ang tanging dahilan ng pananambitan
Ay ang pangarapin sa gulong ng buhay;
Tunog ng gitara’y araling sukdulan
Hanggang ang tagumpay, tunay na makamtan.
Anupa’t sumilang, ika-pitong supling;
Bayan ng Rosario yaong bayan pa rin;
Kung saan ang bata’y sukdang palakihin;
Tulong ng simbahan ang naging layunin.
Ang unang tungkulin at unang gawain:
Duon sa simbahan, bata’y palakihin
Sa tulong ng Pari sa manga tugtugin;
Sa tulong ng koro sa manga awitin.
Unang instrumento, pinakamadali
Ay manga kampana na hila sa tali;
Mandin ay simula ng pananaghili:
Tunog ng karilyon ng lahat ng lahi.
“Dito sa mundo’y wala ng kapantay
Ang isang Ina kung sa pagmamahal;
Handang magtiis, kahit ikamatay
Kung kanyang bunso ang siyang dahilan.”
Kung saan mang dako akayin ng Ina
Ang alagang bata hanggang binata na;
Maging sa pagtugtog, maging sa pagkanta;
Sa awa ng Diyos, tagumpay talaga.
“Puso ng Ina ay puso ng Anghel;
Sumusubaybay kahit sa dilim.
Ang puso ng Ina’y mapagpaumanhin;
Nagmamahal magpa hanggang libing.”
- Katutubong awit sa Bicol
Aba’y kuruin nga sa aming palengke;
Balita ang Inang mandi’y nahirati;
Hawak pahayagan at bandong maigi
Larawan ng anak, puspos ng papuri.
Kung yaong larawan ang paguusapan
Niyong isang Ina mula kabataan;
Walang hihinhin pa sa yumi niyang taglay
At higit sa lahat kanyang pagmamahal.
Ang kanyang pahayag sa tanang mamimili;
Yaon daw magpaaral, hindi kayang gawi;
Kung hindi magdasal, dalanging parati;
Tagumpay ng Anak, sa awit na habi.
Itong abang lingkod sa tuwina’y akay
Maging sa simbahan, maging sa aralan;
Maging sa pag-gala, maging sa pyestahan;
Siya’y taga-luto; ako’y sa kantahan.
Tanging ala-ala ng mahal na Ina:
“Sa iyong pagtugtog, O Anak kong sinta;
Sa paglalakbay mo sa lupa ng iba
Baka naman ako ay malimot mo na.”
Duon sa simbahan mayroong Armonyo;
Aming dala-dala sa hiling ng tao;
Kung saan may dasal, mayroon ding musiko;
Kung saan may awit, naroon din ako.
“ Sa iyong pagtugtog sa manga handaan
At pagkukumpas mo sa manga awitan;
Yaong sinisinta’y huwag kalimutan
At higit sa lahat ay ang kalangitan.”
Itong bata mandi’y pilit paawitin
Sa harap ng madlang may handang hilingin;
Ang katangi-tangi na batid ko na rin,
Awiting, “Bayan Ko”, turo ng Inain.
Ang tanging dahilan niyong kahilingan,
Upang itong bata mandi’y maambagan;
Kanilang abuloy sa awit na laan
Sa tuwa at galak sa himig na alam.
Ganoong talino, wika’y minana ko
“Pinalaki kitang laan sa simbahan
Upang Panginoon, hindi malimutan
At ang ating Ina at Ina ng bayan
Sa puso’t diwa mo matatag na tunay:
“Ang Carmel ng Lipa niyong ating bayan;
Ginang ng Caysasay, Taal ng Batangan;
Ginang ng Mediatrix duon sa may San Huan;
At higit sa lahat, Antipolong bayan.”
KASAL
TAGALOG
Peter James R. Alindogan
Itatago natin siya sa pangalang Maria. Natatanging pangalan
dahil pangalan ng Nanay ni Hesus. Naiibang pangalan dahil
palaging nakabukod sa mga pangalang naiiba rin. Pangkaraniwang pangalan dahil karamihan sa kanila’y gamit ang Maria. Babae man o lalake.
Nakita ko siyang nagtatago. Parang nahihiyang magpakita. Parang nagtatampong di mawari. Parang nawawalang di maunawaan.
“Pssssssst,” panaghoy ng pito kong pilit kumawala. “Ano
ang tawag sa iyo?” dagdag na tanong ko. Napangiti siya. Sa
sulok ng kanyang kahiyaan at sariling sa daigdig ay balot ng
tampuhan nabutas, nasagi, nailabas ang liwanag sa karimlan ng
kanyang buhay.
Marami tayong kuwento ng tagpuan. Isa na nga itong naisaad
ko sa inyo. Iba’t ibang kuwento ng tagumpay at pagmamahal. Iba’t ibang saysay ng pag-ibig, pagtitiwala at pagmamalasakit. Iba’t ibang hakbang tungo sa panibagong buhay at pagsasama.
Kasal ang tawag sa panimulang pagsasama at pagsasamang
hantungan. Nagsimula ang iba sa pagkakaibigan, naging magkasintahan, at humantong sa altar ng pag-iisang dibdib. Kung balibaliktarin natin ang salitang kasal, marami tayong
mapupulot na salitang matutunan at mangagaling dito. Kasal,
lakas, sakla, sakal, aklas, kalas, askal. Pitong salita na galing sa
limang titik. Parehong bilang, iba’t ibang bigkas at baybay. Una, ang salitang kasal kung baliktarin ay nagiging lakas. Sa kahinaan ng isa, nagkakaroon ng lakas kung dalawa. Isa
ma’y di kayang palaganapin ang turo ng Diyos, dalawa nama’y
angkop upang tuparin ang dakilang utos na humayo’t magpakarami. Hindi mabubuo ang tao kung isa lang. Nangangailangan
ng pangalawa. Karamay, kahati, kapanalig, kaibigan, kaagabay,
kawangis, kandungan, kasintahan at kalinga.
Pangalawa, ang salitang kasal kung baliktarin ay sakla. Isa
itong sugal. Ito ang kamalian ng karamihan: ang isiping sugal
lamang ang pagsasama. Na ito’y isang laro na maaaring tapusin
kung sawa na. Na ito’y parang kanin na maaaring iluwa at isuka
kung ayaw na.
Pangatlo, ang salitang kasal kung baliktarin ay sakal. Ito
marahil ang naiisip ng karamihan. Na ang kanilang pagsasama’y
isang uri ng pagsasakal ng kanilang kalayaan. At marami tayong
alam na mga mag-asawang tulad nito. Pilit na pinapagyaman ang
maralitang damdamin. Pilit dinidilig ang tuyot na saloobin. Pang-apat, ang salitang kasal kung baliktarin ay kalas. Kapitbahay at karamay ng salitang ito ang salitang aklas. Pagkatapos
na kumalas, umaaklas. Pagkatapos ng pagaklas, mahirap ng
masilayan ang pagiging kasal.
At panghuli, ang salitang kasal kung binabaliktad ay nagiging
askal. Hindi ito purong salitang Tagalog. Panglansangan ito. Askal, na ang ibig sabihin asong kalye. At malungkot isipin na
karamihang ikinakasal, sa paglipas ng panahon, ay nagiging mga
askal. Sa kanilang away, halos alam ng buong baranggay. Sa
kanilang alitan, halos alam ng buong bayan.
Maraming lihim ang natatago sa bawat mag-asawang kasal. Sa kabila ng lahat ng pag-aagam-agam, pagdaramdam, pagaatubili, pagtatanong at pagpapatunay, ang pagiging kasal pa rin
ang mananatili at nanatiling bantayog at simula ng lipunan. Tulad nang una kong makilala at matagpuan si Maria. Nagsimula ang lahat sa isang pito.
“Sana’y masumpungan yaong bawat bayan
Kung saan parati sa Ina’y pag-galang;
Kung saan ang layon, dasal at awitan:
Banal na Rosaryo ay alay sa Ginang.”
“Ang awit mong likha sa Mahal na Ina,
Kahimanawari ay pagpalain ka;
Bilang pag-aruga, pagpapa-halaga
Sa alay mong awit, dalit ng pagsinta.”
Mandi’y yaong awit na kanyang inibig
Sa kanyang pagyao ay saliw na himig;
Bayan ng Rosaryo, mandi’y nananabik
Sa awit ng koro na walang kaparis.
Bayang nagkapuri sa nilikhang dalit
Ng “Banal na Pasyon”, “Comintang” na awit,
“Unang Misang” likha sa sariling himig;
Alay ko sa “Ina na Reyna ng Langit”.
Flores de Mayo at Our Lady of the Snows
Longalong is Main Celebrant, Rafol is Reina de las Flores
by Lily Ulep
Already on its 6th year, the annual event sponsored by the OLS Filipino American
Community is set for Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 3:30 in the afternoon.
This time honored Philippine tradition held, in May, honors Mary as Queen of Flowers.
At Our Lady of the Snows she is invoked under her title of Nuestra Senora de la Paz y Buen
Viaje or Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage also known as our Virgen of Antipolo.
The afternoon’s festivities will commence with the recitation of the Holy Rosary and
prayers for the last day of the novena to Our Lady of Antipolo, followed by a street procession, Holy Mass , fellowship and entertainment. Ave Maria girls and sagalas will walk
in procession with this year’s Reina de las Flores,
Christie Rafol. As in previous years, proceeds from
the celebration will benefit the new church whose
pastor is Msgr. Raymond Chappetto.
The concelebrated Mass will start at 5:00
0’clock.This is the first Flores dfe Mayo Mass to
be held in the new church inaugurated last August.
Main Celebrant is Rev. Patrick Longalong, Parochial Vicar, Our Lady of the Snows.
Here’s a little background on Fr. Longalong:
He is the Parochial Vicar of Our Lady of the Snows
Church on North Floral Park, Queens, New York.
He was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of
Brooklyn at a Mass in St. James Cathedral Basilica
in Brooklyn on Saturday June 7, 2008. Twenty-nine
years old, a native of the Philippines, born in San
Leonardo, Nueva Ecija, he is the son of Dr. BeneFr. Patrick Longalong
dicto and Amparo Longalong. He followed his family to the U.S. in 1993 and lived in Jamaica, Queens
where he became an active member of the parish community of St. Nicholas of Tolentine
as an altar server and eventually an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. It was
at this parish where he met Fr. Kevin Sweeney, a newly ordained priest at that time, who
helped him nourish his vocation to the priesthood as well as led his entrance to the seminary.
Currently, Fr. Kevin Sweeney is the Vocation Director for the Diocese of Brooklyn.
