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Archive for the ‘Closer to God’ Category


Saw this photo on my FB Memories app early this morning. Every day, I always look forward to some of my shoutouts and photos uploaded on my Facebook account since I joined the site. We had lunch at Bellini’s to celebrate Lovell’s Theology graduation.

We go back several years of friendship. We first met when I went to UST to confirm Nissa’s attendance to the Domnet Youth Festival (Dominican Youth Network) which was held in Davao City. Nissa represented the Faculty of Arts and Letters while Lovell was the representative of the College of Commerce. It was Nissa’s first plane ride out of Metro Manila.

There used to be this Friendster app which Nissa and I joined and she showed me her list of friends. I was surprised to see Lovell wearing a cassock. He entered the seminary right after college. We both majored in Economics so we always had something to talk about. He gifted me with a rosary from the Vatican blessed by the Pope. Friendster travelled to Multiply then on to Facebook.

He was finally ordained to priesthood in November 2012, same year and month that Nate was born. I remember Nissa’s wedding the year before and Lovell’s ordination as Deacon several days after. We have maintained the friendship even when he was assigned in different places. Every time he presides over masses in different churches, he always texts me for my petition. We haven’t seen each other since his Thanksgiving mass in UST in December 2012 but we regularly get in touch through texts and calls sometimes. He told me one time that I am his spiritual mother and I’m so glad that there is someone out there praying for the family especially for my health. Looking forward to his vacation so we could see each other again. Iloilo where he is assigned is quite far from Metro Manila.

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Cling to your faith like it’s the last leaf, hold on to the fact that getting well is not in your hands but in God’s ❤🙏💛.

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A lovely image of our Blessed Mother. I always look forward to this day every year. I always blog about her on her birthday.

Pueblo Amante de Maria❤❤❤🌷🌸💐🌹

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I have these one Catholic page and two Catholic groups at Facebook of which I am an admin. Yesterday one of my co-admins featured me at Sambuhay Interaktib, a Society of St. Paul offshoot from their program every week.

Here’s what she posted at our site.

One of my grade schoool classmates who is a doctor disagreed with the word remission. According to her “remission of cancer means reduction of the signs and symptoms of cancer. Arlene is cancer free for many years now. Not on remission because cancer no longer exists within her. God is so great”.

All these years I also thought that once you have cancer and you get well, you are in remission. Now I learned another medical word with its true meaning.

I do enjoy being an admin of Sambuhay Interaktib. I get to meet SSP (Society of St. Paul) priests and brothers along the way and some members who work mostly outside the country.

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Rejoice and be glad. He has risen.

Quite busy answering phone calls and messages. Will get back later.

A blessed and happy Easter to you all.

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I no longer remember how many times I blogged about Good Friday since I started at WordPress.

We used to have our Visita Iglesia on Good Friday. We visit seven churches in other towns and pray the Fourteen Stations of the Cross. In the afternoon, we watch The Seven Last Words. They are inspiring reflections of how Jesus died on the cross. For the second time now, celebrations of Lent and Holy Week are quiet affairs. I miss the procession in our town usually held very early on a Good Friday morning. It is a blessing though that we get to watch everything online.

It is so quiet here now except for the ocassional noise of cars passing by our subdivision. I took the opportunity to update our Catholic page and two Catholic groups of which I am an admin.

I remember a post I wrote nine years ago today. The message was sent by a close friend on a Good Friday.

These are reflections of an old man who donated blood one Good Friday.

“I gave blood, Christ gave His long ago; I gave a pint, He gave it all. My needle was short and sharp, His nails were large and dull. My cot was soft and restful, His cross was rough and hard. My med techs were kind and gentle, the soldiers were cruel and mean. The crowd applauded my sacrifice, those who passed by reviled Him. Mine was type A positive, His was positive for all. Mine, at best, will prolong life for a while, His without doubt will save us for all eternity”.

A blessed Good Friday to all.

BTW, it’s St. Pope John Paul II’s 16th death anniversary today.

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We are on the second day of Holy Week. Busy with attending short recollections online before the Paschal Triduum begins on the night of Holy Thursday and ends on Easter Sunday night.

Holy Week is one of the most important event in the Catholic calendar.The most important feast day by far is the Feast of Pascha (Easter) – the Feast of Feasts. Then the Twelve Great Feasts, which commemorate various significant events in the lives of Jesus Christ and of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary).

Fr. Pao sent me his schedule starting tomorrow – they have the Stations of the Cross, recollection and the Seven Last Words on Friday.

My regret though is not being able to read your posts and commenting too. Monday next week, I won’t be busy anymore. Then I’ll have those backreads on your posts.

Nissa is doing well. Thank you so much for all your prayers and good thoughts for her. She received some gifts from friends. What caught my attention was this small crate of different fruits from three of her high school friends. Love that green avocado on top.

Kiwis, oranges and apples are usually imported but those fresh strawberries usually come from Baguio. Fruits are important when you had Covid.

I miss Nate. I miss those moments when we would play in the garden and pick kalamansi. I wonder when I’ll be able to see them again.

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I told you about our Kris Kringle a few days ago at our Sambuhay Interaktib Online,  a program that we watch twice a week anchored by two  Pauline priest friends and a seminarian.  We have become one big family, those who are active at the site but we are scattered.  Some live in Australia, Canada, USA, Hongkong, Italy and even in the Middle East. 

Well, the app was downloaded by one of our members and friend Min helped him with e-mailing those who participated. Yes, there is an app called Secret Santa.  Fr. Pao suggested that everyone could join although it is not compulsory.  We’ll finally have the “reveal” tomorrow via Zoom. My goodness, I am only just learning how it works because I didn’t see the need of downloading the app before.  I wonder how the more than fifty of us would go about it. 

