Wednesday, April 04, 2007

EDITORIAL - April 1-7 Issue


Peaceful Election
Is Love of God and Country
The annual period of mourning and repentance began last Monday among the Catholic faithful and set the mood for the Holy Week.
Holy Monday is the start of the time-honored "pabasa" in the Philippines. The Filipinos literally chant the story of Jesus Christ’s life, passion and death for two straight days and nights.
Lenten tradition starts that altar cloth and priestly vestments are in black, while the tabernacles and other religious figures are draped in black or deep purple clothing to highlight the suffering of Jesus in the last days of the 33 years He lived on earth.
In the catholic world, church doors are kept open in anticipation of the big crowds expected to receive the sacrament of confession while tracing the 14 Stations of the Cross with prayers as an act of penance.
Holy week retreats also continue to be held not only in churches but also in other religious places such as in convents. Lenten is a form of sacrifice to address the spiritual needs of those seeking to amply prepare themselves for Christ’s Passion as an action of atonement.
Thos who attended holy masses last Holy Monday must have heard the priest in his homily asking the people to focus on the events of Holy Monday that saw Jesus Christ chasing away the money changers in the temple which made a mockery of the house of God and condemning the barren fig tree for its failure to yield fruits.
After Palm Sunday, Jesus in the temple taught and preached. However, He was greatly disappointed upon His discovery that money changers short changed those who needed money badly.
For those who committed sins, this Holy Week celebration is your chance to cleanse yourselves. However, after your repentance, your confession, your payment by way of prayers, while repeating the same or even more and worst of it will not bring you somewhere. It will just be futile. Anyway, next year 2008 and many more years and annually, Holy Week is being celebrated. You may repeat, confess, pray and pay the penalties. To do these means it becomes your habit and it will develop you into a habitually terrible christian individual. There is no other way but to be a devoted faithful by following the teachings of Christ. One way to demonstrate your love and faithfulness to God and country, the Philippines, is your participation in the honest, orderly and peaceful election on May 14, 2007.

POPE’S APOLOGY
MARKS START OF LENT

Pope John Paul II, apologized for the errors and shortcomings of the church over the past 2,000 years. The apology read into the liturgy of the mass marking the beginning of Lent in St. Peter’s Square.
"We cannot recognize the betrayal of the Gospel committed by some of our brothers, especially in the millenium," said the Pope. "Recognizing the deviations of the past serves to reawaken our consciences to the compromises of the present.
We are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness, we commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant." This is the church’s humility that ennobles the Holy Father." May we immulate him. /MP

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