Addiction to signs

I am not called to be seen often in ecstasies but to write the truth, the truth that hurts. The clapping on of hands during Holy Masses as reaction to the truth that this blog has been writing and posting lately is a sure sign the Archdiocese of Davao is wounded. It is a good sign, though, you are alive. "Ouch!" is an interjection normal to somebody whose wounds are undergoing treatment -- but eventually the pain dies down because the wound heals. It is not only me who is called to write or tell the truth that hurts but heals. There are other instruments through whom the Lord Jesus Christ and Heaven speak. I am gradually introducing them to you. There is one greater than lower instruments like me. Lower instruments will speak for a time. Then time will come when only one instrument will speak. And those who still speak aside from this one will be false. The current onslaught of technologies has bombarded us with a deluge of information. Some are true; others, false. The voice of God in written and spoken forms is in this ocean of information in the internet. Discernment is a gift but false obedience obscures this gift if we have it. False obedience endangers the Faith as well. To believe is to see -- that is faith. "To see is to believe" is grammatically inappropriate because we do not "believe" that which we are already seeing with your own eyes. It is already a fact, it is bound to happen. It is normal. Nothing special. We are just "watching," not "believing." "Seeing," in all truth, can help our faith as the "doubting Thomas" -- yes. But you have already seen quite a number of signs. Why do you still doubt? Ah, still waiting for that dramatic, supernatural change in my personal life and my family? That will surely come to pass. But we have become signs-addicted. We are so much more attached to "seeing" than "believing." In that case, the faith of the "doubting Thomas" was better. Please do not be heavily concerned on "signs, wonders and miracles." Even Satan can do those. You, however, have "seen" so much of this. Thomas had believed after seeing. So believe now. In the beginning of this blog, Heaven has warned you to stop clapping during Holy Masses. By this continued practice, you are calling upon vengeance from Heaven to come down on us. Vengeance did indeed come upon us, the election of DU30 to the presidency. This blog had a vision of him stepping down but this will not take place unless you do something. Return reverence and respect to the Sacrifice of the Mass: firstly, stop clapping your hands; secondly, stop associating with demonic, secret societies. Mass-attenders follow your example and we are harvesting its bitter fruit. In a homily, one priest had a testimony of himself as an "altar boy" seeing the Lord Jesus Christ in the place of the priest doing consecration at Mass. You were "seeing" a vision of the Lord, the vision must have changed how you see the Mass -- but how you strike your palms against one another in your Masses now as a priest? So believe now and be reverent.

Hands in worship

"All you peoples, clap your hands; shout to God with joyful cries." -Psalm 47:1. Clapping of hands was used to worship God in the Old Testament -- and even today by non-Catholic Christians, the "born-again" and the Catholic charismatics. Doing so is fitting as it is biblical -- but the location where we do the clapping is a matter worth examining. The non-Catholic "born-again" Christian communities do hands-clapping during worship at "their" place of worship -- and it is all right! -- while the Catholic charismatics do it even during the conduct of the Holy Mass and in their assemblies within the Catholic churches where the Tabernacle of the Eucharistic Host is enshrined -- let us see if it is all right. The Old Testament is the announcement of the coming of Jesus-Messiah -- thus, prior to His Passion and Death on the Cross. The hands-clapping act as a form of worship to God is proper in the Old Testament because the Old Testament is prior to Jesus' Passion and Death on the Cross.

The praying hands are opposite to clapping hands.

Why is it appropriate, then, to clap hands in worship when the non-Catholic "born-again" Christians do it? Because they clap their hands at "their" place of worship and "their" place of worship is without the Tabernacle that enshrines the Eucharistic Host (the Real Presence of Jesus Christ that bore the marks of His Passion and Death on the Cross) that only the Catholic Church has been entrusted with by Jesus Christ Himself (remember transubstantiation: only Catholic priests can turn Bread and Wine into the Real Body and Blood of Jesus Christ). Therefore, the Catholics must not clap their hands before, during and after the Holy Mass is officiated within the Catholic churches simply because the Holy Mass is a remembrance of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross and the Tabernacle that encloses the Eucharistic Host is always enshrined in the center of the Altars in all the Catholic churches of the world.

