After the Amplified Provincial Council Meeting, the Provincial Council met on October 21.

My dear sisters and brothers in the Lord,

With the situation of our times, much more with our economy, it is not rare to hear people saying, “I am too busy!” I have to do this double job ‘coz I have to pay my bills, I am too busy! Sorry, I missed Mass last Sunday because I was too busy with my household chores! Oh, I can’t lend a helping hand in the ministry because I am too busy! It is understandable that we cannot avoid facing so many pressures and challenges in life. Yet, to make our “being busy” as an excuse to miss other important elements in our life would is a remiss. Someone has even said that the word “busy” means B-eing, U-nder, S-atan’s, Yoke.  We need to be freed from our slavery to busyness! Our Sunday’s Gospel text calls us to come to Jesus.  “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest!” The Sunday rest is a must and great necessity for our physical and spiritual replenishment. Let us use each Sunday to dedicate ourselves to Christ most truly when we pray and participate at Mass and receive Him in Holy Communion!

Next Sunday, July 9 and 10, we will be having a second collection for the Seminarians (men in Formation for Priesthood) of the Diocese of Honolulu. Seven years ago the Diocese did not have any seminarian in formation, now we have 11 young men who have responded to follow the steps of the Lord.  There are three things we can do: 1) to generously financially support our diocesan seminarians as it takes about $20,000 per year to educate each of them.  2)  Pray that they may persevere and truly formed in the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, our High Priest. 3) Encourage some young men from Star of the Sea to consider responding to the call to the priesthood or religious life.

On our part, we need to live out our being disciples of Jesus.  This “vocation” is a to live a life of perfection or holiness – to imitate and live out the very life of Jesus. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect?” (Matthew 5:48) This “vocation” is not a career but a holy lifestyle expressed in 3 states of life – married life, single-blessedness and celibate life.  There is no wanting in the first 2 states. Though here in the U.S. there is dire need of vocations to the priesthood and religious life yet God never stop calling and inviting.  Let us pray that the voice of God’s call to our young men and women be neither drowned by busyness nor the noise of the false worldly values of materialism, individualism, egotism, commercialism, consumerism, relativism, etc.  May we not be the ones to lay the barriers and create distractions! Then how can we work together to overcome these?  First: To be truly conscious of promoting the growth of vocations in our families.  Let us build up a healthy and appreciative view of the vocation to the priesthood and religious life!  Share and talk about it with your children and encourage them to listen to the call.  Second: Let us join in praying daily, if possible, that our young men and women will listen and say “yes” to God’s invitation to be priests and religious! Thirdly:  The fruit of this prayer will come alive only if you do your part to respond to the call of the Lord.  Jesus said “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few! Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field!” (Luke 10:1-3).  - Fr. Mark U. del Rosario, SSS

This Sunday is the solemn feast of the Corpus Christ (Body and Blood of Christ)!  Though this feast started during the 13^th century to give due honor and worship to Jesus, the Son of God, who is present in the Blessed Sacrament, it is rooted in the very Last Supper of the Lord. There, Jesus gave us His own Body as the Bread of Life, and His Blood as the Cup of Eternal salvation.  It was the Council of Trent of 1545-1563 AD that unequivocally promulgated the Catholic dogma: “Under the appearance of bread and wine, Jesus, our Lord is really, truly and substantially present Body and Blood, Soul, Divinity and Power!”  By the power of the Holy Spirit, the Bread and Wine that are consecrated during the Mass are transformed into the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of the Living Resurrected Christ. The Host and the Wine that we receive in Holy Communion are NEITHER a sign, nor a figure, nor a representation nor a virtue but is Himself the Son of the Living God! The Gospel of John quotes Jesus as saying that “I am the Bread of Life … I am the Living Bread come down from heaven. Whoever eats this Bread will live forever and the Bread I shall give is my Flesh for the life of the world!” During this solemn feast, we thank God for giving us this precious gift of Jesus’ presence as our nourishment and our strength to continue His saving mission until He comes again in His glory.

Holy Communion is the very heart of every Mass.  By receiving Holy Communion, we become one with Christ, the Son of God. At the same time we are also united with each other in a Communion of faith – as St. Paul said:  “We are the Body of Christ. He is our head and we are the living members.”  This is the reason why, we Catholics, prepare ourselves well when we attend Mass.  We make sure that we are: 1) Properly disposed: that is spiritually motivated to receive the Eucharist with a thankful mind, heart and soul plus a willingness to offer our very lives in sacrifice to God together with the sacrifice of Jesus; 2) Fasted for an hour before Communion – to make us aware that what we will receive in Holy Communion is not ordinary food; 3) Morally and spiritually clean – not conscious of any grave sin. [Persons who are conscious of grave sin, but cannot easily receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, may receive Communion after an Act of Perfect Contrition and with the intention of receiving Reconciliation at the first possible time (Canon Law 916)]. 4) Willing to accept the mission to make our family, our workplace, our neighborhood, our community, our nation, and our world centered on the love of Jesus in the Eucharist.

