December 24, 2017 Forbes Park, Makati

We Care Because We PrayFourth Sunday of Advent

www.ssaparish.com

I started Advent with my mother requesting if I could take charge of decorating our house for Christmas. I agreed, and for a week I was faced with lots of green and red stuff, various things that sparkle, lights, and all sorts of shapes that I did not know a Christmas tree could have. It was a lot harder than I thought. When my friends ask why I agreed, I thought it was obvious. It was because I LOVE my mother. It was really that plain and simple.

As we end the Advent Season, I hope our weeks of preparation did not just lead us to deck out houses, endless gifts shopping, and complaints about holiday traffic. I hope each time we heard Simbang Gabi, we found the peace we need to prepare spiritually for Christmas. I hope each time we volunteered for an outreach activity, we were able to spread hope to our brothers and sisters even just for a few

hours. I hope that each time we met loved ones, it gave us so much joy that we did not regret enduring holiday traffic to spend time with them.

I hope as we end Advent and enter Christmas, we realize why we celebrate it in the first place. We prepare for and celebrate it because this is the time wherein we are shown what LOVE really is. God so loved us that He gave His one and only Son to us. There is no greater gift we could ever ask for, and the best way to show our appreciation is to spread God’s love to everyone we encounter, not just this season but also for all our days. Whether it is helping out with Christmas decorations, spending time at outreaches, or just spreading holiday cheers to strangers, let us never hold back on how we can spread love and make someone feel God’s presence. Merry Christmas!

A Season of LoveAdvent:

by Rosy Adriano

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Dear fellow co-journeyers:

A blessed Christmas to all!

As we remember the day of the birth of Jesus, the Son of Mary and Joseph, the Incarnate Word, the embodiment of love and wisdom of God; we are invited to become the lights of hope in the midst of darkness and death, an expression of solidarity in the midst of indifference and epitomes of humility in the midst of self-righteousness.

The meaning of Christmas celebration lies in God’s unconditional self-giving, our communion with Jesus and commitment to bring the message of the Gospel alive. The sacredness of our humanity is indeed not only a manifestation of the beauty of life. It is a blessing to be celebrated within our families and communities.

We are God’s mangers in the ongoing birthing forth of Emmanuel – God-with-us – that transforms each of us into the likeness of our Savior and Redeemer to live and love life to the fullest. May the true spirit and meaning of Christmas be upon you and your family!!!

Your Co-journeyer,

FR. REU JOSE C. GALOY, OFM

Christmas time in the Philippines is something very special. As early as September, one would already start hearing Christmas songs on the radio. All through the years, these timeless songs gave me a certain feeling of nostalgic Christmas. It’s that certain feeling of simplicity—images are in black and white, stress-free and careless moments—moments of my childhood that somehow appear in my mind while I’m listening to the songs. Oh how I wish I could bring back those times!

Back to the present: Everybody is rushing, traffic is horrible, but in the midst of those problems, we have family reunions, batch reunions, company Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, gift-giving, and most specially Simbang Gabi, which truly gives me a Christmas experience. As I walk down the street, I see prettily lighted houses on the way to Church on a very cool December morning. Then upon reaching the Church: the bright lights, the decorations, the Mass, and of course the simple breakfast right outside the church—20 years from now, this would surely be my nostalgic experience!

The influence of Christ in our country is very much alive. I don’t think there is another place on earth that would give us the same Christmas experience. We are such a blessed country. The Lord loves us so much. Let us rejoice and be glad!

On a final note, as I write this message, this song keeps on running in my mind:

“People making lists, buying special gifts, taking time to be kind to one and all....”

Merry Christmas everybody! May the Lord bless you and your families this Christmas!

JUn RODRiGUEz

From the PPC President

From the Parish Priest

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

December 24, 2017

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The ABC’s of Catholic Doctrine

Santuario de San Antonio Pastoral TeamFr. Baltazar A. Obico, OFM - GuardianFr. Reu Jose C. Galoy, OFM - Vicar Provincial, Parish PriestFr. Judee Mar Maquinad, OFM - BursarFr. Jesus E. Galindo, OFM - MemberFr. Efren C. Jimenez, OFM - Member

RDIP - PB Editorial Team & General InformationMarie Tycangco - Head, RDIP-PB/Editor-in-ChiefJavier Luis Gomez - Asst. Editor/WriterRamon M. Ong - Asst. EditorDennis Montecillo - Asst. Editor/WriterClarisse Gomez - Asst. Editor/WriterErvin Co - Asst. Editor/WriterPisha Banaag - Asst. Editor/WriterPeachy Maramba - ContributorLianne Tiu - ContributorConchitina Bernardo - ContributorJeannie Bitanga - Website AdministratorAlexa Montinota - Asst. Website AdministratorEdward Lu - Art & DesignColorplus Production Group Corp. - Production

Santuario de San Antonio Parish Center OfficeTel. nos. 8438830-31Email: ssap_info@yahoo.comWebsite: www.ssaparish.comWebsite email: webi@ssaparish.com

Parish Pastoral Council Jun Rodriguez – PresidentGirlie Sison – Vice PresidentMarie Tycangco – Secretary

It is one more day till Christmas! Our countdown, which has started as early as September, is finally coming to an end! And we have been swept away in a whirlwind of shopping, gift-wrapping, and partying. Yet after the plates and glasses from the Christmas dinner are put away and the gifts are unwrapped, the much-awaited day comes quickly to an end, as we move on to the New Year.

