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http://apmedia.org/site/index.php

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http://ourwedding.pixelsplasher.com/~wedding-guides/sample-wedding-missalette/

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Mass

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/latinmass2.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/3960807/Misang-Pilipino-Misa-ng-Sambayanan-Bookfold

Sacraments

http://www.frtommylane.com/homilies/sacraments.htm

Summary of Weekdays of the Year

Friday of the 7^th Week of Easter

Saturday of the 7^th Week of Easter

Saturday of the 7^th Week of Easter

John 21:20-25

The Beloved Disciple

William Penn said: “If we are but sure the end is right, we are too apt to gallop over all bounds to compass it; not considering the lawful ends may be very unlawfully attained.”

Today’s gospel reading is the conclusion of St. John’s gospel on the life of Jesus. St. John says: ‘There are also many other things that Jesus did; but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written,” (v. 25). In other words, St. John, like the other evangelists, has chosen only those signs about Jesus that were suited to his purpose in writing. His purpose in writing his gospel is to show that Jesus is God; that God is love; and that to His followers Jesus offers His divine life. We may also say that in spite of scientific discoveries and inventions, we will continue to encounter the mysteries in our world especially in our lives and faith. It is because this world bears forever the imprint of God the Creator.

Somebody had said that these words are testimonies in favor of the Church’s reliance on Sacred Tradition.  The principle of ‘sola scriptura,’ which maintains that the bible is the only source of our Christian belief, is paradoxically not upheld by the Sacred Scripture itself.  We must look to the patrimony of the Church especially her history, the witness of the first few centuries, her liturgy and pious practices in order to tap all the richness of our belief.  For this we must rely on a living reality which enjoys the continuous support of Christ, through the action of the Holy Spirit. This is the living tradition of the Catholic Church, entrusted by Christ to her legitimate pastors, the successors of the Twelve Apostles.

But why do we compare ourselves with others?  Why we want to be better off than our neighbor? No wonder why we have so many rivals and enemies. Peter and John are both called as disciples of Jesus and each is given a different task to fulfil. But what is intriguing is when Peter questions John’s role. He asks Jesus: “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him: “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me,” (vv. 21-22).

A priest said in his homily that worrying about ourselves in comparison with others, even in questions of holiness and apostolic ability, is a mistake. The Lord prefers that we mind our own business, the business of growing in our friendship with Him and in our dedication to the apostolate. Harnessing the inspiring examples others give us should push us forward to greater holiness and self-giving. At the same time, we have to learn how to rejoice in others’ triumphs, seeing God alive in them, working in them, loving them. Jealousy and competition insinuate themselves into our view of others’ work, but if we build our faith-vision, seeing God in them, we rejoice.

Like St. Peter, Jesus tells us to follow Him instead of comparing ourselves with others in terms of holiness and apostolate. And at the end let us remember that at the close of our lives the question will not be (Nathan C. Schaeffer):

“How much have you gotten?” but “How much have you given?”

Not “How much have you won?” but “How much have you done?”

Not “How much have you saved?” but “How much have you sacrificed?”

It will be “How much have you loved and served,” not “How much were you honored?”

Friday of the 7^th Week of Easter

John 21:15-19

Jesus and Peter

Richard A. Vurva of Merrillville, Indiana, USA told a story that every year the youngest children in the Trinity Lutheran preschool in Crown Point, Indiana, steal the show at their end-of-the-year program. This year they did the usual waves to parents, mugging and tugging at their clothes. The highlight came when 11 children, none of whom could yet read, proudly held up brightly colored 3-foot-high letters that spelled: DOG LOVES YOU. Actually it was supposed to be read as: GOD LOVES YOU. But if we spell the word ‘Dog’ backward, what we get is God.

We are taught that God is Love (1John 4:16). His love is unconditional, without limit, and everlasting. It’s the beginning and the end; and it’s the essence of Christianity.  It draws us to the heart of God and it compels us to give to him our full allegiance and our very lives. What can quench such love?  Certainly, they are indifference, disbelief, or rejection of God and his word.

