Explaining The Faith Series: Fr. Chris Alar, MIC

          Do you believe in the saying love is lovelier the second time around? Well, I can say that I am a believer in that saying now. I returned to our church, after being sidetracked for quite awhile. I have this new passion, and enthusiasm to study more about our Catholic faith. I have learned a lot of good Roman Catholic teachers and speakers, like Dr. Scott Hahn, our very own local Dominican preachers, and Fr. Chris Alar, who hosts a series on YouTube called, "Explaining the Faith." It is aired in the U.S at around 11 a.m., every Saturday. I get to listen to the replay on Sunday, here in the Philippines. Fr. Chris is the Director, of the Association of Marian Helpers The Divine Mercy National Shrine, in Stockbridge, MA. 

I have finished his talks regarding the Shroud of Turin, and the Image of the Divine Mercy. In this talk, I have learned the amazing connection of the Divine Mercy image, and the Shroud of Turin. If you have seen the docudrama of St. Faustina entitled Love and Mercy, you already have an idea of what I am talking about. You will also learn about the veil of  Oviedo, this is not the veil of Veronica. 

The next series that I watched was about the Angels: The Forgotten Army. I was still a teenager when I became curious, and fascinated by the angels. I am familiar with the nine choirs of angels, guardian angel, and the archangels. 

I really enjoyed watching, and also taking down notes on Fr. Alar's lectures. I really learned a lot and I am looking forwars to his next talk. I am very much grateful to their congregation, because I am a devotee of our Lord Jesus, Divine Mercy. I am an official member of the Friends of Mercy. If you want to learn more about our faith, I suggest, you watch Fr. Chris Alar's talks in YouTube, Divine Mercy channel. You can also like their fb page.

Road to Forever: Pre-Cana

        Praise God! Last week we successfully finished our Pre-Cana seminar, but before that we had our Canonical interview. Our interviewer was Fr. Kali Llamado of Manila Cathedral. We learned a lot from our speakers, Bro. Egay and Sis. Vivian Cabuello, and Bro. Rene and Sis. Lily Perez, from the Commission on Life and Family.

We talked about lots of topics. Love languages of couples, financial matters, family planning, plans after the wedding, etc. Due to pandemic we had to do video conferencing. There were seven couples, including us who attended. We also practiced the marriage ceremony, we had a role-play. We also learned about the things that is used in weddings like the cord, veil and arrhae. It is good to have a talk like this before the wedding because, this is really helpful to every couple. 

I also love it that the speakers encouraged us to compose and make our own couple prayer. My fiance and I are saying our prayers every night. He edited the couple prayer that I composed before. I think it's good that couples are spiritually inclined, and it's a must that they put God in the center of their relationship. I'm counting the days to our wedding. May God watch over us always! To God be the glory!

Aquinas 101 - Thomistic Institute

      I have always been interested in studying things pertaining to God. I almost took up a Master's degree before at Maryhill School of Theology, but I did not pursue it. When I was still a student, I always look forward to our Religion class, not all students are very fond of it, I am an exception he!he!he!

Studying Distance Learning is expensive. I took two courses in English before, at Thompson Education Direct formerly known as International Correspondence School. Right now, I want to study Theology, apologetics, anything about the Roman Catholic faith. I asked a group online, Catholic Apologetics Geek, if they can recommend a free Distance learning course. They suggested a few, and one that caught my interest is the free course by the Dominicans from the Thomistic Institute. I enrolled within the same day, and I started my first course this week. I studied about the life of St. Thomas Aquinas. I also like the course offered by St. Paul website, the one by Dr. Scott Hahn, but it is not entirely free. 

I chose this Distance learning course because, I admire the Dominicans. As a teenager, and up to now I always listen to their 7 Last Words sermon, and my family is devotee of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. We also hear mass at Sto. Domingo church on feast days. 

I have two days off since the pandemic, and I like to partly spend it in studying. During these difficult times our mind can be polluted with negative thoughts, as St. Paul has mentioned in his letter to the Philippians chapter 4:8, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, and if there is anything worthy of praise, think of all these things."

The Lamb's Supper - Dr. Scott Hahn(Audio Review)

          I first heard about Scott Hahn through my priest friend, Fr. Steve Tynan. He served for a long time in our parish chapel, and was transferred in our parish, St. Benedict. He recommended the book to me after having a discussion with me with regard to the Protestant claim of the things that they found to be not right in the Roman Catholic church. 

I just finished last Wednesday, around past 12 in the morning, the audio recording of The Lamb's Supper by Scott Hahn. During this pandemic times I was not able to go to bookstores because for safety reasons. Anyway, if you want to purchase his books, a lot of his titles are available in Google Play Books.

