Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday commemorates Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and is the start of the church's Holy Week, which includes the Good Friday re-enactment of Christ's crucifixion and death and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Christ The King Celebration

The Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Bucandala Imus Cavite is celebrating the feast of Christ the King. There will be a three day vigil on Nov. 20-22, 2009. The theme is (TARA, TENA SA PUSO NI HESUS AT MARIA). The Feast ofChrist the King ( Solemnity of Christ the King) is a last holy Sunday in the western liturgical calendar & the start of the Advent Season.

Apostleship of Christ

September 5, 2008 is the day I officially become member of Apostolado ng Panalangin under the Dioces of Cavite.

The objective of this group is to promote the practice of prayer for the mutual intentions of the members in union with the intercession of Christ in heaven.
The members are also urged to observe the practice of the Holy Hour, spent in meditation on the Passion of Christ. Holy Hour is held every friday 5:30am at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish Church, Bukandala Imus Cavite.

Everybody is invited to join the Holy Hour. Pls bring a copy of "Ang Banal na Oras" for personal use.

Myspace Christian Comments

The 14 Stations of The Cross

In preparation for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart on May 30, 2008, the following Novena is prayed from May 21 - 29. Please join us and pray this novena for each of the following days until May 30.

Novena:

O Lord, Jesus Christ, To Thy Most Sacred Heart I confide this intention...(for fast recovery of Cherry Anne C. Espion) Only look upon me, then do what Thy Heart inspires. . . Let Thy Sacred Heart decide. . . I count on It. . . I trust in It. . . . I throw myself on Its mercy. . . Lord Jesus! Thou wilt not fail me. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in Thee. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I believe in Thy love for me. Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom Come.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I have asked for many favors, but I earnestly implore this one. Take it, place it in Thy Sacred Heart. When the Eternal Father sees it covered with Thy Precious Blood, He will not refuse it. It will be no longer my prayer but Thine, O Jesus. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee. Let me never be confounded. Amen.(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be)

What transpired in the Afternoon of Prayers

May 1, 2008 celebration was a success. Five families joined the afternoon of prayers to honor St. Joseph the Worker and Divine Mercy.

Highlights of events:

1. Introduction of the Devotion to the Divine Mercy

2. Chaplet of Divine Mercy using the rosary.

3. Praying the Chaplet of St. Joseph and the Remember...

4. Prayer Consecration of the following families:

Buenaobra Family

Canuto Family

Dulay Family

Mata Family

Tolentino Family

This will going to be an annual event every May 1 for the intention of the Ytienza Family. Every year 5 different families will be invited to join the alliance of prayer for the purpose of spreading the Devotion to Divine Mercy.

An Afternoon of Prayers
In celebration of the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, the Ytienza Family are inviting close family and friends to an afternoon of prayers to be held at the Ytienza’s Residence on May 1. 2008 at 2:30 pm in the afternoon. Please help us in prayers for our intention to spread the Message & Devotion to Divine Mercy & honoring St. Joseph - foster father of our Lord Jesus Christ

Saint Joseph and The Devotion to Divine Mercy

Sister Faustina wrote in her Diary: Saint Joseph urged me to have a constant devotion to him. He himself told me to recite every day three prayers, and the 'Remember...' once. He looked at me with great kindness and gave me to know how much he is supporting this work (of mercy). He has promised me his special help and protection. I recite the requested prayers every day and feel his special protection" (III, 55).

The "three prayers refered to are the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory be to the Father...

The "Remember" is the prayer to St. Joseph that her religious community recited daily or what we called the-Memorare.

Remember, O most pure spouse of Mary, and my dearly beloved guardian, St. Joseph, that never was it know, that anyone who invoked your care and requested help was left without consolation.

Inspired with this confidence, I come to you, and with all the ardor of my spirit I commend myself to you. Do not reject my prayer, O Foster Father of the Savior, but graciously receive and answer it. Amen.