Jesus in today’s gospel asks St. Peter: Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Jesus sees to it that Peter may answer in the affirmative. These triple questions may be a reference to Peter’s triple denial before the passion, as if Christ were giving Peter a chance to make up for his earlier offence.  In other words, Jesus is not discouraged of Peter’s betrayal from building His Church on him. This does not mean that Jesus ignores his betrayal. In fact, He is very careful to give Peter a chance to nullify his betrayal with three questions of love and making him more humble. In this sense, God uses even our past sins and mistakes for our own good if we sincerely repent them. The Lord calls us, even in our weakness and sin, to love Him above all else. Adrian van Kaam, a Psychologist, in his book The Dynamics of Spiritual Self-Direction, explains how this all works out. He writes: “God can help us to make the best of the past so that nothing is wasted in our lives. During the years that we were perhaps not yet totally in line with our true self-direction, we have been gathering experience, information and understanding, both of ourselves and of the secular society around us. God used that growing awareness to lead to this point of dissatisfaction and of discernment of new and better possibilities of life. We should show our gratefulness and trust in Him by not lamenting what has been while wasting the possibilities of today and tomorrow. Nobody can change the past as such; everybody can change the impact of the past on the future. Even the negative experiences of the past can help us to prevent similar mistakes in our new life direction,” (pp. 266-267).

After Peter answers these three questions, Jesus also says: ‘Feed my lambs’; ‘tend my sheep’ and ‘feed my sheep.’ In other words, Peter has to journey with each sheep for a lifetime. Fr. Domie Guzman (Sabbath, May 9, 2008) explained this further by saying that: first, Jesus says: “Feed My Lambs.” A lamb is delicate and defenceless and so it has to be fed and cared for like a baby. In other words, like Jesus, we have to guide and stimulate others in their faith, helping them to reach the maturity God wants of them.

Second, Jesus says: “Tend my sheep.” When a lamb becomes a sheep, it can graze for food and so what the shepherd has to do is to tend the sheep and see to it that it does astray from the group. In other words, following Jesus, we have to take care of other people. And through this question, ‘do you love me?’ God presses us for an answer in our day to day living.

Third, Jesus says: “Feed my sheep.” Finally the sheep becomes old and weak and so it must be kept healthy for its remaining years by the loving hands of the shepherd. In other words, we have to follow Him unconditionally.

Thursday of the 7^th Week of Easter

John 17:20-26

The Prayer of Jesus

The book Moody’s Anecdotes (p. 53) says that there are two ways of being united: one is by being frozen together and the other is by being melted together. What Christians need is to be united in brotherly love and then they may expect to have power.

Today’s gospel reading presents the conclusion of Jesus’ High-Priestly Prayer. The content of His prayer is for the unity of all Christians.  Especially that nowadays, we often see breakdowns of communication in families, enmity among members of the same faith community, dissention in civil society and hostility between nations. He prays also for the unity of the members of His body the pilgrim church that we will be one as He and His Father is one. He says: “So that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you; that they also may be in us,” (v. 21). As His disciples, we must also work for Christian unity which today we call as ecumenism. The Second Vatican Council was so concerned about this ecumenical movement that it made a special document called, Decree on Ecumenism (1964). The document says: “There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a change of heart. For it is from newness of attitudes (Eph 4:23) and from self-denial and unstinted love that yearnings for unity take their rise and grow toward maturity. We should therefore pray to the divine Spirit for the grace to be genuinely self-denying, humble, gentle in the service of others, and to have an attitude of brotherly generosity toward them,” (n. 7).

Besides prayer and holiness of heart, the Council also urges us to study everything we can about our separated brethren especially their doctrines, history, liturgy, psychology, cultural background, etc. and also to meet and discuss with them if we are sufficiently competent. This prayer of Jesus for the unity of all Christians continued to be the great concern of the late Pope John Paul II.  This movement for Christian unity must be based on sincere dialogue and respect for one another.  It seeks to emphasize our common heritage with other Christian communities, and to honestly thresh out differences in fidelity to the truth of the Gospel.  Let us all pray for the continued success of these efforts.

And concretely, Fr. Domie Guzman (Sabbath, May 8, 2008) said that this oneness will become the root of “perfection” (v. 23) because of:

• Authentic witnessing. More than the words and wonderworks that they will use at the service of the gospel, the very life and person of the disciples will be their testimony. They will have to be the sign of the message that they bring: that God is One and one in the works of salvation.
• Strength. That in spite of cruel persecutions in the hands of the Roman empire for the first 100 years of Christian witnessing, Christ followers carried one another and encouraged each other to fidelity with their psalms, hymns, exhortations and examples of heroic faith.
• Growth and building up. Fr. Guzman said that unity in thought, heart and action brings peace and progress in every endeavour.