He was educated at Francisco Benitez School, Makati, Philippines; Parsons Junior
High School, Flushing; Francis Lewis High School, Fresh Meadows, and St. John’s University, Jamaica. He began the priestly formation at Cathedral Seminary Residence while
pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy at St. John’s University. He completed his
theological studies in preparation for ordination at the Immaculate Conception Seminary,
Huntington, Long Island.
Father Longalong served his pastoral year at Blessed Sacrament Church, Cypress Hills
and returned to celebrate his first Mass on June 8, 2008.
He has had musical training and has studied music theory. He plays the piano and organ
and composed the alma mater song for Francis Lewis High School.
His older brother, Michael A. Flores, is a novice currently assigned in Baguio City for
the Capuchin Franciscans in the Philippines.
Immediately after his assignment at Our Lady of the Snows, Msgr. Raymond F.
Chappetto, pastor, named him liaison between the Filipino Community and the pastor’s
office.
This year’s Reina de las Flores, Elaine Christie Rafol, was born on December 23, 1990.
Her parents are Emma and Edgar Rafol. They are active members of Our Lady of Snows
Fil-Am Community and Couples for Christ Foundations for Family Life (CFC FFL).
Christie loves to keep herself busy. If she is not
involved in a school club meeting, facilitating a CFC
FFL Youth retreat, or spending time with friends, you
will find her playing the piano, karaoke singing, reading books, writing a short story or poem, knitting a
scarf, or absorbed in creating arts and crafts projects.
Last year, she inspired members of the CFC FFL youth
group to make rosary bracelets which were then sold
as a fund raiser to help finance members’ registration
fees for the national conference in Seattle, Washington. Her greatest passion is dancing. She received her
13 years of dance training at the American Dance and
Drama studio, starting at an early age of 4 years. She
used to perform Filipino native and hip hop dances
with the “OY Team,” the OLS Fil-Am community
Christie Rafol
youth group. She also choreographed and performed
hip-hop, ballroom, and modern jazz combinations for
the CFY FFL Youth dance team during the organization’s local and regional conferences.
Currently, she is a member of Kinematics, Northeastern University’s (NEU) performing
dance team, being lucky to get one of the four slots allotted to freshman students after
a very competitive audition process. She was also voted to be the 2009-2010 program
coordinator for Barkada, NEU‘s Filipino-American organization.
She graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 2008 with excellence awards
in Principles of Engineering and Architecture, and received the Beleson Memorial award
in Technology. Her heart is set on a degree in architecture from NEU in Boston.
Christie had been a part of the CFC FFL Youth group that helped her establish a
meaningful and close relationship with God. Her experiences as unit head for the Queens
chapter before she went to Boston, were instrumental in developing not only her leadership
skills, but more importantly, her understanding of the true meaning of service to God, as
well as love and compassion for others. Our Lady of Antipolo Novena
(Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage)
By Hermes Allas
Photo courtesy of Rick Santisteban
After the evening novena prayers at St. Robert
Bellarmine, Bayside, parishioners of Our Lady of
Snow together with the other novena sponsors from
St. Patrick’s and Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
posed for a photograph around the transportable
image of our Lady of Antipolo. These Saturday
Novena Prayers started in March and ended on May
9 in preparation for the Fifth Diocesan Feast of Our
Lady of Antipolo hosted annually at St. Robert
Bellarmine Chruch and participated by various parish
and devotional communities. On Saturday, May 16,
at 3:00 p.m. a Rosary prayer and street procession
will be followed by a Eucharistic Celebration at St.
Robert Bellarmine Church. The usual fellowship and
cultural program will be held after mass.
The following day is another annual parish event
hosted by Our Lady of Snows Filipino American
Community. For many years they have been
celebrating a Filipino tradition of “Flores de Mayo”
which features the usual Sagala and Reyna Elena
processions succeeded by a May flower offering to
the Blessed Mother under her special title of Our
Lady of Antipolo.
It is joy for us Filipinos to demonstrate our
devotion and fidelity to the Blessed Mother, most
especially in this series of events during the month
of May.
REACHING NEW HEIGHTS
REAL ESTATE
Selling? Use This Important
and Effective Marketing Tool
by Robert Fernandez
Scarlett Cassandra Pascual,
8-year-old daughter of Mark
and Laurie Pascual, of Colorado
Springs, achieved what no other
8 year old (to our knowledge)
had ever done before. She scaled
14,110 feet of Pikes Peak, one
of the highest of 54 Colorado
peaks. She was accompanied
to the top of the mountain by
her father. Her ascent, says
the youngster, was the closest
she’d ever been to heaven. Well,
at least for now. Way to go,
Scarlett!
Last day of Antipolo Novena at St.Robert Bellarmine on May 9.
Photos by Rick Santisteban
As you know we currently have a buyer’s market. The
supply of homes far outnumber the number of people
looking to buy resulting to lower demand and lower
prices. The economic law of supply and demand rules in
any real estate market.
One of the tools Realtors® use in marketing homes is
the Multiple Listing Service – MLS for short. The listing
broker hired by a home seller has the obligation to distribute the listing to other member
brokers in the multiple listing organization. This means that any home listed with MLS
must be shared by all members so they can show each other’s listings. Currently, the
Multiple Listing Service of Long Island has about 2,500 member offices with over 20,000
agents. MLS brings the power of numbers – the potential number of agents to show a
home to their buyers increase the chances of a home seller to sell her home faster and
possibly, at a higher price. Every home listed with MLS appears on MLSLI.com and
may automatically appear in other web sites like Realtor.com, etc. bringing more property
exposure. A brief description and pictures of the property appears on the web sites. The
National Association of Realtors says that about 85% of prospective homebuyers check
out homes on the internet first before speaking to an agent.
So if you’re selling your home as you can see it makes sense to get help from other
Realtors - you need to get every help you can get in the market we are in at the moment.
MLS is a must have marketing tool and is readily available. Make sure your broker gets
you on board to go MLS.
Robert L. Fernandez, Certified Residential Specialist and Notary Public, is Broker / Owner of
Realty Network in East Meadow, New York. He can be reached at 516-542-7936 or via email:
Robert@RealtyNetworkNY.com.
OBITUARY
Ernesto C. Legaspi
Ernesto C. Legaspi’s life was a testament to service and sacrifice for others, especially his family. He
was born in Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite, Philippines in
1934. The first half of his life was spent both helping his mother with a small store and fishing with
his father on the rough Philippine waters, under the
scorching equator sun.
He spent the second half of his life raising a family of his own in a foreign country. Though holding
two engineering degrees and foreman of a major
refinery in the Philippines, he worked three jobs to
sustain his family in the U.S. and went to school at
night to compete with this country’s more advanced
technology. Despite sickness and exhaustion, any
free time was filled attending to his wife and three
young children.
He was known for saying, “Sometimes, it is better to be last.” His friends often
noted that he spent little money for himself. He dressed simply, yet he custom-sewed
clothes for his children. Rather than dining out, he preferred cooking for others. He
enjoyed giving away his signature dishes – especially his savory sinigang and sweet
puto – to visitors, neighbors and anyone at every special occasion or opportunity.
Always maintaining an impressive tools workshop at home, he was relentlessly
building, renovating and repairing for others. He loved to create custom chairs,
tables, desks, closets, and other furniture. His last project was transforming his
backyard into a garden veranda for his wife.
During the last decade of his life, he was bombarded by major heart ailments and
serious injuries. Although critically burnt from a house fire, he pressed himself to
travel across the country for his son’s wedding just a few weeks later. He amazed
others with his perseverance and vitality until the end. In his final days of battling
two terminal cancers for nearly a year, many of his friends and relatives made long
journeys to be by his side. Before he passed, he pushed himself to stay conscious
so his grandchildren could arrive in time, talk to him and say good-bye. As one of
his children noted, “He held on more for us than for himself.”
He married a faith-filled woman who always adored his courage and strength.
His children and grandchildren will always love and admire his wisdom, support
and generosity. His colleagues will always respect his skill, professionalism and
work ethic. His friends will miss a self-less companion and trusted confidant. All
who knew him will remember the dependable honesty in his baritone, firm voice;
the force of his convictions in his daily devotion to his faith; and his tenacity in
finishing every project he set out to do. Though his life was making the most out
of small resources, his absence has been enormous. His inspiration has been just
as huge and intense, everlasting.
His final resting place is at Mount St. Mary Cemetery in Flushing, NY.
Santo Niño Group names
Earl Scott 2009 Hermanito
This year’s hermanito of the Infant Jesus Prayer
Group is Earl David Scott, a 14-year-old eighth grader
at Turtle Hook Middle School in Hempstead, New
York. He is the son of Earl and Maria Antonio Scott
and is the nephew of two previous hermanitos, Gilsar
Vergara and Nathan Vergara.
Earl is a consistent honor student. He has been in
the National Honor Society for 2 years, in the accelerated classes for 3 years, selected to take the SAT in the
6th grade, selected in the John Hopkin’s program, was
accepted in the Prep 9 program and currently running
for valedictorian.
Earl plays the electric guitar and has been a member for 2 years of the NYSSMA chamber orchestra.
Other interests include, wood working, wellness club,
soccer, volleyball and lacrosse. He is also quite good
at bowling, golf, tae kwon do, basketball, hockey and
Just Sharing ... from page 5
continuing challenge to us priests because we are its mouthpiece. But as far as conversion
is concerned, I’m reminded of the late President Ronald Reagan who said to the USSR
when it claimed it was for disarmament: “We want deeds, not words.”
3. “Persevering in the Race”: Discipleship as Commitment
A friend told me of their former parish priest who must have been a hundred years
old. He was celebrating his seventy-fifth ordination anniversary. As he thanked God and
all the people who had helped him in one way or another, he also made a heartfelt appeal.
“Please,” he said, “pray for my perseverance!” My friend and the listeners were smiling
and he told me he mused, “You’re seventy-five years a priest and you’re asking us to pray
for your perseverance? At one hundred years of age, what do you need perseverance for?”
The truth is we need the grace of perseverance till the day we die. Or the old priest could
be compared to the swimmer who crossed the body of water between Tacloban City and
Basey, Samar. He was about five meters to the Basey shore when he felt the undercurrents
getting stronger. So he did what he thought was right. He swam right back to Tacloban. The
point is, he was almost at his goal. But he didn’t persevere. He lost the grace of commitment. That would be a tragic thing to say of any Christian disciple whoever he/she is.
