Know Why You Pray the Rosary and Never Get Bored Saying it Again  

Posted by Anna Cosio in

There are things that we find tedious to do because we don't know the rationale for doing them. Unfortunately, praying the Rosary happens to be one of those things that have the tendency to be "boring" to those who do not know why they are reciting the same prayers over and over again. To some, it has become nothing more than an act of piety devoid of meaning, hence you hear them rushing their way from the Apostle's Creed to the Hail Holy Queen, as though they simply could not wait to get it over with and do something else more exciting.

Honestly, there are times when I am like them, especially when I have other pressing tasks that can't seem to wait. But afterward, I realize that I have only wasted my 15 minutes, reciting a beautiful prayer but thinking of worldly things at the same time. I realize that if I should hurry, I should just not pray at all-- especially the Rosary, which is a prayer meant for meditation.


"Meditation is the form of prayer by which the one who prays uses the mind and imagination to consider a truth and uses the will to love it and form resolutions to live it. In this way the heart, mind, and soul of the Christian is formed according to the Gospel examples of the Savior and His First Disciple, His Mother. In God's own time, when this purification of the heart, mind, and soul has advanced sufficiently the Lord may give the grace of contemplative prayer, that special divine insight into the truth which human effort cannot achieve on its own."


So I am actually missing the purification of my heart, mind, and soul when I don't pray the Rosary by heart! What a bummer. I really shouldn't pray the Rosary only when I'm already sleepy. :-P

Some advocates of the Holy Rosary who have undoubtedly grown in their holiness and in their prayer lives state more reasons to pray it as often as we can. Our Lady of Fatima also has her own say about it:

"Among all the devotions approved by the Church none has been so favored by so many miracles as the devotion of the Most Holy Rosary" (Pope Pius IX).

"Say the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world" (Our Lady of Fátima).

"There is no surer means of calling down God's blessings upon the family . . . than the daily recitation of the Rosary" (Pope Pius XII).

"We do not hesitate to affirm again publicly that we put great confidence in the Holy Rosary for the healing of evils of our times" (Pope Pius XII).

"No one can live continually in sin and continue to say the Rosary: either they will give up sin or they will give up the Rosary" (Bishop Hugh Doyle).

"The Rosary is a magnificent and universal prayer for the needs of the Church, the nations and the entire world" (Pope John XXIII).

"The Rosary is the compendium of the entire Gospel" (Pope Paul VI quoting Pope Pius XII).

"Meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary . . . can be an excellent preparation for the celebration of those same mysteries in the liturgical actions [i.e. the Mass] and can also become a continuing echo thereof" (Pope Paul VI).

"My impression is that the Rosary is of the greatest value not only according to the words of Our Lady at Fátima, but according to the effects of the Rosary one sees throughout history. My impression is that Our Lady wanted to give ordinary people, who might not know how to pray, this simple method of getting closer to God" (Sister Lucia, one of the seers of Fátima).

"How beautiful is the family that recites the Rosary every evening" (Pope John Paul II).

Pope John Paul II has called the Rosary his "favorite prayer," after the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours.

St. Louis de Montfort warns us against both the ignorant and scholars who regard the Rosary as something of little importance..."the Rosary is a priceless treasure inspired by God."


A dear friend of mine once asked, "Our family used to pray the Rosary together, how come we still fell apart?" That time, I didn't know how to answer her. But now it is very clear to me that prayers are not mere words. If our way of life does not correspond with the mysteries we have meditated on, perhaps we have not really meditated at all.

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Should you stop going to Church if your priest is "sinful?"  

Posted by Anna Cosio in ,

I have met people, friends and close relatives alike, who say that they have lost their enthusiasm to attend the Mass because they say that it is celebrated by "sinful priests" anyway. I think they're only lazy, first and foremost; but apparently, they are also misinformed.

The Mass is not the most common Sacrament avoided by many people with the aforementioned rationalization. Confession or the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Penance is even more neglected for innumerable reasons, which we will tackle next time. What we will focus on right now is the premise that if a person is a sinner, he cannot communicate grace. He simply cannot give what he does not have. Is this really so?

