Rogation Days
Today, the Traditional Societies in the Catholic Church celebrates the Rogation Days. It is a three days solemn supplication before the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord. The Rogation Days are days of prayers and fasting, and was observed with procession while praying the Litany of the Saints, then followed by the Rogation Mass. The word Rogation is from the latin word “rogare” which means to supplicate or ask where we are begging to God for His mercy. There are two Rogations in the Church’s calendar, the Major and Minor Rogation.
The Traditional Catholic Societies
During Vatican II, many changes occurred in the Catholic Church. These changes cause problem and affects the spiritual faith of the people. If we remember protestant reformation, these protestant wants to reform the Church and ignore the sacred tradition that was obtained from the previous Christian teachings including the teachings of the Apostles and the church fathers. The church called for the Council of Trent to solve this problem until the solution came under the reign of Pope St. Pius V. Return to the tradition and organize everything. These results the Tridentine Mass and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The solution of the Council of Trent remains until the modernist called for reform, which is similar to what the Protestants wants. And it happened during the Second Vatican Council.
Postures ad Gestures During the Holy Mass
When we attend the Holy Mass, the priest, altar servers/lay ministers and the faithful have specific postures and gestures. These actions are very important in the Holy Mass because they have profound meaning. These postures and gestures are not optional, but it’s a must do during the Holy Mass (except for those who are too old or sick that cannot perform this action).
The Clerical Celibacy
When men become priests, they will have many sacrifices to be made. Leaving their family, they will be assigned to different places eventhough they don’t like it and lastly, they will be unable to marry. The Catholic Church restrict men to marry, this is called the Clerical Celibacy.
The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ
It is because of His immense love for humanity that Our Lord Jesus Christ offered His life at Calvary in order to gain our salvation. And withHis resurrection, He gave us eternal hope that we can also reach the kingdom of our Father in Heaven.
The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the most important aspects of our Catholic faith. With this event, Our Lord had clearly shown His holiness, power and divinity.
The Seven Last Words of the Lord Jesus Christ
The Lord in His journey on this earth chose various pulpits of sharing the Good News. He taught of abandoning the worldly riches in the caves of Bethlehem. He demonstrated the importance of living decently when he became a carpenter in Nazareth. He also preached in the temples and showed his mercy by healing the sick and the lame. All this the Lord performed as he traveled in the holy land. But the real message that Our Lord wants to convey is love. Love that includes benevolence and forgiveness.
At the age of 33, Our Lord Jesus died on the cross – a fulfillment of God’s promise to man. In conjunction with the death of Our Lord, we as Catholics remember the Seven Last Words of Christ on Mount Calvary. These last seven words reveal beautiful meanings for the faith of His followers.
Holy Week Traditions
The Holy Week is the last part of the Lenten Season, which starts on Palm Sunday and ends on Black Saturday. It is called Holy Week because it focuses on the life, passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. The last tree days of the Holy Week is called Sacred Tridum. During Sacred Tridum, there are traditions that Catholics do as an act of penance.
What is Lent?
Lent or Quadregisima is a 40-Day season of prayer and act of penance such as fasting and abstinence. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. In this season, the church will start to use the purple color including the vestments in the Holy Mass and cover the images with purple veil or cloth. Quadregisima is from a Latin word means “forty” while lent from the old English word “lencten” which means “spring”
The Sign of the Cross
“The sign of the cross is the most terrible weapon against the devil. Thus the Church wishes not only, that we have it continually in front of our minds, to recall to us just what our souls are worth and what they cost Jesus Christ
but also that we should make it at every juncture ourselves: when we go to bed, when we awaken during the night, when we get up, when we begin any action, and, above all, when we are tempted.”
-St John Vianney (1786-1859)
The Sacred Tradition
As Christianity spread all over the world, many Christians instituted their own church such as the Protestants who are known popularly as the Born Again. They spread the word of God through the Bible but using their own interpretation that led to error to those who listened to them. The Protestants followed “Sola Scriptura”, a Latin word which means “Scriptures Only”. It means that every Christian must follow the scriptures ONLY and not any other church teachings or dogmas. The Catholic Church (also the Orthodox) follows the Scriptures but also follows oral traditions which the Protestants ignored. These oral traditions are also known as Sacred Traditions.
The Three Nativity of the Liturgical Calendar
In the Catholic Liturgical Calendar, we will see the dates of the feast of a saint and important seasons such as Lent and Advent. The feast date of a Saint is the date when he or she departed from this world and entered the Kingdom of God in Heaven. But some feast dates are not the dates of their deaths, such as the feast date of the married couple Saint Zelie and Saint Louis Martin. Saint Therese of Lisieux’ feast day was put on October 3 even though she died on September 30, because the date was already the feast day of Saint Jerome, until it was moved to December 1 on 1970. But there are three unique occasions or feasts that are celebrated in the Catholic Church, these are the nativity or birthday of three persons, the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.
The Parable of the First Christmas (Part 2)
In Jerusalem, three wise men have arrived from the east and were inquiring where the King of the Jews was born for they had seen His star in the East and they wanted to worship Him. When Herodes heard about this, he was instantly felt afraid and at once planned to kill the child. He instructed the three kings to search relentlessly for the child and when they find Him, let him know at oncee so he can also worship the child (Mt 2:18).