Stella Maris Church, Tg. Aru has declared that the whole month of October is the month of the Rosary. Rosary prayers will be held on Weekdays i.e. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5.30pm, except on Wednesdays when the Rosary recitation starts earlier at 5.00pm as the Divine Mercy Prayers starts at 5.30pm – all preceding the Mass at 6.00pm.
A Plenary Indulgence may be granted by those reciting five decades of the Rosary in church, as a family at home, or in general whenever several persons have gathered together for a good purpose, and in other circumstances a Partial Indulgence (Enchiridion of Indulgences, 1999 edition, concession 17).
This was announced by Rev. Fr. Fundes who celebrated last Sunday Mass (27th Sept) at Stella Maris Church. As the subject matter was a lengthy topic to explain, Rev. Fr. Fundes challenged the congregation to check it out from the internet the religious meaning of Plenary Indulgence and its purpose.
For ease of my readers, I reproduce hereunder the “A Primer on Indulgences”:
The punishment already inflicted by the majority on such a one is enough; you should now relent and support him so that he may not be crushed by too great a weight of sorrow. 2 Cor. 2:6-7
Indulgences rank among the most poorly understood blessings of the Catholic Church. An indulgence is not permission from the Church to indulge in sin. It is not being indulgent with sinners. It is not the pardon of sin nor the remission of guilt. Now according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC):
An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints. [CCC 1471]
A few points will be emphasized
First an indulgence is not the forgiveness of sins but only applies to the effects of past, forgiven sins. An indulgence is not a Sacrament but must rely on the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) - the Sacrament through which sins are forgiven by God. Forgiveness of sin and remission of punishment are different.
Secondly sin can have two consequences: eternal (everlasting) punishment and temporal (temporary) punishment. Very serious sin, i.e. mortal sin (1 John 5:16), "kills" our friendship with God and deprives us of eternal life. This loss is eternal punishment. It is not punishment from a vengeful God but the consequence of rejecting God - the Source of life. Not all sin is mortal (1 John 5:17), but all sin, even venial sin (less serious sin), needs correction. This correction is temporal punishment. It is demanded by God to correct the bad effects of our sin, e.g. restoring stolen goods. Spiritually it is the cleansing of our soul from earthly attachments due to our sin.
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...the Holy Rosary of the Queen of Heaven...a gateway to achieve religious/supernatural ecstacy! Recitation is best done with frankincense smell wafting in the air and soft/nature background music such as Kenny G's 'Forever In Love'......
ReplyDeleteHeaven is a place on earth!
King Cup s/o Nche Matahari,
Kingdom of Roses.
Gundohing SJD, FYI, I attended the sunset mass and confirmation service of 200 confirmants by our Honourable Archbishop John Lee at St Michael Church Penampang on 26/9/2009. Well, everything went smoothly until the mass ended. After that, there were 3 speeches by the P'pang Parish council Chairman, the Rector and our Archbishop. To sum up those 3 speeches, I think our Archbishop was not happy. Our Archbishop said that inspite of hundreds of confirmation conducted every year in Penampang Parish, he was surprised when the Penampang Parish council Chairman said that from his observation of 9 years (2000 to 2009) only 30% catholics Community were active in Penampang Parish church (itupun recycle)while the rest 70% catholic only God knows. Our Archbishop added that this is a "scandal" (but jangan salah sangka this is nothing to do like ada "affair" scandal), what he meant is why 70% of Penampang community catholics are not active in church especially the youths. Are the youths in Penampang have lost their catholic faith or lost direction that nobody cares. They only cares for those actively going to church but how about the lost sheep. Due to that, the Penampang Parish Community have to analyze why, what, which, who and how these problems can be overcomed or improved for the good of the catholic community of Penampang. You know after that speech I felt ashamed and asked myself this is serious men, why and what happend in our parish? I suggest that to improve our catholic youth faiths, revert to the old system i.e. the youth empowerment. Reinstate the Youth section in every kampung level in the 12 zones under Penampang Parish and revert the Christmas carolig activities which is normally run by the Youths. From this activities, potential youth leader will emerge, potential guitarist, keyboards players will emerge and the interaction between the kampungs and inter-kampungs and many, many more that I cannot write in this forum. In conclusion, I suggest the Penampang Parish Community Chairman to resign because he is a failure, and he himself has admitted that 70% catholic community in Penampang is not active. So lets us pray more harder on this month october - month of Rosary so the Penampang Parish Community will be shining again just like the glorious days of the 1970s and 1980s.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment, Silverbird. I think the Chairman of Penampang Parish Council is wrong to say that only 70% of the Penampang Catholic communities do go to Church. In actual fact, a lot of Penampang Catholic Communities go to church at Sacred Heart Cathedral, St. Simon Church Likas, CMI, and Stella Maris Church Tg. Aru, instead of going to St. Michael's Church.
