By Father Bernard Holzer, aa

 More than 120 world leaders met in Glasgow on Monday to tackle the climate crisis and avert a looming global disaster: « If we don’t get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the opening of COP26.

What can we do? What do we need to do?

In his message to the COP26 meeting participants, Pope Francis underlined that “climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic have exposed our deep vulnerability and raised numerous doubts and concerns about our economic systems and the way we organize our societies.”

 “It is essential that each of us be committed to this urgent change of direction, sustained by our own faith and spirituality. In the Joint Appeal, we spoke of the need to work responsibly towards a “culture of care” for our common home, but also for ourselves, and the need to work tirelessly to eliminate “the seeds of conflicts: greed, indifference, ignorance, fear, injustice, insecurity and violence”.

By Mel Jasmin

On October 28, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Saint Jude Thaddeus.

We turn to St. Jude particularly because of his long-standing association with hope and healing, and the cleansing newness—the freshly-scrubbed sense of the spirit—inviting him into our lives provides. Gathering our thoughts for the prayers we offer in devotion is its own form of spiritual reflection, one we know very well.

These questions should come from a place of self-love and learning, leading us to a path of growth both spiritually and then reflected in our daily lives, too. The questions will most likely evolve the deeper we get into our self-awareness, but they are not meant to be self-criticism. There is a distinct difference between self-criticism and self-reflection; if we feel the line between the two is getting a bit blurred, don’t hesitate to offer a spontaneous prayer to St. Jude to keep you focused in positive reflection.

As we shape our tone with ourselves to hold the same kind of gentleness we would use with our beloved family and friends, we’re much better able to hear our own sense of what’s needed for change, what our strengths are, and where our next spiritual growth opportunity might be.

By Mel Jasmin

On October 24, the Catholic Church in the Philippines commemorates Prison Awareness Sunday, together with World Mission Sunday.

The Catholic Church in the Philippines is set to mark Prison Awareness Week on the last week of October to encourage the faithful to remember and pray for all the inmates in the country.
 
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines – Episcopal Commission on the Laity encourages the faithful to pray for all prisoners especially at this time of crisis.
 
“Prison Awareness Week seeks to remind us that we have brothers and sisters who are in jail. As Jesus said, ‘I was in prison and you visited Me.’ Let us look at them as our brothers and sisters whom Jesus loves. At this time of pandemic, it has become more difficult for them with their cramped quarters,” said CBCP-ECL chairman and Manila Archdiocese Apostolic Administrator Bishop Broderick S. Pabillo over Radio Veritas.
 
“It is important to decongest our prison cells. Keep on praying for our inmates,” he said. The Church leader, likewise, encouraged the faithful to send help to the inmates like food, medicines, and hygiene kits.
 
“Let us also pray for the speedy resolution of their cases. Many of them are already eligible for parole. Let us always pray for them and make them feel that they are always remembered,” Pabillo said.

Our brothers and sisters in prisons are a part of our marginalized sector. This Sunday, we are called to remember them and by remembering we called to care and to love them. They are still part of the Catholic Church.

These two saints are like a chain that leads us to the Synod on Synodality, what Pope Francis has just launched. He invites all Christians to listen to the "signs of the times" as the Council was able to do.  But this listening will not only be the work and the duty of the bishops, but of all Christians, of the faithful of other religions, and of all women and men of good will.

Pope Francis sends us a questionnaire-guide of ten themes to begin to dialogue, to listen, to dream, to make proposals for a new spring for the Church and the world.

Let's go online, download this questionnaire, and engage in this reflection to make the world more human. Let us not forget to reread "Gaudium et Spes", one of the central documents of the Second Vatican Council and "Fratelli Tutti", the last encyclical of Pope Francis. These are stimulating documents that allow us to discover God in our brothers and sisters.

By Mel Jasmin

September 28 is a very special day to all Filipino Catholics. It is the feast day of the first Filipino saint who is a martyr!

Lorenzo Ruiz was born in Binondo, Manila on November 28, 1594.  His father was Chinese and his mother Filipino.  During his youth, Lorenzo was educated by the Dominican Fathers and from them he learned the fundamentals of faith.  He became the errand boy of the friars and was an altar boy at Binondo convent.  As he grew older, he was employed as their "escribano" because of his skillful hand.

Lorenzo is a devout Catholic and was a great devotee of the Blessed Virgin. He was blessed with two sons and a daughter and had a happy and harmonious married life.  Things changed, however, when he found himself being accused of a crime he did not commit after having an argument with a Spaniard. Fearing for his life, he sought to escape and when he learned that the Dominicans were preparing to embark on a mission to Japan, he joined the group.  He bade goodbye to his loved ones and left the Philippines with a heavy heart.

He is recognized as the first Filipino Saint and Martyr. Anyone can be a saint. Saint Lorenzo Ruiz or more known to Filipinos as San Lorenzo Ruiz is an ordinary man.  Just like us, he simply wants to have a happy, peaceful, harmonious life.  However, his circumstances changed and he was thrust into a situation so complicated.   Yet, even if he didn’t want what was happening in his life, Saint Lorenzo Ruiz faced it with unwavering courage and unyielding faith and trust in God.  In the end, he willingly gave his life to a God who is truly deserving of all Saint Lorenzo Ruiz can offer.

Saint Lorenzo Ruiz encourages us to never lose faith and to always trust in God no matter what.  Surely, God was with him during those terrible last days and though his body was suffering, his soul found happiness, peace and assurance that his suffering was not in vain.

By Father Bernard Holzer, aa

« This is not the time for despair but courage! »

We are in a difficult time. Thousands of people are suffering around us. Because of the pandemic which has affected the health, life, education, economy, future, hope and faith…

In a joint Pastoral Message, three Archbishops of Northern Luzon encourage us to stand up for God, to bear witness to truth and life! Let us be on their side to “overcome evil by the power of good. Our help is from the Lord!”

Click the link of the pastoral message here: https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/joint-pastoral-message-on-the-culture-of-murder-and-plunder-from-the-metropolitan-archbishops-of-northern-luzon/

This message was released last Sunday, as Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski (1901-1981) was beatified in Warsaw, Poland, former Primate of the Catholic Church of Poland, friend of St. John Paul II. He experienced being in the communist prisons for having defended the rights of God and the Church. May he give us the courage to defend the values of the Gospel in our today society!

By Fr. Bernard Holzer, aa

Again, the confinement is extended until September 15! We will celebrate the longest lockdown in the world: 18 months! We are tired and isolated despite all our gadgets.

How do we find our inner peace? How do we still hope amid desperation?

Last Sunday, before the prayer of the Angelus, Pope Francis recalled the Gospel when Jesus restores the hearing and speech of a deaf man with a speech impediment.

He invites us to ask Jesus to touch and heal our own “interior deafness.”

For him, “the healing of the heart begins with listening”: “Starting a dialogue often happens not through words but silence”, he pointed out, and that requires patience to listen to others about their challenges and hopes. This confinement is a chance to listen!

During the days to come, let us take time to cherish silence, to listen to my husband or wife, to my children or parents, my neighbors and my friends… and to listen to the poor and to Jesus.

Let us read the news and the Bible to open our mind and our heart.

Let us reread some paragraphs of the encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” about communication and encounter (§ 47-50). This confinement is a chance to open ourselves!