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When I was a grade school student at St. Scholastica’s College Manila, one of the many religious practices my parents taught me was the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Every First Friday, my mom would bring me to the circular chapel of the old Ateneo de Manila campus on Padre Faura, Manila, to attend the Mass in honor of the Sacred Heart.
On St. Peter’s Square last April 27 after the canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, Father Vicente Robles, parish priest of Sto. Cristo and St. Andrew Kaegon Church in Bocaue, Bulacan, gave Pope Francis a letter asking for his apostolic blessing on the late Bro. Richie Fernando, a Jesuit scholastic, who died in Cambodia on Oct. 17, 1996 trying to save the lives of disabled children from the grenade thrown by a troubled student.
Two groups of pilgrims from Adam’s Travel gathered at the Chapel of the Collegio Filippino on April 27, Divine Mercy Sunday, to attend the Eucharistic celebration officiated by Fr. Anton Pascual, president of Caritas Manila. Fr. James Kroeger, MM, Fr. Noel Labendia and Fr. Bong Pinto of Christ the King Seminary in Green Meadows were concelebrants.
On the cover of the Nov. 10, 1958 issue of Time magazine was Pope John XXIII, elected pope on Oct. 28, 1958 and installed on Nov. 4 of the same year. I have always had an affinity to Pope John for his courage in convening the Second Vatican Council in 1962, a move that ushered in an unprecedented renewal of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church makes saints to give the faithful role models. The process is cloaked in secrecy and open to criticism, given that it deals with science-defying miracles and notoriously politicized choices.
Thanks to Fr. Joseph Orsal, parish priest of Sta. Cruz Church in Brgy. Sapaya in Guiuan, Easter Samar, for reminding me that the devotion to Mother Thrice Admirable is 100 years old on Oct. 18.
When news of the new Pope broke out in the early morning of Thursday, it was greeted with much joy and hope.