The praying hands of the Madonna.

What is rejoicing in front of a suffering man? Such is like a mockery to him. The same is true with the Lord when we clap our hands in front of His Eucharistic Presence and the Holy Eucharist. In Lamentations 2:15, clapping is not only used to worship God in the Old Testament but also to ridicule, to deride or to mock. Holy Mass is Holy Mass, it must be conducted with utmost solemnity, reverence and love -- as well as the Eucharistic Presence in the Tabernacle. Catholic charismatic communities must, therefore, withhold the practice of clapping every Holy Mass and hold charismatic activities outside the Catholic churches where we are free to clap our hands to worship God. Lastly, let me quote Ezekiel 21:22 where it is written, "Then I, too, shall clap my hands and spend my fury. I, the Lord, have spoken."

Perching... preening... praying!!!

I was walking one morning on my way home from attending Holy Mass when I chanced upon this bird on the branch of a guava tree, PERCHING... PREENING... PRAYING!!!

... perching on the branch of a guava tree

... preening its feathers

... and praying with its beak tilted upward, trusting in Divine Providence!!!

Maya falls almost dead, but flies again shortly

One late afternoon, while waiting for the Holy Mass to begin, I noticed two maya birds chasing each other in flight inside the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

One fell hard on the floor.

It was a very bad fall; I thought it was already dead!

But several pews from where I was sitting, I could see the bird writhing in pain with its beak tilted upward, looking dizzy and trying to balance its body on its claws. 

I went to take the bird away from the floor to avoid being stepped on by church-goers. 

The rotating wall fan, maybe, was the culprit because I saw the bird passing by the fan before it fell.

Whatever the cause might be, but the bird was really hurting. 

I picked it up, went outside and prayed.

"All in Heaven, this bird needs graces: let it recover and fly again, Amen!"

As I prayed, its claws were holding on tightly to my finger.

I was a bit alarmed because the Holy Mass was about to start and I had to clasp both of my hands in reverence.

Carefully, I took its claws from holding on to me -- and went back to my seat with it. 

I let it on my palm while caressing its head with my finger. 

I, then, put it down on the floor where it was safe for the bird to stay as the Holy Mass began. 

To my amazement, the dying bird flew away suddenly towards the Altar -- with audible swiftness, power and strength!

The miracle of Corpus Christi

To believe is to see. One young diocesan priest whose way of saying the Masses is one that shows his deep faith in the Holy Eucharist, received a miracle in which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself allowed him to "feel" the reality of His Eucharistic Presence. It happened during the Elevation of the Cup of Wine at the Mass he officiated on the Feast of the Corpus Christi in 2009. During the Consecration, the priest raised the Cup with both hands. When it was time to lower the Cup, his left hand let go of the Cup first so that his right hand was to bring It down on the table; but the right hand was still "holding up" the Cup -- for a second or two or more! -- that should the right hand let go of the Cup, the Cup of Wine would have been seen by all present as floating by Itself in mid-air! I had the habit of raising my head to see the chalice being elevated and bring my head down to close my eyes when the chalice is being lowered down on the table; but that instant was different, I could not lower my head as usual. At the time of genuflection, the priest never genuflected as is usually done by priests -- instead, he knelt down on both knees and bowed low to the floor before the table of the Consecrated Bread and Wine. The two of us were the only witness to this particular Eucharistic miracle. My diary entry of December 9, 2008, Tuesday, 3:59 AM, is predictive to this phenomenon, it says, and I quote: "Just this dawn, I dreamed of [a young priest] at the altar table celebrating the mass while I was attending with the people. The chalice containing a single consecrated Host suddenly lifted up in the air by itself before him to his amazement, flew towards me, and poured out the Host into my mouth on its own. I got hold of the chalice, gathered the crumbs inside it, and poured them out into my mouth. While consuming, a young woman approached me and talked to me as if nothing happened. Lord Jesus, I trust in Your Mercy for the meaning of this dream."

[The blogger's note: The said Mass was celebrated on June 14, 2009, Sunday, at 5:00 AM, the first Mass on schedule; and preceded by a whole night Eucharistic vigil at San Pedro Cathedral in Davao City, Philippines.]

