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Month: June 2024

Children – Be united with Jesus: Celebrating World Children’s Day

Pope Francis declared the 25th and 26th of May 2024 to be the celebration of the first World Children’s Day at the Vatican. “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5) is the theme for this year’s event. In his letter addressed to children, Pope Francis says to them, “All of you, girls and boys, are a source of joy for your parents and your families, but also for our human family and for the Church, in which each of us is like a link in a great chain stretching from the past to the future and cov

Sr Oluwakemi Akinleye fsp

Children are precious gifts to their families and to humanity. Pope Francis reminds us that “Children, everywhere, are a sign of every person’s desire to grow and flourish. You remind us that we are all children, brothers and sisters. We would not be alive unless others brought us into this world, nor could we grow without having others to love and from whom to receive love.” Where ever they are, children deserve to be loved and protected.

Raising children in the digital era

Good parental guidance is needed at every stage of a chid’s life. Today, digital technologies  give children more learning opportunities than in the past but they can also lead them to being exposed to vices such as pornography and violence at an early age. Therefore, the responsibility of parents spending more time with and guding their children can not be underestimated.

When asked about the difficulties parents face today in raising children, Barrister Mrs Virginia Mudimu, a mother and guardian from Zimbabwe, spoke about the fact that “Nowadays, parents are so busy trying to make ends meet, that they leave their children very often with television and phones. These devices are needed and useful but children must be guided on  their proper use.” She also reminds parents of the invaluable necessity of spending quality time with their children.

Do not forget those other Children

In a world where gross inequality exists between the haves and the have-nots, Pope Francis invites children to remember “all those other children and young people who are already battling illness and hardship, in hospital or at home, and those who even now are being cruelly robbed of their childhood.”

Prayer as a special secret

Teaching children how to pray and helping them grow in having a loving relationship with God is a priceless gift to them. Pope Francis shares his special secret with the children, one of having a life of prayer. “Now, I am going to share a special secret with you. If we really want to be happy, we need to pray, to pray a lot, to pray every day, because prayer connects us directly to God. Prayer fills our hearts with light and warmth; it helps us to do everything with confidence and peace of mind.”

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Palawan bishop launches ministry for pastoral care of seafarers, fishers

Bishop Socrates Mesiona presides over Mass to inaugurate the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa’s new apostolate for the “pastoral care of the people of the sea” at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral on May 30, 2024. AVPP

By Katya A. Santos
May 31, 2024
Puerto Princesa City

The Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa (AVPP) on Thursday inaugurated an apostolate dedicated to the well-being and pastoral care of seafarers and coastal communities.

The launch followed a Mass presided over by Bishop Socrates Mesiona at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Puerto Princesa City.

Fr. Eugene Elivera, coordinator of the Committee on Migrants and Itinerant People, will oversee the ministry for “pastoral care for the people of the sea.”

Its mission is to provide spiritual support, counseling, and practical assistance to seafarers, both on land and during their maritime journeys.

In his homily, Mesiona emphasized the significance of seafarers, saying they are “close to the heart of Jesus.”

He recognized their challenges, including separation from families, exposure to unpredictable weather, and vulnerability to exploitation due to globalization.

“As a Church, we must extend our care to them,” Mesiona said. “Let us pray for their well-being, seeking the intercession of the Blessed Mother, the Star of the Sea (Stella Maris).”

The launch was attended by officials from the Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard, and City Tourism Council.

Palawan Gov. Victorino Dennis Socrates, City Councilor Karl Dylan Aquino, representatives of the Philippine Ports Authority, and seafarers’ families also participated in the event.

In April, Bishop Ruperto Santos of Stella Maris – Philippines discussed with Mesiona the possibility of establishing a center in the apostolic vicariate to provide pastoral care for seafarers, fishers, and their families.

Santos said the maritime charity intends to build more centers in the country to reach areas with a large number of seafarers and fishers.

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

Vatican News
30 May

Faith in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Trinity), is not a distant and unattainable experience. Instead, it is as near since it is perennially “broken” for us: This is my Body… This is my blood.”

In 1207, a Belgian Augustinian nun, Giuliana di Cornillon, who had just turned fifteen, had a vision of a full moon with a dark spot sullying it. Contemporary experts interpreted it thus: the full moon symbolized the Church, the dark spot was the absence of a specific feast in honour of the Body of the Eucharistic Jesus. The following year, the same religious had an even clearer vision, but had to fight hard to get the feast instituted. She succeeded only at the diocesan level, when Robert de Thourette became bishop of Liège in 1247. In 1261, the former archdeacon of Liège, Jacques Panteléon, became Pope Urban IV. In 1264, impressed by a Eucharistic miracle that had taken place in Bolsena, near Orvieto in Italy where he was residing, he promulgated the bull Transiturus through which he instituted a new solemnity to be celebrated the Thursday after the Octave of Pentecost in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. Thomas Aquinas was given the task of composing the liturgical office. The last strophe of the hymns very famous hymn he wrote, Sacris Solemniis, which begins with the words Panis angelicus (Bread of angels), has often been set to different musical scores, apart from the rest of the hymn. Since Pope Urban IV died two months after having instituted the feast, the bull was never implemented, but Pope Clement V, the first Avignon Pope (1312), confirmed it later.

The now traditional procession of Corpus Christi was introduced by Pope John XXII in 1316. During his pastoral visit to Orvieto, Saint John Paul II said: “Even though the construction of this cathedral was not directly connected with the Solemnity of ‘Corpus Christi’, instituted by Pope Urban IV with the bull Transiturus, in 1264, nor with the miracle that took place in Bolsena the previous year, there is no doubt that the Eucharistic miracle is powerfully evidenced here due to the corporal of Bolsena for which the chapel was specifically built and which it now jealously guards. Since then, the city of Orvieto became known throughout the world due to that miraculous sign that reminds all of us of the merciful love of God who becomes the food and drink of salvation for humanity on its early pilgrimage. Because of the cult rendered to such a great mystery, your city preserves and nourishes the inextinguishable flame” (17 June 1990).

Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (Jn. 6:51-58)

There’s bread and there is bread

The people did not forget and could not forget the Exodus experience and what God had done for them. The First Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy focuses on this. It can be said that life is guided by memory. “Remember how for forty years now the Lord, your God, directed all your journeying…” (Dt. 8:2). Along that journey, the people received “manna” in which they received the strength to endure the difficult journey through the “vast and terrible wilderness with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers” (Dt. 8:15).

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