Newest Basilica in the Philippines

Mahal mo ba si Mama Mary?

THEN PRAY THE ROSARY!

Sinusuot mo ba ito?

Today begins the novena to Mary, under her title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Do you wear Mary's cloth with faith and devotion, or do you prefer to wear amulets from Feng Shui shops?

HELP FIND MISSING IMAGE!

Centuries old image of Our Lady of the Cincture of Betis, Pampanga, STOLEN ONCE AGAIN.

Please help find the image of the Virgin Mary!

Lagian na sumasaklolo

Today is the feast of Ina ng Laging Saklolo.  Kailan mo siya huling tinawag? Nilapitan? Naalala?

WEAR THE CORRECT SACRAMENTAL

The phony Maria Divine Mercy is propagating this fake Medal of Salvation.

First of all, the Archdiocese of Dublin has already declared that the messages and alleged visions are in contradiction with Catholic theology, and have no Ecclesiastical approval.

Wear instead the Medal of Our Lady of Grace.

Devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour

I grew up with a devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Tomorrow, the novena for her feast on June 27 will begin. 

May I ask the readers of this blog to dedicate their novenas to the eradication of Liturgical abuse. 

New Schedule in Baclaran

The Redemptorist Parish in Baclaran posted a new schedule of their Liturgical Celebrations.

Miracle after the quake?

I have received this via email.

How true is this?

Did this really happen in Cebu?

From this link.

***

On the day after His Holiness Pope Francis consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, while commemorating the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, hopefully contemplating the yet unfulfilled request of Mary to consecrate, with all the world's bishops, Russia to her Immaculate Heart, and to release the Third Secret, lest God punishes the world with a great chastisement, a miracle occurred in the Philippines.

A large earthquake hit the southern Philippines. It's epicenter was the island of Bohol. It also occurred in the nearby island of Cebu. The death count is 160+, and 250+ injured. The people noticed a pattern. The main buildings to collapse were the old churches. In several of these churches the only thing that remained standing was a statue of Mary. Here is one story: http://johnib.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/in-the-ruins-of-the-philippines-earthquake-two-holy-statues-stand-alone-bringing-faith-hope/

Yet, the most profound sign came from the most visited Marian Shrine in the Philippines on the island of Cebu, called Mama Mary shrine. There is a large, miraculous statue of Mary in this shrine, that has cried and cured many pilgrims. In the same church there is another statue of Mary, that appears to be Our Lady of Fatima. It has a base with the word "Portugal" on it. This base is continuous with the statue. They are one piece. The base cannot be detached from the body. Otherwise the statue would be broken into two pieces.

Here is the great miracle, which seems to be a message, a warning from Our Lady of Fatima. Right after the earthquake, pilgrims noticed and cried out in alarm that this statue had changed. Mary was now facing the wall, with her back to the people. But, the base itself, molded to the body of the statue, was still facing forward with the "Portugal" inscription!

I will try and upload the pic asap (not working from my phone).

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!  May Pope Francis and the world's bishops do as Our Lady requested.

***

Anyone of our friends in Cebu want to confirm this picture and story?


UPDATE:  7:32PM.  Here is the original post of the one who took the picture of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima via her Facebook account.  The post is in Cebuano.  Thanks Patrick!

The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Hail Mary, poor and humble Woman, Blessed by the Most High! Virgin of hope, dawn of a new era, We join in your song of praise, to celebrate the Lord’s mercy, to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom and the full liberation of humanity.

Hail Mary, lowly handmaid of the Lord, Glorious Mother of Christ! Faithful Virgin, holy dwelling-place of the Word, Teach us to persevere in listening to the Word, and to be docile to the voice of the Spirit, attentive to his promptings in the depths of our conscience and to his manifestations in the events of history.

Hail Mary, Woman of sorrows, Mother of the living! Virgin spouse beneath the Cross, the new Eve, Be our guide along the paths of the world. Teach us to experience and to spread the love of Christ, to stand with you before the innumerable crosses on which your Son is still crucified.

Hail Mary, woman of faith, First of the disciples! Virgin Mother of the Church, help us always to account for the hope that is in us, with trust in human goodness and the Father’s love. Teach us to build up the world beginning from within: in the depths of silence and prayer, in the joy of fraternal love, in the unique fruitfulness of the Cross.

Holy Mary, Mother of believers, Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.

Amen.


(This prayer was said during the Blessed John Paul II's August 15, 2004 visit to Lourdes, France. The Pope asked her among other things to "be our guide along the paths of the world.")

Happy Feast of the Blessed Mother's Assumption!

Signum magnum apparuit in caelo:

mulier amicta sole, et luna sub pedibus ejus,

et in capite ejus corona stellarum duodecim.

A great sign appeared in the heavens:

a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet,

and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

The Immaculate Conception in the Vatican Frescoes

Catholic Apologetics: The Immaculate Conception

Tomorrow is a Holy Day of Obligation

We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful.

—Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854

 Tomorrow is the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Principal Patroness of the Philippines!

Do not forget to go to Mass, go to confession and receive Holy Communion.

Viva La Virgen!

Tota pulchra es, Maria,
et macula originalis non est in te.
Vestimentum tuum candidum quasi nix, et facies tua sicut sol.
Tota pulchra es, Maria,
et macula originalis non est in te.
Tu gloria Jerusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri.
Tota pulchra es, Maria.

You are all beautiful, Mary,
and the original stain [of sin] is not in you. Your clothing is white as snow, and your face is like the sun. You are all beautiful, Mary,
and the original stain [of sin] is not in you.
You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy of Israel, you give honour to our people. You are all beautiful, Mary.

We all celebrate His Birth

At least for those who still believe in Christ.

