MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Repose of Fr. Norberto Contreras

Let us pray for the repose of Fr. Norberto Contreras. He was declared DOA at Bago City District Hospital last December 15, 2008. May he rest in peace.

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and drove the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting, "What was that all about and who are you?Just what the heck are you doing?That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money.Why did you do it?"

The young boy was apologetic. "Please mister ... please, I'm sorry... I didn't know what else to do," he pleaded."I threw the brick because no one else would stop..."With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car."It's my brother," he said."He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up." Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me."Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out his fancy handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.

"Thank you and may God bless you," the grateful child told the stranger.Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the little boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home. It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!

God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. http://misyononline.com/misyonforum/

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 8 December 2008

Today is a holyday of obligation in the Philippines

Under her title of the Immaculate Conception the Blessed VirginMary is principal patroness of the Philippines

Please visit the following link to read articles about the Immaculate Conception the Blessed VirginMary: http://misyononline.com/misyonforum/index.php?q=node/665

Happy Feast Day Saint FRANCIS XAVIER Parish!

Saint FRANCIS XAVIER (1506-1552). Born in the family castle of Xavier, near Pamplona in the Basque area of Spanish Navarre on Apr. 7, he was sent to the University of Paris 1525, secured his licentiate in 1528, met Ignatius Loyola and became one of the seven who in 1534, at Montmartre founded the Society of Jesus.

In 1536 he left Paris to join Ignatius in Venice, from whence they all in tended to go as missionaries to Palestine (a trip which never materialized), was ordained there in 1537, went to Rome in 1538, and in 1540, when the pope formally recognized the Society, was ordered, with Fr. Simon Rodriguez, to the Far East as the first Jesuit missionaries. King John III kept Fr. Simon in Lisbon, but Francis, after a year's voyage, six months of which were spent at Mozambique where he preached and gave aid to the sick eventually arrived in Goa, India in 1542 with Fr. Paul of Camerino an Italian, and Francis Mansihas, a Portuguese. There he began preaching to the natives and attempted to reform his fellow Europeans, living among the natives and adopting their customs on his travels. During the next decade he converted tens of thousands to Christianity.

He visited the Paravas at the tip of India. near Cape Comorin, Tuticorin (1542), Malacca (1545), the Moluccas near New Guinea and Morotai near the Philippines (1546-47), and Japan (1549- 51). In 1551, India and the East were set up as a separate province and Ignatius made Francis its first provincial.

In 1552 he set out for China, landed on the island of Sancian within sight of his goal, but died before he reached the mainland. Working against great difficulties, language problems ( contrary to legend, he had no proficiency in foreign tongues ), inadequate funds, and lack of cooperation, often actual resistance, from European officials, he left the mark of his missionary zeal and energy on areas which clung to Christianity for centuries. He was canonized in 1622 and proclaimed patron of all foreign missions by Pope Pius X. F. D. Dec. 3.

http://www.catholic.org/saints/

Prayer Needed!

Dear friends,

Let us pray for our fellow Augustinians who will be taking the Nursing Board Examination this coming November 29, 2008.

Let us include them in our prayers.

The Commission on Mission of the Diocese of Kabankalan supports the Visayas Regional Mission Assembly which will start tomorrow, November 24, 2008 in the province of Iloilo.

Representatives from different dioceses will gather and share on how to strenghthen and continue the mission of the Church.

Let us pray for their safety and for the success of their assembly.

Mabuhay po Kayo!

Happy Feast Day Columban Fathers!

A good commentary on the feast (Christ the King) from Australia.

Feast of Jesus Christ, Universal King

Fr John Flader: King doesn't lord it over His subjects

A friend of mine cannot understand why we have a feast day honouring Christ as King. She prefers to think of Jesus as Saviour or Redeemer or friend, but not king. Can you please explain the reasoning behind this feast?

Over the years, a good number of people have asked me this question.The feast of “Jesus Christ, Universal King”, which is its proper name, is of relatively recent origin. It was instituted at the end of the Holy Year 1925 by Pope Pius XI in the encyclical Quas primas, dated December 11 of that year. The feast is celebrated on the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, the 34th Sunday of the year, as a Solemnity, the highest rank among feast days.

