Ang Debosyon ni Santo Papa kay Saint Joseph

Nabanggit ni Pope Francis sa meeting with the families sa SM MOA Arena na malapit siya kay Saint Joseph.

Pero ano ibig sabihin ni Papa Kiko nung sinabi niya na pag meron siyang problema ay sinusulat niya ito sa maliit na papel at linalagay sa ilalim ng imahen ni San Jose? Ipinauubaya na raw niya kay Saint Joseph ang solusyon sa kanyang problema.

Para sa mga hindi pamilyar sa practice na ito ng mga religious: mga madre at kaparian … ito ang tinuro sa akin ng aking spiritual director, Msgr. Josefino S. Ramirez … “Pag may problema kayo, lalo na yung may kinalaman sa pag-provide o financial – kay Saint Joseph kayo lumapit. Isulat ninyo sa papel at ilagay sa ilalim ng statue niya. Siguradong answered prayer yan.”

Ganito raw ang gawain ng mga pari at madre pag kailangan nila ng pondo pambili ng mga lupa o pantayo ng simbahan, seminaryo o kumbento. Pati si Mother Teresa ng Calcutta nagpatunay sa gawaing ito pati para sa kanilang mga pangaraw-araw na gastusin sa Sisters of Charity. Minsan nga daw sa tagal na masagot ang kanilang hinihiling ay itinalikod daw niya ang statwa ni St. Joseph na nasa kanyang mesa kasi nagtatampo daw siya, at saka lang hinarap ulit nung ito ay matugunan na.

Si Monsi Pepe naman daw ay nasa Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal sa Canada kasama ang mga “Alagad ni Maria” nang ilagay niya ang kanilang petisyon kay San Jose para sa kailangan nilang itayo na seminary ng Alagad ni Maria sa Quezon Province. Meron daw harang na tali para di makalapit sa malaking statwa ni San Jose kaya ang ginawa nila ay tinyempuhan nung walang bantay at inangat ng ibang pari ang mabigat na statwa para malagay ni Monsi Pepe ang papel sa ilalim. Ngayon, meron na rin silang seminaryo sa Antipolo dahil sa intercession ni Saint Joseph.

Kami rin ay maraming patutuo sa debosyong ito kay San Jose pero kukulangin ang mga pahinang ito. Minsan, may kliente ang misis ko na ilang taon nang hindi nakakabayad ng mahigit P200,000. Hiningi ko ang delivery receipt, billing, at demand letter at linagay lahat ito sa ilalim ng imahen namin ni St. Joseph sa bahay. Sa loob ng dalawang buwan lamang ay bayad na ang lahat ng utang.

Kaya’t kung meron kayong problema o pangangailangan, subukan nyo lumapit kay Saint Joseph. Hindi naman siguro kayo lolokohin ng Santo Papa, di ba?

Isipin nyo na lang ... nung naghahanap ang Diyos ng karapat dapat na mag-aalaga sa kanyang anak at esposa ... ang pinili niya ay si Jose. Kulang pa ba iyan na dahilan para magtiwala sa kanya?

Message from GDI President in this Year of Faith (last Advent)

Dear Paul Sison,

I am sending a message to all Commissions in Portugal and abroad, which I request you to transmit to the members of the Commission.

I am very sorry not to have made visits so as join with you in moments of joy and meditate on the Message which Our Lady came to bring us in Fatima.

However my health does not permit me to travel.

I take this opportunity to mediate with you.

In this Year of Faith we must begin a new era, take up a new road, open new lands and new hearts to the Devotion of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

We should also bear witness, become living signs of the presence of God in the world.

We must be Christian symbols through receiving the Sacraments, Confession, at Holy Mass, in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, in the Rosary and Charity to our brothers.

Meditating on the Word of God recharges our Faith. We imitate Our Lady as she meditated on it.

Faith is believing that Jesus is on the altar at the moment of Consecration, it is not a symbol.

He himself is present, just as His heart is beating in the Tabernacle for us, awaiting our visit and company.

We imitate Blessed Francisco, the Little Fatima Shepherd, who spent his time in the company of Jesus in the Tabernacle.