Not in the case of the Sacraments-- Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. These Sacraments were instituted by Jesus and were simply carried on by His disciples, and are further passed on from one generation of bishops to another until the present day. The Catholic Teaching says that Sacraments are "an outward sign of inward grace, a sacred and mysterious sign or ceremony, ordained by Christ, by which grace is conveyed to our souls." St. Augustine makes it all the more simple as he defined them as "a visible sign of an invisible reality."

The way the Sacraments have been designed only leaves me even more in awe of our God. Obviously, He considered not only our spiritual aspect, but also our physical form, in coming up with things that will serve as channels of His grace. We can look at the Sacraments as a body-and-soul kind of thing, too, as "they are an external and physical sign of the conferral of Sanctifying Grace."

Simply put, Sacraments are effective ex opere operato, which means that they are effective on account of the work themselves.

During the Christian persecution, there were priests and bishops who suffered "lapses" in faith, as they offered incense to pagan gods and surrendered liturgical books to Roman authorities-- after undergoing tortures. After the said period, a certain group of Christians, called Donatists, asserted that all the sacraments administered by these ministers were invalid. They claimed that the effectiveness of the sacraments depended on the holiness of the minister. The people who were once baptized by them had to be re-baptized since they were in a "state of sin" when they administered the sacrament; the first baptism was deemed invalid.

"These Christians eventually broke off from the wider Catholic Church... The Donatists, situated primarily in North Africa, asserted that bishops consecrated by sinful bishops weren't really bishops at all. St. Augustine and others spilled a lot of ink to refute this position regarding sacraments, which is characterized in the Latin as ex opere operantis, i.e. sacraments are effective on account of the one doing the work. While the Church calls her priests (and all Christians) to high standards of holiness, the sacraments are effective independent of a minister's holiness because a perfect God is ultimately providing the sacramental grace, not the imperfect human minister."

-Sacraments: Meeting God in Our Own World, Ancient-Future.net

"God communicates grace through the sacrament and he could not be impeded by sin. To say that the sacraments celebrated by these ministers who failed their faith during the persecution are invalid and should be repeated, is to conclude that sin is more powerful than God. St. Augustine's wisdom glittered in this argument: NOTHING, NOT EVEN SIN, CAN PREVENT GOD FROM ACTING."

-Know Your Faith

Anyway, were you actually thinking that the graces you receive from the sacraments were coming from the priests??? I hope not.

If only the "perfect" holy people would be allowed to celebrate the sacraments, our Church will surely suffer some spiritual death. But that's not the case. God can still use each of us regardless of our moral disposition. All good things come from Him and if it's for the sake of His good plan, He can bring something good out of something bad.

A friend of mine shared just now that he has read somewhere that "priests are like broomsticks; they can clean no matter how unclean they are... because they are priests forever even in hell."

So, go back to your Church and stop missing out on the many graces you can receive from the gift of the Sacraments. :-)

Sources:
Reference.com
Ancient-Future.net
Know Your Faith

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Why are There Souls that Go to Hell?  

Posted by Anna Cosio in

Easy question; easy answer: Because they chose to go there.

According to the Catholic Church's teaching, there are souls in hell because they want to be there.

I don't know how exactly hell looks like, and I really don't want to know. Haha. I've always pictured hell as a place where souls are on fire but are not getting burned; but they do feel the scorching heat. Scary supernatural beings look the way they do because they've been distorted down there, I've read. :-P

Anyway, as years went by, I've come to realize that hell is more than just a place; it's a state. It's the state of being away from God or simply a total absence of God's grace. I mean, if you think about it, hell only started when Lucifer turned away from God-- when he rejected God's grace. Our journey to hell begins when we listen to the serpent who urges us to decide for ourselves what is good or evil without reference to God.

It is pretty easy to know who's on his or her way to eternal damnation; just look at Satan. Because of his pride and selfish intentions, he separated himself from God and did everything to oppose Him. With that, it is safe to say that whoever chooses to follow in the footsteps of Satan is on his way to that eternal place of rejection, hatred, and despair, where Satan resides.

