Lent and Easter: Tradition and Reformation
Pope Francis' Lenten Message:
Laudato si' (Praise Be to You) has the subtitle "on care for our common home." In it, the pope critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, laments environmental degradation and global warming, and calls all people of the world to take "swift and unified global action."
The Philippines is the only Roman Catholic country in Asia, a heritage from Renaissance Europe from the 15th century onward to postmodern times. Catholicism was deeply ingrained during the 400-year Spanish colonization. Today as a basic right and freedom, many Filipinos particularly among the young, find other religions and sects inviting and attractive - cults notwithstanding.
On the other hand, there has been a noted growing passivity among the faithful, so too, within the church organization itself, arguably on the relevance of the church towards current and forthcoming issues, among them the wanton destruction of nature and the environment. Degradation of the environment has become a global issue, and in response on the part of the church the Holy Father launched a second encyclical, Laudato Si'
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The Message of Pope Francis for Lent 2023 Excerpt: "Lent is a time of truth, a time to drop the masks we put on each day to appear perfect in the eyes of the world," he said, and to "reject lies and hypocrisy. Not the lies and hypocrisies of others, but our own."
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A Prayer before Christ on the Cross Dr Abe V Rotor
We ask Your Blessing and Guidance,
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Keeping with age-old tradition - a procession of holy icons in observance of Holy Week in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.
A Prayer before Christ on the CrossWe ask Your Blessing and Guidance,
this Lenten Season -
- Make us involved and determined to carry out reforms to protect us and our world from force majeure and man-induced calamities.
Selected Quotes for Reflection
"As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus' thirst...'Repent and believe' Jesus tells us. What are we to repent? Our indifference, our hardness of heart. What are we to believe? Jesus thirsts even now, in your heart and in the poor -- He knows your weakness. He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you." – St Teresa of Calcutta
"Prayer does not change the purpose of God. But prayer does change the action of God." -- Chuck Smith
“God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces of against evil …” -- E.M. Bounds
"It is difficult to travel with heavy bags and baggages. Like Jesus, let us travel light."
- Cardinal Tagle
- Make us elements of peace and unity that we may live as brothers and sisters in harmony with the environment and Nature;
- Make us catalysts of change, and an anchor against chartless and undefined destiny;
- Make us conveyors of knowledge, skill and values rolled into a holistic well-being;
- Make us healers by bringing solutions and enlightenment to human misery of all kinds;
- Make us agents of rational thoughts and decisions towards our fellowmen, and humanity as a whole;
- Make us good housekeepers of Mother Earth in accordance with her laws and order.
- Make us sentries to our family, community, starting with ourselves,to fend off wasteful, ostentatious living;
- Make us strong and determined to protect the pillars of our institutions that make an ideal society;
- Make us custodians of the environment through responsive and relevant ways compatible with traditional and contemporary means;
- Make us guardians in the way of the Parable of the Sower, the Prodigal Son, and the Good Samaritan,
- Make us realize the primordial importance of sound ecological principles and apply them to our lives and everyday living.
Strengthen our resolve and commitment as good Christians.
- to reach out for one another;
- to listen;
- to care;
- to comfort;
- to encourage one another when we fail;
- to pray for one another when we falter;
- to be strong together as one community.
- to be one in unity and harmony with Nature.
Amen
Selected Quotes for Reflection
"As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus' thirst...'Repent and believe' Jesus tells us. What are we to repent? Our indifference, our hardness of heart. What are we to believe? Jesus thirsts even now, in your heart and in the poor -- He knows your weakness. He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you." – St Teresa of Calcutta
"Prayer does not change the purpose of God. But prayer does change the action of God." -- Chuck Smith
“God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces of against evil …” -- E.M. Bounds
"It is difficult to travel with heavy bags and baggages. Like Jesus, let us travel light."
- Cardinal Tagle
Site of one of the 13 Stations of the Cross – Dr Peroma L Pacis’ Residence, San Vicente Ilocos Sur, 2019
- The Lord measures out perfection neither by the multitude nor the magnitude of our deeds, but by the manner in which we perform them.” – St. John of the Cross
- “God is not interested in your art, but your heart.” ― Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
- “No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great.” ― John Chrysostom
- Lent is a time to renew wherever we are in that process that I call the divine therapy. It's a time to look what our instinctual needs are, look at what the dynamics of our unconscious are. - Thomas Keating
“During these 40 days, let me put away all my pride. Let me change my heart and give up all that is not good within me. Let me love God with all that I am and all that I have.” – Genesis Grain
"Lent is like a long 'retreat' during which we can turn back into ourselves and listen to the voice of God, in order to defeat the temptations of the Evil One. It is a period of spiritual 'combat' which we must experience alongside Jesus, not with pride and presumption, but using the arms of faith: prayer, listening to the word of God and penance. In this way we will be able to celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our Baptism." -- Pope Benedict XVI
“If you truly want to help the soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask him simply to fill you with charity, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can accomplish what you desire. - St Vincent Ferrer ~
- The Lord measures out perfection neither by the multitude nor the magnitude of our deeds, but by the manner in which we perform them.” – St. John of the Cross
- “God is not interested in your art, but your heart.” ― Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
- “No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great.” ― John Chrysostom
- Lent is a time to renew wherever we are in that process that I call the divine therapy. It's a time to look what our instinctual needs are, look at what the dynamics of our unconscious are. - Thomas Keating
“During these 40 days, let me put away all my pride. Let me change my heart and give up all that is not good within me. Let me love God with all that I am and all that I have.” – Genesis Grain
"Lent is like a long 'retreat' during which we can turn back into ourselves and listen to the voice of God, in order to defeat the temptations of the Evil One. It is a period of spiritual 'combat' which we must experience alongside Jesus, not with pride and presumption, but using the arms of faith: prayer, listening to the word of God and penance. In this way we will be able to celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our Baptism." -- Pope Benedict XVI
“If you truly want to help the soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask him simply to fill you with charity, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can accomplish what you desire. - St Vincent Ferrer ~
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