Faith is being certain that God is with us in adversity and difficult moments.

We must give firm witness of Faith, be simple and discreet in our dress and resist the course of fashions, many of which are hardly ever dignified. How many souls are led to hell by these fashions.

Our body is a temple to the Holy Spirit, we cannot profane it.

This Year of Faith is a time for perfection.

Our Lady expects our collaboration and more and more dedication, for the world is running away and turning its’ back on God.

The world is going through difficult times, from natural catastrophes to the recent world crisis, caused by egoism, affluence and the craving of some, which all seems to be watchful preparation for man to come round, become aware of the limits of human nature and look for He who just awaits a simple act of repentance to pour down showers of graces and blessings, on each one of us.

In the prayer that the Angel taught the Little Shepherds we pray by steps: ” ...in reparation for insults, sacrileges and indifferences which offend Him”.

These indifferences offend Jesus.

In this uncontrolled rush into which our daily life has been transformed, how often do we pass a Church without even sparing a thought for the Tabernacle where, hidden in His humility, is He who suffered to death, and death on the cross, to save us, to bring us back to intimate union with the Father, to re-establish harmony among all creatures (poor as we are) with our Creator.

And how many times do we pass in front of a Tabernacle in total indifference, as if nothing or No one were there, when in fact the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ is really present there. 

It is the “hidden Jesus”, of Whom Blessed Francisco spoke so much and whom he so adored. Let us imitate him.

However this “hidden Jesus” came to Fatima to tell us, through the intermediary of His Most Holy Mother, how to combat this indifference, fruit of vanity, pride and man’s affluence.

It is devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our Lady even said to the Little Shepherds: “God wishes to establish Devotion to My Immaculate Heart in the World” or, as little Jacinta said, “The Heart of Jesus wants the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be venerated at His side”.

Furthermore, Mary’s humility, simplicity and obedience burst from His Heart. That is why Our Lady said to Sister Lucia: “My Heart shall be your refuge and the way that leads you to God.”

The Monuments constructed by the Grupo da Imaculada, promoted all over the world, and also in our blessed land, are marks of an act of enormous spiritual dimension: the Consecration of lands, homes, families and every one of them to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

At the act of Consecration we begin by placing the lands, homes, families and our very selves under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary: “My Heart shall be your refuge...”

Aware of our limits, of our misery, we place ourselves under the protection of She who is the Mediator of all graces, the omnipotent supplicant. Our Lady is thus Queen of this land: in humility, simplicity and obedience we walk in truth to sanctity, fulfilling the will of our Lord. Then, in the act of Consecration, we manifest our sincere and firm desire, that our heart be moulded by the Heart of Mary. Aware of our weaknesses, we offer ourselves to be, among men, a reflection of the humble, simple obedient Heart of Mary.

Finally in the act of Consecration, we choose the Immaculate Heart of Mary as the sure, safe way to lead us to God, as Our Lady promised Sister Lucia.

The image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, present in Her Monument, both night and day, reminds us each moment of the act of Consecration. In the middle of the land, in the middle of men, it is a permanent antenna reaching up to the Sky. How many souls in the light of day or the silence of night, have not already had recourse to this image and found in the Immaculate Heart of Mary consolation from their sufferings, a power to face anguish, a response to doubts! How many souls have been converted!

The Monument in our land is a treasure which should be revered and cared for with love and kindness.

I pray that God, in His infinite bounty, may shower upon us a rain of graces and send His Holy Spirit to illuminate, strengthen and encourage all those who work in the Grupo da Imaculada, which does not belong to us but to the Mother of Jesus, the Most Pure Holy Virgin Mary.

This time of Advent is an occasion to reflect seriously and profoundly on the mystery of the Redemption operated by the love of God. Each year we are invited to live Advent as a time of conversion, hope, more careful prayer of liberating expectation. We must liberate ourselves from the darkness to receive the Light which is the coming of the Messiah as Light of the world, Light of nations. Advent is a preparation for what is to come.