He too was a baby.

And His Mom was pro-choice.

She chose to bear Him even though She was not yet married, a crime punishable by death in those days.

She was pro-choice.

She chose LIFE.

She did not think about what people will think or what the future might hold for Her.

She trusted the Lord.

And She chose LIFE.

Marian Exhibit

Spent the whole day traveling via bus to...believe or not...the Department of Foreign Affairs to get my passport.

No, the process was surprisingly very quick for a government office.  What I was ranting about is the two hour travel from home to the DFA.  No, thanks to the traffic of Metro Manila.

After processing my passport, I went to the SM Mall of Asia to have a quick lunch.  I am a lover of veggies so from among the gastronomic and cholesterol laden delights in the humongous mall's foodcourt, I chose to eat a Mongolian vegetable stir fry served on a hot plate.  Nope I did not take any photos.  I leave it to Fr. Z.  I am not as good as a cook as he is.  And besides, I ate at a foodcourt...at SM...what's gourmet in that?!

To my surprise, there was, right below the foodcourt, a beautiful exhibit of Marian Images organized by Radio Veritas.  The image below is courtesy of the radio station.  You can see the run dates of the exhibit.

 Upon entering, some of the staff will give you free Holy Cards of Our Lady of Veritas and of the Immaculate Conception, principal patron of the Philippines.  There is a also an empty envelope and a blank form which you can use to write your Mass intentions.  You can also use the envelope to give your donations.

Here are some of the images I took with my "trusty" cellphone:

Our Mother of Perpetual Help

Our Lady of La Salette

The Queen of the Philippine Islands

(Notice the Maria Clara gown Our Lady is wearing.)

Our Lady, Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces (aka Our Lady of Lipa)

One of my personal favorite titles of Our Lady.  

I held the hand of this image and prayed for my intentions and for those who visit, read and follow my blog.  For both sinner and saint...from a sinner working diligently to become a saint.

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of La Naval Manila

(This beautiful statue is owned by Fr. Jojo Zerrudo)

There are other beautiful statues in the exhibit that I took photos of.  I will post them later as you can see in the photo below, there are A LOT!

Left row from the main entrance.

Right row from the main entrance

As you can see, there are A LOT of images in this exhibit.  You cannot even see the far end of the exhibit.

Oh before I end this post, here is something of particular interest that caught my eye.

I was looking at this image of Our Lady of Salvation when I noticed people milling around.  Nope.  I was hoping they were praying, but they were not.  They were playing the lottery!  Yup, that is a Lotto station right at the side of the exhibit.  Ah...my fellow and beloved Pinoy Catholics.  How cold are we!

Maybe praying that they'll win?

HAPPY MARYMAS!!!

I was checking my posts and to my horror I found out that this post that was supposed to be posted automatically by blogger last week was obviously not posted! So, I'd better post it than not post it at all.

***

Today is the birthday of our dear Mother, the Ever Blessed and Immaculate, Mary.

Please pray for me and mu wife too as we celebrate our wedding anniversary.  I remember after our wedding reception, my wife and I went to Malate Church to pray before Our Lady of Remedies, where we consecrated our married life to Her and Her Son.

Include us in our prayer and say an Ave and Memorare for me, my wife and my family.

Thank you very much and God bless you!

***

PRAYER ON THE BIRTH OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN

Come, all you faithful, let us hasten to the Virgin: for long before her conception in the womb, the one who was to be born of the stem of Jesse was destined to be the Mother of God. The one who is the treasury of virginity, the flowering Rod of Aaron, the object of the prophecies, the child of Joachim and Anne, is born today and the world is renewed in her. Through her birth, she floods the church with her splendor. O holy Temple, Vessel of the Godhead, Model of virgins and Strength of kings: in you the wondrous union of the two natures of Christ was realized. We worship Him and glorify your most pure birth, and we magnify you.


***

For meditations on the Birth of the Virgin Mary, click here.

Our Lady of Peñafrancia Stamps

 
The Queen of Bicolandia will have Her own stamp!

***

MANILA, August 24, 2010—The Archdiocese of Caceres is set to launch a commemorative stamp series as part Bicol Catholics’ 300 years of devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia. [The devotion is even older than Bible-thumping born-against Catholics!]

The commemorative stamps feature two different images of the Our Lady of Peñafrancia, Naga City’s Metropolitan Cathedral as well as the Penafrancia Basilica Minore. [which I had the opportunity to visit and its...ghastly.]

The stamp is a joint project between Caceres archdiocese and the Philippine Postal Corporation which allowed the printing of stamps in four different designs.

The unveiling of the commemorative stamps will be led by Caceres Archbishop Leonardo Legaspi and Postmaster General Hector Villanueva at the Holy Rosary Seminary in Naga City on September 11.

The activity is one of the major highlights in observance of the tercentenary of the devotion in Naga City, introduced in Bicol by Spanish priest Miguel Robles de Covarrubias.

A short lecture on the history of the devotion will also be delivered by local historian, Professor Danilo Gerona, during the launch.

“Stamps are miniature works of art. These commemorative stamps will serve as ‘evangelizers’ to promote the devotion all throughout the world,” said Fr. Wilmer Tria, chair of the Committee on commemorative stamps. (CBCPNews)

Papa Benny celebrates the Feast of the Assumption

Tomorrow is the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Thanks to Write for God blog for the photo.

Go to Mass tomorrow...

Are you wearing your Brown Scapular?  If you don't have it,re buy a good one and have it blessed using the traditional form which you can view here.

Please pray for my mom too.  It's her birthday tomorrow.  She is named after Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

Include in your prayers, Ben and Bruce who are working to hold an Anglican Use Evening Prayer in the Diocese of Cubao.