But wait, this is Christmas for the seculars! For us Catholics, Christmas season is just starting as it begins with the vigil Masses on Christmas Eve. It is not a time to shift our greeting from “Merry Christmas!” to “Happy New Year!” Christmas continues as we celebrate the birth of Jesus into our world and into our hearts, and we reflect on God the Father’s gift of love, including the fact that His Son was born to die for us.

Christmas is the season of love. Having received the gift of Christ, we naturally want to imitate by showing our love to

everyone from family and friends to those who are in need (the poor, the lonely, and the suffering). We share with them our time and gifts. For those who have forgotten God, we help them go back to Him through Confession thereby enjoying His loving embrace.

Although the Christmas season will end on the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, and the lights and nativity scenes will be put away, let us carry on with our gift of love. We continue to share the reason for the season of love. Our strength will come from the Eucharist. In fact, every Mass is like Christmas, which is the feast of the incarnation, the feast of God becoming flesh. Jesus continues to be born anew on the altar where the bread and wine are transformed into His flesh, His Body and Blood. Truly, the season of love lives on.

(Reference: Christmas 2017 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; “Celebrating Christmas Like Catholics” from catholicmom.com)

TheSeason of Love Lives On by Lianne Tiu

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Days of hectic preparations in the CCD (Continuing Catholic Development) office culminated on Saturday morning, 2 December, when some of the youngest CCD students reached out and invited children from two marginal communities in Pasig, to an outreach event of giving, sharing, and enjoying, in an early Christmas celebration. Via this Outreach, the youngsters were also putting into practice their “Faith in Action” as taught to them in the classrooms; and by their very nature, CCD’s Outreach Programs funded from the proceeds of our annual Light-A-Parol fund raiser, are integral to the CCD curriculum.

The convento garden was filled with smiles and laughter as the CCD students interacted and played games with children from Giving Hope Foundation, an organization that does basic Cathecism for young children and runs a breakfast feeding program for over 200 students. The children had fun playing different musical games and getting a chance to win a raffle prize from the many gifts given by the CCD students. Afterwards, they went home with wonderful goodie bags filled

CCD KIDS’ EARLY CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION WITH YOUNG FRIENDS FROM PASIG

by Cristina Castillo | Photos by Miguel Sarmiento

with items they can share with their families.

These outreaches are one of the few venues for our CCD students to be able to interact with peers who are less fortunate than themselves. And it is thanks to the many generous donors we have every year for the Light-A-Parol, the children were able to enjoy

a Christmas party, complete with everyone’s favorite Pinoy mascot, fun-filled games, and a Christmas movie.

The morning ended with prayers of thanksgiving -- by every child going home happy, by those who gave and by those who received. It was a great way to start the Advent Season with giving, with hope and with love.

December 24, 2017

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Today I saw grief up close but it was not dark. Instead it glistened from the tears of a beloved daughter-in-law who had just lost her father. I felt her pain, as she mourned that she was now totally without a parent. She was barely 11 years old when her mother died, so her father was her bedrock of support and unconditional love.

Watching her, I realized that grief is the true expression of love. How else can you grieve so intensely without having first known love and being loved in return? You lament deeply the loss of that love. You feel a constant emptiness that will not go away.

I sat down late at night and struggled to connect the events of life with my Parish Bulletin deadline on Advent and Love. I closed my eyes and whispered a prayer word ... “Help!” Then I did my Centering Prayer.

It became clear that Advent started with love. “God so loved the world,” we have been told many times, “that He sent His only Son to ransom us.” So the season of Advent brings us to the beginning of the story... a stable and the birth of a Child, just like each one of us is born. In God’s boundless love, Jesus became what we are, so that we could be what He is.

In the Silence of Contemplative Prayer, in the quiet of the night, I realized that this was God’s true gift of love --- His own Son. Why not surrounded by gold, glitter and luxury befitting a Prince? The message is clear, without poverty

Taste of Silence

Of Grief, Love and Adventby Conchitina S. Bernardo

of spirit, there cannot be an abundance of God.

The spiritual journey, with its books, quotations, and meditation insights, brings you to moments like this, when you stumble upon a prayer, hear a phrase or a single word that speaks to you. Sharing in the pain of a daughter-in-law awakens your soul. That night there was a prayer on Centering Prayer that resonated within me.

“God of the silence, calm and quiet my soul at the fount of Your loving presence. In Your silence, replenish me with the force of love. When there is nowhere else to go, inspire me to search within my heart and find Your life-giving grace there, weaving the fabric of human reality into a tapestry of

love. Amen.” – Dr. Peter Traben Haas

Seeing God in daily events is a natural outcome of fidelity to the practice of Centering Prayer. He is everywhere “in the fabric of human reality,” --- in people who grieve, in the joys of a Christmas party, in the wide eyes of a child asking Santa for a Magic Pony. He is there faithfully and definitely. The best way to know is to practice daily moments of silence --- to “drop into your heart” and relish the quiet.

Contemplative Outreach Philippines Santuario de San Antonio Support Group meets Every Monday 10am-12nn at the St. Elizabeth Room to practice Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina

Visit us at : http://www.cophil.org

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December 24, 2017

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“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to

have the real spirit of Christmas.” - Calvin Coolidge