St. Joseph
Feast day:

March 19 (Joseph the Husband of Mary)
May 1 (Joseph the worker)

Paton of workers, fathers, carpenters, social justice, the dying and the universal Church
Foster Father of Jesus

Selected scriptures in the Bible that tells something about St. Joseph:

We know he was a carpenter, working man, for the skeptical
Nazarenes ask about Jesus, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 3:55)

" He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised
and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of
pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb." (Luke 2:24)

"We know Joseph was a man of faith, obedient to whatever God asked of him without knowing the outcome. When the angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him the truth about the child Mary was carrying, Joseph immediately and without question or concern for gossip, took Mary as his wife. When the angel came again to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything he owned, all his family and friends, and fled to a strange country with his young wife and the baby. He waited in Egypt without question until the angel told him it was safe to go back" (Matthew 2:13-23)

"We also know that Joseph treated Jesus as his own son, for over and over the people of Nazareth say of Jesus, 'Is this not the son of Joseph'?" (Luke 4:22)

There is much we wish we could know more about Joseph-where and when he was born, how he spent his days, when and how he died. But Scripture has left us with the most important knowledge: who he was - "a righteous man" (Matthew 1:18)

Consecration to the Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary

(For Ytienza Family)

Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary. I consecrate my entire family and myself to you. I Desire to renew the vows of my baptism and place each member of my family through an act of faith, hope and love into loving union with the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

I dedicate each member of my family and myself to the guardian angels God has given to each one of us. O Holy Guardian Angels, enlighten, guide and protect each one so as to lead us safely to heaven.

At Fatima, dear Mother of God, you appeared with St. Joseph and the Child Jesus blessing the world. O Holy Family, bestow blessings upon my entire family so that we may live the Christ-life. I desire that each member of my family adore always the Most Blessed Trinity and love our God in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Grant peace to each member of my family. Keep each one in the grace of Jesus Christ. Never permit any of my family to stray from the true faith. For any family member who has strayed, I beseech you to bind up the wounds, lift up the fallen, restore and keep each of our love ones in grace. Bid them come back to their Father's true home. Amen.

The Story of the Message & Devotion of Divine Mercy

The writings of St. Faustina, an uneducated Polish nun, provide the source of the message and devotion of Divine Mercy. Sis Faustina was born Helen Kowalska in the village of Glogowiek Poland on Aug 25, 1905. Comming from a poor religious family, Helen was the 3rd of the 10 children and was baptized in the Parish Church of Swince Warckie. On Aug 1, 1925, at the age of 20, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. It was a vision of a suffering Christ that led her to enter religious life. She took the name Sr. Maria Faustina of the Most Blessed Sacrament and lived as a member of the congregation for 13 years, working as a cook, gardener and porter. From a very tender age, she was known for her love of prayers, diligence, obedience and concern for the poor and suffering souls. The years she spent in the convent were filled with extraordinary gifts, such as revelations, visions, hidden stigmata, participation in the Passion of the Lord, bilocations, the reading of human souls, prophecy, and rare gifts of mystical espousal and marriage.
In 1930's Sis Faustina wrote a diary of some 600 pages, recording the revelations she was receiving about God's Mercy and she entitled it -"The Divine Mercy In My Soul". The diary reveals the manner in which our Lord entrusted to her a very special mission, namely, to announce to the whole world the message & devotion to His Divine Mercy.
In 1938 at the age of 33 Sis Faustina died of a lung disease, one year before the outbreak of world war II, a war which she had foretold, even indicating it's extent and horror.
The invation of European countries including Poland began the second world war. During this terrible war the devotion to Divine Mercy became a shield of strength and hope for many. Cities throughout Poland suffered major damage. However, the cities of the devotion's origin, Vilao & Cracow were completely spared. In Cracow, explosives planted for the destruction of all major historic buildings and precious national landmarks unexplainably were never detonated. Thus the devotion to Divine mercy begun to spread. During the tragic war years, this devotion grew in strength as people through out Poland and Luthuania turned to the merciful Savior for comfort and hope.
Then, in 1958 n and 1959, Sis Faustina's prophecy about the apparent destruction of the Divine Mercy work (Diary 378) began t0 be fulfiled. The Holy See, having received erroneous and confusing translations of the diary, prohibited the spreading of the devotion in the forms proposed by Sis Faustina. The ban lasted for 20 years.
Meanwhile, in 1978, through the intervention and effort of Archbishop of Cracow, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, the Holy See completely reversed it's original decision and lifted the ban. Six months after the ban was lifted, Cardinal Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II and from then on was known as the Mercy Pope.

