Stained Glass

 by Carlos Alexis Malaluan

Mayo noon, Buwan ni Maria. 

Naisipan ko at ng isang matalik na kaibigan na umakyat sa kanyang Dambana sa Antipolo. Nakakatuwa ang laki ng simbahan. Para akong batang sabik na libutin ang isang malayang kalawakan. Noong nagkaroon ako ng pagkakataon na umakyat sa choir loft, napukaw ako sa makulay na 'stained glass' ng Birhen ng Antipolo. Malapitan ko itong pinagmasdan. Nakakamangha ang ganda at gara ng napakalaking "stained glass" ng Simbahan. Natutuwa kasi ako kapag nakakakita ako ng mga "stained glass" sa loob ng simbahan. Bukod sa matitingkad nitong kulay at mga kuwentong kanilang isinasalaysay - nakakatuwang isipin kung papaanong binubuo itong likhang sining ng ating pananampalataya. 

Mula sa maliliit na binasag na mga salamin, minantsahan ng kulay at pinagsama-sama nakakabuo tayo ng isang matingkad na larawang nagpapaalala sa atin ng kagandahan at kaluwalhatian ng Diyos. Ganun din tayo. Sino bang mag-aakalang sa kabila ng pagiging basag at sa mantsa ng kulay ng ating karanasan, nagagawa ng Diyos na ganapin ang kanyang plano sa ating mga buhay? 

Ngunit papaano higit na mamamalas ang tingkad ng kulay at ganda ng stained glass? Kapag nasisikatan ito ng araw. Sa kusang loob nating pagpapaubayang dumaloy sa ating mga basag at mantsa ang biyaya ng Diyos na kumikilos sa ating buhay, doon higit na napagmamasdan ang kabutihan at kagandahang taglay ng bawat isa.

(This article is an excerpt from the collections of Carlos Alexis Malaluan entitled "Dwells God:Mga Katha, Kwento at Panalangin ng Makabagong Lagalag")

Parangal kay San Jose

ni Liza SerquinYeah

O San Jose naming mahal

Dapat kang ikarangal.

'Pagkat hindi naging sagabal

Ang dangal ni Maria sa iyong wagas na pagmamahal.

Maaari kang tularan ng mga kalalakihan

Mga kababaihan naman ika'y hinahangaan.

Tunay kang huwaran sa papel na ginampanan

Sa buhay ni Mariang kabanal- banalan.

Birhen ng Fatima

ni Hidalgo Del Arrabal

Birhen ng Fatima, Inang Maria

Sa tatlong bata ika’y nagpakita

Kina Francisco, Jacinta’t Lucia

Hinabilin na magrosaryo t’wina.

Birhen ng Fatima, Inang Maria

Pagbabagong-loob ‘yong paalala

Pagkakasala ay talikuran na

Dahil labis nang nasaktan ang Ama.

Birhen ng Fatima, Inang Maria

‘sang siglo mula nang ‘ka’y magpakita

Panawagan mo’y angkop na angkop pa

Sa ‘ming kay Satanas nagpakaaba.

Birhen ng Fatima, Inang Maria

Tangan ang Rosaryo bilang sandata

Sa laban mo kami’y makikiisa

Hanggang sa puso mo’y magtagumpay na!

5 Points on The Rosary

The rosary is a form of combined prayer and meditation that has been around for over 1200 years. As October is dedicated as the month of rosary, let us look at how the rosary that we know now came to be:

1. The origin of the rosary dates back to the ninth century where Irish monks would recite and chant the 150 Psalms of the Bible as a major part of their worship.

2.  People living near the monasteries were drawn towards this beautiful and harmonious devotion, and they became very eager to join in with the monks' prayers.  But because the psalms were very hard to memorize, it was suggested to the people outside the monastery that they recite a series of 150 "Our Father" prayers in place of the psalms.

3.As this form of devotion became increasingly popular, people started to devise methods in order to keep track of their prayers.  At first, 150 little pebbles were placed inside small leather pouches to keep count.  Since this method was rather troublesome, a thin rope having 50 knots on it was used instead (it was used three times for a total of 150 prayers). Eventually, the instrument of choice became the use of string with small pieces of wood.

4. In later years, the Irish monks traveled throughout Europe and brought this form of devotion with them.  In some areas, both clergy and lay people began to recite the "Angelic Salutation" (the first part of what we now know as the "Hail Mary") as part of this devotion.  The popularity of this prayer led to the adoption of 50 Angelic Salutations being said for each piece of wood or knot on the prayer string.

5. The rosary we know today is the result of many evolutions dating back several hundred years:

○ During the 13th century, Medieval theologians began to interpret the 150 psalms as veiled mysteries about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  They began to write a series of Psalters, or praises, in honor of Jesus for each interpretation of the psalms.  In addition, 150 Psalters honoring Mary were also composed.  In order to fit the existing prayer string, these Psalters were divided into groups of 50 and were referred to as "Rosariums".  Although "rosarium" refers to roses and rose gardens, it was used to signify a collection of prayers which could be compared to a bouquet of roses. (As we see today, the rose is a very popular symbol associated with our Blessed Mother Mary and it is a sign that she often uses as she did in the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe)

○ The interpretation of the psalms into written Psalters lead to the implementation of special thoughts or meditations being attached to each bead.  This innovated version of the rosary was widely spread by Blessed Alan de la Roche of the Dominican Order, as it revived the divinely inspired works that St. Dominic and his Rosary Confraternity had initiated some hundred years earlier.  The prayers of the Rosarium were later broken out into sets of 10 and these groupings became known as decades.  Each decade of ten "Hail Mary" prayers would be preceded by one "Our Father".

