great ordinary happenings

“Say the Rosary every day…
Pray, pray a lot and offer sacrifices for sinners…
I’m Our Lady of the Rosary.
Only I will be able to help you.
…In the end My Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
Our Lady at Fatima

I’m back, though again, I have to seek your tolerance, my dear friends, for not making this earlier. I’m so occupied, but it’s still for the Lord, community and family affairs, and I’m just trying to balance everything, to keep up all responsibilities.

I’ll give here the benefits and blessings of the Holy Rosary which you can see in this link.

Benefits of the Rosary
1.It gradually gives us a perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ.
2.It purifies our souls, washing away sin.
3.It gives us victory over all our enemies.
4.It makes it easy for us to practice virtue.
5.It sets us on fire with love of Our Lord.
6.It enriches us with graces and merits.
7.It supplies us with what is needed to pay all our debts to God and to our fellow men; and finally, it obtains all kinds of graces for us from Almighty God.

Blessings of the Rosary
1.Sinners are forgiven.
2.Souls that thirst are refreshed.
3.Those who are fettered have their bonds broken.
4.Those who weep find happiness.
5.Those who are tempted find peace.
6.The poor find help.
7.Religious are reformed.
8.Those who are ignorant are instructed.
9.The livings learn to overcome pride.
10.The dead (the Holy Souls) have their pains eased by suffrages.

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Filed under: devotions, prayer, reflections

This is not a coincidence that it’s today I could continue my last post.  It’s October 13, and I dedicate this entry to our dearest Mama Mary, Our Lady of Fatima.

I’d like to share here that praying the rosary is Mama Mary’s wish as she had repeated it everyday in her apparitions in Fatima (this is true, and NOT a legend!) in the year 1917, when she came down from heaven to three young shepherds, out of love for her children here on earth – we are those children!

This is a quote from The Fatima Apparitions and Messages:  “On October 13, 1917, the crowds had increased to 70,000. Many newspaper reporters and photographers were there to record the miracle or prove the children were lying. The crowd was standing in the relentless, pouring rain with mud up to their ankles. Many were praying the Rosary as the Blessed Mother made her final appearance to the children and told them: ‘I am the Lady of the Rosary; I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and ask for pardon for their sins. They must not offend Our Lord any more, for He is already too grievously offended by the sins of men. People must say the Rosary. Let them continue saying it everyday.’” And if you read through her messages every time during her monthly appearances, she repeatedly asked for the praying of the rosary, as reparation for sins.

And as a fitting reminder, on the feast day October 7, I got this email, which I’d like to share with you: PRAY THE ROSARY

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. If we reflect upon the words of the “Hail Mary,” we will discover that the first half of it is purely scriptural and the second half is merely the request for Mary to pray for us in all of our neediness. I do not know how any Bible-believing Christian to the most left-wing or right-wing Catholic could have any problems with such a prayer.

Catholics are not obliged to pray the Rosary, but again, if we have such a great and powerful intercessor waiting to place our prayers before Jesus, her son, why wouldn’t we avail of such an offer? It seems to me that all the logic in the world points to praying the Rosary as well as to using Mary as an intercessor as a good idea. There are many other arguments I could make in favor of this thesis, including an analysis of the text in John’s Gospel where Jesus commends Mary to the care of the apostle John and him to her.

There are many examples in history where victory over disease and invading armies were attributed to the intercession of Our Lady. As we reflect today on the role of the Rosary in our lives and families, let us try to remember these things and so be encouraged to seek the intercession of Mary in our lives. We often ask others to pray for us as they ask us to pray for them. If we want something, often the first place we turn is to our mothers, especially if it means getting our father’s permission. Maybe we can put in place a similar strategy when we are seeking spiritual graces from our Father in Heaven. Of course, there is nothing to stop us from going straight to the Father, Jesus or the Holy Spirit, but sometimes we might feel more comfortable knowing we have Mary as an intercessor at our side.

Mary interceded to Jesus for the couple who ran out of wine at their wedding. I am sure she will look as kindly upon our requests, provided of course they truly reflect Gospel principles and the will of God for our lives. Fr. Steve Tynan
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In the Diocese of Bacolod, yesterday the second Sunday of October, we celebrated the Feast of our Lady of the Holy Rosary, the second patron of the diocese.

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Filed under: dedication, devotions, greetings, reflections

The Word of God is truly piercing the soul, it sends one to reflect and examine himself, how the words strike his heart, how the reading applies, or how it relates, to one’s life. Today’s reading (Isaiah 5:1-7) is about the vineyard owner who got sour grapes instead of the good ones he expected.

“Now, I will let you know
what I mean to do with my vineyard:
take away its hedge, give it to grazing,
break through its wall, let it be trampled!
Yes, I will make it a ruin:
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
but overgrown with thorns and briers;
I will command the clouds
not to send rain upon it.”

The above referred to “the house of Israel”, but for us beloved countrymen, the Philippines is our vineyard, and we Filipinos are the vines. The same as all peoples in the other parts of the world, your particular country is your vineyard, and you are its vine.

The Gospel (Matthew 21:33-43) is about the evil servants, who were trusted with the master’s vineyard, but were overcome by greed, to the point of beating, killing, stoning those sent by the landowner to get his share of the harvest. Jesus ended his teaching by this: The kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to people who will produce the proper fruits.”

And so I pray: Lord, help us to be the fruitful vines that we should be, renew our troubled persons! Lord, help each of our country. We pray that You heal our lands!