Wednesday of the 7^th Week of Easter

John 17:11b-19

The Father’s Word is Truth

I would like to share with you the prayers of these little children ages 6-9 which I think can help us too on how to pray as children of God. Like them we have to be specific. Here are some of their prayers: Dear God: 1) Please send a new baby for Mommy. The new baby you sent last week cries too much. 2) How many angels are there in heaven? I would like to be the first kid in my class to know the answer. 3) This is my prayer. Could you please give my brother some brains? So far he doesn’t have any.4) Please help me in school. I need help in spelling, adding, history, geography and writing. I don’t need help in anything else. 5) Do you have any helpers in Heaven? I would like to be one of Your helpers in Heaven when I have summer vacation. 6) Tomorrow is my birthday. Could you please put a rainbow in the sky? 7) I need a raise in my allowance. Could you have one of your angels tell my father. Thank you.

Well the above children’s prayers are examples of a petition or intercessory prayer. In today’s gospel, Jesus makes mediation or intercessory prayers for the Twelve Apostles who are with Him, for all those close to His heart and for His future disciples.

Jesus’ intercessory prayer in today’s gospel has four elements. The first is protection for his disciples in this hostile world (vv. 11ff). Jesus always remains with His own, His disciples, forever especially when their journey towards the Kingdom is getting rough. In relation to this, I will share with you this story. There is a story about a man who lost his wife, leaving him to be both mother and father to a six-year-old son. After her funeral, father and son came home, both feeling so alone and grieved by their loss. That night as they prepared for bed, the boy asked, “Daddy, may I sleep in your room tonight, too?” But neither one could seem to go to sleep. They both tossed and turned until late in the night. Finally, the little boy asked, “Daddy, are you looking at me? Because if you are, I think I can go to sleep.” And the father answered, “Yes son, I’m looking at you.”

The little boy started at last to rest and finally fell asleep. After he was asleep the father got out of bed, walked over to the window and pulled back the curtain. He looked up into the starry sky and said, “Father, are you looking at me? Because if you are, I think I can rest and be at peace.”

Second is the world. Jesus who became man loves the world so much that He came to save the world from their sins. But in today’s gospel the world is some kind of a ‘Satan’ which is opposed to Jesus’ mission. And as followers of Jesus we should respond to insult with praise, to attacks with kindness, to hatred with love. This stamps us unmistakably as genuine followers of Jesus Christ, Christ the living person capable of generating real loyalty in us, not a Christ who is only an ideal to whom we pay lip service while living as followers of the world.

Third is joy, Jesus’ joy. Even if we are suffering from any misfortunes, Jesus’ joy is everlasting. We need this joyful message of Jesus in order for us to go on with this present life.

Fourth is truth, the very important aspect of life. Jesus consecrates or makes us holy to the truth. A priest said in his homily that we have a role to play in building up the Church. We need to pray for the Church’s unity and the sanctity of all her members. Let us pray for our bishops and priests so that they will be guided by God’s light in teaching and acting according to Christ’s wishes. We too need to provide a clear example of Christian charity. Christ drew many souls to himself because He is “irresistible” in his way with souls, repulsing only the most closed in mind and heart. Christ expects us to be his ambassadors of truth, charity and concern for souls.

Tuesday of the 7^th Week of Easter

John 17:1-11a

The Prayer of Jesus

“Glory” is the key word in today’s powerful and sublime prayer of Jesus in behalf of His Church, His present and future followers, to the Father to complete within it what He has begun. Since the 16th century, it has been called the High-Priestly Prayer, because this speaks of Jesus as a priest about to offer a sacrifice. In His case, of course, the sacrifice He offers is His own life. In this prayer, Jesus speaks directly to His Father in the presence of the apostles, thus intentionally giving them a glimpse into His relationship with His Father.

Six times that Jesus mentions this word ‘glory.’ He asks God the Father to give glory to Him so that He in turn may give glory back to God the Father. In other words, He is telling us to give glory to the Father as what He has done.

But how can we give glory to God everyday of our lives? A historian responded: “You have to die first before you find your glory!” Of course Jesus did it for us. And a concrete example too was the former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. He had enemies during his lifetime especially during the time of his presidency. But even those who had criticized him saw His greatness when he died. An example was Stanton, Lincoln’s archenemy, when he looked at his dead body with tears in his eyes, he said: “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen.”