Just a short information about the author. Scott Hahn, was a Presbyterian pastor who realized that the true church founded by Christ, and faithful to the early Church worship, and teaching is the Catholic church. He went to a Presbyterian college, he mastered Greek with an Oxford tutor. Translated the book of Revelation from Greek to English. According to his study, the word rapture does not appear a single time from the book of Revelation. The Battle of Armageddon occurs once in the end, and the anti-Christ doesn't occur but in the opening chapter. 

I have attended for a long time Protestant services. I noticed that there was indeed a connection of the Old Testament, with the New Testament. A lot of parallelism. Just like what Scott Hahn noticed in the book of Revelation. 

One thing that was favorable, when I attended a Protestant church is their eagerness to read the Bible. As a Catholic, I didn't really read the Bible much. But still, there is a caution. The Bible interpretation of the Protestant is of course different from the Catholic Bible, aside from the number of books included. According to one of our church fathers, St. Augustine, the New Testament is concealed in the old, and the old was revealed in the new. The pastor in the Protestant church that I went to before, studied in a Catholic university, I'm not sure if that was for his Masters or Doctorate, but that was the reason why he knows St. Augustine, and often quotes him too. 

Some examples of parallelism in the Bible that was discussed in the book was Moises and Jesus. Moises had the 12 tribes of Israel, and Jesus had 12 disciples. There were 72 elders from both of them. Moises was the giver of the law, and Jesus gave the sermon on the Mount, law of the New covenant. This is called typology. You can find a chart online describing the parallelism between the two of them. Jesus is the new Moises.

There are 2 parts of the mass (Liturgy of the Word, and the Eucharist) just like, there are two parts in the book of Revelation. 

Dr. Hahn mentioned that the greatest most significant event for Jews is the Passover, just like Thanksgiving and Christmas were for Christians. Jesus was the new Lamb of the Passover. You have to look back to the Old Testament in order to understand this. Moises gave the law, the law was to slaughter an unblemished lamb, sprinkle the blood of lamb, and you have to eat the lamb, this is non-negotiable. Just like when we eat the Body of Christ, at mass! I never really appreciated what we have before, and now I am very glad because of the realization of the precious gift that we have in mass. 

Dr. Hahn's wife told him that he needs to write down a book someday so that Catholics would appreciate what they have, because in the Protestant services, it isn't this deep, it isn't biblical, it isn't what they have, like what he has shown in the book of Revelation. 

As Dr. Hahn have said, "We all want to go to heaven, we just don't wanna die first. Well, the good news for Catholics, you don't need to die in order to go to heaven. All you have to do is go to mass, and heaven is where you are!... And the saints, and angels are who you were with, and when you read the book of Revelation, that their songs and prayers are identical to ours, and those songs, and those prayers, and that sacrifice of the Lamb is what releases God's power to vindicate His people, to rescue us, to give us the help that we need whenever we have hard times, and persecution. "

Jesus gave these visions to John when he was an old man. It is hard to take everything in, so Jesus told John to write down everything. John's vision of marriage Supper and the lamb, is the mass. The early church Father's were unanimous in the meaning of the great marriage, that Jesus is the bridegroom, as the groom gives himself to the bride. Jesus gave Himself to us, His church! In the book of Revelation, John called Jesus as the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei), 28 times! 

If you have not listened to the recorded audio online, you must! May God bless us all always! 

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I dedicated this post of mine, to my Lord Jesus. My Lord, and my God! Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam! 

Waiting on God's Promises

          It has been almost 5 months now, since our country has been on quarantine. We are on Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine now or MECQ, due to the plight of our dear health workers who are also the most affected in this pandemic that has hit the entire global community. I can relate to them because I am also a frontliner in my work assignment in the public sector.

Right now, we are on skeletal work force. I'm off duty so, I have the time to write again. If you have read my previous blog, you know that I'll be getting married soon. The challenge nowadays for most couples, sweethearts, and lovers is that we need to do social distancing. It is so difficult because we, as human beings were made for physical interaction, and connection. The only consolation that we have is that, we are on a very modern-age, and communication is not that difficult, compared in the olden days, wherein, we wait impatiently for the snail-mails to arrive, and as well as long distance-phone calls. Now, everything is within reach, thanks to these smart phones, wherein we can send messages instantly, and use video call. Still, for me this arrangement is very hard. I'm even worried because there are a lot of scenarios running on my mind now, and one, is that our wedding might be cancelled. I also worry that I might get sick, and that is one of my main concern that I told to the priest whom I spoke to during our canonical interview yesterday. Because, we may never know since the Covid cases here in the Philippines are still climbing-up. He said we are all experiencing difficulties during this pandemic, and we should unceasingly pray.

