Today, Good Friday, Filipinos re-enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as  part of the country’s Holy Week tradition. Click here for the complete article.

 ” Your adornment must not be merely external — braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. “

- 1 Peter 3:3-4

Modesty can be expressed in many ways , but is primarily expressed by the way we dress. Modesty in dress sends a message of purity and honor. It puts an emphasis on and values the inner person over outward attractiveness. It says that a person is worth far more than what meets the eye. There is a depth of character that rises above beauty or charm. When we dress modestly, we are saying that we posses inner qualities for which we should gain appropriate attention and value from others. It can be difficult to maintain modesty when we think of it in terms of it being “limiting.” But if we consider the personal rewards of modesty — self-respect, honor, and self-control — the price is too high not to be modest. Don’t Shortchange Yourself. The way you dress advertises your standards. Send the right message.  Catholic Modesty  offers resources for modest clothing and books on Christian modesty. Catholic Modesty  , the website and The Forgotten Virtue : Modesty  offer  additional readings on the topic.
 

Proper Dress and Behavior for Women  is an article  that  teaches and supports certain Catholic Christian ideas about how women should dress and act. These teachings are controversial because they contradict the teachings of the society and culture in which we are immersed. Find out which of the ideas mentioned in the article conforms with yours.

JM assisting at the Pentecost 2007 celebration at our parish church.

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; “

Eccl. 12 : 1

Every day we live, we grow one day older. There are some old people who wish they were younger and some young people who wish they were older. The human race has a tendency to think that they are never at the right age. That is why God wrote this verse of the Scripture, “Remember  now thy Creator in the days of your youth,” Growing older day by day is not something of which we have control, how we choose to live each one of those days is something  of which we have control. How we are going to age is a choice we can make . God desires that each of us  learn to age  gracefully. The 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes is God’s pattern for easing into old age with grace and dignity.

 The Apostle Paul said to a young man: 1 Tm. 4:12 ,  Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Without the youth - the church will die. It is the young people who bring vigor and vitality to the programs of our church, they are the active part of our church right now. Pauls admonition to the young - After I’m gone, keep it going.

The phrase, “Before you end up and have to say ,  I have had no pleasure in life”, reminds us that there is not another life style that will bring the joy, encouragement, fulfillment and contentment that comes from living for Jesus.

In the end, Paul said : 2 Tim. 4: 6-8 , I am now ready to be offered , and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought  a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth,  there is laid up for me  crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that  love his appearing .  

Picture yourself  standing before the judgment seat of Jesus. You gave your life to him while you were young. You walked with Him through all the struggles and trials you faced. He got you through and was faithful to you in every turn of your life. He was with you. That final day has  now come. You can hold up your head and say, ” I was faithful in everything, Lord but you and I walked together all the way.”

When we make the sign of the cross, we proclaim the message of salvation purchased by Jesus through the cross. The Bible clearly states : “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

The Bible teaches us to be proud of it, as the message of the cross is the power of God; “But God forbid that I  should boast except  in the Cross  of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world (Gal. 6:14) .”

The Cross symbolizes our day to day sufferings without which there is no crown for Christians. When Peter tried to keep Jesus away from the Cross, He called Peter “Satan”. So it is clear, Satan is afraid and keeps himself away fron the cross as it is through the Cross, that  Jesus destroyed the devils kingdom, and saved mankind from the slavery of sin and death.

Early Christians , even before the Bible was formed, kept this spiritual  practice to keep  Satan away and to save themselves from the power of  evil.

Cyril of Jerusalem  wrote in AD 386 : “Let  us therefore not be ashamed  of the cross of Christ; but though another hide it, do thou openly zeal  it upon thy fore head, that the devils  may beheld the royal sign at eating and drinking, at lying down, at rising up, at speaking, at walking, in a word at every act.”

Ephrem of Syria testifies in AD 373 : ” Make all your actions  with the life giving Cross. Do not go out ” from the doors of your house till you have signed yourself with a cross. Do not neglect that sign whether in eating and drinking or going to sleep, or in  the home or going on a journey. There is no habit to be compared with it. Let it be a protecting wall around all your conduct, and teach it to your children that they may earnestly learn the custom.