The great solution, the only solution for all problems, is love. The only way to unite families is love. The only way to grow in holiness is love. The only way to be happy is to love. “He who loves goes from death to Life” (Jo. 3, 14). He who loves is immersing himself in God, lives in continuous Easter, finds inner freedom, and is no longer a slave to sin. Only love frees, only love gives peace, only love generates happiness.

For love of us and to teach us to love, the Father sent His Son to earth and he was born in a Manger.

If God became Man, if the Word took on human form, if the eternal Son of the Father was born in a Manger, it was to teach us to love, to make us brothers, to live fraternal love.

To prepare ourselves for Christmas should mean to live the dimensions of love, open the hearts of others, to allow others to have a greater place in our lives, to seek those who need us and that which God gave us.

Christmas is the feast of love, Love will be born. The Word of the Father became man to bring the love of God to men. Christmas is precisely the birth of love made Child.

We need to rediscover the most profound meaning of Christmas as a feast of love.

During Advent, we should convert ourselves to love. Only thus will there be in every heart and in each family, true peace, joy and happiness. Only thus God is born in us and around us, and the love of God will fill us all with true and lasting happiness.

Christmas is the sharing of love, the way of the word and the friendly presence.

We ask the Mother of Jesus our Mother to help us to prepare our heart, and to purify it with every humility, charity and love, so that the Child may have a worthy place to be born and feel well in the royal palace which we prepare for Him.

With a friendly embrace in the united hearts of Jesus and Mary, I wish you all a Holy Christmas with the greatest of Blessings from the Child Jesus.

President of the Grupo da Imaculada

Angelina Pinto Leite

GRUPO DA IMACULADA: Why this Marian monument?

VISIT BY GRUPO DA IMACULADA. Pedro and Leonor Sottomayor of Fatima, Portugal when they visited the Marian Consecration Grounds in Marikina Heights, Marikina City, Philippines last December 3, 2009. With Paul Edward P. Sison of Grupo Da Imaculada Pilipinas and children from the surrounding community.

In the Universal Message given in Fatima, Our Lady ask for penitence, prayer and conversion.

In order to make it easier to feel the peace and joy that follow from ascesis, Our Lady reveals an unfailing way, which is a part of the Message of Fatima.

THE DEVOTION TO HER IMMACULATE HEART

The Lemma for the action of this group of prayer is the Holy Writ and the Message of Fatima.  In order to make The Immaculate Heart of Mary known, loved and venerated by everybody, and to set the example of its action, the group spreads the Monuments from the north to the south of Portugal and also abroad.  These small Monuments have a simple architecture, as simple and humble as the House of the Holy Family in Nazareth.

Everybody can be near the image of Our Lady and pray to Her at any time of the day or night, because at night the Monument is illuminated.  And so Our Lady also hears and takes care of Her children at any time of the day or night.

The Monuments, that are also spread abroad, are made only to venerate Our Lady and beg her Help.  That's why their structure is so simple, to avoid any distractions.

The Rosary round the Monument protects it and calls the attention to the Rosary saying, which is so necessary and that Our Lady recommended in all Her Apparitions in Fatima.

In the places where there is the Monument it increased both people's devoutness and the attending to the First Five Saturdays devotion.

Many people began to say the Rosary prayer and to attend The Sacraments.

There are some places where people pray near the Monument twice a day and some others where people go on pilgrimage to the Monument of the 13th every month.

There have been several pilgrimages in Portugal and abroad to the places where there are Monuments.  Our Lady has already granted many Graces and conversions.

We want to make the Message of Fatima known everywhere and also help everybody live it better and better.

Pray from the Heart

MARIAN MONUMENT OF GRUPO DA IMACULADA at Sto. Nino de Molino Parish in Bacoor, Cavite.

Mula nang magmensahe ang Mahal na Ina nung kanyang kaarawan nung September 8, 2000 … ay marami na ang nagpatutuo tungkol sa mga answered prayers.

Ang sabi ng isang boses ng babae nuon pagkatapos magdasal ng Rosaryo ang mga His Watchful Servants sa Marian Monument sa Marikina Heights ay ... kung sino man ang may problema ay lumapit lamang sa kanya at mag-“pray from the heart” at siya na ang bahala na mag-intercede sa kanyang anak na si Hesus.

