Black Saturday

source: tempo.com.ph

Manila, Philippines – Catholics observe Black Saturday, the last day of the Holy Week, with a mixture of mourning and joy as the faithful observe the Day of the Entombed Christ early in the day and the Easter vigil in the evening.

No Masses will be held in all Catholic churches today. Instead, the faithful are encouraged to venerate the image of Christ lying in the tomb as well as to reflect on the Seven Sorrows (Dolors) of Mary: The Prophecy of Simeon in the Temple, the Flight into Egypt, the Disappearance of the Child Jesus in the Temple, the Carrying of the Cross on Mount Calvary, the Crucifixion, the Taking Down from the Cross, and the Burial of Jesus. Meditations and reflections are focused on the passion and death of Christ, and His descent into hell before His glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Images inside churches will remain draped in purple. The administration of sacraments is severely limited. Holy Communion is given only as a viaticum or to a dying person.

At night, the shift from mourning to joy takes place with the observance of the Easter Vigil, the third and final day of the Paschal triduum.

At the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene (Quiapo Church) in Manila, the Easter Vigil Mass will be celebrated at 9 p.m. and because of the long liturgy, it is expected to last until midnight. This will be followed by the “salubong“ or the re-enactment of the meeting of the Blessed Mother and the risen Christ. The Paschal candle will be lighted during the Mass to symbolize the dawning of the resurrection of Christ.

At the San Fernando de Dilao Parish in Paco, Manila, the Easter Vigil Mass will be celebrated at 8 p.m. while the “salubong“ will be held at 11 p.m.

In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate the Easter Vigil Mass at the Vatican basilica at 9 p.m.

The Easter vigil is a time of joy and is considered as the Mother of all Holy Vigils and the Great Service of Light.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem said: “The Easter vigil, although celebrated at night, is always as bright as day, symbolic of the Risen Christ.“

‘CRUCIFIED’
PAOMBONG, Bulacan ­- Thousands of foreign and local tourists witnessed the bloody re-enactment of Christ’s crucifixion early yesterday morning in the farming village of Kapitangan here.

The road leading to the crucifixion site was tainted with blood as hundreds of bareback flagellants hit themselves with bamboo whips after having their backs slashed with “kudlit“ ­ pieces of broken glas embedded in a piece of wood.

Five penitents, one of them a female faith healer, were nailed to a wooden cross at a manmade Golgotha beside the Roman Catholic chapel to fulfill their Holy Week vows.

First to be “crucified“ was Rogelio Marcos, a resident of Barangay Sto. Rosario, here. It was his fifth nailing.

Rogelio Tanael, another resident of Barangay Sto. Rosario came second, folowed by faith healer Priscilla Valencia. It was her eighth straight year that she was nailed to a cross.

Michael Valencia and Joey Sacdalan were the last two penitents to be crucified.

Sacdalan’s relatives said the penitent had no plans of getting nailed to a cross this year but her sick mother reportedly asked him to perform his Holy Week vow for one more time. (Freddie C. Velez)

PRIEST: DON’T PATRONIZE WISHING CANDLES
An official of the Catholic Church has discouraged the faithful from patronizing so called wishing candles.

Father Genaro Diwa, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ Episcopal Commission on Liturgy (CBCP-ECL), said these so called wishing candles that could reportedly grant one’s wish and being sold outside some churches and pilgrim sites for P15 to P30, is contrary to Christian teaching.

“This is totally against the Scriptures or what the Church is teaching. It’s as if we are now in control of God,“ he said in an interview.

“Instead of professing God’s power over us, we are professing our power over God,“ added Diwa.

The CBCP official said those selling such items are destroying the foundation of the Christian faith.

He said if ever one’s prayer or wish is granted, it is not because the candle is effective but rather it is because God is good. (Leslie Aquino)

CELIBACY
VATICAN CITY (AP) ­ Pope Benedict XVI has denounced priests who have questioned church teaching on celibacy and ordaining women, saying Thursday they were disobeying his authority to try to impose their own ideas on the church.

Benedict made the rare and explicit criticism from the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in his homily on Holy Thursday, when priests recall the promises they made when ordained.

In 2006, a group of Austrian priests launched the Pfarrer Initiative, or pastor initiative, a call to disobedience aimed at abolishing priestly celibacy and opening the clergy to women to relieve the shortages of priests.

Last June, the group’s members essentially threatened a schism, saying the Vatican’s refusal to hear their complaints left them no choice but to “follow our conscience and act independently“.

They issued a revised call to disobedience in which they said parishes would celebrate Eucharistic services without priests, that they would let women preach, and they pledged to speak out publicly and frequently for female and married priests.

The group now claims more than 300 Austrian priests and deacons as well as supporters in other countries, and its influence has grown to such an extent that top Austrian bishops met with Vatican officials in January to discuss how to handle them, Italian news reports said.

So far, neither the Vatican nor the archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, have imposed any canonical penalties on them.
source: tempo.com.ph