During this feast, let us pray for our fellow Christians of other denominations who are not in full communion of faith in the Eucharist with us, that one day, that one day this division in the Church will one day be reconciled.

From the Diocese’ Office of Worship:  “All are invited to the annual Eucharistic Procession on Sunday, June 26, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.  The procession begins with Mass at 10:30 am at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa and continues at 12 Noon with a procession from St. Theresa to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace and concludes there with Solemn Exposition and Benediction.”

In preparation for the implementation of the New English Translation of the Third Edition of the Roman Missal, we will enjoin all our Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, our Lectors/Commentators’ Group and all the members of the Choirs to attend a series of On-going formation sessions beginning the middle of July. There will be a series of catechesis that will be offered to all our parishioners in the coming months on this regard. Please continue to pray for God’s guidance in all our endeavors, plans and actualization of our ministries.  Let us make our every Parish Sunday Mass a joyful and prayerful encounter with God’s wonderful Gift – the Body and Blood of Christ, our Eucharist!  – Fr. Mark U. del Rosario, SSS

]]> http://www.blessedsacramentph.org/corpus-christi/feed 1 http://www.blessedsacramentph.org/come-holy-spirit http://www.blessedsacramentph.org/come-holy-spirit#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 03:00:24 +0000 junvicdiolatasss http://www.blessedsacramentph.org/?p=812   [ Read More ]]]> June 12, 2011 –  Pentecost Day

My dear sisters and brothers in the Lord!

“Come, O Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your faithful with the fire of your love!” We unite together as we pray for our 18 Confirmandi who would receive the fullness of the gift of the Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of Confirmation. Our heartfelt gratitude to our dear Bishop Larry for conferring the Sacrament to these youth! We, likewise, thank all their parents for their encouragement and support. We are ever thankful to Ms. Debra Arellano, Ms. Val Pedro, Ms. Kristine Knitter and Ms. Darlene Ah Yo for accompanying them in their spiritual journey!

Pentecost day is the birthday of our Church!  Jesus sent another Advocate, the Holy Spirit to be the comforter, guide and strength for his disciples. In the form of tongues of fire, the Holy Spirit rested on the heads of the frightened and cowardly disciples and made them courageous and zealous apostles. The Holy Spirit is the new presence of the resurrected Jesus who sustained them to face all the tribulations they faced as they preach the Good News. This same Spirit continually animates our present Catholic Church to be the living witness of the Gospel and inspiration to live the call to holiness of life. Surely, Jesus never fails us.  It is rather us who fail Him.  In spite of our weakness and sinfulness Jesus never gave up on us.  His gift of the Holy Spirit leads and directs us through the right path to God. “Thank you, O Holy Spirit for your sevenfold gifts – wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.”

Wednesday before Pentecost, our Elementary School students conducted a thanksgiving prayer service as they end the school year 2010-2011.  Congratulations to our principal, Ms. Carola Souza, all the teachers, staff, graduates and students for a fruitful and blessed school year! May the Good Lord refresh your tired minds and bodies during this summer break! May He perk up your spirits with His Holy Spirit so that your accumulated knowledge will be transformed unto His gift of Wisdom and Love!

On the eve of Pentecost, our Parish Home Visitation program modestly commenced yesterday to proclaim the Good News of Jesus’ presence and love in His Eucharist. The objectives of the visit are:  1. to manifest aloha and concern by the Parish.  2. To welcome back parishioners who ceased attending Mass or who attend Mass infrequently, 3. to encourage parishioners to utilize their gifts in parish activities, 4. to listen to parishioners’ recommendations. Deacon Andy Gerakas and Bob Lessard started with the Waikui neighborhood. “After this the Lord appointed seventy (two) others whom he sent ahead of Him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.  He said to them, “the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.  Go on your way; behold I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag no sack, no sandals; greet no one along the way.  Into whatever house you enter, firs say, “peace to this household.  If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. “(Luke 10:1-6). We lift up in prayer to the Lord those who have welcomed Deacon Andy and Bob to their homes. May Jesus’ peace remain with you as always!

