| O Vigil imbued with hope, you fully express the meaning of the mystery! O Vigil rich in symbolism, you disclose the very heart of our Christian existence! On this night, everything is marvellously summed up in one name, the name of the Risen Christ. O Christ, how can we fail to thank You for the ineffable gift which, on this night, you lavish upon us? The mystery of your Death and Resurrection descends into the baptismal waters that receive the old, carnal man and make him pure with divine youthfullness itself. Into the mystery of your Death and Resurrection we shall shortly be immersed, renewing our baptismal promises; in a special way, the six catechumens will be immersed in this mystery as they receive Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. -Easter Vigil Homily of the Holy Father John Paul II, 14 April 2001 |
| Stations of the Cross: PJPII 2000- vatican.va, Catholic- church.org, EWTN, cptryon.org, cin.org, biblia.com catholic.org, catholicfirst.com, americancatholic.org, sacredheart.com, Cardinal Newman's- landru.i-link.net, franciscanfriarstor. com, |
| St. Paul College of Manila High School 1965 and College 1969 |
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| HOME HS DAYS (GOLDEN GIMMICKS: BEF 2001 2001 2002 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2003 1 2 3 4 5 2004 1 (DC 1 2 3 4) FAM ALBUM I 2 3 Vigil House 1 2 3 PRAYERROOM (EGROUP: MSG ARCHIVE CLASS DIRECTORY RESUMES CHRONICLES RECIPES) PHOTOS AT BETH'S WEBSITE 65 in 75 |
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Jesus meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto Thine. Novena to the Sacred Heart |
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| Thank you for visiting our website. Please don't forget to sign our guestbook to let us know you were here. -Maria (Marilyn Lansi) Cohon,ocds, webkeeper. |
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| This page was last updated: 02.09.05, Manila, Phil. |
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| We are soon going to share in the Passover. We are soon going to share in the Passover, and although we still do so only in a symbolic way, the symbolism already has more clarity than it possessed in former times because, under the law, the Passover was, if I may dare to say so, only a symbol of a symbol. Before long, however, when the Word drinks the new wine with us in the kingdom of His Father, we shall be keeping the Passover in a yet more perfect way, and with deeper understanding. He will then reveal to us and make clear what He has so far only partially disclosed. For this wine, so familiar to us now, is eternally new. It is for us to learn what this drinking is, and for Him to teach us. He has to communicate this knowledge to His disciplines, because teaching is food, even for the teacher. So let us take our part in the Passover prescribed by the law, not in a literal way, but according to the teaching of the Gospel; not in an imperfect way, but perfectly; not only for a time, but eternally. Let us regard as our home the heavenly Jerusalem, not the earthly one; the city glorified by angels, not the one laid waste by armies. We are not required to sacrifice young bulls or rams, beasts with horns and hoofs that are more dead than alive and devoid of feeling; but instead, let us join the choirs of angels in offering God upon his heavenly altar a sacrifice of praise. We mus now pass thorugh the first veil and approach the second, turning our eyes toward the Holy of Holies. I will say more; we must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the sake of the Word, imitating His passion by our sufferings, and honoring His blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified. If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up your cross and follow Christ. If you are crucified beside Him like one of the thieves, now, like the good thief, acknowledge your God. For your sake, and because of your sin, Christ Himself was regarded as a sinner; for His sake, therefore, you must cease to sin. Worship Him who was hung on the cross because of you, even if you're hanging there yourself. Derive some benefit from the very shame; purchase salvation with your death. Enter paradise with Jesus, and discover how far you have fallen. Contemplate the glories there, and leave the other scoffing thief to die outside in his blasphemy. If you are a Joseph of Arimathea, go to the one who ordered His crucifixion, and ask for Christs's body. Make your own the expiation for the sins of the whole world. If you are a Nicodemus, like the man who worshiped God by night, bring spices and prepare Christ's body for burial. If you are one of the Marys, or Salome, or Joanna, weep in the early morning. Be the first to see the stone rolled back, and even the angels perhaps, and Jesus Himself. -- from a sermon by St. Gregory Nazianzen, bishop. |