The Feast of Mercy

Jesus revealed to St. Faustina that it was His desire that we celebrate a special feast-The Divine Mercy Sunday. "The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy." (Diary, 699)

Divine Mercy Sunday is the Second Sunday of the Easter season. It was named by Pope John Paul II at the canonization of St. Maria Faustina on April 30, 2000, and then officially decreed by the Vatican. Divine Mercy Sunday can be seen as the convergence of all the mysteries and graces of Holy Week and Easter
Jesus further asked that the Feast of the Divine Mercy be preceded by a Novena to the Divine Mercy which would begin on Good Friday. Say the Novena each day following the novena intention. which does not include personal needs. Unlike other novenas, where people ask for something from God through the intercession of His Holy Saints, Divine Mercy Novena is intended to be prayed for graces and salvation for other people. In her diary, St. Faustina wrote that Jesus told her: "On each day of the novena you will bring to My Heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy... On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls. By this novena I will grant every possible grace to souls." (Diary 1209, 796)

The different souls prayed for on each day of the novena are:
1. All mankind, especially sinners; 2. The souls of priests and religious; 3. All devout and faithful souls; 4. Those who do not believe in Jesus and those who do not yet know Him; 5. The souls of separated brethen; 6. The meek and humble souls and the souls of children; 7. The souls who especially venerate and glorify Jesus' mercy; 8. The souls who are detained in purgatory; and 9. The souls who have become lukewarm.
This is prayed along with the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

With regards with the celebration of the Feast of Mercy, the Lord also prescribes:

1. The reception of Holy Communion on that Sunday.

2. The availing oneself of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (sacramental confession) in connection with that Holy Communion several days before or after that Sunday (according to the Church's present practice in the matter of gaining a Plenary Indulgence.)

The Image of the Divine Mercy

The earliest element of the Devotion to the Divine Mercy revealed to St. Faustina was the Image. On February 22nd, 1931 Jesus appeared to her with rays radiating from His heart and said,
Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus I trust in You. I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and throughout the world. (Diary 47)
I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over its enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I myself will defend it as My own glory. (Diary 48)
I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature" :Jesus, I trust in You." (Diary 327)
The two rays denote Blood and Water. the pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him. (Diary 299)

The very first image painted under Sister Faustina's direction is believed to be kept in a little church behind the iron Curtain, and so practically inaccessible.

The picture shown above is a reproduction of the image of the Divine Mercy modelled on the one presently venerated in the chapel where Sister Faustina's mortal remains lie buried.

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

In 1935, St Faustina received a vision that an angel was sent by God to punish a certain city. She began to pray for mercy. Suddenly she saw the Holy Trinity and felt the power of Jesus grace within her. At the same time she found herself pleading with God for mercy with words she heard interiorly: "Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly Beloved Son , Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement of our sins and those of the whole world; for the sake of of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us."(Diary 475). The angel became helpless and could not carry out the deserved punishment. The next day, Sis Faustina was entering the chapel, she heard again this interior voice, instructing her how to recite the prayer that the Lord later called "the Chaplet". From then on she recited this form of prayer almost constantly, offering it especially for the dying.

In subsequent revelations, the Lord made it clear that the Chaplet was not just for her, but for the whole world.

How to recite the Chaplet:
(to be prayed on ordinary rosary beads)
1. Begin with the Sign of the Cross, 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.
2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).
4. Conclude with (three times):Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

3 O'clock Prayer

Jesus told Saint Faustina, “I remind you, My daughter, that as often as you hear the clock strike the third hour, immerse yourself completely in My mercy, adoring and glorifying it; invoke its omnipotence for the whole world, and particularly for poor sinners; for at that moment mercy was opened wide for every soul. . . . try your best to make the Stations of the Cross in this hour” (Diary, 1572).

You died, Jesus, but the source of life flowed out for souls and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O fountain of Life, Immeasurable Divine Mercy, cover the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us. O Blood and Water which flowed out from the heart of Jesus as Fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and the whole world.(3x)

Jesus King of Mercy, we trust in You! Amen...

Devotion to Divine Mercy

From the diary of a young Polish nun, named Sr. Faustina Kowalska, a special devotion to the mercy of God is spreading throughout the world. The message is "God is merciful and forgiving and that we, too, must show mercy and forgiveness."

The Devotion to the Divine Mercy takes on a powerful new focus, calling people to a deeper understanding that God's love is unlimited and available to everyone-especially the greatest sinners: "The greater the sinner, the greater he has to My mercy." (Diary 723)

May this blog be useful to all. God is reaching out to every soul, calling us for a total commitment....It is not enough for us to hang The Divine Mercy Image in our homes, pray the Chaplet everyday at 3 o'clock and receive the Holy Communion on the first Sunday after Easter. We also have to share mercy to our neighbors. Putting mercy into action is not an option of the Divine Mercy message and devotion- it's a requirement! "I demand from your deeds of mercy which are to arise out of love for me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse yourself from it." (Diary 742)

It is now our decision to accept His mercy with thanks giving, to trust completely in Him, and to be merciful as He is merciful.