ReplyDeleteThe Rector of St. Michael Church and Penampang Parish Council Chairman should find out why there is such a syndrome that the majority of the Catholic communities are going to attend churches mentioned above. This is disturbing and should be checked, otherwise you will find an exodus of catholic communities going to churches other than their own at St. Michael’s Church.
They don't even care the distance, so long they find comfortable with either the Sermon or the atmosphere of the church service. I can vouch that catholic communities from Ramaya, Penampang and the surrounding areas are attending churches at Stella Maris Church. Why? They find it comfortable to attend Sunday Mass at Stella Maris Church because the way the Church service is being conducted and celebated.
If you go to Stella Maris Church, you will find the Celebrant is always waiting outside the entrance of the church to meet and greet his 'sheep' coming out from the church. The congregation are so disciplined in that none (or perhaps very few of them) would leave their pews until the final hymn is completed. Penampang Parish Councillors should learn from the Stella Maris Church how the church services are conducted and celebrated.
Silverbird, I agree with you that new and young blood should be injected into the Penampang Parish Council in order to draw young faithful to pray the Mass at St. Michael's Church. The Rector should be prepared to hear and consider new ideas to improve the church service.
Sermon must be right to the point and relevant to the readings of the day. People do get fed up with meandering Sermon, especially when it has no relevance with the readings of the day.
You have also correctly pointed out that the youths have been sidelined in the running of the Penampang Parish. Why was the Christmas caroling before X'mas was not encouraged in Penampang the last few years? Why was it permitted in other Parishes? The Rector should have allowed X'mas carolling in order to encourage the youth communities to participate in welcoming and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
In Rome, the X'mas carolling was used to be carried out as a prelude to the birth of Christ. I wonder whether this tradition has been stopped already. I believe so. It was announced in the church only recently that carolling activities before X'mas have been stopped!
Be that as it may, the youths should be given other responsibilities in the church services and to organize activities that will interest them. Give them the responsibilities and you will be surprised by their ingenuity as to how they make themselves organized in church activities. Their talents in musical instruments, organizing seminars and Bible sharing, etc, have yet to be tapped.
I cannot deny the fact that parents are also equally responsible for their children to grow in faith. But how to get the children to grow in faith when they themselves get bored listening to boring sermons? Even adults will experience the same thing.
Change the style of delivering sermons by sticking to the readings of the day. There is no use to have long and meandering and boring sermons with no relevance to the readings of the day. I guarantee you that such sermons will send the congregation to sleep. Sermons should be inspiring and meaningful not only to the adults but also to the youths.
Sorry, first para, the typo error, "that only 30%" instead of 70%. Apology.
ReplyDeleteAn infidel met a countryman and inquired where he was going.
ReplyDelete'To the temple, sir.'
'What do you do there?'
'I worship God.'
'Pray, tell me, is your God is great or a small God?'
'My God is so great, sir, that the heavens cannot contain, and so little that my God can dwell in my heart.'
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A young man wishing to grow in virtue went to see a celebrated servant of God and said to him...,'Where can I feel nearer to God?'
The holy man took him to a deserted spot and replied, 'Here you will feel God very close to you.'
With that he left him in that lonely place.
So it is: WE CAN FEEL GOD WHEN WE FIND OURSELVES AWAY FROM THE NOISE OF THE WORLD!
...extracted by King Cup s/o Nche Matahari
...from Wisdom Stories by J. Maurus