There are two important moments of commitment for a Christian disciple: one, an
unswerving loyalty to Jesus Christ as the Supreme Value and Treasure of life itself; and,
two, a decision to bring to the future our choice for Jesus Christ and the values of the
kingdom. One of my professors in College English literature was named “Ivy”. She had a
suitor who sent her a card which I happened to read when it fell from her table. The card
spelled her name: “I-V(alue)-Y(ou)”. I think I learned from him one aspect of discipleship which is also true to loving. It is to hold Jesus the Master as our foremost treasure
and value above all others. If I truly see Jesus Christ this way in my life as a Christian and
as a priest, commitment would be my natural response. Secondly, commitment reminds
me of a permanent deacon I’ve met years ago, who married to someone who contracted
cancer. When she was extremely ill, it was he who would bathe her, carrying her in his
arms almost daily and caring for her. When friends asked him how he got the strength to
do what he was doing, he said: “Well, I’m only being true to my word when I married
her!” That deacon taught me how commitment made bringing the choices or decisions I
made in the past (Baptismal, ordination, marriage vows, for instance) into both my present
and future circumstances as well.
4. “Fixing our Eyes on Jesus”: Discipleship as Christ-Centered Living
I once had a conversation with a mother. Our topic was the hard times that we
call ‘global economic crisis’. I asked her how she and her family were coping. She
mentioned her fears that her husband may lose his job and her children may stop
going to school. She has two children in college and that made her extremely worried about their future. We had other topics but I noticed that whatever things we
talked about, she would always relate them to her husband and her children. Then it
hit me. Her family is her center. When we speak of ‘fixing our eyes on Jesus’ and on
Christ-centered living, I propose that we learn from her by bringing all the concerns, issues, nooks and crannies of our life, personal, social, political etc. into the same pattern:
considering them always in terms of our relationship with Jesus Christ our Master and our
discipleship. The document of the Hebrews unfolds to us three precious reasons why our life
must be centered on Jesus Christ. One, Jesus Christ is the Word of God who reveals most
perfectly the innermost being of God himself, deserving better attention than the Word of
God as spoken through angels, Moses or the prophets (Heb 1:1-4:13). Two, Jesus Christ
is the eternal High Priest whose one sacrifice has done away with sin once and for all,
bringing about a new covenant between God and humanity (Heb 4:14-10:31). Three, Jesus
Christ is our perfect model of faith because he gives us insight into the heavenly world of
reality, the object of our pilgrimage of faith on earth (Heb 10:32-12:29). In Jesus Christ
we see the fulfillment of the Hebrews’ own definition of faith: “Faith is the realization of
what is hoped for and being certain of what we cannot see” (Heb 11:1).
football.
He has taken part in summer music programs and
community concerts, and enrichment programs for
cleaning up the community. He plays with the Jazz
band for the retirement home, also volunteered to
assist the elderly at the retirement home.
In the summer of 2008, Earl was chosen by Pre 9
to take accelerated courses at Nightingale-Bamford
School in New York City. Last November he took the
SSAT in the process of applying at numerous prestigious boarding schools like Phillips Exeter, Phillips
Andor, St. Andrew School, Portsmouth Abbey School
and Choate Rosemary Hall.
His grandparents, Gil and Elsa Vergara are active
members of the Infant Jesus Prayer Group and have
contributed a lot to the propagation of the Faith.
5. “Enduring the Cross for the Joy Reserved for Christ”: Discipleship as Sharing in the Paschal Mystery
We are taught and are always endlessly reminded in the liturgy that it is by the suffering,
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that you and I are saved. If Jesus didn’t suffer and
die, there wouldn’t have been any resurrection; and without the resurrection, there wouldn’t
have been any salvation for you and me. Salvation is crossing from the darkness and terror
of sin and death to the bright light of grace and life. When Jews ‘commemorate’ their
passage from their slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land through the crossing
of the Red Sea, it is remarkable how they understand and use the term ‘memorial’. For
them the Passover isn’t simply mentally recalling but actually being with their ancestors
as they experience God’s liberating action leading them out of Egypt’s clutches. This sense
is what we Christians also embrace when we celebrate the liturgy “in memory” of the
Paschal Mystery of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The past is being
made present and we are with Jesus in his suffering, in his dying and in his rising. Why?
Because though our Baptism we actually share in the Paschal Mystery which is our real
‘Passover’ from darkness and death to light and life. How? By the power and action of the
Holy Spirit who brings to us in this place and in this time the very events of our salvation.
But it is the suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ that constitute the
bridge that has enabled you and me to make that crossing.
Paschal is a word that comes from ‘Pesach’ which means to cross or pass over. The
‘Pesach’ experience of the Jews is made perfect in the ‘Pesach’ experience of Jesus. On
the other hand, this ‘Pesach’ experience is not a dead thing of the past; it is very much
living and it is a reality in which Jesus the Master wants us to share. St. Paul reminds us
of this: “Are you not aware that we who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his
death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life”
(Rom 6:3-4). Paul only re-echoes what the Master himself says in the gospel: “If anyone
wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my
sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit
himself” (Lk 9:23-25).
Self-denial, our old, almost endearing ‘short-cut’ term for this gospel injunction includes
making concrete the taking up of the cross in our own everyday lives: a priest saying ‘yes’
to a difficult assignment or transfer from a well-loved place or community or person(s); a
husband saying ‘no’ to an ego-boosting relationship with an attractive woman in order to
be true to his wife and keep his family intact; a wife setting aside personal conveniences
to respond to her family’s needs or to spend more time with her husband and children; a
politician saying ‘no’ to personally beneficial ‘power extension’ political efforts to say ‘yes’
to the people’s true needs, and so on. The point is, there are simply an unlimited number
of ways to bring the Paschal Mystery into our personal and social realities.
The sharing in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ is not because we love suffering and
pain for their own sake, the document to the Hebrews reminds us. It is for the sake of the
“joy reserved for Jesus Christ”. You and I know too well how easily we can miss this one.
And how easily for us to even think it a bit naïve. But the reality of the Paschal Mystery
is not complete without a sense of joy even in the middle of suffering, pain and crisis. Joy
isn’t being immune to sadness or suffering, as Pope Paul VI used to remind us Christians
of today. It’s not having a smiling face even when things are serious. It’s having a sense of
the presence of God, a sense of his victory over evil, over darkness, over death from sin.
Isn’t it tragic when we lose a sense of the ‘eschaton’, of what the document to the Hebrews
consider the end-goal of faith: “certainty in the things we cannot see” (Heb 11:1)?
Rene Voillaume has this to say to us: “By believing in Christ we are believing in joy,
by embracing the crucified Christ, we are embracing joy without knowing it, and the Cross
expands within us our capacity for the happiness to come.”
St. Teresa of Calcutta has something more practical: “One filled with joy preaches
without preaching.”
The Infant Jesus
Prayer Group of Nassau
cordially invites you to its
28th Anniversary
& FIESTA
in honor of the Santo Niño
MIRACLE
MAN
Fr. Fernando Suarez, gifted
Filipino priest, will be at the
Shrine of Our Lady of the Island
in Eastport on Sunday, June 7 to
share with those in need God’s
miraculous healing power.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
St. Ladislaus Church
18 Richardson Pl, Hempstead, NY
Tel. (516) 489-0368
1:30 pm - Novena and Procession
2:30 pm - Concelebrated Mass
DEVOTIONAL PRAYERS
BLESSING OF SANTO NIÑO IMAGES
and Presentation of 2009 Hermanito
EARL SCOTT
(Pot Luck Reception follows at school auditorium)
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL
Fiesta Coordinator Frieda Robles (516) 376-6256
Sol & Tony Sahagun - (516) 486-4009
Mario & Edna Sarmiento - (516) 214-4910
Gil & Elsa Vergara - (516) 286-1970
Toots & Zeny Berroya - (516) 869-8202
Cris & Nita Vasquez - (516) 931-5229
Rita Stadmeyer - (516) 851-5107
Jun & Eden Gaceta - (516) 942-0203
Rodel & Marites Revilla - (516) 644-2409
Tony & Edna Lobacz - (516) 481-0158
Manny & Norma Pascual - (516) 292-1445
Fr. James Dineros - (631) 645-3255
Music by
The Rosedale Santo Niño Prayer Group
The event will start with a mass at 1
p.m. at the shrine on the hill which
will immediately be followed by the
healing service.
For more information, call
Primo & Tessie Carlos
(631) 325-1177
• Manny & Norma Pascual
(516) 292-1445
• Helen & Peter Bune
(631) 543-8775
Directions to the
Shrine of Our Lady of the Island
Head east on LIE, then take exit 70 South on Port
Jefferson-Westhampton (Capt. Daniel Roe Hwy Route 111). Drive for a couple of miles, then turn
right to Eastport Manor Rd. and follow the signs to
the Shrine.
by Ate Norma
&
FACES
PLACES
ADRIAN MATIAS turned 3 last April 18 and a birthday celebraton was held at the China
Grand Buffet in Farmingdale where kids with the parents attended the party. Phto above
shows him with mom and dad, Gen and Franco. Adrian is the grandson of Elenita and
Cris Vasquez, active members of the Infant Jesus Prayer Group of Nassau.
Silver Anniversary
Fr. Rene Tapel celebrated his 25th Anniversary
as a priest last March 31st. Front row, from left:
Fr. Rene, Augusto V. Tanghal, Sr., Fr. Tony
Pascual, Celia Bunag.
Back row, from left: Girlie Tanghal, Mau
Pastor, Grace Medonez, Fr. Lito Amande.
Frieda Robles of
Garden City, New
York has been
named this year’s
Fiesta Coordinator
of the Infant Jesus
Prayer Group of
Nassau. The group
celebrates its Santo
Niño Fiesta on
June 14 at Saint
Ladislaus Church
in Hemsptead, Long
Island.
SCARLETT IS NOW 8
Ethan and Allison celebrate Daddy’s birthday
Scarlett, Dad Mark, Caleb, Mom Laurie & Quinn
Ethan, Mom Debbie, Dad Paul and Allison
FACES & PLACES
SANTO NIÑO LADY OF QUEENS TURNS 60
Happy retiree and
birthday celebrant with
husband Ding, sons
Jason and Joel and
daughter Judy at the
BKNY Thai Restaurant
in Bayside, Queens.
It was a double celebration for Juliet Capili, known to most as “Jet”. She retired from her job at
the United Nations and just turned sixty. The lady who tirelessly promotes the devotion to the
Santo Nino was given a special “show” by her three children who displayed their singing and
comedic talents. It was an affair not to be easily forgotten not only by Juliet, but also by those
present at her party. Happy 60th Jet. Enjoy your retirement.