Pentecost is a moment for us to reassess our own commitment to serve the Jesus and His Church by facing the new challenges of our times.  It is a time to affirm and reaffirm our “yes” to the Holy Spirit to welcome newness and beginnings in our lives.  Let us pray that all the confirmandi, the graduates of our Early Learning Center and Elementary School, and our Parish Visitation teams will always be fired by the Holy Spirit to live up to and proclaim the Christian ideals and values that they received.  - Fr. Mark U. del Rosario, SSS

My dear sisters and brothers in the Lord!

Today, we celebrate Ascension Sunday and Easter season is coming to a close. This will hopefully lead us to recapitulate the whole Paschal event of Jesus – His life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension.   Jesus went up to heaven to assume His rightful place.  He is seated at the right hand of His Father to intercede for us! He then assumed the fullness of the power of His Godhead – being the Second Person of the Holy Trinity – to be our Intercessor and Mediator before the Majesty of God, His Father.  In His farewell discourse in the Gospel of St. John He assured His disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God, have faith also in me.  In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would have I not told you that I am going to prepare a place for you!”By His ascension, Jesus is not leaving us. He has gone ahead of us to set things ready for us.  He will come back just as the angels announced: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen Him going to heaven!” What an awesome and confident feeling to know that Jesus is always saying a good word before the Father for us in spite of our weaknesses and sinfulness. We look forward for the time of His return, to the resurrection of the just, to bring us His faithful ones to our heavenly inheritance.

Speaking of leaving, please pray for the soul of Enrique Yanzon, that he would take his place in our Father’s eternal home. He is an elder brother of Br. Buddy Yanzon, SSS.  He met a sudden death due to an accident last week in the Philippines. We also extend our condolences to the Yanzon family and pray for the grace of consolation.  Likewise, we extend our farewell to our Parish CFO, Ms. Marilyn Fischer as she leaves for Florida to take care of her elderly parents.  She has been our CFO for almost 3 years, 7 years as parishioner and also a volunteer teacher for our Sunday CCD.  Our heartfelt thanks to all you have done for the Parish and the Schools. You would surely be missed. God be with you!

Next Sunday is Pentecost day!  It was the time when the promised Advocate – the Spirit of Truth – alighted on the heads of the disciples like tongues of fire and transformed them into dauntless apostles of the Risen Christ.  Let us pray for our candidates for confirmation who are preparing themselves to receive the gift of life, love and wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

This coming Saturday, June 11, our 3 Parish Visitation Teams will commence their pilgrimage around the Parish.  Here are the three (3) teams in 3 locations:  1) Deacon Ferdie Ona and team at the Kahala Avenue area, 2) Deacon Andy Gerakas and team at the Waikui St. area, and 3) Deacon Henry Miner and team at the Malia St. area. The Parishioners in those given areas will receive a letter and also a telephone call informing them of the visit.  In the manner of the apostles’ way, our teams will share with you the peace and joy of the Lord. We hope and pray that you would also welcome them with Christ’s peace and joy!

Let us pray that the Good Lord will bring to completion all the graces and blessings that He has begun in our parish!     -  Fr. Mark U. del Rosario, SSS

Again we wish to congratulate all our ELC Kindergarten graduates.  We are happy to note that many, if not all of them will move forward to our Elementary School.  We also congratulate and pray that Middle School 8th Grade graduates will continue to live out and practice Jesus’ commandment of love that they have learned from our School. We thank all their teachers who have tried their best to model their teaching and guidance from Jesus, our loving Teacher.
We also thank and wish the best for our Chief Finance Officer, Marilyn Fischer as she moves back to the US Mainland.  She needs to attend to her elderly parents, especially her mother who just recently moved into hospice. Let us pray for her and her family. Our Parish and Schools are truly grateful to her for her almost three years of dedicated and loving service. May the Lord of love be with you always!

In view of following Jesus’ precept of love, part of our overall Parish Pastoral Plan is to conduct pastoral visitation of our parishioners. Our aim is to visit all parishioners’ homes within 1 year time. We will start by 2nd weekend of June. There will be 3 teams composed of a priest or deacon and some parishioner who will visit you at your home during the weekend (Saturdays). You will receive a telephone call and a letter one (1) week before the scheduled visit. The visit will be in the manner of Christ’s gift of peace (aloha) and love to you. It will be an opportunity to renew your connection with our parish and how we can bring Christ’s loving service to you.  If you wish, our team can renew the blessing of your homes, your pets, and your car and of course, impart a blessing for you. If you are not home please advice the parish office by calling 734-0396 so that the team could reschedule the visit. We will give you updates on this as time goes on.