Today’s readings complement each other very well in the perspective they give on our relation with Christ and our apostolate as Christians. A priest, in his homily, gave us three qualities by which we can give glory to God in our daily lives without dying physically. These are: prayer, willingness to carry our crosses and faithfulness to God.

First is Prayer. When we pray we open ourselves to God and constantly communicate to Him. We allow God to transform us. When we pray, God becomes the center of our lives and accept what truly matters that is, loving God and accepting the love He has for us. But when we pray let us remember what Bill Hybels in his, Too Busy Not To Pray (IVP, p. 74) says: “If the request is wrong, God says, ‘No.’ If the timing is wrong, God says, ‘Slow.’ If you are wrong, God says, ‘Grow.’ But if the request is right, the timing is right and you are right, God says, ‘Go!’”

Second is willingness to carry our crosses. If we carry our crosses, we praise Jesus, shows our love and devotion to God the Father. When we carry our cross let us remember what Billy Graham in his, The Offense of the Cross, had said: “When Jesus said, ‘If you are going to follow me, you have to take up a cross,’ it was the same as saying, ‘Come and bring your electric chair with you. Take up the gas chamber and follow me.’ He did not have a beautiful gold cross in mind, the cross on a church steeple or on the front of your Bible. Jesus had in mind a place of execution.”

Third is faithfulness to God. This is shown in loving Him with our whole heart and our neighbor as ourselves through acts of charity and compassion toward others, speaks of God’s infinite goodness and loving care for every one of us. And also let us not forget what F.B. Meyer had said: “Don’t waste your time waiting and longing for large opportunities which may never come. But faithfully handle the little things that are always claiming your attention.”

Monday of the 7^th Week of Easter

Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33

Jesus’ Departure

Jesus said: “I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the word.”

“I have conquered the world,” in other words, Jesus has already saved the world. Jesus Christ already saves us. Salvation has already begun in us. But how can we be sure that we are already saved? What are the signs? I believe that in my whole life we experience salvation already even if we are still here on earth if:

First, we love the sacraments so much especially the Eucharist and His word where we encounter Jesus Christ by receiving His body and blood and if we give more importance into this sacrament.

In the Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) level, we know how the faithful love the Eucharist so much. When they celebrate their fiesta and foundation anniversary, they begin it, as much as possible, with a Mass before any other activities.

One time, during a Sunday Mass I celebrated and during Communion, a blessed host fell into the ground when I gave it to a person receiving the blessed host. Instead of using his hands to get the blessed host, he got it through his tongue. That is, in my own reflection, how important and precious this body of Christ is that even for this person his hands is not worthy to hold it, but that is beyond superstition.

Second, we praise God even in little blessings that we receive from Him. Every letter of the word ‘PRAISE’ has its meaning. P stands for Primary. It is Primary because our number one priority in life is not our money or wealth but God Himself. R stands for Raise your voice. When we receive blessings, let us not hesitate to shout our gratitude to God. A stands for Affirming God’s will. This is our yes and commitment to do His will. I stands for Internalizing His teaching, that is putting into practice His teachings. S stands for Seeking Jesus always, that is, consulting Him especially during the time that we make big decisions in our lives. And E stands for Effort. We have to struggle in preaching Jesus’ words and deeds and not about our accomplishments but about Jesus who is the source of everything.

Lastly, we know how to forgive. It’s not easy to forgive but our nature is that of a forgiving son and daughter of God.

There is this Spanish story of a father and a son who had become estranged as reported by Bits & Pieces (October 15, 1992, pp. 13). The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.

How can we preach salvation to those who are suffering because of injustice and poverty?

Saturday of the 6^th Week of Easter

John 16:23-28

The Coming Day

I do not know if you notice that in the opening prayer of the Mass, the prayer is addressed to God the Father. But towards the end of the prayer, we say, “We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ…” In other words, when we pray, we should address our prayer to God the Father through Jesus Christ.

In today’s gospel Jesus says: “Whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you,” (v. 23). He is saying that our prayer should be addressed to the Father, but ‘in my name’, that is, in the presence of Jesus and through Him. In the Liturgical celebration this is the pattern of prayer. The Eucharistic prayer is invariably addressed to the Father, ‘through Him (Jesus), with Him and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.’ All our prayer has the pattern of the Trinity stamped on it.

Somebody said that this does not mean that we should never pray to anyone but the Father. In the Catholic tradition we feel free to pray to Jesus, Mary and the saints, but always in the full knowledge that the Father is the ultimate destination of all prayer, just as every stream, even the raindrops streaming down your window pane, is making its way to the sea.