BASAYNON KATIG-UBAN
FUND RAISER.
Above photos, left to right. Members
of the Visayan association during a
fund raising luncheon at a Long Island
Restaurant for deserving scholars in
the Philippines. Center photo: Virgie
Nanez of Oceanside with Norma Talbo
Apolito, president of the organization.
Right: Norma dances the Curacha with
Charlie Crotman in an effort to raise
additional money for the scholars.
April Love
Last April 19, Joe Cavero and Luanne Rueda received the Sacrament of Matrimony at the Sacred Heart
Church in Island Park. Reception was held at the Bridgeview Yacht Club in Island Park. Joe is the son of Mr.
and Mrs. Perfecto Cavero. Luanne is the only daughter of Annabelle and Louie Rueda.
NJ Catholic Action of Mary
at Eden Hill on Mercy Sunday
by Erlinda A. Franco
The Catholic Action of Mary (CAM) of the Resurrection Parish, Jersey City under
the leadership of Ledy Velez, the CAM President, joined thousands of pilgrims on Mercy
Sunday at the National Shrine at Eden Hill, Stockbridge, Massachusetts last April 19, 2009.
The CAM members and friends went on three buses which were under the supervision
of Deacon Cesar Sarmiento, Chuchi Calingasan, Carol Dorico, Jean Daniel, Armand, and
other officers and members of the said organization.
As usual, before the bus started its journey, Deacon Cesar prayed and gave his blessing.
While in the bus on the way to Stockbridge, there were a lot of activities like the praying of the Holy Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the singing of Marian and other
religious songs.
A delicious free breakfast was served on the bus. There were also raffle drawings. Blanca
Proano donated rosaries and Divine Mercy prayer cards for everyone. Some got bigger
packages from Carol Dorico and Blanca Priano -- lovely framed pictures of the Divine
Mercy, Immaculate Conception, Holy Family, and many other religious items.
The Mother of Mercy Shrine on Eden Hill, started last is now finished and blessed
before the start of the solemn celebration of the Holy Mass. The archbishop of Bialstok,
Poland, the Most Rev. Edward Ozorowski was the Principal celebrant concelebrated by
many other priests. The archbishop was also the homilist. Sixty priests and Eucharistic
Ministers distributed the Holy Communion. After the Mass at 3:00 P.M. was the “Hour
of Great Mercy” that included the Novena and the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, Exposition and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament and followed by the blessing of the
religious articles.
The 2009 Feast of the Divine Mercy had two memorable occasions. One was the Blessing of the Mother Mercy outdoor shrine. The other was the presentation of the first class
relic of Blessed Michael Sopocko, spiritual director and confessor of St. Maria Faustina
Kowalska.
Left: Erlinda Franco (center) with the de la Cruz family
and relatives in front of the Divine Mercy Statue in Eden
Hill.
Umbrellas went up to protect not from the
rain but from the hot sun on this unusually
beautiful Mercy Sunday.
Above: Some members of the Infant Jesus Prayer Group
of Nassau, Long Island included Gil Vergara, Fe Enorio,
Annabelle and Junie Vallega, Rogie and Helen Instrella,
Norma Pascual, Eden and Jun Gaceta, Elenita and Cris
Vasquez.
Below: A quick lunch on Eden Hill’s grassy knoll before
the start of the mass.
‘This is a Place of God’
St. Charles Borromeo Church in Cinnaminson
opens doors to new sanctuary
by TODD MCHALE
Burlington County Times • tmchale@phillyBurbs.com
CINNAMINSON, April 28 -- It was time.
After nearly five decades in what was supposed to be a temporary home, St. Charles
Borromeo Church has opened the doors to a new place of worship.
Actually, the address is the same, but St. Charles is far different after the church spent
$2 million it had received in donations from parishioners to renovate the Branch Pike
building.
The Rev. Peter James Alindogan said the renovations definitely were needed.
“After 48 years, the church was kind of falling apart. We needed to do something,”
Alindogan said. “We wanted it to be a place we could pass on to future generations.”
The church wasn’t even supposed to be there. The structure originally was conceived to
be the gym for the St. Charles Borromeo School, located on the other side of the building.
The parish had planned to use the space temporarily until a new church was built.
But construction of a new church never happened.
The closest the parish came was in 2006, but a proposal eventually was struck down
by the Diocese of Trenton committee because of a lack of financial resources to support a
construction loan and a mortgage for a new church.
Despite the setback, local church officials continued to work on a plan to improve the
building.
Pastor Peter James Alindogan
Bishop John Smith
Eventually the parish agreed that the best plan would be to just fix the existing home.
On Monday, Deacon William Sepich, who worked on the project almost daily for the
last few months, couldn’t have been happier with how well it turned out.
“Now this is a place of God,” Sepich said as he looked at a Risen Christ statue hanging
over the sanctuary in front of a huge new window. “Before, we didn’t even have that
window or that stone wall there.”
Diane Kinnevy, principal of the church’s school, said she, too, was impressed with the
new sanctuary.
“It’s absolutely wonderful,” Kinnevy said. “I like the window the most.”
While the new window with the Jesus Christ statue may be the most eye-catching detail,
the renovations included everything from marble floor tiles to wooden ceiling planks.
“We did that for the choir,” Sepich said. “Before the renovations, the church had a dead
sound because of the ceiling tiles and the carpet. Now we have reverb.”
If that wasn’t enough, audio and lighting systems were added, along with a digital organ
to go with the church’s grand piano.
Padded pews were installed throughout the church.
A new altar, ambo (a raised platform), baptismal font, lectern and tables were custom
built using the wood from the old pews.
“It’s like that old saying ‘something old, something new,’ “ Alindogan said.
The church even used the stained glass windows in the old doors for its candle stand,
Sepich said.
Another detail is the new marble stand for the tabernacle.
“That’s our 4,000-pound baby,” said Sepich, who designed the stand. “We’ll never
move it again.”
On Sunday, Bishop John Smith formally dedicated the church. However, the dedication
didn’t go off without a reaction from Sepich and other parishioners, Alindogan said.
“You should have seen Bill cringe when the bishop started spreading around the oil,”
Alindogan said with a laugh.
Golden Anniversary
of Priestly Ordination
of Fr. Basil Colasito
Fr. Basil Colasito, a regular columnist for
the Filipino Catholic, celebrated his Golden
Anniversary as a priest on April 20th in Tolosa,
Leyte. Main celebrant at the event was His
Excellency, Most Rev. Bisholp Jose Palma,
Archbishop of Palo. Most Rev. Tarcisio Narciso,
OSB, Abbot of Our Lady of Montserrat Abbey
will be the homilist. Fr. Basil was ordained in the
Abbey of Montserrat or San Beda College in 1959.
Left to right: His Excellency Jose Palma, DD, Archbishop
of Palo, Leyte; Fr. Basil Colasito, (the Celebrant), Most Rev.
Filomeno Bactol, Bishop of Naval, Biliran; Rt. Rev. Tarcisio
Narciso, OSB, Abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of
Montserrat (San Beda College) Manila, Philippines.
Fr. Guthrie ...frm page 4
of Education, made the mistake of expressing his Christian and conservative views…Although he managed superior grades, the
result was that several professors in the department gave him failing marks on his ‘dispositions evaluation’” and was subjected to a
sensitivity training session.
“…schools such as Vassar …have almost a hermetically sealed leftist environment.”
“…DePaul University in Chicago,…bills itself as the largest Catholic university in America, the Catholic students complained
to me that Islam gets more respect at DePaul than Catholicism. Also, the theology department there is run be atheists.”
“The left is very dedicated, and it never gives up.” (Some of the above quotes, which are found in the magazine SALVO, are by
David Horowitz, a former extreme leftist who is now an ardent conservative)
Faculty and administrators “-particularly those with leftist propensities” become ideological gatekeepers” who can create a pool
of “sanitized” teachers.
The College of Education at the University of Alabama had been preparing potential teachers to be “change agents” against
“racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism”, all according to a one-sided and leftist agenda.
At St. Cloud State University, “students must be open to examining their prejudices, including their homophobia”. SALVO states
that “examine” really means “root out and eliminate” objection to the homosexual lifestyle.
Emily Brooker at Missouri State University refused to accept an assignment to write in favor of adoption by homosexual couples.
She was told that she had to “lessen the gap” between her convictions and the “requirements of the national code of ethics embraced
by the department”.
“Religious groups around the country are increasingly finding that they are not particularly welcomed by college and university
administrators.” Instances of this hostility are “cropping up everywhere around the country”.
“…proponents of the diversity gospel do not intend to go away. And for every case that is brought to the attention of these …
[defenders of the freedom of conscience and speech of the students], countless more go unreported. Students are typically unaware of
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their constitutional and moral rights, so they don’t always
realize that their rights are being violated by coercive
campus policies and programs. Even where campus officials have refrained from the Orwellian tactics previously
described, the far left has succeeded in creating a ‘plausibility structure’ that strongly discourages expressions of
Christian conviction or conservative outlook….
Leftist college professors “have purged conservatives
and non-Leftists from their faculties, and since they basically now just talk to themselves (they’ve expunged true
intellectual dialogue from large sections of the university), they’ve become more and more extreme.” A basic
principle is that “students should question everybody’s
authority but the [leftist] professor’s.”
“Materialism eats [that is, destroys] talented children;
that is its nature…It was not enough for them to watch
a man’s career destroyed because his research showed
the flaws in their [materialists’] narrow, science-stopping
materialist creed. No, they also feel the need to defame
him [an especially talented scientific expert]. These
people [the atheistic scientist] are a standing indictment
of materialism. Their vicious comments [against a magnificent scientist who believes in God’s wondrous hand
in creation] is their odious legacy.”
SALVO magazine states that “Academic Bias is
ubiquitous, but Choosing the Right College Can Minimize the Damage”. Allowing for many unmentioned
colleges of both good and bad qualities, and for a variety
of problems included in the better schools, and a few,
perhaps rare, rays of hope in the worse institutions,
SALVO ventures the following views. These views and
the reasons for them are explained in the magazine. The
issue is identified below:
For a variety of individually specified reasons
SALVO magazine lists the following as the ten identifiably decent colleges: Princeton, Biola University (strictly
Protestant orientation), College of the Ozarks, Grove City
College, MIT, University of Chicago, Hampden-Sydney
College, Thomas Aquinas College, Hillsdale College,
Wheaton College,
For a variety of individually specified reasons, the
following are listed by SALVO magazine as the ten most
deplorable colleges in the United States:
Tufts University, Brown University, Amherst College, College of the Holy Cross (for being the least faithful to her religious heritage) Johns Hopkins University,
Columbia University, Oberlin College (the most sexually
gross college), University of Delaware, University of
Colorado at Boulder, University of Florida.