The city on a hill

Can darkness penetrate light? Only light can penetrate darkness! But when light is covered by "those" entrusted with it, darkness comes in and evils of all kinds are at play in the dark, for evils are attracted to darkness.

Jesus Christ is "the light of the world" -John 8:12 and has left His Living Presence to the world via consecrated Wafer and Wine in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. 

However, when the Church (say, the local Church) does not exercise its Faith in the Holy Eucharist, the Presence of Jesus-Light is extinguished in that area.

Evils, spiritual, physical and man-made like cataclysms, calamities, so-called "climate change" and "UFOs," terrorism, prostitution, crimes and the likes abound -- even murders in the name of "peace and prosperity."

It is "we" who have invited these evils to come in by our indifference, faithlessness and sacrileges committed against the Holy Eucharist.

So no matter how "we" make noise barrage in the pulpits, if the root cause of the problem were not addressed upon, we just wonder why the perpetrators still linger on in our place of jurisdiction.

Cause-oriented vs. result-oriented

The Cross atop the Hill of 'Kalbaryo' (Calvary) in Gov. Generoso (Sigaboy), Davao Oriental

Good Friday is out: Easter is in? But, a Good Friday is the CAUSE of a Happy Easter; a Happy Easter is the RESULT of a Good Friday. If the cause is good, then we have a perfect result. If Easter never happened, the sacrifices of Good Friday are futile. As Easter did happen, undergoing a Good Friday is necessary to attain Easter. But, we always think of the "result," trying to achieve it to the point of neglecting its "cause." Be cause-oriented rather than a result-oriented individual to keep always on the right track. Good Friday happens every time the Holy Eucharist is officiated. Easter is perfection. When the Holy Mass is done haphazardly and without faith, love and reverence, can we attain perfection?

A dream, a diary and a cook

I had a dream a month before year 2009 began. I never realized but the dream started to happen right after.

This was my dream.

I saw a hill and I was standing on the foot of the hill. On top of the hill was a big tourist platform. The structure looked like eyes and face of a man drooping its head to look down on me and those below. I felt it was unsafe for any tourist to go there and take a look. It was architecturally incorrect to build a structure like it, and I sensed it was going to collapse any minute. And sure, it did -- bit by bit. As it started to fall, I vacated the place immediately -- but I realized I had a companion, an old woman, my grandma! I returned. I was trying to rescue her in such a way that my body was first out of the danger area. But I was wondering, "Why am I trying to rescue grandma when she's dead long ago?"

I remember my diary entry of January 17, 2009, it reads and I quote:

"There is someone in the market who is getting on my nerves. He is a cook at an eatery next to where I buy snack food on credit. When he looks at me taking food there, his eyes are insulting, looking down on me. One time, he even banged the door in my presence! They know I have my food for credit. I thought, he owns the eatery because of his arrogance. He is not! He works as a cook. He has a companion who treats me the same way. When I was able to pay recently, they were like kittens, looking at me so meekly. But they know I am on credit again. They are back to 'normal.' Last night, I was tempted to display some arrogance. I tried to show off in a subtle way the envelope I had that reads CHECK ENCLOSED. The envelope was from prophet Don; and it was a "faith check" for Php100,000. I prayed and included him and the woman companion in the Mass I attended this morning. When I saw him, however, in the market, I was enraged again and intended to side-sweep him. I touched him lightly in so doing though. I must shoot him with many prayers and masses. Jesus, forgive and help me. I must stop going there to prevent myself from sinning."

I admit, however, I did go back there after some time -- exclusively, to get food on credit. The cook was there. He was on my path. He never gave way. I side-pushed him and I did it intentionally. There was also a force coming from him. It was like a head-on collision. I know both of us were hurt in the process. But none complained. He went his way. I went my way. I decided never to go there again. I confessed the sin a month ago to a priest.

Last night, I had a monthly confession during a Holy Mass. I feel so heavenly after each confession. I went back to my seat so recollected and silently happy. During peace, I did a reverent peace to a familiar face, to someone standing in front of me left side. The cook!!! Yes, the cook!!! It was unexpected. I never knew he was there. He never knew I was there as well. That sealed it all. We had peace together. My name is J-O-Y! :-)