Ad Maoirem De Gloriam

 By Most Rev. Leonardo Y. Medroso NO, it is not true that the Catholic Church sets aside the forty days of the Season of Lent in order to make people who are happy unhappy; that she is a big killjoy damping an o the rwise bright atmosphere with a suffocating air of sober and serious practices of strict penances, long drawn prayer s, fasting and abstinence. The Church knows full well that no amount of human effort can erase the gnawing and perennial questions of suffering and death from man’s his consciousness; that the y are the re forever haunting and gnawing the soul of her faithful. The Season of Lent is meant to lead us to Christ. For only He has effectively grappled with the stark realities of suffering and death of His existence, and effectively transformed it into a new life. Hence, He alone can truly helped man to effectively face the se existential problems. Christ is the center of the Church, and central to Him is the Pascha...

 By Most Rev. Leonardo Y. Medroso THE Season of Lent summons us Chr is tians to pause and pray. It is a time of grace to look deep into ourselves, examine the motivations that drive our life, our status with the community and the environment, and above all, our relationship with the Transcendent without whom human life becomes a tumble of mess and meaningless bits of unrelated events. As it is said, an unexamined life is an ex is tence not worth living. Deep prayer is based on reality. It is not an imagined relationship with God, nei the r is it a mere conversation with the Fa the r in Heaven clo the d in piet is tic burst of emotions and interesting words. Genuine prayer is reality. It aims to bring us down deep into the realization of the Samaritan woman in John’s Gospel who, having been unmasked of her immoral love life and accepted it as a matter of fact, immediately asked Jesus about the nature of a true worship that is acceptable to God...

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS   BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2012 “ Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works ” (Heb 10:24) Dear Brothers and Sisters, The Lenten season offers us once again an opportunity to reflect upon the very heart of Christian life: charity. This is a favorable time to renew our journey of faith, both as individuals and as a community, with the help of the word of God and the sacraments. This journey is one marked by prayer and sharing, silence and fasting, in anticipation of the joy of Easter. This year I would like to propose a few thoughts in the light of a brief biblical passage drawn from the Letter to the Hebrews:“ Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works”. These words are part of a passage in which the sacred author exhorts us to trust in Jesus Christ as the High Priest who has won us forgiveness and opened up a pathway to God. Embracing Christ bears fruit in a ...