(To properly understand these listings, the reader
must refer to SALVO magazine in the issue listed below.
This listing is not meant to be exclusive)
“As goes today’s university, so goes tomorrow’s
society….We must … encourage those with both the
academic wherewithal and a commitment to true intellectual diversity to rise to the challenge and join this battle
for the heart and mind of the culture.”
The above quotes regarding schools of higher education are taken from issue #5, Spring 2008.
And, finally, it is strongly advised that students be
very careful about college frat groups. Many of them consume time preventing serious study, and many consume,
in some cases, grossly, one’s moral integrity.
SALVO magazine is published by the Fellowship of
St. James, P.O. Box 410788, Chicago, IL. Subscription
Dept., Box 3000, Denville, N.J. 07834-9906.
As we document the widespread destruction of the
minds, the hearts and the faith of our young people at
the college and university level, we are again reminded
that we are at war, and if we don’t begin with listening
to Our Blessed Mother at Fatima and living by her urgent requests, this developing hard-lined agenda of the
hard left will continue to destroy our future leaders, our
Church, our country.
Next month: the establishment of the devotion of the
PILGRIM VIRGIN in every parish.
Next Meeting: Realizing that we should do more
about Our Lady’s urgent need for prayers, active members of the World Apostolate of Our Lady of Fatima are
meeting on the last Saturday of each month in a private
home. If you want to join us please call Father Guthrie
for more information at 718-445-6164.
Our local parish cell will have a brief meeting following the rosary for the success of the World Apostolate
in Brooklyn and Queens at St. Fidelis’ parish every
Saturday night at 6 pm until May 16. Thereafter at
8:15 pm. to discuss our on-going efforts to share Our
Lady’s prophetic message.
Day of Prayer
In honor of The Lady of All Nations
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Shrine of The Lady of the Island
Manorville, Long Island NY (run by the Montfort Fathers)
www.ourladyoftheisland.org. for direction and schedule
Tentative Schedule
11:00 am-3:00 pm.- Confessions : 11:30 am.Rosary Walk/Meditation
12:00 P.M.--- Angelus/ Lunch
1:00 pm- 1st Conference : Witnessing Mary by a Franciscan Friar
2:00 pm—Second Conference :“ Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate
3:00 pm - Divine Mercy ( sung )
3:30 pm Concelebrated Mass( possibly with a Bishop). Homilist: Rev.Fr. Angelo
Geiger, FI ;from”Air Maria” “ ; “The Triumph of The Immaculata”
4: 30pm– Benediction followed by a rosary procession to the top of
the hill shrine followed by the crowning of the Blessed Mother’s image
5:30 pm—Consecration based from St. Louis De Montfort or based the
consecration of all nations by late Pope John Paul II
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Father, send now
your Spirit over the earth. Let the Holy Spirit
live in the hearts of all nations that they may be
preserved from degeneration, disaster and war.
May the Lady of All Nations, the Blessed Virgin
Mary be our Advocate. Amen.
Contact Aileen/Lisa at the shrine for parking and pack lunch- 631-3250661or bring lunch Elena-718-6332482;
Susan, 6462278582; Betty- 2015920017. Adults from all nations are welcome in their traditional dresses and
to offer flowers to the Blessed Mother Children ages 5- 14 are all welcome to offer flowers in white dresses”
From this day all generations shall call me Blessed “
Call Elena 718-6332482 for busses departing from Brooklyn, Manhattan. Staten Island, Queens and NJ. For
LI train from the city take LI railroad from Madison Square Garden, 34th St. get off at Speonk , NY , taxis are
waiting outside $ 10.00 fee ( you can share wth a group).By car go to www.mapquest.com or go to www.
ourladyofisland.org. Fee for bus departures: $ 25.00
BusDepartures: Manhattan:St John the Baptist Church;210West 31st St. NY, NY 1001:8:30am .Connie: 7184241260, Elena 718-6332482; St. Emeric Church: Susan;6462278582; Brooklyn: Canarsie: Terry : 718763382;
Park Slope ;Ana 718-7689266
Bayridge:Emma/ Vangie; 718 4393429;NJ Betty :201-5920017; Staten
Island : Thelma: 718- 3703628; Queens:Marilou ;6467044183.Call Elena if you would like to be a bus
coordinator. Bus Guardians for children; Call Ann :7188994378. Call Elena to host a film on The Key to the
Triumph and World Peace made by Maxcol Institute –and given by famousTheologians.
Let’s study the
Come Holy
Spirit, Come.
CATECHISM
by Sonia S. Salerni
(Continued from last month)
“The Lamb who takes away the sin of
the world”
608 After agreeing to baptize Him
along with the sinners, John the Baptist
looked at Jesus and pointed Him out as the
“Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world”. By doing so, He reveals that
Jesus is at the same time the suffering Servant who silently allows himself to be led
to the slaughter and who bears the sin of the
multitudes, and also the Paschal Lamb, the
symbol of Israel’s redemption at the first
Passover. Christ’s whole life expresses His
mission: “to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus freely embraced the Father’s redeeming love.
609 By embracing in His human heart the Father’s love for men, Jesus “loved them
to the end”, for “greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down His life for His
friends.” In suffering and death His humanity became the free and perfect instrument of
His divine love which desires the salvation of men. Indeed, out of love for His Father and
for men, whom the Father wants to save, Jesus freely accepted His Passion and death: “No
one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” Hence the sovereign
freedom of God’s Son as He went out to His death.
At the Last Supper Jesus anticipated the free offering of His life
610 Jesus gave the supreme expression of His free offering of himself at the meal shared
with the twelve Apostles “on the night He was betrayed”. On the eve of His Passion,
while still free, Jesus transformed this Last Supper with the apostles into the memorial of
His voluntary offering to the Father for the salvation of men: “This is my body which is
given for you.” “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins.”
611 The Eucharist that Christ institutes at that moment will be the memorial of His
sacrifice. Jesus includes the apostles in His own offering and bids them perpetuate it. By
doing so, the Lord institutes His apostles as priests of the New Covenant: “For their sakes
I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.”
The agony at Gethsemani
612 The cup of the New Covenant, which Jesus anticipated when He offered himself
at the Last Supper, is afterwards accepted by Him from His Father’s hands in His agony
in the garden at Gethsemani, making himself “obedient unto death”. Jesus prays: “My
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. . .” Thus He expresses the horror that
death represented for His human nature. Like ours, His human nature is destined for eternal
life; but unlike ours, it is perfectly exempt from sin, the cause of death. Above all, His
human nature has been assumed by the divine person of the “Author of life”, the “Living
One”. By accepting in His human will that the Father’s will be done, He accepts His death
as redemptive, for “He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree.”
Christ’s death is the unique and definitive sacrifice
613 Christ’s death is both the Paschal sacrifice that accomplishes the definitive redemption of men, through “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”, and the
sacrifice of the New Covenant, which restores man to communion with God by reconciling
Him to God through the “blood of the covenant, which was poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins”.
614 This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices.
First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the Father handed His Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At the same time it is the offering of the Son of
God made man, who in freedom and love offered His life to His Father through the Holy
Spirit in reparation for our disobedience.
Jesus substitutes His obedience for our disobedience
615 “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s
obedience many will be made righteous.” By His obedience unto death, Jesus accomplished the substitution of the suffering Servant, who “makes himself an offering for sin”,
when “He bore the sin of many”, and who “shall make many to be accounted righteous”,
for “He shall bear their iniquities”. Jesus atoned for our faults and made satisfaction for
our sins to the Father.
Jesus consummates His sacrifice on the cross
616 It is love “to the end” that confers on Christ’s sacrifice its value as redemption and
reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when He offered His
life. Now “the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all;
therefore all have died.” No man, not even the holiest, was ever able to take on himself the
sins of all men and offer himself as a sacrifice for all. The existence in Christ of the divine
person of the Son, who at once surpasses and embraces all human persons, and constitutes
himself as the Head of all mankind, makes possible His redemptive sacrifice for all.
617 The Council of Trent emphasizes the unique character of Christ’s sacrifice as “the
source of eternal salvation” and teaches that “His most holy Passion on the wood of the
cross merited justification for us.” And the Church venerates His cross as she sings: “Hail,
O Cross, our only hope.”
Our participation in Christ’s sacrifice
618 The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the “one mediator between God and
men”. But because in His incarnate divine person He has in some way united himself to
every man, “the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal
mystery” is offered to all men. He calls His disciples to “take up [their] cross and follow
[Him]”, for “Christ also suffered for [us], leaving [us] an example so that [we] should follow in His steps.” In fact Jesus desires to associate with His redeeming sacrifice those who
were to be its first beneficiaries. This is achieved supremely in the case of His mother, who
was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery of His redemptive
suffering. Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.
IN BRIEF
619 “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures”.
620 Our salvation flows from God’s initiative of love for us, because “He loved us and
sent His Son to be the expiation for our sins”. “God was in Christ reconciling the world
to Himself”.
621 Jesus freely offered himself for our salvation. Beforehand, during the Last Supper,
He both symbolized this offering and made it really present: “This is my body which is
given for you”.
622 The redemption won by Christ consists in this, that He came “to give His life as
a ransom for many”, that is, He “loved [His own] to the end , so that they might be “ransomed from the futile ways inherited from [their] fathers” .
623 By His loving obedience to the Father, “unto death, even death on a cross”, Jesus
fulfils the atoning mission of the suffering Servant, who will “make many righteous; and
He shall bear their iniquities”.
Source: The Catechism of the Catholic Church Book
to be continued …
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The
Gospel
Truth
by Rev. Joe Cadusale
A dog hunting for a prey saw a rabbit and ran after
it. Another dog saw the first dog running so it ran
behind that first dog. A third dog saw the first and the
second dogs running so it also followed. Soon afterwards, there was a trail of dogs, at
least a dozen of them, running and following one another. After some time, the twelfth
dog stopped and gave up. Then another dog stopped. One by one they all gave up
and stopped from running except for the first dog who kept on running, chasing the
rabbit. Finally, first dog caught the rabbit.
Why did all the other dogs give up the hunt? Those dogs did not know why they
were running. They did not see the rabbit. They had no purpose. They did not see
the prey unlike the first dog who sighted the rabbit and so it had a purpose. It knew
why it was running.