A few hours ago, I received the gift from my Secret Mommy  sent through MrSpeedy, another online delivery option for us here. We were allowed to have a wish list that our Secret Santa could see in the e-mail.  

Despite this pandemic, we could still laugh. I am glad I found this group. Last night, the topic was about previous and memorable times spent during  Christmas.  Everyone has their own story. I am really looking forward to tomorrow’s 115th episode.  Come to think of it, this program was conceptualized by the SSP ( Society of Saint Paul) brothers and priests to make lighter moments and share laughter despite the grave threat of this pandemic.  And we have music in between. Fr. Albert and Bro. AJ have lovely voices. We gained friends in the process. Wonderful 🙂

We are on the seventh day of Simbang Gabi, two more days to go and we’ll complete the novena masses. 

 

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Culled from the net

This was the photo they selected during his beatification.

I am sure some of you have heard of Carlo Acutis. 

“Blessed Carlo Acutis (3 May 1991 – 12 October 2006) was an Italian Catholic computer programmer. He was best known for documenting Eucharistic miracles around the world and cataloguing them all onto a website that he created in the months before his death from leukemia. He was noted for his cheerfulness and his computer skills as well as for his deep devotion to the Eucharist which became a core theme of his life.“- from Wikipedia

I only heard of him a  day after his scheduled beatification. Last night on live feed, I witnessed his beatification at 10:30 am (Italy time but was last night here in our country). He was beatified at the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi, Italy.  Even though the mass was in Italian, I cried while watching it.  He is the first millennial declared as blessed.  He  was born in London on May 3, 1991  and died  last October 12, 2008. He contracted leukemia and offered his pain both for St. Benedict XVI and for the Universal Church. 

Here’s two of his lovely and meaningful quotes:

“I offer all the suffering I will have to suffer for the Lord, for the Pope, and the Church”. 

“the more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of heaven”.

Here’ s the miracle attributed to Carlo Acutis’ prayers:  (from the catholictelegraph.com)

The beatification of Carlo Acutis took place Oct. 10 after a miracle attributed to his prayers and the grace of God. In Brazil, a boy named Mattheus was healed from a serious birth defect called an annular pancreas after he and his mother asked Acutis to pray for his healing.

Mattheus was born in 2009 with a serious condition that caused him difficulty eating and serious abdominal pain. He was unable to keep any food in his stomach, and vomited constantly.

By the time Mattheus was nearly four years old, he weighed only 20 pounds, and lived on a vitamin and protein shake, one of the few things his body could tolerate. He was not expected to live long.

His mother, Luciana Vianna, had spent years praying for his healing.

At the same time, a priest friend of the family, Fr. Marcelo Tenorio, learned online about the life of Carlo Acutis, and began praying for his beatification. In 2013 he obtained a relic from Carlo’s mother, and he invited Catholics to a Mass and prayer service in his parish, encouraging them to ask Acutis’ intercession for whatever healing they might need.

Mattheus’ mother heard about the prayer service. She decided she would ask Acutis to intercede for her son. In fact, in the days before the prayer service, Vianna made a novena for Acutis’ intercession, and explained to her son that they could ask Acutis to pray for his healing.

On the day of the prayer service, she took Mattheus and other family members to the parish.

Fr. Nicola Gori, the priest responsible for promoting Acutis’ sainthood cause, told Italian media what happened next:

“On October 12, 2013, seven years after Carlo’s death, a child, affected by a congenital malformation (annular pancreas), when it was his turn to touch the picture of the future blessed, expressed a singular wish, like a prayer: ‘I wish I could stop vomiting so much.’ Healing began immediately, to the point that the physiology of the organ in question changed,” Fr. Gori said.

On the way home from the Mass, Mattheus told his mother that he was already cured. At home, he asked for French fries, rice, beans, and steak – the favorite foods of his brothers.

He ate everything on his plate. He didn’t vomit. He ate normally the next day, and the next. Vianna took Mattheus to physicians, who were mystified by Mattheus’ healing.

Mattheus’ mother told Brazilian media she sees in the miracle an opportunity to evangelize.

“Before, I didn’t even use my cell phone, I was averse to technology. Carlo changed my way of thinking, he was known for talking about Jesus on the Internet, and I realized that my testimony would be a way to evangelize and give hope to other families. Today I understand that everything new can be good, if we use it for good, ” she told reporters.

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Today we celebrate the Feast Day of  our Lady of the  Holy Rosary.   Every year there used to be a procession of La Naval of the image at Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City. This year though, only a few participated but they brought out the image for a shorter route because of the  pandemic.

Have I  told you that the first time I’ve seen the image of Mama Mary up close was ten years ago when Fr. Lovell (still a seminarian then) invited me to join the Dominican community to pray the rosary with them when the image  was brought down from her pedestal in preparation for the annual procession? I can’t explain the feeling touching her magnificent and dazzling robe after praying the rosary. It was then a year after my chemotherapy. Back in high school at the university, we were all  required to wear our white gala uniforms and attend the procession every year.

Early this morning, I got this message from Fr. Lovell who is assigned in Iloilo at the moment.

Mapagpalang araw po. AS we celebrate today the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, I entrust you and your family to the protective and maternal care of our Mother. You will be remembered in the Holy Mass at 10 am to be celebrated at the Chapel of the House of the Most Holy Rosary Iloilo City. Keep safe.

He never forgets to include us in his masses since he was ordained eight years ago. How nice to be always remembered in prayers.

Happy Feast Day to all our Catholic friends. You are also remembered in prayers.

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