Pope Pius XI instituted the feast in answer to numerous requests from Cardinals, bishops and lay faithful at a time when Christ was being pushed more and more out of the lives of nations, families and individuals.The Pope commented that just as the feast of Corpus Christi had been instituted at a time when Eucharistic piety had diminished, and the feast of the Sacred Heart when the severity of Jansenism had made hearts grow cold, so now when the reign of Christ was challenged by anti-clericalism, or secularism, it was opportune to institute a feast of the kingship of Christ.

An example of the anti-clericalism at the time was the regime in Mexico, where numerous Catholics went to their deaths for the faith, crying out “Long live Christ the King!”

A good number of them have been beatified and canonised, including Blessed Miguel Pro. Significantly, the consequences of the rejection of Christ’s kingdom mentioned by Pope Pius XI are as relevant today as they were in 1925: “the seeds of discord sown far and wide; those bitter enmities and rivalries between nations, which still hinder so much the cause of peace; that insatiable greed which is so often hidden under a pretence of public spirit and patriotism, and gives rise to so many private quarrels; a blind and immoderate selfishness, making men seek nothing but their own comfort and advantage, and measure everything by these; no peace in the home, because men have forgotten or neglect their duty; the unity and stability of the family undermined; society in a word, shaken to its foundations and on the way to ruin.” (Quas primas, n. 24) The kingship of Christ is solidly grounded in Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments. For example, Isaiah offers the Messianic prophecy of the child to be born, who would be “Prince of Peace” and who would sit “upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore.” (Is 9:6-7)

In the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel tells Mary that her Son will receive “the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Lk 1:32-33)Nathanael, when he first meets Jesus, says, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus does not reject the title, but rather goes on to say: “You shall see greater things than these.” (Jn 1:49-50)And when speaking of the Last Judgment, Jesus refers to himself as King: “When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne… Then the King will say to those at his right hand…” (Mt 25:31, 34)

So it is clear that Christ is indeed king – but not a king in the human, political sense. He has no palace, no material throne, no army. Christ is king in the spiritual sense. His kingdom is “not of this world”. (Jn 18:36) He reigns in the minds, the wills and the hearts of men.

Perhaps the reason why some people object to calling Christ King is that they think of kings as lording it over their subjects. But this is not Christ’s way: “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:42-45) Christ redefined the whole notion of kingship. He does not oppress his subjects. Rather he serves them, he lifts them up and frees them from their sins.

His kingdom is “a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.” (Preface of Christ the King)

http://misyononline.com/misyonforum/index.php?q=node/616

Saint Columban

St. Columban

November 23 (543?-615)

Columban was the greatest of the Irish missionaries who worked on the European continent. As a young man he was greatly tormented by temptations of the flesh, and sought the advice of a religious woman who had lived a hermit’s life for years. He saw in her answer a call to leave the world. He went first to a monk on an island in Lough Erne, then to the great monastic seat of learning at Bangor.

After many years of seclusion and prayer, he traveled to Gaul with 12 companion missionaries. They won wide respect for the rigor of their discipline, their preaching, and their commitment to charity and religious life in a time characterized by clerical slackness and civil strife. Columban established several monasteries in Europe which became centers of religion and culture.

Like all saints, he met opposition. Ultimately he had to appeal to the pope against complaints of Frankish bishops, for vindication of his orthodoxy and approval of Irish customs. He reproved the king for his licentious life, insisting that he marry. Since this threatened the power of the queen mother, Columban was ordered deported back to Ireland. His ship ran aground in a storm, and he continued his work in Europe, ultimately arriving in Italy, where he found favor with the king of the Lombards. In his last years he established the famous monastery of Bobbio, where he died. His writings include a treatise on penance and against Arianism, sermons, poetry and his monastic rule.

Quote:

Writing to the pope about a doctrinal controversy in Lombardy, Columban said: “We Irish, living in the farthest parts of the earth, are followers of St. Peter and St. Paul and of the disciples who wrote down the sacred canon under the Holy Spirit. We accept nothing outside this evangelical and apostolic teaching.... I confess I am grieved by the bad repute of the chair of St. Peter in this country.... Though Rome is great and known afar, she is great and honored with us only because of this chair.... Look after the peace of the Church, stand between your sheep and the wolves.”

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp?id=1210