To continue our Christian journey of proclaiming and witnessing our difficulties,
trials and tribulations we should see and experience the ascending Christ. Jesus by his
ascension is showing our ultimate and final destination. Whoever looks at the glorious
rising of Jesus will readily face difficulties, proclaim the kingdom of God with zeal
and enthusiasm and one day reach the divine realm. We celebrate in jubilation the
Ascension of the Lord which is the goal and aim of the Christian life. The Ascension
of Christ shows the last stage in God’s plan for mankind -- total union with Him upon
one’s departure from this earthly life.
As we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord let us look up at the rising Lord (Acts
1:10-11). Looking at Jesus ascending means setting one’s own goals for life higher and
higher and higher; taking up the challenge of evangelization. On this day, the Lord
is asking us: Do you take this heavenly life as your goal? Are you ready to evangelize
and witness? Are you ready to look at Jesus? Answer me!
Join Fr. Joe’s Bible Study Class
For more information, please call: (718) 275-3936
Most Precious Blood Charismatic
Prayer Community
Most Precious Blood Church
32-23 36th Street
Head Servant: Nenett Barbilla
718 937 5242
2nd Tuesday 7:30 PM
El Shaddai Prayer Community
Most Precious Blood Church
32-23 36th Street
Long Island Ciyt, NY 11106
Head Servant: Amerito Gerodias
718 458 8214
4th Sunday 3:00 PM
Light Of Christ Prayer Group
St. Nicholas of Tolentine
150-75 Goethals Avenue
Jamaica, NY 11432
Head Servant: Cookie Fernandez
718 380 1712
Last Thursday 7:30 PM
Family of Christ Prayer Community
Presentation Church
8819 Parsons Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11432
Head Servant: Patrick de la Paz
718 658 2078
1st Tuesday 7:30 PM
Mary Mother of Divine Healer
St. Gerard Majella Church
188-16 91st Ave., Hollis, NY 11423
Head Servant: Raymonde Cesaire
718 445 4423
1st Friday 7:30 PM
Haitian Community
90-33 184th Place
Hollis, NY 11423
Head Servant: Alberte Madame Delatur
718 454 8572
3rd Tuesday 7:30 PM
Sacred Heart Family Apostolate
37-74 6th St.
Woodside, NY 11377
Head Servant: Remy Consoli
718 424 7984
2nd Sunday 6:30 PM
English Community
161 Le Grand St.
Brentwood, NY 11717
Coordinator: Rose Nallie Germain
631 231 8758
1st Thursday 7:30 PM
Filipino Catholic
453 Hawthorne Avenue
Uniondale, NY 11553
Coordinator: Dr. Norma Pascual
516 2921445
Last Monday 8:00 PM
Handmaid of the Lord/Couples for Christ
202-35 Foothill Ave., A-38
Hollis, NY 11423
Head Servant: Dolly Pawal
718 468-8463
Last Sunday 6:30 PM
Militia Immaculatae Marian Kolbe Movement
St. Stanislaus B&M
101 East 7th Street
New York, NY 10009
(917) 753-7233
1st Saturday 5:00 P.M.
Our Lady Queen of Martyrs
110-06 Queens Blvd.
Forest Hills, NY 11375
Head Servant: Nellie Milite
718 544 5141
2nd Friday 7:30 PM
Haitian Community
16339 130th Ave., Apt 5C
Jamaica, NY 11434-3014
Head Servant: Raymonde Cesaire
718 481 9683
4th Saturday 7:00 PM
Filipino Community Our Lady of Angels
2860 Webb Ave., Bronx, NY 10468
Head Servant: Josette Camino
718 543 0884
2nd Saturday 7:30 PM
Flushing, NY 11366
Coordinator: Perla Leonardo
(718) 591-4579
2nd Friday, 9:00 PM
Divine Mercy Devotion Our Lady of Victories
2217 Kennedy Blvd.,
Jersey City, NJ 07304
Head Servant: Tess Alvarez
4th Friday 7:00 PM
The Lord’s Flock Prayer Group
Sta. Rita
281 Bradley Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Coordinator: Myrna Leyson
718 983 1410
3rd Saturday 8:00 PM
St. John Prayer Community
272 Boyd Ave
Head Servant: Purita Vasquez
201 333 3136
3rd Monday 7:00 PM
St. Nicholas Prayer Group
122 Ferry St.
Head Servant: Elsa Leonida
210 656 2010
1st Sunday 6:30 PM
Puissance Divine D’Amore
820 Wallace Ave
Baldwin, NY 11510
Head Servant: Yvrose Saint-Urban
516 378 8173
2nd Thursday 7:30 PM
Home Bound Bible Study
St. Rose of Lima
269 Parkville Ave
Coordinator: Violeta Robbins
718 677 8131
1st Saturday 2:00 PM
The Vine & the Branches IncarnationPrayer Group
92-19 212th St., Queens Village, NY 11428
Head Servant: Ofelia Villar
718 465 0087
3rd Friday 7:00 PM
Family of God
160-31 78th Rd
Divine Mercy Prayer Group
Our Lady of Mercy
70-01 Kessel St., Forest Hills, NY 11375
Coordinator: Victoria Angeles
718 268 6516
2nd Wednesday 6:30 PM
Filipino Community
Our Lady of the Angelus
63-63 98th St., Rego Park, NY 11374
Coordinator: Ofelia Concepcion
(718) 897-4444
2nd Monday 7:30 PM
Saint Martin de Porres Healing Ministry
Flushing Chapter
86-60 Range St., Bellrose, NY 11427
Coordinator: Sylvia David
(718) 913-6922
3rd Thursday 8:00 PM
Friday Night Devotion
40-14 62nd St., Apt. 4F
Woodside, NY 11377
Coordinator: Rosemary Khan
718 457 5877
5th Friday 8:30 PM
Dominican Nuns
Corpus Christi Monastery
1230 Lafayette Ave., Bronx, NY 10474
Coordinator: Sr. Maria Pia
718 328 6996
Last Saturday, 9 AM
SAINT MARTIN DE PORRES PRAYER AND HEALING MINISTRY
St. Martin de Porres Healing Ministry in Action
by Sylvia David
“If people please God, God will give them wisdom, knowledge and joy.” -- Ecclesiastes 2 : 26
everything is going great.
I am not a religious person but ever since I started my devotion to
St. Martin de Porres, I have never felt so good. I thank Sister Josephine
G. Dichoso for all her prayers and her healing gift that keep me feeling
good and enjoying the quality of my life at present. We used to host
the novena to St. Martin de Porres every Thursday in our home and
every time Sister Josie is in New York, she prays over us after our
novena prayers. On one occasion after Sister Josie prayed over me, I
was slain by the Holy Spirit for a few minutes and I had the experience
of gazing at the face of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was one of the
most wonderful experiences I have ever had in my life and I shared it
with all the devotees present. Since then, it had increased my devotion
and faith in our Lord, through the intercession of the Blessed Mother
and St. Martin de Porres. Last year, when I was in the Philippines for
nine months hoping for a possible kidney donor for a kidney transplant,
I never missed to attend the Thursday novena to St. Martin de Porres
as I was able to join the group in New York in praying, thanks to our
advancement in technology and internet communications through
webcam. Although I was unsuccessful in finding a kidney donor, my
general health and outlook in life has improved. I truly believe that St.
Testimony
I just celebrated my sixty-first birthday (my wife gave me a surprise Martin de Porres is looking after me.
I also thank my wife Sylvia for her constant support and
birthday party). And there’s so much to be thankful for. First, to Our
Lord, my family, my friends and most especially for my health. I have assistance.
been diabetic for almost 30 years of my life, undergoing dialysis since
Victorio David, Queens, New York
2007. Despite setbacks in my health condition in the past 20 years,
The chapel of the Holy Child at Holy Rosary Church located at 444
East 119th Street, New York, N.Y. 10035 recently got a face lift. This
all started in October of 2008 when members of the St. Martin de Porres
Healing Ministry, New York group and some parishioners donated their
time and logistics to spruce up the walls of the Chapel with new paint as
well as re-tiling the floor with Vic David doing most of the carpentry and
handyman job. Different icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary were installed.
A life size statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary owned by Sister Josephine
G. Dichoso, founder of the St. Martin de Porres Healing Ministry, is
now enshrined at the Chapel. A statue of St. Martin de Porres is also
situated where the members of the ministry gather for their novena to
the benevolent saint every Saturday.
On May 3, Msgr. Thomas A. Modugno, Vicar of East Manhattan,
together with the pastor of Holy Rosary Church, Rev. Fr. Gilbert Luis
Centina III, were scheduled to officiate the blessing of the chapel and
recognize the contributions of all who unselfishly donated their time,
effort and money for this worthy cause, a decent and beautiful home
for the Blessed Sacrament.
The St. Martin de Porres Healing Ministry NY
group in action. Above: Vic David meticulously
checking his paint applications on the wall. Right:
Fr. Gilbert Luis Centina III with the devotees
watching the progress of the work. Top right: Edna
Lobacz applying paint on the ceiling as supervised
by Vic David. Center top: Virgie Socorro applies
paint on wall while Celina Cruz watches.
Join the
Rosary for Life, Inc.
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P.O. Box 340017
Brooklyn, NY 11234-0017
Tel. 718-377-6920 • Fax: 718-377-6973
Philippine-Oriental
Restaurant & Grocery
Rosary for Life, Philippines
324 Post Avenue
Westbury, NY 11590
996 Pablo Ocampo Sr. Street
Vito Cruz, Manila
Telefax 400-3447 • Email: ros4life@litegarments.com
Rosary For Life, Inc. is a non-profit taxexempt organization whose members pledge
to pray 15 decades of the Rosary, once a
week, at a specific time on a certain day of
their own choosing for an end to abortion
mentality and for respect and reverence for
the God-given gift of lilfe.
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Ode to a Mary Garden
by Andrea Oliva Florendo
Spring that curls in the thickets
Will stride on the fields,
The trailing leaves be knotted
In garlands; On every bough
The buds will swell with life
again.
Simple joys do crown my steps
Over the wakening earth.
Such is the grandeur of grass
In morning mist --Growing long, lovely and lush
The descending blue in a rush
With richness.
The open fields
Luscious in their fling.
Such, too are the bounteous
blooms
With their gay embroidery wear,
Through the echoing sweet briar
Weave a garden fair.
Soon, over their heads, the frolic
wind
Shall spread its jealous wings;
And each flower and herb
That sips the dew
Shall sing anew.