"Many people raise emotional difficulties here. They ask, how could a good God condemn souls to hell? They have an image of God as an almighty hanging judge. They do not understand that God condemns souls to hell in much the same way that he "condemns" bodies to destruction if they choose to jump from great heights, if they attempt to digest poison, or if they abuse their system with alcohol or drugs. We live in a cosmos, not a chaos. If we choose disorder, disorder we shall have."
-Know Your Faith

Hell is not really that difficult to understand. We see previews of hell everyday. We see people who not only do evil; they love evil. God's transforming grace is always knocking on our hearts, but there are many who refuse to let it in.

"They go around 'looking for trouble' as if rage, violence, and hatred are the atmosphere they must exist in. The evil we refuse to repent begins to destroy us deep within. This is the 'hell' we refuse to come out of, no matter what grace or light God may send."
-Know Your Faith

Pope John Paul II wrote:
"The moral law, like the law of gravity, does not come from our consensus. It does not come from earth but from heaven. We are free to accept or reject it but we are not free to accept or reject the consequences. If we leave this world locked into ego, our choice of self apart from God becomes final, irrevocable, and complete. This is known as hell."
-The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis Splendor)

There's a quote that goes, "Everyone wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die;" I say, many say they want to go to heaven, but their actions speak otherwise.

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Really, Who Founded Your Church?  

Posted by Anna Cosio in

September 15, 2009



When I was younger, I remember our helper's daughter say to me when we were on our way to the church, "Ate Nina, 'di ba sila (insert names of some of my Protestant relatives here) lang ang totoong Kristiyano?" ["Ate Nina, aren't (insert names of some of my Protestant relatives here) the only true Christians?"] I was very young then; I was only in elementary, but what she said really irritated me and obviously has affected me so significantly that I can still remember our conversation very well.

My immediate reply was, "Sino'ng nagsabi sa'yo n'yan!" [Who told you that!], already assuming that she had heard it from someone else; I mean, as young as she was, she wouldn't have come up with such a ridiculous idea by herself.

So she told me about her Bible Study classes at a nearby Protestant Church, which, by the way, I also used to attend when I was a kid. But my mom stopped me from going there when she noticed that I was starting to get confused between the Protestant and Catholic Teaching. For instance, when I got home from class one day, I told my mom, "They asked me to lead the prayer today! But why was I the only one who made the Sign of the Cross?"

And she replied, "Good thing you didn't say the Hail Mary."

Going back to my conversation with our helper's daughter, I would have answered her better if I only knew the next things you'll read. I hope that through this post, people will just stop classifying one another as true or false Christians and instead promote their faith by stating facts and not by bad-mouthing other religions. Is it really that hard to do?

Only the Facts:

Protestant Church. Founded by Martin Luther on October 31, 1517 in protest against the Roman Catholic Church's abuse of power by selling indulgences to people to rebuild St Peter's Basilica in Rome. He argued that money could not buy freedom from God's punishment of sin. He turned his back on his vow of celibacy and married an ex-nun, Katherine Von Bora. The church he started also fell apart and was divided into several groups, each having its own different teachings. Luther called the Pope an "Anti-Christ," and allowed the "Landgrave of Hesse" to have two wives at the same time. He introduced the concepts: "Sola Scriptura" and "Sola Fide" (The Bible alone is the basis of faith and Faith alone is the basis of salvation-- two of the false doctrines that are commonly used by different sects, which have brought about division among Christians.)


Church of Christ (Mormons). Founded by Joseph Smith in the USA on April 6, 1830. He claimed that his Church was the true church and that he was sent by God to rebuild the true Church that people once turned their back on. Those who want to be saved must worship the Bible and the "Book of Mormons." According to Smith, the New Jerusalem, the heavens, shall be built in America. His Church permits polygamy. In fact, Smith's successor, Brigham Young, had 27 wives and 52 children! Now, this Church is already divided into different groups. Four of them bear the same name-- "Church of Christ" or "Iglesia ni Cristo."