There are a lot of Bible characters that has taught us to wait on the Lord, especially in difficult, and trying times. One was Job who was afflicted with a skin disease, and whose family, tragically died, Joseph who was sold and was taken as a slave to Egypt, Sarah who longed to have a child, and many more. I was searching for the right Bible verse to incorporate into this writing of mine, and I have discovered among the few, from the Song of Songs. It says that "Deep waters cannot quench love, nor rivers sweep it away." It means that true love can overcome any trials.

Love also conquers fear. It says on 1 John 4:17-19, "There is no fear in LOVE, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. We love because He first loved us." In these trying times, the more we need to have more faith in God. The more we should call upon Him. As we recall, last Sunday's gospel. We know that if we get carried away by the heavy wind, and the crushing waves, we can rely on our Lord Jesus, that He will lift us up, and help us to rise again. We will be able to pass through any storms in our lives, through His guidance, help and protection.

... And I will wait with hope for our Lord's promises. I trust that HE will never fail me. I pray for my beloved, and I, that we will be safely together soon, in each other's arms, for He has brought the two of us together. What God has joined let no one separate. 

My Boaz, My Other Half.

     “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." Genesis 2:24

 “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?" Ecclesiastes 4:9

"For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her." Ephesians 5:25

   Yes! I have found Mi Media Naranja, that is a sweet Spanish term for my husband, my wife. In English, it means my other half. I have been long contemplating when is the right time to write about the most important person in my life, and I've decided now is the right time! Since, I'm off from work now due to MECQ, more strict quarantine measures are implemented now. I'm pretty sure that now is a good time to write about this. Most of the closest people I know, knew that it has been a decade since my last relationship. In between those years, I met a few guys but its either I like them, and obviously they are not interested in me, like the way I am interested in them. They just see me as a friend, or just a girl who likes them and nothing more. I even confessed my feelings before, and I've been friendzoned a lot of times. When I got brokenhearted from my first relationship, I even had bitterness towards God. That's why I met a lot of Protestant people, and pastors. Most of them are good people, and even if their beliefs aren't the same as ours. I thought I would find the right man for me in that place, but the answer is still "no!".

Then in 2018, I decided to withdraw from the Protestant church that I attend to, and return to the Roman Catholic church. I spoke to a priest (Fr. Matt, a foreigner priest probably from India), and made a confession, I told him of my long absence in the Roman Catholic church, and my desire to return again. I was forgiven, and welcomed again. Like I said, I felt like I was the prodigal daughter.

Those who are close to me know how long I have been praying for the right man to come to my life.  There was even a time when I asked myself if I will find the right guy for me, and there were so many nights that I've cried myself to sleep out of frustration. I really didn't expect that the love of my life now, would be the one for me. Yes, when we first met, we somehow started on the wrong foot. Firstly, I wasn't that attracted to him physically, and I hate it when people would make a joke, and pair me everytime with a single guy in our office. I was different back then. I was even sort of rude to him. As they say, I was like a regular cranky office employee. But I was changed by love. I was changed by him. I thought that it only happens in movies. I woke up one day, and I just realized that I like him!

I thank God for my love. For sending him, and giving him to me. Even before the time when he and I, are not in a serious relationship, before we became a couple, I promised our Lord, that I will love, and care for him deeply. He is the gift that I have been waiting, and praying for my whole life! I am now engaged, and we will get married hopefully this year.

My love, Mahal, if you are reading this I promise (I know some people make their promises but break it soon after, that's why I will write this entry as a reminder, lest I forget) to be faithful, to you and love you as long as I exist here on earth. Thank you for coming into my life, for giving me the chance to love you, for accepting me, for wanting me to be a part of your life. I promise, to be a loving and dutiful wife to you, as well as to be always your best friend, and confidant, to whom you can always tell and disclose all your cares, and concerns, and I promise to be here for you no matter what. We will be a good team, and I know we will be good partners who support each other, together for life, through ups and downs, in joy and in sorrow, through sickness and health, that's for sure! Like how faithful is Ruth to Boaz, I will be the same with you. Let me quote a Bible verse from the book of Ruth. "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and you lodge, I will lodge." Ruth 1:15

     Yes, it took a long time for me to find the one, but I know it has been worth the wait. It is not really about finding the right one, but it is learning to love the one you've found. Like what our parish priest said in one of his homilies, Love is a decision! Yes, I agree that love is not just a feeling, but a decision, and a commitment. Never give up on love, pray always, and keep the faith!

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." 1 Corinthians 13:4