○ Around the year 1700, the thoughts used in the rosary started to become narratives.  St. Louis de Montfort composed the most common set of narratives that eventually became used as meditations for each decade of the rosary.  These narratives were divided into five Joyful, five Sorrowful, and five Glorious meditations that are referred to as "mysteries".  Just recently, in 2002, Pope John Paul II introduced another set of five meditations referred to as the "Luminous Mysteries".

Reference:  

http://www.erosary.com/rosary/about/history.htm

Prayers for Mama Mary's Nativity

As to prayer, this one to Maria Bambina (the Baby Mary) is most apt:

Hail, Infant Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou forever, and blessed are thy holy parents Joachim and Anne, of whom thou wast miraculously born. Mother of God, intercede for us.

We fly to thy patronage, holy and amiable Child Mary, despise not our prayers in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, glorious and blessed Virgin.

V. Pray for us, holy Child Mary.

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us Pray: O almighty and merciful God, Who through the cooperation of the Holy Ghost, didst prepare the body and soul of the Immaculate Infant Mary that she might be the worthy Mother of Thy Son, and didst preserve her from all stain, grant that we who venerate with all our hearts her most holy childhood, may be freed, through her merits and intercession, from all uncleanness of mind and body, and be able to imitate her perfect humility, obedience and charity. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

There is also this marvelous prayer in honour of Our Lady's Nativity, written by St. Anselm:

Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O sacred Virgin; give me strength against thine enemies, and against the enemy of the whole human race. Give me strength humbly to pray to thee. Give me strength to praise thee in prayer with all my powers, through the merits of thy most sacred nativity, which for the entire Christian world was a birth of joy, the hope and solace of its life.

When thou wast born, O most holy Virgin, then was the world made light.

Happy is thy stock, holy thy root, and blessed thy fruit, for thou alone as a virgin, filled with the Holy Spirit, didst merit to conceive thy God, as a virgin to bear Thy God, as a virgin to bring Him forth, and after His birth to remain a virgin.

Have mercy therefore upon me a sinner, and give me aid, O Lady, so that just as thy nativity, glorious from the seed of Abraham, sprung from the tribe of Juda, illustrious from the stock of David, didst announce joy to the entire world, so may it fill me with true joy and cleanse me from every sin.

Pray for me, O Virgin most prudent, that the gladsome joys of thy most helpful nativity may put a cloak over all my sins.

O holy Mother of God, flowering as the lily, pray to thy sweet Son for me, a wretched sinner. Amen.

Resources:

http://www.fisheaters.com/customstimeafterpentecost6a.html

5 Points on Mama Mary's Nativity

In the light of our Mother's birthday, we take a look at some of the highlights surrounding Mama Mary's nativity:

1. There is nothing contained in Scripture about the birth of Mary or her parentage, though Joseph's lineage is given in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. The names of Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna, appear in the apocryphal "Gospel of James", a book dating from the 2nd Century AD, not part of the authentic canon of Scripture. According to this account, Joachim and Anna were also beyond the years of child-bearing, but prayed and fasted that God would grant their desire for a child.
2. The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated at least by the sixth century, when St. Romanos the Melodist, an Eastern Christian who composed many of the hymns used in the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox liturgies, composed a hymn for the feast. The feast spread to Rome in the seventh century, but it was a couple more centuries before it was celebrated throughout the West.
3. The Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been celebrated in the Church at least since the 8th Century.
4. The Church's calendar observes the birthdays of only two saints: Saint John the Baptist (June 24), and Mary, Mother of Jesus.
5. The birth of Mary was miraculous. She was conceived without sin as a special grace because God had selected her to become the mother of His Son (the feast of her Immaculate Conception is celebrated on December 8). The dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, though generally believed throughout the Church for many centuries, was formally declared by Pope Pius IX in 1854.

Resources:

http://www.fisheaters.com/customstimeafterpentecost6a.html

http://www.wf-f.org/BirthofMary.html

Mother of All

by Anabelle P. Balla

The pain is too much to bear
But she remained to be there

Holding the eyes of His Son

To console Him as much as she can

She watched with her heart

As they beat Him to death

She ached with her soul

As more blood flows

Her eyes never left Him

Hoping they can wipe all the pain

Her tears never stopped flowing

Imploring they stop the hurting

She was with Him all the way

Up until the very darkest of days

She stayed with Him even after He's gone

She suffered with Him more than anyone

Called to serve in her early years

She humbly obeyed God's will

She raised the Son so lovingly

Nurtured Him for His Father's glory

She was given the most critical role

To be the mother of our Savior

And she did well, with the highest honor

The best role model, the Mother of all!

Happy Mother's Day Mama Mary!