In relation to this, David Jeremiah in his Prayer, the Great Adventure (pp. 89-90) said that when John F. Kennedy was President of the United States, Life magazine published photos of his children, John Jr. and Caroline, playing with their toys on the floor of the Oval Office. Those images captured the hearts of the American people like nothing before or since. Why? D. Jeremiah thought that it’s because it bridged a gap between two thoughts: Kennedy was the President of the United States, but he was also a father. He held ultimate political power in the Free World, but playing at his feet were two little kids who called him Daddy. I don’t think your kids would have been allowed to do that. Nor mine. But his kids were. Why? He was their father. He was not only President of the United States; he was also their dad.

In the same way, God is both our Father and the Lord of glory. We can approach Him confidently in prayer because we are His dearly beloved children, but we must never forget that He is also the Sovereign of the universe.

At the end, again let us reflect this anecdote that I read. A man arrives in heaven, and St. Peter is showing him around. After a while, they pass by a large warehouse, and the man inquires what is inside. “Oh, you don’t want to see that,” protests St. Peter. The man’s curiosity is piqued, and he demands to see inside. St. Peter opens the door, and they see a warehouse full of wonderful things, stacked to the rafters. “Why didn’t you want me to see this?” the man demands. “It all looks wonderful!” “Well,” says St. Peter, “I thought it might make you sad. You see, those are all the things God had ready to give you, if you had only asked for them in prayer.

God also knows where we are. And so let us place ourselves in His hands, concentrate on knowing His will for our lives and He will never forsake or forget us.

Friday of the 6^th Week of Easter

John 16:20-23

The Disciples’ Joy

Spiritual author Jean Catoir in his humorous book, Enjoy the Lord. A Guide to Contemplation, says: “We were made for happiness and we alone among created beings have the capacity for laughter… From our earliest days we were taught in religion class that our purpose was ultimately to be happy with God in this life and forever in the next. If only the teachers had spent more time telling us how. Saint Thomas Aquinas started in the right direction with this piece of wisdom: ‘The end of education is contemplation.’ I like the definition of contemplation that describes it as ‘the enjoyment of God.’ I do not believe the enjoyment of God should be left to monks and nuns in monasteries. We should have some fun too,” (p. X).

Our life consists of sadness and joy and Jesus recognizes this. That is why in today’s gospel reading, He tells His disciples that after the Resurrection they shall see Him again. And He adds: “And your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you,” (v. 22). These words are also true to us. Whatever our trials, we can always find strength, consolation and yes an abiding joy in the thought that our Lord is forever happy and wants us to have a joy no one can take from us.

You know we have pursued joy in every avenue imaginable. Some of us have successfully found it while others have not. Perhaps it would be easier to describe where joy cannot be found according to The Bible Friend, (Turning Point May, 1993):

Not in Unbelief. Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: “I wish I had never been born.”

Not in Pleasure. Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure if anyone did. He wrote: “The worm, the canker and grief are mine alone.”

Not in Money. Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of that. When dying, he said: “I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.”

Not in Position and Fame. Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of both. He wrote: “Youth is a mistake; manhood a struggle; old age is a regret.”

Not in Military Glory. Alexander the Great conquered the known world in his day. Having done so, he wept in his tent, before he said, “There are no more worlds to conquer.”

Where then is real joy found? The answer is simple, in Christ alone.

Many times in our lives, while we are so very busy with the things of this world and go with its flow, we lose the sight of the Lord. And before realizing it we are already plastered all sorts of worldly promises and distractions offering us nothing but confusion.

At the end I would like to share with you this experience of an SVD missionary priest about Jesus’ presence even in every detail of our lives. Travelling with a companion on a deserted road in his mission assignment one day, they passed by a vehicle that was noticeably moving slowly. Assuming the car had mechanical trouble, they stopped and offered assistance. The driver, a fellow missionary (not an SVD), had a flat tire. However, he had no spare tire, so this SVD missionary exclaimed: “What? Running a car in a mountainous area and so remote without a spare tire?” and he said to him: “You know, I was already an hour on the road when I remembered that I left behind my spare tire at the mission house downtown but I said to myself God will provide for my needs.” “And you believe that?” he asked. “Yes!” came the candid reply. “And I assume He sent you.” We laughed but realized the truth of God’s abiding presence even in the smallest detail of our daily life.