Thousands of saints used this sign to be victorious  over satanic attacks as it is through this sign  that Jesus made possible the forgiveness of our sins. In the Christian world, the Sign of the Cross was widely used  very effectively  in exorcism through out the centuries. Christians must use this sign proudly as it terrifies Satan and the Bible proves it.

Jesus says to us “Take your cross and follow me.” Let this great Catholic Tradition be a habit in all our actions.

Creating and maintaining a family altar will make a difference in your family prayer life and to the  atmosphere at home. Read this informative Family Altar article and get ideas  on how to create and maintain one.

In the community I live in, families have a tradition of “adopting” for a weeks time a miraculous statue of Our Lady of Fatima. Our Lady is transferred to the next adopting family  by procession around the community, usually on Saturday nights. Once the home of the adopting family is reached, the statue of Our Lady is then placed in an altar prepared  just for her by family members. Her altar is decorated with flowers and candles and is covered with lace , silk or satin material. A welcome prayer is then said by the head of the family and snacks are served afterwards. During the whole week, every night, the Rosary and the Litany of the Blessed Mother are recited by family members, each member takes turn nightly in leading the prayer. When seven days comes to an end, the members of the family recites the parting prayer and sends the miraculous statue to the next adoptive home together with the community.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you will have no life in you; he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”    John 6:53-54

Novena for Corpus Christi

O Lord Jesus Christ, You who have given us Your precious Body and Blood to be our meat and drink, grant that through frequent reception of you in the Holy Eucharist, I may be strengthened in mind and body to do Your holy will.  Amen.

History

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist, paralleling Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) commemorating Our Lord’s institution of the Eucharist. Corpus Christi was introduced in the late 13th century to encourage the faithful to give special honor to the institution of the Holy Eucharist to the Blessed Sacrament. The official title of this Solemnity was changed in 1970 to the Body and Blood of Christ and it is still on the Roman Missal’s official Calendar for the universal church on Thursday after Trinity Sunday.

Corpus Christi became a mandatory feast in the Roman Chruch in 1312. But nearly a century earlier, Saint Juliana of Mont Cornilion, promoted a feast to honor the Blessed Sacrament. From early age, Juliana, who became an Augustinian nun in Liege, France, in 1206, had a great veneration for the Blessed Sacrament, and longed for  a special feast in its honor. She had a vision of the Church under the apprearance of a full moon having one dark spot, which signified the absence of such a solemnity. She made known her ideas to the Bishop of Liege, Robert de Thorete, to the Dominican Hugh who later became  cardinal legate in the Netherlands, and to Jacques Panaleon, at the time Archdeacon of Liege and who later became Pope Urban IV. Bishop Robert de Thorete ordered that the feast be clebrated in his diocese. 

Pope Urban IV later published the Bull Transiturus (September 8, 1264), in which , after having extolled the love of Our Savior as expressed in the Holy Eucharist, ordered the annual celebration of Corpus Christi on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. More than four decades later, Pope Clement V published a new decree which embodied  Urban IV’s decree and ordered the adoption of the feast at the General Council of Vienna (1311). Pope John XXII , successor of Clement V, urged this observance.

The Corpus Christi Procession

The most important ritual of Corpus Christi is that of the Procession. For this event, the entire village, parish or town assembles in finest dress. The Procession is comprised of clergy, special guilds or groups, and families. Often children in First Communion dress precede the Blessed Sacrament dropping rose or other flower petals to create a carpet for the approaching Eucharist. Altar boys, clergy, prominet citizens  with guild and society banners of silk and others process. The Holy Eucharist is itself transported in a processional Monstrance, carried by a priest or bishop. The Monstrance is further protected  by an embroidered silk canopy held by four posts, borne by parisioners or altar servers. Publicly proclaiming and reaffirming their devotion to the Holy Eucharist, the entire congregation walks around the church and its grounds to the sound of bells and voices singing sacred hymns. The procession then walks and sings its way to the first of the altars. There the Blessed Sacrament rests while the assembled faithful kneel to pray and sing in adoration of theHoly Eucharist. The procession then continous on in the same manner to other altars until finished.