As Jesus commanded us to love one another, the Holy Mass (Eucharist) is the greatest opportunity to grow in this love. Our vicarious or physical presence at Mass is an important sign of our uniting with Jesus in love. Just as when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion we also welcome our fellow parishioners to be part of our lives and become united with them in love.  At every Mass (Eucharist) together we listen to the Word of God, eat the Body and drink the Blood of the Lord who is the source of all love! Let us continue to live in fellowship with all our parishioners under the one banner of love in Christ Jesus, our Lord!  Mahalo and may the Lord’s love be with you all!  – Fr. Mark U. del Rosario, SSS

My dear sisters and brothers in the Lord!

On this 5^th Sunday in the Easter season we continue to proclaim the mystery of our faith just as we say after each consecratory prayer at Mass. We acclaim: “Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life, Lord Jesus, come in glory!  We anticipate the coming of the Lord in glory since He is the way, the truth and the life as our Sunday’s Gospel tells us! This is a startling and challenging statement of Jesus! This might not totally exclude other possible pathways to God but Jesus’ own words affirm that all life and all things must find its convergence only in Him for there could be no other way besides Him.  Jesus as the way, the truth and life find its apex in His passion, death and resurrection which we call the “Paschal Mystery” from Hebrew word “pasch” (cf. the book of Exodus).This is the central event on which our faith is based.  It is also translated as “Passover.”  It is rooted in the experience of the Chosen People (the Israelites).  It means passing over, overcoming, going through successfully, surmounting, and being victorious over slavery and the tragic events in the life of the Chosen People.  This term is used anew for Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection.  Jesus’ Passover experience merited our salvation from the power of sin and death. This wondrous saving continues to affect us until the present time.  Thus, the Paschal Mystery of the Lord is celebrated in so many ways.

Among the recent “Passover” event that we are thankful for is the successful graduation of our Star of the Sea ELC and Middle School students.  After several months and years of dedicated teaching, diligent studies and challenging activities, our teachers can be proud to let their students “Passover” or advance to another higher level of studies.  We congratulate the ELC Kindergarten class that will graduate this Thursday, May 26 and our Middle School class of 2011 that will receive their diplomas this coming Friday, May 27.  Congratulations to all the parents and families of these students! We thank our loving God for all that has been and what will be!

Another “Passover” that which we are preparing for is the advent of the Revised Translation of the 3^rd Edition of the Roman Missal.   It has been announced about a year ago about the catechetical instructions prior to the implementation.  This will commence this coming July.  We will familiarize ourselves with the changes in the responses at Mass.  At the same time we have the opportunity to study and reflect on the various parts of the Holy Mass so as to appreciate and find greater meaning on the great gift of Christ’s Eucharist.  As a start, the members of our Parish Pastoral and Finance Councils, the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, Lectors, Choirs, Ushers and Altar Servers will work on this through their Spiritual Enrichment Sessions. By September, pamphlets and other aids will be distributed to assist in your further perusal, reflection and prayer. By October, short catechetical instructions will be given before Mass and some homilies be given to increase our knowledge and love for the Lord in the Mass.  We will use the new Translation on the first Sunday of Advent.  We hope that this will not only increase active and lively participation in the Eucharist celebration but also to make us become Eucharist ourselves!

We pray we will continue to celebrate the “Passover” of the Lord and persevere in our journey as faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus – the Way, the Truth and the Life! Mahalo and God bless! - Fr. Mark U. del Rosario, SSS

Every person rises from deepest desire in search of life’s purpose and meaning. When a person takes hold of that desire, the seed of vocation grows from within. Then a person must take a journey with God in the road of discipleship. It is a journey of recognizing a personal intimate relationship with God, of following Christ throughout life, and of sharing with the mission of Christ to others through the gift of self. The road to take is not like a bed of roses, but it entails an encounter that would deepen one’s calling and bring total change of the heart of a person, “metanoia.” Thus, Formation is a formation of the heart.

It is indeed a humble testament of how much we have been blessed, guided, and formed in the course of our journey as Postulants of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. We are firmly convinced that we are chosen by God, as He said, “You have not chosen me; I have chosen you” (John 15:16). We deeply hold the experience of being called like when Jesus called his first disciples. We humbly recognize the love of God manifested in our life’s circumstances. We have climbed the mountain of challenges with faith, perseverance, and determination to respond to the call of transcendence. The sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit illumines the way in proclaiming our sense of vocation, mission, and ministry that we are called to be a person of Christ to others, “altos Christos”, through the quenching power of the Eucharist.

A broader panorama of formation leads us to a journey toward wholeness at the very heart of the Eucharist. The richness of Christ’s Eucharistic actions had anchored the very foundation of our vocation. We share in the life of Jesus, “the Bread of Life”, our experiences of being taken, blessed, broken, and shared. We lived, died and redeemed by Christ, the Eucharist. The breaking process takes a crucial part in recognizing our weaknesses, woundedness, and our human identity, values and virtues. Our journey would not have been meaningful without the cross of brokeness that recreated us. The cross of life that we carry on in our journey leads us to a profound communion with Christ with hope. Hail, O cross, our only hope! “O crux, ave spes unica.”