Iglesia ni Cristo (Manalo). Founded by Felix Manalo in Punta, Sta. Ana, Manila on July 27, 1914. He registered the Church as a uni-personal corporation on July 27, 1914 at the Bureau of Commerce and it was given a trademark. Manalo also said that his church was the true church because he was an angel sent by God to rebuild the original church. He followed the Protestant teaching, Sola Scriptura (Bible Alone Theory), but denied Sola Fide (Faith Alone Theory). It was forbidden in his religion to create images and statues, except for the statue of Manalo at the Head Office of INC in Quezon City and the images of Manalo in all of their ministry offices. According to them, only the followers of Manalo can enter heaven.








Dating Daan of Eli Soriano. He is still exerting efforts to build a new religion in the Philippines. He also believes that the Bible is the sole basis of Faith. He claimed that the Catholic Church and the other churches are wrong.








Aglipayan Church. Although founded by Isabelo de los Reyes, it was named after its Supreme Bishop, Fr. Gregorio Aglipay, who was born in Batac in 1860. This church was officially declared in Quiapo Manila, as Iglesia Independiente Filipinas on October 3, 1902.











Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. He claims to be the Son of God, that he is Jesus Christ. He says that the New Heaven shall be built in Davao.










Anglican Church. Founded by King Henry VIII of England when Pope Clement VII did not tolerate his adultery with Anne Boleyn. After building such church, he further had 6 wives or more.










Methodist Church. Founded by John Wesley (1703-1791) and Charles Wesley (1707-1788) in England. They modified the Anglican faith and removed the Apostle's Creed.








Jehova's Witnesses. Founded in 1874 by Charles Taze Russell, who was born in Pittsburg, Pensylvania, USA. The church had changed its name several times until it settled with the name, "Jehova's Witnesses" ("Mga Saksi ni Jehova") in 1931. Just like Manalo of the Philippines, Russel introduced himself as an angel sent by God. This angel died in a train accident in 1916.







Baptist Church. Founded in England by John Smith, an Anglican minister (1554-1612). Not very long, a similar church was built in America by Roger Willian in 1939. He says that they come from John the Baptist.










Seventh Day Adventist or Sabadista. Founded by James and Ellen White in Michigan, USA in 1863. They go to church on Saturdays. They accept the theory, Bible Alone, but alongside this, they believe in Ellen's ability to prophesize.








Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church. Founded by Jesus in AD33 in Jerusalem upon the "Rock," Peter. The Church, which put the Bible together! The other churches were built only by humans who gave false meaning to that Bible. The acceptance of Peter's Papacy, which is clearly taught in the Bible, is the only way to avoid confusions and contradictions in Christianity. This is the only Church that has true apostolic succession, that already has members in all the corners of the world; this is the definite way to salvation. Welcome to the Church that was founded by Jesus, where he truly resides in the Holy Eucharist.





I honestly do not believe that belonging to any religion (Catholic and non-Catholic alike) already guarantees salvation. I don't know where exactly a "DEAD FAITH" is going, but I'm quite sure it has no room in the "Land of the Living" :-P

"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also, FAITH OF ITSELF, IF IT DOES NOT HAVE WORKS, IS DEAD."
James 2:14-17


Sources: Know the Truth (St. Pauls Publication), Wikipedia

10 comments »

Why do we pray to saints?  

Posted by Anna Cosio in

September 14, 2009

I started praying to saints when I was in Grade 3 after our teacher shared with our class her story about how St. Anthony de Padua helped her find her lost keys. She said she already looked everywhere but found them only after praying to St. Anthony. She found them in her bag where she said she had already looked several times earlier. Sounds like a miracle...

I started praying specifically to St. Anthony since then. And my personal experiences only supported Ms. Bayog's own witnessing. The things I lost or misplaced were not as valuable as keys, money, jewelry and other expensive stuff. Since I was only a kid, I used to ask St. Anthony to help me find my lost Barbie dolls, magic springs, jackstone ball, and some utensils that were missing from my toy kitchen set. I didn't understand how my prayers worked, but all I knew was THEY DID WORK.

But when I grew older, I realized that saints are no different from us other humans, EXCEPT for their way of life. They were able to live a life that was very pleasing to God by denying their very selves for Him. (So I guess they were very different after all. Haha.) Saints became witnesses of the Gospel through their entire being, especially through their actions. They were more than words-- a lot more than preachers and bloggers like me. And so they deserve our high respects and good following.

