Second National Congress of the Clergy

Tomorrow will be the opening day of the Second National Congress of the Clergy that will be held in the World Trade Center, Pasay City until Friday, 29th of January.

The Congress "...intends to respond to the needs of the clergy in the Philippines as well as 'to surface the needs and realities concerning the ongoing formation and renewal of priests."

It is described by Msgr. Jose Bernardo Jr., the Executive Secretary of the National Organizing Committee as "...basically a retreat, a call to interior renewal, a call to holiness."

It is also intended, according to Msgr. Gerardo Santos, to provide the priests a deep and religious experience that will hopefully lead to spiritual conversion and greater commitment.

The Congress will have Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFMCap, Preacher of the Papal Household as retreat master and Imus Bishop Luis Chito Tagle "...will provide the challenge for the pastoral aspect of the call to holiness."

For the whole duration of the Congress, the bishops and priests will be accompanied by the relics of St. John Marie Vianney, the Patron Saint of Priests, that recently arrived in Manila. Among the relics that was brought here in Manila are the priestly stole and breviary of the beloved Saint.

Source: Second National Congress of the Clergy



Let us pray for our beloved priests:

"O my Jesus, I beg You on behalf of the whole Church:
Grant it love and the light of Your Spirit,
and give power to the words of Priests
so that hardened hearts might be brought
to repentance and return to You, O Lord.

Lord, give us holy Priests;
You yourself maintain them in holiness.
O Divine and Great High Priest,
may the power of Your mercy accompany them everywhere
and protect them from the devil's traps and snares
which are continually being set for the soul of Priests.

May the power of Your mercy, O Lord,
shatter and bring to naught
all that might tarnish the sanctity of Priests,
for You can do all things."

- St. Faustina's Diary #1052 -

Schedule of Exposition of the Relics of St. John Marie Vianney

From an Email:

January 23 - Arrival at NAIA at 9:30 a.m., National Shrine of the Sacred Heart at 11 am

January 24 - EDSA Shrine at 12 noon

January 25 to 29 - 2nd National Congress of the Clergy at the World Trade Center

January 29 - Sto. Niño de Tondo Parish at 12 noon

January 30 - Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene at 12 noon

January 31 - St. John Mary Vianney Parish at 12 noon

February 1 - Departure at NAIA at 11:30 a.m.

Thanks to Miguel Madarang Ramirez for the info.

The example of St. John the Baptist

Father Michell Joe Zerrudo on his blog, Sense of the Sacred, made a relevant relation between the priest and St. John the Baptist: The priest should never keep attention to himself, he should, like St. John the Baptist, directs all attention to the Bridesgroom, the Christ..."He must increase; I must decrease!"

By following the example of St. John the Baptist, the priest truly becomes Alter Christus in the Liturgy. The priest by not allowing his personality, ad libitum, to interfere (decrease), draws and directs all attention to the Action of Christ (increase) by following faithfully the words and actions prescribed in the Liturgy. It is therefore necessary that we, the congregation, together with the priests regain consciousness that Liturgy is a sacred and precious gift we have received and not something that we create, it is an act of prayer and not of entertainment.

Bishop stops singing of love songs in liturgy

“Secular love songs, even if they have religious themes, do not have any place in the divine liturgy,” - Archbishop Socrates Villegas, Lingayen-Dagupan

Full Story.

Photo Credits: John Glenn Lopez and @ your SiRVis.