Christ, through His Paschal Mystery, shared His life for the world. That mystery incarnates in our profound understanding of sharing one’s self to God. The vitality of our vocation meaningfully expressed through our ability of giving oneself as wonderful gift to others. Being attentive to the realities of life and of the world, we are called to respond to the hungers of the entire human family (SSS Rule of Life #3). This is the very heart of our mission in which we find the purpose and meaning of life. We carry out this humble mission in the course of our journey. All is centered in the Eucharist. At the heart of the Eucharist, we rise and we remain with Jesus. “Abide in me, as I in you” (John 15:4).

The Postulancy Program has come to its end. Together with my co-postulants, Bros. Reynante, Tedley, and Benedict, we look back to our humble beginnings with profound gratitude to God, our Supreme Formator. We are very grateful in particular to Fr. Roel dela Cruz, SSS, our formator, SSS Davao Professed Community, Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, Assumption Parishioners, and our families, friends and benefactors. May the love of God remain in your heart forever. It is indeed a celebration of such a wonderful journey!

As we unfold the next chapter of our journey, may the grace of God be upon us always. Our experiences would certainly lead us as we climb the mountain of solitute and intimacy with God. As Jesus said, “Be not afraid!” (Luke 1:30).

By: Br. Throy M. Fuentebella, pSSS

My dear sisters and brothers in the Lord,

Our Gospel today shows  the contrast between the healing of man born blind by Jesus and the growing blindness of the Pharisees in their relationship with Jesus. He healed the blind man, “to let God’s work shine forth.” Yet this was perceived as a threat to their authority. ‘How could God possibly dispense His miracles through someone other than them?’ They believe that they were the true stewards of those blessings. They were not going to have some commoner from Nazareth upset their lifestyle. Though they were aware of the prophesy of Isaiah that the Messiah would give sight to the blind and the man’s parents testified that he was indeed born blind and now can see, they refused to see the hand of  God through Jesus.  They sought to discredit Jesus. They made the excuse by condemning Jesus about his working on the Sabbath. After all, it was they who became blind.  Just like the Pharisees, we could become blind by our own biases, prejudices, preoccupations and narrow interests that we forget our role as conduit and stewards of God’s graces.  To counteract this, we can be like the blind man who not only receive his sight, professed his faith in Jesus but also became a new steward of God’s blessings. During this Lenten season, let our almsgiving, prayer and fasting allow the Lord to open our eyes!

It has been several weeks after being shaken by the threat of tsunami in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  Many of us might have already grown lax, oblivious and blinded about the whole thing. We need to counteract that blindness-syndrome. As disciples of the Lord, we are called to be “our brothers’ keeper” and stewards of His many blessings. This Sunday we are having a second collection for the Catholic Relief Services.  This is the arm of our Church that responds to the pressing needs in our world, in particular, to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We need to pray continually for them.  May we still have caring eyes and loving hearts to respond to their need!  Please be generous in your giving not only for this time but also for the many other emergencies that might happen in the future.

Part of our Lenten duty is almsgiving and it is related with stewardship. The feedbacks I receive from our volunteer Sunday collection counters impelled me to remind you, dear parishioners, of your duty to be good stewards of God’s blessings. They say that as they count the collection, it makes them wonder how someone could feel good about giving only a dollar or so to God. Doesn’t God deserve more? Just to make us aware that in the Bible, God has prescribed that a true and dutiful steward should give back ten percent (10%) of his income to Him. This is called “tithing.” [Deuteronomy 14:22-29 states that one-tenth of all that comes into your possession, belongs to God. This was God's plan to instruct His people as to the way of blessings that He had for them. God is a multiplier by nature, and He could not multiply that which was not entrusted to Him.] We do this because all our life, all things we have, all the blessings we receive come from God.  It is just that we give back a rightful portion of our income promote the work of God through our Church. Stewardship is AN ACT OF DUTY, AN ACT OF THANKFULNESS AND AN ACT OF LOVE for God.  As we dutifully pay our taxes to the State, and give generous gratuity to our waiters and drivers, surely we cannot and should not short change God! We have to give to God what is due to Him! This bulletin issue includes a graph of the righteous giving to God. We pray that our almsgiving this Lent will remove the blindness of our minds and hearts and make us generous stewards of his many blessings.  -  Fr. Mark U. del Rosario, SSS