Labing tatlong taon na ngayon ang nakalipas.

Nasa Iloilo kami ni Henry Ocier ngayong Lunes para bisitahin ang isang monumento sa Jaro Cathedral. Diumano, 14 years na itong bakante at walang imahen ng Immaculate Heart of Mary na dapat ay manggagaling sa Fatima, Portugal.

Mabuti na lang at naireport ito sa Grupo Da Imaculada (GDI) Facebook Page ni Remon Ramos ng Iloilo. Kung hindi ay di namin malalaman na meron din palang Marian Monument dito.

Ang mga imahen na ito ay regalo ni Sister Lucia Dos Santos, isa sa visionaries ng Fatima, Portugal sa Pilipinas nung 1999.

Sampung imahen ang pinadala niya nuon at ito ay enthroned na sa mga monumento sa:

1. Binakayan, Cavite (Our Lady of Fatima); 
2. Bacoor, Cavite (Sto. Nino de Molino); 
3. Cabuyao, Laguna (Saint Polycarp Parish); 
4. Sauyo, Novaliches (The Other Father Parish); 
5. San Lorenzo, Guimaras (St. Joseph Parish); 
6. Jakosalem, Cebu (Sacred Heart); 
7. Ozamis City, Misamis Occidental (San Lorenzo Ruiz); 
8. Marikina Heights, Marikina (St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows); 
9. Binondo, Manila (Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary); at 
10. Sagay, Camiguin (Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish).

May anim pa na sumunod at ito ay sa:

1. Sta. Rita, Pampanga (Virgen delos Remedios); 
2. Tamborong, Guimaras (St. John the Baptist); 
3. Tagaytay Highlands, Cavite (Ina ng Laging Saklolo);
4.  Odlot, Cebu (Our Lady of Remedios); 
5. Calbayog, Samar (Our Lady’s Nativity); at 
6. El Salvador, Misamis (Divine Mercy Shrine).

Kung meron palang taga Sta. Rita, Pampanga na may alam kung nasaan ang imahen ay ipaabot lamang sa amin sa 09176251963 para mabisita rin naming kasi wala ito nang puntahan ko sa Virgen delos Remedios.

Andito kami ngayon sa Jaro, Iloilo para magpaalam kay Archbishop Angel Lagdameo at para bumuo ng GDI Local Commission na mangangalaga ng monumento at magpapalaganap ng debosyon sa Immaculate Heart of Mary at sa Five First Saturdays.

Naiintindihan kita kapatid kung di ka pa naniniwala. Pero, kung wala ka na talagang matakbuhan sa iyong mga problema … subukan mo ang Ina ni Hesus at ating Mahal na Ina. Hinihintay ka niya ngayon.

Ang tanging hiling lang niya sa iyo, “Pray from the Heart.”

DEL RADIO: Radyo Marikina back on air

The Marikina Public Information Office (PIO) is a recipient of the Oscar Florendo Award for Outstanding Public Information Programs/Projects. One of the main reasons for this is its being the only LGU with a local radio station of its own.

Now, DzBF 1674 kHz is back on air as DEL RADIO: Radyo Marikina. Two major enhancements are its being aired over the internet (www.marikina.gov.ph) and its being shown via a webcam (livestreaming). Livestreaming ... ala tele-radyo --- where people not only hear you, but also see you!

Listeners and viewers are not limited to the confines of the city because its 1 kilowatt radio transmitter is now complemented by the information superhighway. Now even Marikenyos abroad can hear and see our radio programs. They are kept abreast of the latest goings on in their hometown.

DEL Radio is interactive -- it involves listeners/viewers who are incorporated into the programs because they can say their piece, they can comment, send greetings to loved ones, request a song, or simply say "hi!" We invite you to join us one of these days ... let us know how you feel, let us know how we can further improve and serve you even better. Call us at +632 6466451, text us at 09186577158 (Smart) and  09154573293 (Globe).