Let your love be in all peoples’ hearts, oh God! Touch our beings with your all-powerful Hand, fill our spirits with Your all-merciful Presence! In the most mighty name of Jesus, we pray, Amen!

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Filed under: Bible sharing, Gospel sharing, prayer, reflections

These subjects of hate and violence have surfaced lately, most especially after that school massacre in Finland.  We know there is so much of these stuff in the present world, and it’s so tragic.

Has internet, especially with the emergence of the YouTube in the gruesome happening, contributed to this? Of course, it’s a debatable topic. My point of view here is, we cannot attribute this to any one factor like the internet, though it can also be admitted, this may have, in one way, contributed too. Even before the internet, computer games have already been violent, and much more now with the  availability of sites which if unchecked by guardians or parents are not suitable for the young. These games are very addicting, and elders should be more vigilant with their youngsters’ use of the pc (personal computer) to check the sites they frequent. Well, not only for this reason.

When we were in Cebu, we had an internet cafe, an off-shot of having computers which were used in my computer-aided seminars for practising engineers.  It seemed natural to include pc games to our offered services: computer rental, encoding, printing, research/surfing the internet, and the like. One time, as I was watching over the place, with so many boys coming out from their classes and playing pc games, I heard one shout (on top of the noise around), “You stab him!” Another shout heard: “you kill him!” When I looked over, on one monitor, I saw blood dripping from a knife, and it sort of shocked me - I was not familiar with these games. As I silently just hanged around some more, I’ve observed the young players gleefully happy when they could kill their supposed-to-be enemies, either by knife or gun. Hmmm some of the caricatures of the games were even devilish.

After conferring with the family, we decided to exclude these pc games as part of the services we offered. Our thinking was, and is: These games can affect the psychology of the young minds, subconsciously leading them to a culture of hate (to the point of killing) and violence,  the effect of which would be acceptance of killing as ordinary without a bit of the qualm of conscience. The dangerous ultimate there would be a mindset of: it’s okay to hate, it’s all right to kill!

Young moms with children who are always on the pc, it’s better to check them out, what games they are playing, and to hang around a bit when they are at it,  for you to observe. You may not necessarily tell them outright to stop, but you have to explain the damage these games can do to them. Then, as always, be firm but kind, you have to impose discipline. Limit their time spent on the pc? Our ruling when the children were still in grade and high schools (computers were not common that time) , no TV during school days, could be only during weekends. For the present-day moms, no TV and computers during the school days could be the rule. Unless maybe if there are researches to be made, especially now that lessons and assignments are mostly computer-connected.

An effective way of control is to give an alternative activity which is also enjoyable for the child, not just to tell them “you can’t do this”. Online (or in VCD’s/DVD’s?) wholesome games are available, in fact there are interesting, thought-provoking, educational games too. Why not take time to help select? Giving time to teach or to be involved with the activities of the children to be able to know when discipline is necessary, is one good investment not just for the youth’s character-building, but for your peace of mind in the future as well.

Hey moms, this is a challenge to you, God bless your child rearing.

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Filed under: parenting

(I’m so very sorry this is posted late, but may I still use my special day as the date, for this was supposed to be? I couldn’t let this day pass by without acknowledging it. I was already barred by circumstances beyond my control last year, and so it passed by this blog silently. But this year, I have to “wrestle” with these obstructions – with your indulgence and understanding, many thanks to you.)

August 11 is my special day. Sixty eight years ago I was born, and I fully believe, for a purpose. I thank the Lord for my dearest Mama, and I would like to remember her in gratitude during my birthdays.

Attending the Holy Mass, the highest form of prayer, is the family’s way of celebrating birthdays to thank the Lord for the life He has given the celebrant, and for all the blessings poured out – and trials that have come along – all through the years. Today, only my hubby was with me in the Eucharistic celebration; gone are the days when the whole family was together for this. Still, I cannot express enough my thanks to the Lord God, especially for the so many blessings I have received throughout all my “more than golden” years. I got a truly blessed happy birthday today, and this is what I’d like to share.

Sharing food is a thanksgiving to the Almighty, a way of expressing it, especially if you cook the food yourself – how more to say it than to do something as a labor of love. I miss my “cutes” (daughters), who always were around to help, and to bake too, in these special occasions. It seemed I got a birthday test today, as the house help I expected to come wasn’t able to, and so almost single-handedly (but for my beloved hubby, the first time he really helped on affairs like this!), I did the arroz ala Valenciana, a Negros favorite, and the fruit salad – my offering of love. All other food were ordered, aside from the pochero which was done by our sister coordinator of the community, her labor of love for me, though she did not know it was my birthday.

Monday is our weekly prayer meeting, but it happened that today we didn’t have it. And so this gave me the excuse to invite the community to a thanksgiving celebration with the prayer meeting to be held in our place. So they came, and that was the time they knew it’s my birthday. Close relatives were also present.

Before partaking of the dinner, we began with praising and worship songs, followed by the Word of God delivered by bro. Jason. The topic was on thanksgiving. Wasn’t it a blessed celebration? And this has made me very happy indeed! The children called up their greetings, and I thank them all, for the party was their gift to me. See, what more can I ask for? I thank everyone for their prayers too.

Oh, I thank the Lord God Almighty for all these years He has given me – for the protection, provision, good health, guidance – and for the very supportive, loving, and thoughtful family we have!

Lord, I pray for Your continued presence in our family and in our community, thank You so much oh God! I praise You Lord, till the end of my days – and forever!

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Filed under: celebration, family, prayer, thanks