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| "So let us spread before His feet, not garments or soulless olive branches, which delight the eye for a few hours and then wither, but ourselves, clothed in His grace, or rather, clothed completely in Him. We who have been baptized into Christ must ourselves be the garments that we spread before Him. Now that the crimson stains of our sins have been washed away in the saving waters of baptism and we have become white as pure wool, let us present the conqueror of death, not with mere branches of palms but with the real rewards of His victory. Let our souls take the place of the welcoming branches as we join today in the children's holy song: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the King of Israel." -from a sermon by St. Andrew of Crete, bishop. |
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| Good Friday, a day of fasting and abstinence, is spent in silence, prayer and meditation on the passion, crucifixion and death of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Most churches have a 3-hour (12noon to 3PM) devotion reflecting on the Seven Last Words to commemorate our Lord's last hours on the cross: 1. "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." 2. "This day thou shall be with me in Paradise" ) 3. "Woman, behold thy son....Son, behold thy mother." 4. "My God, my God! Why has Thou forsaken me?" 5. "I thirst!" 6. "It is finished." 7. "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." Meditating on the Stations of the Cross is also an appropriate devotion at this time. (Catholic-churches.org}Stations of the Cross |
| Our Christian faith teaches that the passion of Jesus is not merely a tale of suffering and death confined to history. The passion of Jesus is indeed a historical event intimately linked to the very essence of Jesus' salvific mission, yet it is a living memory, a powerful grace that infuses meaning and hope into human suffering and human existence. |
| In his "The Passion of Jesus Christ", at cptryon.org, Donald Senior, C.P. invites us "to enter deeply into the mystery of the passion". |
| The Washing of the Feet of the Disciples |
| ". . . .A singular Vigil of a singular night. A Vigil, the mother of all vigils, during which the whole Church waits at the tomb of the Messiah, sacrificed on the Cross. The Church waits and prays, listening again to the Scriptures that retrace the whole of salvation history. But on this night, it is not darkness that dominates but the blinding brightness of a sudden light that breaks through with the startling news of the Lord's resurrection. Our waitng and our prayer then become a song of joy: 'Exultet iam angelica turba caelorum. . . Exult, O chorus of Angels!' The perspective of history is completely turned around: death gives way to life, a life that dies no more. In the Preface we shall shortly sing that Christ 'by dying destroyed our death, by rising restored our life'. This is the truth that we proclaim with our words, but above all with our lives. He whom the women thought was dead is alive. Their experience becomes our experience. |
| May the Virgin, who shared intimatel;y in the salvific plan, accompany us in the path of the passion and cross to the empty tomb, to meet her divine risen Son. Let us enter the spiritual atmosphere of the Holy Triduum, allowing ourselves to be led by her. -Pope John Paul IIer. |
| The Crowning with thorns and Scourging at the pillar. |
| The Agony in the garden of Gethsemane: cptryon.org .... |
| The Crucifixion and Death of our Lord: cptryon.org The Cross of Jesus Christ: rc.net |
| April 4, Palm Sunday(NewAdvent.org), the sixth and last Sunday in Lent, and the beginning of Holy Week. This marks a period of intensified prayer, reflection, conversion, penance and acts of charity leading to the commemoration of Christ's passion and death for our sins, and His glorious Resurrection. It is a period of preparation to enable us to live more fully the message of Easter. |
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| Links to other websites on: Lent, Lenten Prayers and Reflections: VATICAN'S LENTEN PAGE: vatican.va All about Lent: Cin.org Origin of Lent: NewAdvent.org, catholiceducation.org Liturgy of Lent: catholicculture.org, Why Forty Days: catholicculture.org Lenten Reflections: EWTN Meditaitons & Prayers for Lent & Easter - cptryon.org, rc.net, Praying Lent creighton.edu, Daily Prayers for Lent: stpaulshalifax.org Message of his Holiness Pope John Paull II for Lent 2005 2004: Message for Lent 2004 of his Excellency Most Rev. Gaudencio B. Rosales, DD, Archbishop of Manila www.rcam.org Lenten Penance: catholicculture.org,Lenten Workshop: catholicculture.org Lent Call to Convertion: americancatholic.org Forty Days with the Lord: spirituality.org, EWTN: on Fasting and Abstinence |