Be it mine to meditate
Of a Mary Garden
And its majesty --The snowdrop, the glowing violet
Trailing its wreathes with
rosemary;
The convolvulus by a mossy stone
In closed covert with rose
And the vine overgrown.
Let me to these solitudes retire
In leaves and flowers that around
me lie,
With lessons of love and earnest
piety
I read my own bouquet
Of nature poesy.
Crowning of Mary
by Erlinda A. Franco
Rev. Thomas V. Doyle, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church, reads the rites of the crowning
of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mother
A crowning of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary as
Queen of Heaven took place on May 3 at the St. Thomas
Aquinas church on Hendrickson Street, Brooklyn, the oldest
church in the neighborhood. The crowning took place after
the 10:15 mass officiated by Rev. Fr. Andre Bain, one of two
parochial vicars. Rev. Fr. Thomas V. Doyle, the pastor read the
rites of the crowning. It was attended by Vicar Rev. Fr. Peter
Gopaul, the Rosary Society members and the congregation
which gathered in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin to witness
the ceremony.
May is the month dedicated to our Blessed Mother and the
crowning is one of the yearly activities of the Rosary Society,
a multi ethnic religious organization at St. Thomas Aquinas
Church. Last year’s crowning was on an outdoor image. But
this year’s crowning was in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin
Mary at St. Thomas Aquinas church because of the bad weather. Members of the society offered flowers. The group then
headed to Kevin Ryan’s restaurant in Flatbush for a wonderful
“hot buffet luncheon”. Sr. Terry Agliardi, the rosary society’s
moderator gave a brief but inspiring message to the members of
the society. Fr. Andre Bain answered questions raised by members in reference to religious and some practices of our faith.
The fellowship, that included good food, merry making and
raffle drawing, ended at 4:30 in the afternoon.
The Filipino Catholic • April 9 - May 13, 2009 • Page 27
Prayer to
Saint Martin De Porres
Most glorious Martin de Porres whose
burning charity embraced not only thy
needy brethren, but also the very animals
of the field, splendid example of charity,
we hail thee and invoke thee! From that
high throne which thou dost occupy,
deign to listen to the supplications of
thy needy brethren that, by imitating
thy virtues, we may live contented in
that state in which God has placed us
and carrying with strength and courage
our cross, we may follow in the footsteps
of Our Blessed Redeemer and His most
afflicted Mother, that at last we may
reach the Kingdom of Heaven through
the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen. JCC
Sixth Month
Virgin Mary, we pray for lay men and women, to
you who lived in the world as we do now.
In this world where we live and work, Jesus calls
us to be His witnesses and the channels through
which He makes known the love of His Father and
His divine plan for us all: that is, to share eternal
happiness with Him.
How pitiful and unworthy are we of such a
mission. We beg you, Mary, impart to us your
unquestioning faith. When opposition and difficulty
confront us, be our rampart and teach us to rely
totally on the presence of your Son and the help of
His Spirit.
Teach us to love all men and women even as
you loved them, even those who were strangers
or unfriendly. May our love for others mirror yours:
always unconditional, patient and respectful.
Our Lady of the Cape give courage and fortitude
to those who are ridiculed because they follow
your Son. JCC
Gesù Bambino
Pilgrims’ House
by the Shrine of the
Blessed Sacrament
1770 County Road 548
Hanceville, Alabama 35077
(256) 352-4135
(347) 301-1611 (c)
email: info@
ThePilgrimsHouse.com
website:
gesubambinopilgrimshouse.com
“Keep Jesus in the center of our lives. Keep the
Tabernacle in the center of the Altar.”
VATICAN CITY - Pope
Benedict’s general prayer
intention for May is:
“That the laity and the
Christian communities
may be responsible
promoters of priestly and
religious vocations”.
His mission intention
is: “That the recently
founded Catholic
Churches, grateful to the
Lord for the gift of faith,
may be ready to share in
the universal mission of
the Church, offering their
availability to preach the
Gospel throughout the
world.” (VIS)
Pope Benedict’s
Prayer Intentions for this Month
The Lord
is Risen Indeed
Many still doubt the reality of our Lord Jesus
rising from the dead. This assumption may not
be openly expressed verbally but it becomes very
obvious the way man in the modern world behaves.
by Deacon Rolando V. Nolasco
St. Paul wrote very clearly that Christ died on the
cross “so that we who live should no longer live
for ourselves but only for Him who died and was raised to life for our sake.”(2 Cor. 5:15)
The essence of the resurrection is not only for us to marvel at how a long prophesied
event proved God’s faithfulness, but also transformed our lives and allowed the life of the
risen Lord to be made manifest in each and everyone of us. This is a task that we should
undertake with great joy, if we believe that we are indeed His followers who are called
to proclaim the Good News to the world. For how can we proclaim and share this Good
News if we ourselves live our lives inconsistent with this gospel truth?
Luke’s account of the walk to Emmaus find two former followers walking and feeling
helpless and frustrated after the horrible crucifixion and death of Jesus. Along the way,
the risen Lord caught up with them and inquired what they were talking about. Not recognizing Him, one of them responded with disbelief that this person was unaware of what
just happened. These two followers did not to see the empty tomb unlike the apostles and
some women who witnessed the evidence of the resurrection. Only after the breaking of
the bread did they realize it was the risen Lord who was with them. The two decided to go
back to Jerusalem and they declared to the eleven disciples: “The Lord is risen indeed!”
This was bit late since the apostles already had seen for themselves the great event resurrection. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm of sharing their experience was accompanied with
great elation and rejoicing. This is reminiscent of the Samaritan woman who encountered
Jesus at the well and was unaware who she was talking to. We remember how she brought
a multitude to the Lord Jesus.
In spite of these firsthand accounts of the Lord Jesus being raised from the dead, one
of the Lord’s apostles remained skeptic; unless he “sees the scars of the nails on Jesus’
hands and put his fingers on those scars” would he believe in the resurrection. Thomas
apparently had trust issues that required confirmation by his own senses. It is unfortunate
he was not there when the Lord appeared to the rest of the apostles. There is no denying
that he was told about the empty tomb, the linen cloths which they used to prepare Him
for burial, their encounter with the two angels dressed in white seated at where the body
of Jesus was and Mary Magdalene’s direct encounter with the resurrected Lord. On the
other hand, we remember how St. Peter could hardly believe that the Lord Jesus would
suffer and die. Peter needed to be rebuked by the Lord Himself. Scared for his own life, he
denied knowing the Lord Jesus when pressed by many during the mock trial. Paul before
his encounter with the Lord on his way to Damascus was very zealous in persecuting the
early Christians.
It is my intent to raise these points that unbelief can lead us to do things that can contradict our way of life as Christ’s followers. We can learn from the gospel accounts that
these great men of our faith have turned around believing and sharing that faith without
reservation; many have followed the same path that the Lord took. I know that to surrender
ourselves to the Lord is not an easy task. To rely on the gracious love of God will lead us
to the path of holiness and will allow us to reflect the presence of Him who truly cares.
Aside from the early followers of Christ who physically witnessed the resurrection, we
ourselves who have experienced the risen Lord in our lives have been counted as witnesses
to this great event of our faith. Hence to live consistent to our faith is a must for all who
claim to be follower of the risen Lord.
SACRAMENTALS
The Veil
When a woman wears a veil in church, she, as well
as the rest of us receives a veil of graces. Would any one
of us say we have too much money? Of course not, we
would say, “Keep it coming.” Grace is similar to money.
However, there are differences. We can have more
money than what we need, but not with grace. Money
does little for the soul where grace does everything for
the soul. A person’s money can just benefit that person
but as one’s person’s grace benefits us all.
Why is this? In Corinthians 12:26 it states if one
by Scapular John
person does well, we all benefit from it. Conversely if
one person does wrong we all suffer from it.
A blessed veil is a sacramental. A receives grace from wearing it. When wives, mothers and daughters wear the veil in church, they and everybody else in the Mystical Body
of Christ benefits from this act. Men may want to encourage women to wear the veil.
By the way, it is still on the books for a woman to wear the veil in church. Cannon law,
1252.2. Vatican II never did away with wearing the veil.
Even if the veil is not blessed grace is given to the wearer by whom we all benefit
because it is an act of humility. Such an act perfects the virtue of humility. The end of
this perfection is none other than the Blessed Mother. How interesting that in her every
apparition she wears a veil. Would she be brazen enough to go to church bearing her
head? St. Paul tells us in 1 Cor 11:5 that woman is to cover their heads. Specifically,
“But every woman praying or prophesying with her head not covered disgraceth her
head:” Further on St. Paul also states in 1 Cor 14:37, “The things I write to you, that
they are the commandments of the Lord.” One of the many other reasons for woman
to cover her head is to help men stay focused
on the Mass. Men can easily be distracted by
woman’s hair.
Another reason St. Paul states is to respect
the presence of angels offering with us the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass. (1Cor 11:10 and Rev
8:3) We read in Acts 12:23, “…an angel of
the Lord struck Herod, because he had not
given the honour to God: and being eaten
up by worms, he gave up the ghost.”
Other ways grace can be obtained for all of
us is women wearing the veil during Eucharist
adoration and when praying at home. When
a woman prays while wearing the veil, she
receives a grace of sweetness and a special
rapport with the Blessed Mother. How much
more is Jesus pleased when a woman comes
to speak with Him wearing the veil, she is
greatly rewarded.
If Veronica did not have her veil would we
ever have the sacred image of Jesus’ Face on
it? No. But, she had the veil and we are all
benefiting from it, even to this very day. She
was the one who offered it to Jesus to wipe
His face during His passion. Imagine what
you would experience if you received back
your veil with the image of His Face on it. What a treasure you would have and how you
would tell your friends about it.
One can consider asking Veronica’s intercession to your veil, or mantilla, to Jesus, and
to be there to wipe his Holy Face. “Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today: and the same
for ever.” (Heb 13:8) This can be done in reparation for each one of us. The graces you
would receive would be far greater then receiving an image on a veil. Why? Because the
graces would be an image worn on you soul.
You can also ask Veronica’s intercession to the Blessed Mother for more graces of
humility and the grace to wear the veil with ever deepening joy. Sometimes one can feel
intimidated to wear the veil. Imagine how intimidating it was for Veronica to go through
the ranks of tough marching Roman soldiers to reach Jesus with her outstretched hands
holding her veil. She intercedes for us to develop the virtue of courage and honor.
