MIERCOLES DE CENIZA... A Time of Reflection

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent in the Western Christian calendar, directly following Shrove Tuesday. Occurring 46 days before Easter, it is a moveable feast that can fall as early as February 4 and as late as March 10.

According to the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of this 40-day liturgical period of prayer and fasting or abstinence. Of the 46 days until Easter, six are Sundays. As the Christian sabbath, Sundays are not included in the fasting period and are instead "feast" days during Lent.

Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a celebration and reminder of human mortality, and as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. The ashes used are typically gathered from the burning of the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday.

The imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday has been historically observed by Anglican, Catholic, and Lutheran Christians. It has also become a standard practice in the Methodist Church. In addition to these liturgical denominations, some Anabaptist and Reformed churches, which abandoned the practice after the Reformation, now also observe this day,which has become popular in much of Christianity in general... 

Read More... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday

HABEMUS CARDINALEM

TODAY... Vatican City, Rome

At the PAPAL CONSISTORY, we welcome the newly elevated PRINCES of the CHURCH to the College of Cardinals:

• Archbishop Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State
• Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, Italy
• Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, Philippines
• Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller, Germany
• Archbishop, Beniamino Stella, Italy
• Archbishop Vincent Nichols, United Kingdoms
• Archbishop Leopoldo José Brenes Solórzano, Nicaragua
• Archbishop Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, Canada
• Archbishop Jean-Pierre Kutwa, Ivory Coast
• Archbishop Orani João Tempesta, Brazil
• Archbishop Gualtiero Bassetti, Italy
• Archbishop Mario Aurelio Poli, Argentina
• Archbishop Andrew Yeom Soo Jung, Korea
• Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, Chile
• Archbishop Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo, Burkina Faso
• Archbishop Chibly Langlois, Haiti

...and the following will be cardinal emeritus, without voting rights:

• Monsignor Loris Francesco Capovilla, Italy
• Archbishop Fernando Sebastián Aguilar, Spain
• Monsignor Kelvin Edward Felix, Saint Lucia

Read more: http://www.news.va/en/news/consistory-a-closer-look-at-the-new-cardinals

A Lady named BERNADETTE...

Marie Bernarde "Bernadette" Soubirous (7 January 1844 – 16 April 1879) was the firstborn daughter of a miller from Lourdes, France, and is venerated as a Christian mystic and Saint in the Catholic Church.

Soubirous is best known for her participation in the Marian apparitions of "a small young lady" who asked for a chapel to be built at a cave-grotto in Massabielle where apparitions are said to have occurred between 11 February and 16 July 1858. She would later receive recognition when the lady who appeared to her identified herself as the Immaculate Conception.

Despite initial skepticism from the Catholic Church, Soubirous's claims were eventually declared "worthy of belief" after a canonical investigation, and the Marian apparition is now known as Our Lady of Lourdes. Since her death, Soubirous's body has apparently remained internally incorrupt, but it is not without blemish; during her third exhumation in 1925, the firm of Pierre Imans made light wax coverings for her face and her hands due to the discoloration that her skin had undergone. These masks were placed on her face and hands before she was moved to her crystal reliquary in June 1925.

The Marian shrine at Lourdes (Midi-Pyrénées, France) went on to become a major pilgrimage site, attracting over five million Christian pilgrims of all denominations each year.

On 8 December 1933, she was canonized by Pope Pius XI as a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Her Feast Day is observed on 18 February.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernadette_Soubirous

VIVA PIT SEÑOR...

The Sinulog is an annual festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City, Maasin City, Southern Leyte, and Balingasag, Misamis Oriental in the Philippines The festival commemorates the Filipino people's pagan origin, and their acceptance of Roman Catholicism.

The main feature is a street parade with participants in bright coloured costumes dancing to the rhythm of drums, trumpets and native gongs. Smaller versions of the festival are held in various parts of the province, also to celebrate and honor the Santo Niño. There is also a "Sinulog sa Kabataan" performed by the youths of Cebu a week before the parade. Recently, the festival has been promoted as a tourist attraction, with a contest featuring contingents from various parts of the country. The Sinulog Contest is usually held in the Cebu City Sports Complex.


Read More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinulog_festival

Official Website: http://www.sinulog.ph/

NUESTRO PADRE... Ipanalangin mo kami.

The Black Nazarene, known to devotees in Spanish as Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno (Tagalog: Poóng Itím na Nazareno) is a life-sized, dark wooden sculpture of Jesus Christ carrying the cross, while representing his passion and suffering and is believed to be miraculous by many Filipino Catholics. It is one of the two statues of Christ brought from Mexico; the older and more popular copy belonging to the Recollects was destroyed inWorld War II during the Liberation of Manila.

Originally of fair complexion, it is believed to have turned dark after the statue survived a fire on the galleon ship bringin it from Mexico.

The Black Nazarene is publicly processed on three annual occasions: New Year's Day, Good Friday, and on 9 January, when its first novena feast, official translation (Spanish: traslación) and enshrinement in the present Basilica is commemorated. The event is attended by several million devotees that crowd the streets of processional route through the City of Manila.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Nazarene