Christ chose the ordination of priests and bishops be limited to men only. And the Catholic Church has no authority to ordain women to priesthood.  Altar servers are not ordained, thus girls can be altar servers. But there are reasons why altar servers should be limited to boys only :

Boys as altar servers is a good introduction to priesthood. Majority of altar servers do not end up as priests. But this trend can be changed if altar servers are limited to boys only. If girls serve along side with boys, parents and children will not look at altar serving as an introduction to priesthood.

Men and women have different roles in the Church, family and society as stated in the Traditions of the Church and the Scriptures. When boys  serve along side with girls during masses, this contradicts the teachings  of the Church that men and women have different roles in Church, family and society.

The Catholic Church should not adapt the teachings of  the secular society. The secular society teaches that men and women have equal roles in the family and society which is irreconcilable  with the teachings of the Scriptures and the Catholic Church.

The over-use of females in non-ordained roles like lectors, eucharistic ministers, church council members  results in males not seeing religion as a possible vocation, despite the fact that only men can be priests. The use of girls as altar servers furthers undermines the view that men are called by God to be leaders of the Church.

My children, you must join hands in reverence at the Sacrifice of  My Son. It is an expression of love, gratitude, and respect . Reverence and respect and holiness must be returned to My Son’s houses, churches throughout  the world-reverence, holiness, and respect from the beginning to the end of the Sacred Service. “Women must keep their heads covered, My child. It is not because of fashion or modes; it is because the Eternal Father and the angels demand proper deportment during the Holy Sacrifice. It offends the heart of  My Son much to see that satan has taken away so much piety and holiness in His churches throughout the world.”

Our Lady of the Roses, September 6, 1975

Sacred Scripture presents several reasons for wearing the veil. St. Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians (11:1-16) that women must cover their heads because it is a Sacred Tradition commanded by Our Lord Himself and entrusted to Paul: ” The things I am writing to you are the Lord’s commandments ” (1 Cor. 14:37)

It is an honor to wear the veil. But by publicly repudiating it, a woman dishonors her feminine dignity, her sign of female subjection. The Roman Pontificial contains the imposing ceremonial of the consecration of the veils: “Receive the sacred veil, that thou mayst be known to have despised the world, and to be truly, humbly, and with all thy heart subject to Christ as His bride; and may he defend thee from all evil, and bring thee to life eternal.” (Pontificale Romanun, de benedictione)

St. Paul says an unveiled woman is a dishonor. ” But every woman praying and prophesying with her head uncovered disgraces her head, for it is the same as if she were shaven.” (1Cor:11:5)

“That is why women ought to have a veil  on her head, because of the angels.” wrote St. Paul (1 Cor. 11:10). The invicible hierarchy should be respected because the angels are present at Christian liturgical assemblies, offering with us the Holy Sacrifice with the honor due to Almighty God.

St. John the Apostle wrote :“And another angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; amd there was given to him much incense that he might offer it with the prayers of all before the throne.” (Rev. 8:3)

The custom of wearing the veil was maintained in the primitive churches of God (1 Cor. 11:16). We see this in the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians. The women of Corinth, beset by modern sensibilities, started coming to church without their heads covered. When St. Paul heard of their neglect, he wrote and urged them to keep the veil. According to St. Jeromes commentary Bible, he finally settled the matter by saying head covering was a custom of the primitive communities of Judea, “the churches of God” (1 Thess. 2:15, 3:6).

Even today, some people erroneously believe  that St. Paul based the tradition on his personal opinion. St. Paul reminds them, “for I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it by revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:12), referring to the authority of his ministry, and veracity of his words Our Lord warns us to obey his commandments. “He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:19).

In summary, St. Paul advises women to cover their heads in church because : Our Lord commanded it, the angels at mass are offended if women don’t use it, it is a ceremonial vestment and lastly, it is our heritage.