It is an honor to wear the veil. It honors the feminine dignity. Would a military officer
because of some peoples beliefs, allow them to un-dignify him by removing his stripes
and medals? Hardly. Then why should a woman have her dignity become undignified
especially before the Lord?
Blessed veils, like all sacramentals, when used devoutly are ways of showing our honor,
faith and love to Jesus. In turn we fall more in love with Jesus, with others, and ourselves
as a great gift, a temple of God’s creation where the Holy Spirit dwells, 1 Cor 3:16.
For more information on sacramental and how to obtain it contact us at Dove Tales,
PO Box 3623, Easton, PA. 18043 or call 610.253.8604. www.TheHolyFamily.com.
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MOTHER DEAR … A Legacy of Resiliency
by Dr. Carmencita Quesada Fulgado
She was born Potenciana Fernando
Castaneda, second daughter of Agatona,
grammar school teacher and Mariano. former Mandaluyong, Rizal mayor. Strong
believer of the value of Education, the family
moved to Paco, Manila and all four children
attended and graduated from the University
of the Philippines in Padre Faura. Poten,
BSE’32, became a biology teacher in the
city school and this is where he met Eliseo
Quesada of Paete, Laguna, and a history
teacher. With students and teachers matching
the co-teachers, their courtship was known
and enjoyed by all in the school, leading to
their grand wedding at the San Marcelino
Catholic Church.
However, a victim of World War II,
Eliseo died in 1945, leaving Poten a widow
at age 33. She was left to raise her two girls single-handedly, then 4 years old and 2 months
old. Poten “Pat” Castaneda Quesada Bunales joined the 1998 UP Homecoming with her
daughter Menchee Quesada Fulgado, PhD who was the UPAA Service Awardee. Pat received her Diamond Award in 1992.
When the schools reopened, Poten went back into teaching, taught at Arellano, Feati and
the University of the East, took a mortgage to rebuild her mother’s house in Paco, Manila
as a two-family house. She, with her mother and two young daughters, lived in the upper
unit and the rent from the lower unit boosted her salary as a teacher. Her two girls were
her inspiration for living, pursuing the dream that she and Eliseo started, a family of love
and dedication. She sewed look-alike dresses for them, providing them with privileged
amenities such as ballet classes, piano and swimming lessons, private schooling and the
best education one can get, at the University of the Philippines. Poten also tried her luck
in jitney proprietorship, later sold it for profit to enable her to finish her MA at the University of San Francisco, which led her to a full-time college teaching in the Department
of Education at the University of the East. Later retired she left for the USA.
From a single parent biology teacher in three schools, to a full-time psychology professor, to a sales person, later credit authorizer at then San Francisco’s prestigious department
store The Emporium, then, the upscale Gertz Department Store in New Jersey. Pat, as she
became known in the United States was an active fundraiser in NJ’s Ladies Circle, UP
Alumni chapter, a hospital volunteer, a patient tutor to her seven grandchildren, has left
a legacy of RESILIENCY. Pat’s mantra: Be happy with what He gave you…and make
the most out of it.
Pat is my mother, the epitome of resiliency. From her I learned “ Life is not a problem
to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived. At age 91, she joined my father on March 23,
2003. In 2001 my sister Nora and I donated the lands inherited from our father and now
on it stands the first public high school of the town of Paete. The Poten and Eliseo Quesada
Memorial National High School. Visit: http://peqmnhs.tripod.com/index.html
Would you like to sponsor a Santo Niño Novena?
For information, call...
Nita Vasquez............................................................... (516) 931-5229
Zeny Berroya .............................................................. (516) 869-8202
Eden Gaceta ................................................................ (516) 942-0203
Norma Pascual............................................................. (516) 292-1445
I want to subscribe to The Filipino Catholic for
one year. Enclosed is my check/money order for
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If you wish to sponsor a novena to
Our Lady in your home, please call:
Bayani Villaver (201) 451-1669
Aida Manlangit (973) 335-4435
Josette Camino (347) 879-3674
Cora Mendoza (973) 364-5241
Maria Sulat (201) 386-1132
Myrna Agustin (201) 222-6365
Fred Soliva (718) 365-9253
Norrie Cornelio (212) 777-2662
37-74 64th Street Woodside, NY 11377 • (718) 424-7984 / 478-4413
BPI - 64th Street & Roosevelt • (718) 606-1873
Divine Mercy Images in poster, vinyl or canvas print
in three designs, Vilnius (original image), Hyla or
Skemp (with a door). Available in all sizes.
Call 718 424 7984
or Cell 917 607 6137
Church Display, framed or unframed.
Get special discount.
Also available, affordable pilgrimages in August
and September at Krakow, Poland, or/and Papal
Audience in Rome, and/or Medjugorge, Fatima,
Lourdes accompanied by a priest.
Please call same numbers.
By The Sacred Heart Family Apostolate
Bilingual Library and Gift Shop.
37-74 64th Street, Woodside, NY 11377
Office: 718-424-7984, 718-606-1873, 718-606-2670
Cell 917-607-6137
Prayer to St. Claire
Say 9 Hail Marys for 9 days in front of a lighted candle and publish when you can.
This is a powerful novena.
God of Mercy, you inspired St. Claire with the love of poverty. By the help of her
prayers may we follow Christ in poverty of spirit and come to the joyful vision of your
Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your
Son, who lives and reigns with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
Sponsors of this ad and services:
1.Sacred Heart Family Apostolate (64th St.)
• Family Library, Club -- assist in starting religious libraries
• 2nd Sunday Bible Study, Family Monthly Support Group Meetings
• Assist in Home Enthronement of the Two Hearts
2.Quallity Hands Placement Co. - Employment Services (64th St.)
3.NY Construction - Licensed and Bonded (64th St.)
4.Taxes - Authorized IRS E-File Provider (64th St.)
5.Money RemittanceE. BPI
64 St. & Roosevelt
6.East Coast Llifesavers, Inc. - ACLS and BCLS, and NCLEX review (64th St.)
7. Pasalubong at Iba Pa - located 3 doors near Jollibee, 64 St. & Roosevelt,
Woodside. Sells Filipino food, pastries, native craft including barong tagalog,
etc.
8.FedEx Authorized Dealer - 64 St. and Roosevelt
9.Pinoy Etc - Computer / Cell Phones repair / Lessons (64 St. Corner Roosevelt)
10. Star Express Padala
Special Box Freight Promo
11. Bamboo Garden Grill and Juice Bar - Opening late May
64 St between Jollibee and Red Ribbon, 65th St.
Divine Mercy
On Canvas
Church Display Sizes Available
Call for Prices
Our Lord to Saint Faustina
This is the hour of great mercy for the whole world.... In this hour, I will refuse
nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion.
My daughter, try your best to make the Stations of the Cross in this hour,
provided that your duties permit it; and if you are not able to make the Stations
of the Cross, then at least step into the Chapel for a moment and adore in the
Blessed Sacrament.
The Three O’Clock Prayer
Thou died Jesus, but the source of life flowed out for souls and the ocean of
mercy opened up for the whole world.
O Fountain of Life, immeasurable Divine Mercy, cover the wholeworld and
empty Thyself out upon us.
O Blood and Water which flowed out from the Heart of Jesus as a Fountain of
Mercy for us, I trust in Thee.
Holy God, Holy Omnipotent, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us and on the
whole world. (3 times) Amen.
The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy (Divine Mercy Feast Day, April 19)
(To be recited on ordinary Rosary beads) Begin with: Our Father…Hail Mary...
The Apostles’ Creed
On the Our Father Beads
V. Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of
Thy most beloved Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ;
R. In atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world.
On the Hail Mary Beads
V.
Through the most Sorrowful Passion of Jesus,
R. Have mercy on us and on the whole world.
In conclusion
Holy God, Holy Omnipotent, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us and on the
whole world.(3x) Amen.Jesus, King of Mercy, I trust in Thee.
IRS TAX PROBLEMS ...
we can help.
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organization. Corporation, LLC,
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Affordable religious gift
shop ... from $1 and up. Tan
37 - 74 64th Street
Woodside, NY 11377
books, DVD, VHS, medals.
FREE rosaries and scapulars.
Join the Sacred Heart Library
Club.
Water Alkaline and
anti-oxidant. Kangen or
Universal Company.
Call (718) 424-7984
OFFICES FOR RENT AND BUSINESS
OPPURTUNITIES FOR SALE
CALL 917-607-6137
Woodside Mail Box
Rentals
for those who do not have
a permanent address
64 St corner Roosevelt
Tel. 718-424-7984
NYC Tel. 212 731 9662
Mobile 917 607 6137
www.sacredheartfamilyapostolate.net
Library and Religious Book Store is open to public at 64th Street Location
FOR LEGAL HELP IN
ANY STATE OF THE
U.S.A. ON
Working Visas
Labor Certification
Immigrant Petitions
Citizenship
COME, JOIN OUR
FILIPINO MASS
Every First Sunday of the month
at The Shrine of
Our Lady of the Island
CALL:
Atty. Wilfrido E.
Panotes, Jr., Ph.D.
Eastport, Long Island, New York
Mass in Tagalog at 1:30 p.m.
preceded by Rosary in Tagalog
(Practicing Immigration & Naturalization Law since 1973)
• LL. B. (Ateneo de Manila); A.B., Ph. B., Ph. L. (UST); M.A.
(Fordham Univ.); Ph.D. (Graduate Theological
Foundation - Indiana/Oxford/Rome)
• Admitted: New Jersey, New York and Philippine Bars
• Member: Association of Immigration and Nationality Lawyers; National Lawyers Association
3000 Kennedy Blvd., Suite 303
Jersey City, N.J. 07306
Tel. (201) 963-5565
Tel. (212) 244-0581
Fax (201) 798-0636
MAILING ADDRESS
72 Van Reipen Avenue
PMB #405
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL:
Primo & Tessie Carlos (631) 325-1177
• Manny & Norma Pascual (516) 292-1445 • Helen & Peter Buni (631) 543-8775
• Ben & Lou Ileto (516) 433-2338
• Nita Vasquez (516) 931-5229 • Gilda Abejar (516) 476-7274
• Zeny Berroya (516) 869-8202 • Eden Gaceta (516) 942-0203
• Elsa Vergara (516) 640-5580
Directions: Head east on LIE, then take exit 70 South on Port
Jefferson-Westhampton (Capt. Daniel Roe Hwy - Route 111).
Drive for a couple of miles, then turn right to Eastport Manor
Rd. and follow the signs to the Shrine.
Visit the Shrine’s website at:
www.OurLadyoftheIsland.org

The Filipino

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