| Feb. 09 - Ash Wednesday, (a day of fasting and abstinence) NewAdvent, History - Catholic.org, Origin - Cin.org EWTN Why Ashes: Catholicculture.org, Why Fasting and Abstinence: Catholicculture.org, Ash Wednesday & the Lenten Fast - Wf-f.org Feb 13 - First Sunday of Lent |
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| LENT |
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| March 24 - Maundy Thursday |
| March 25 - Good Friday |
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| March 26 - Holy Saturday |
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| March 27 - Easter Sunday |
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| March 20 - Palm Sunday |
| HOLY WEEK NewAdvent THE EASTER TRIDUUM cptryon.org |
HOLY WEEK NewAdvent , opusdei.org Christian Resource Institute: on The Days of the Holy Week The Meaning of Holy Week: catholiceducation.org Church History: Holy Week friarsminor.org Holy Week 2002 vatican.va Holy Week 2003: vatican.va, |
| The Crucifixion: catholiceducation.org The Cross of Christ the Measure of the World: catholiceducation.org |
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| The Last Supper: cptryon.org |
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| ".....Do this in memory of me" (1Cor 11:24, 25). With this command, which commits us to repeating His gesture, Jesus concludes the institiution of the Sacrament of the Altar. As He finishes the washing of the feet, He again invites us to imitate Him: For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you" (Jn 13:15P. In this way He establishes an intimate connection between the Eucharist, the sacrament of His sacrificial gift, and the commandment of love which commits us to welcoming and serving our brothers and sisters. Partaking of the Lord's table cannot be separated from the duty of loving our neighbour. Each time we partake in the Eucharist, we too say our "Amen" before the Body and Blood of the Lord. In doing so we commit ourselves to doing what Christ has done, to "washing the feet" of our brothers and sisters, becoming a real and visible image of the One who "emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant" (Phil 2:7). Love is the most precious legacy which Christ leaves to those whom He calls to follow Him. It is His love, shared by His disciples, which this evening is offered to all humanilty." - from Homily of Pope John Paul II, Holy Thursday, 28March2002(Vatican.va) |
| "This is something amazing and unheard of! It was not we who actually died, were buried and rose again. We only did these things symbolically, but we have been saved in actual fact. It is Christ who was crucified, who was buried and who rose again, and all this has been attributed to us. We share in his sufferings symbolically and gain salvation in reality. What boundless love for men! Christ's undefiled hands were pierced by the nails; he suffered the pain. I experience no pain, no anguish, yet by the share that I have in his sufferings he freely grants me salvation. Let no one imagine that baptism consists only in the forgiveness of sins and in the grace of adoption. Our baptism is not like the baptism of John, which conferred only the forgiveness of sins. We know perfectly well that baptism, besides washing away our sins and bringing us the gift of the Holy Spirit, is a symbol of the sufferings of Christ. This is why Paul exclaims: Do you not know that when we were baptized into Christ Jesus we were, by that very action, sharing in his death? By baptism we went with him into the tomb." -- From the Jerusalem Catecheses. |
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| The Resurrection: NewAdvent.org, , ewtn , cptryon.org, rc.net, News of the Resurrection: rc.net The Victory of the Lamb of God: rc.net, The Easter Alleluia: rc.net... |
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| "Every year, in preparation for Easter, Lent invites us to follow Christ in the mystery of His prayer, source of light and strength in the hour of trial. To pray, in fact means to be immersed with the Spirit in God in an attitude of humble adherence to His will. From this confident abandonment in God derives the inner light that transfigures man, making him a witness of the Resurrection. However, this can only happen by listening to Christ and by following Him docilely to the passion and cross. Therefore, we must look to Him, 'because only in Him, the Son of God, there is salvation'."Pope John Paul II |