With that, we can also call them our role models. But aside from being good examples, they have another role in the Church, and that is to help us human beings in our journey on Earth. If you can still recall in our Rel. Ed. classes, we were taught that the Church is composed of the Church Militant (that's us), Church Suffering (the poor souls in Purgatory), and Church Triumphant (the souls that are already in heaven: saints) Though we belong to different "dimensions," prayers become our means to "keep in touch." We are one Church.

"Hey (insert religious friend's name here), please pray for me, for so and so, for this and that... Malakas ka naman kay God e!" Have you ever said these words to a friend? Praying to saints is no different from such a concept. It is written in James 5:16 that
"The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful."
Saints are just like our friends, only more righteous and definitely holy. They lift up to God the prayers that we ask them to pray for. And since they are already spirits and are no longer limited by human bodies, I don't think they would ever have a problem with information overload-- or in this case, prayer overload.

Some may argue that God did not say we should pray to saints, and they back their premise up with a certain Bible passage in 1 Timothy 2: "For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus."

But really, did God forbid praying to saints? Let us examine the complete text:

1 Timothy 2: verses...
1 First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone,
2 for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.
3 This is good and pleasing to God our savior,
4 who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human.

In the passage above, it is very clear that St. Paul was urging people to pray for others, and that such intercessions on behalf of others are good and pleasing in God's eyes. What saints do is actually pleasing in God's eyes!

By the way, be very careful, then, in listening to people who quote short and incomplete verses from the Bible. Haha. The full text usually gives a better explanation :-P

Next, "Really, who founded your religion?"

Bible used in this post: The New American Bible

2 comments »

How reliable is the Bible?  

Posted by Anna Cosio in

September 13, 2009

This has been one of my biggest questions because I honestly do not remember the history of the Bible being discussed in class in detail. Or if it was tackled, I must have been daydreaming. But no, I don't think so. Religious education had always been one of my favorite subjects. Although I was not in favor of the grading system, I truly learned a lot of valuable stuff from my teachers. But as for the reliability of the Bible, it was only very recently that I was enlightened.

Thanks to the new magazine published by ST PAULS: Know Your Faith (In Defense of the Catholic Truth), I don't have to feel awkward from now on when debating with atheists. I know it's pointless to argue about religious beliefs, but sometimes you really can't help the evangelizer in you. Their common argument is, "Why do you talk about God? Not everyone believes in your God."

Oh well, my dear agnostic friends, looks like before we get to the next topic, we first have to settle your issue with the existence of God. Hmm... Where do I start?

I honestly don't know where! But at least I already know why such kind of blah-blah is only futile. Hahaha.

Anyway, let's now talk about the reliability of the Bible. I'll share with you the most convincing part of the explanation I've read from the mag:


"Many historians readily accept the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, and Caesar.

Plato wrote between 427-347 BC, with our earliest copies of his works dating from the 900s (1,200-year span), of which seven copies have survived.

Aristotle wrote between 384-322 BC, and his earliest works are dated from the 1100s (1,400-year span), with 49 surviving copies.

Thucydides wrote around 460-400 BC; our copies of his works are from the 900s (1,300-year span), with eight copies in existence.

Caesar's life was chronicled from 100-44 BC. Our earliest copies of the chronicles of Julius Caesar date from the 900s (1,000 years later) and we have ten surviving copies.

How come historians accept their data as historical? Why then question so much the gospels?

The New Testament, on the other hand, was written between 40-100 AD and our earliest copies of the New Testament manuscripts are from the 130s and we have 5,000 Greek copies, 10,000 Latin copies, and 9,300 copies in other languages. Don't we have then more reasons to accept the gospels as historical?"


That's for the historical acceptability of the gospels. As for the content, I don't think any writer can just invent some imaginary inspiration for such a great work. And if they were indeed only making stories, why would they submit themselves to torture and lay down their lives in defense of those manuscripts?

Only a phenomenal inspiration and some Source of great courage would have made that possible.

Maybe if we lived during Jesus' time and we happened to be some of the 500 thousand witnesses of his Resurrection who got to touch His wounds as Thomas did, we would have easily believed.

"Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." -Jesus
John 20:29

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