Category: Articles

In 2012, I was representing the CWL SSAP Chapter when Fr. Joel Sulse, OFM, the incumbent parish priest appointed me to chair the Hospitality Ministry, which was never occupied before. I learned that ushering our parishioners in Church is a calling of the Lord. Since then, I spent 8 hrs. in Church every Sunday to perform my duty as greeter and collector during the Holy Masses. As ushers, we see to it that PWDs and seniors are properly seated. We assist during communion. We enforce proper dress code. We welcome new families into the parish, congratulate newly baptized babies and newly married couples and send condolences to the passing of parishioners.

As chair of the Hospitality Ministry for four years now, I am still waiting for someone who can take my place. In the meantime, I would like to share with you the joy of serving in our parish. I would like to repeat the saying: “There is no accident with the Lord.” I was born in Tuburan, Cebu, where our patron saint is also San Antonio. My mother’s name is Antonia. I got married to a guy named Antonio. My daughter is named Antoinette and my other niece is Dr. Antoinette Cabahug. My parents were also devoted to San Antonio.

I have been a parishioner of San Antonio for more than half of my life and I intend to serve the Parish until the Lord calls me and says: “You have done your humble job serving me, it is time for you to rest and share your joy and happiness to others.” I thank and praise you Lord through San Antonio for giving me the great opportunity to serve this Parish with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and of Jesus Christ, my Savior.

A Eucharistic Community of Families Guided by the Virtues of St. Anthony

“By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me.” – John 5:30

St. Anthony lived a life of absolute poverty, adhering to it with all his heart. He lived the life of the poor by renouncing all worldly goods. He left his prominent family to preach to the poor. In poverty, he traveled tirelessly to spread God’s word, as he intended to literally walk in the footprints of Christ. He lived a truly Christian life “with feet solidly on the ground of total trusting love and dependence on God.” He believed that “Poverty is the true wealth; it keeps and generates humility; it is the source of spiritual joy; poverty frees one from the desires that tie men to things.” and that “Poverty is the only path to Christ, a way of participating in his kingdom.”

One of the prominent pictures of St. Anthony shows him carrying the child Jesus, while giving bread to a poor man. This symbolizes his concern for the poor, as he feeds the hungry. The bread symbolizes the sustenance of life, as well as the spreading of the Word of God to the world.

True poverty is recognizing that everything we have belongs to God and acknowledging that we are in desperate need of God’s grace to be able to fulfill our mission. It goes beyond material things, simplicity and humility. It is a total surrender of who we are what we have and all that we do.

Nothing belongs to us, our families, our talents, our ministries, our life. These were given to us for a reason, to serve a greater purpose, to bring out the goodness in each one, to be passed on from one generation to another to ensure continuity.

In the Franciscan poverty of St. Anthony, I, a member of the order of the Secular Franciscan, give everything to the Lord for nothing is my own, but the Lord’s.

God created us to love, to serve him and one another and all creations. Serving our parish the past four decades was indeed a privilege, a fulfillment and a blessing. It started when I joined Coro in 1974 and CWL in 1980, which I look back to with gratitude for it prepared and sustained me spiritually for my widowhood. I served for 3 terms as president in the Parish. Eventually I got into the Archdiocese and National Board. As president, I invited my vice-presidents to share with me in presiding the meetings thus training them to take over. Through CWL, I was called to serve in the different ministries: Temporalities (now Finance), Social Services, Education and Worship. I was heading all these while parenting as a widow to my six teenaged children and attending to the family business here and abroad. Recognizing that I am just a servant of God and that my church co-workers are also gifted with their particular talents, I trained and delegated responsibilities to them. I opted to stay at the background as consultant and adviser when needed in humble admission that I own nothing. Everything is the Lord’s.

At one breakfast after mass, I noticed that most of us in the table were my former co-church workers. To my question why they were not involved anymore and only I am there, they replied that they are not needed anymore. The whole day after that I discerned of my role in the church, if I were still to continue, even kneeling in my private chapel at home. The next day was Sunday and I asked the Lord to give me a sign with respect to my discernment. The readings were about the talents. After mass, while waiting for my car at the front exit driveway of the church, the vehicle before my car stopped and a lady came out hurriedly towards me asking me to sign a copy of the Parish Bulletin because her brother liked my singing and wanted my autograph. I was stunned and could not move. An older lady nearby saw what just transpired and asked what happened. I told her about my discernment. She said, “I am much older than you but I do what I can to serve the Lord because there is no ending in serving Him in any capacity as long as we are alive and able.”

Yes, God created us to love, serve Him and one another and all creatures, through the talents and gifts He gave us for those are not ours to own but the Lord’s.

“I’ll lend you a for a little time, a child of Mine,” He said,
“For you to love the while he lives
And mourn for when he’s dead.
It may be six or seven years or twenty-two or three,
But will you, till I call him back,
Take care of him for me?”
(excerpt from the poem “A Child Loaned”)

The Lord gave me and my family 22 colorful years with Paolo. It was Mother’s Day, May 13, 2012. We received that fateful call that my son, Pao, was in a car accident.

At the wake, droves of people from all walks of life came to take a glimpse of Pao. Everyone was in disbelief, seeing him lying there lifeless. He was a charmer, the life of the party, and a natural athlete. He lived making everyone believe that he was “invincible”. On the other hand, he was very sensitive to the needs of the people around him. He used his gift of music to be of service to our parishioners, playing the guitar and singing for Sunday masses, as well as for retreats of different communities. His happiness was making the people around him happy in his own simple ways.

“In His time, He makes all things beautiful in His time.” As a grieving mom, listening to the endless stories of Pao helped lift my spirits. He experienced failure, but learned to get back on his feet. He experienced hurts, but learned to love even more. Growing up, he may have been a little bit on the mischievous side, but at the end of his 22 years on earth, everyone who knew Paolo had only good words to say. Reflecting on all the stories told about Pao, we believe that the Lord took him back at the perfect time, in His time.

At this point, my husband, Philip, and I can say “we did take care of him for You, dear Lord, until You called him back.” We did our job, nurturing and loving Paolo who was loaned to us by God, together with all the other characters in his life. Though we miss him so, so much, we take joy in knowing that he had lived and celebrated a life of Christ to its fullest.

It was Mother’s Day four years ago, May 13, 2012, also the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. I am sure Paolo was embraced by our dear Mama Mary, and in her loving arms took Pao back to our dear Lord. What better way is there to leave our earthly life than that image of Pao in Mama Mary’s embrace? So, we return Paolo to you, dear Lord. Thank You for the 22 years with him and the beautiful memories we can hold on for all of us to treasure.

It will be Pao’s birthday tomorrow, May 16. Please join our family in prayer of thanksgiving, celebrating his life and death.

Virtue: Love of Solitude

by Hannah Roa

Everyone knows that Solitude is about being alone, but what else is it all about? Why would Saint Anthony choose a life in solitude when we know that being alone could be lonely, boring, depressing and maybe even make you go crazy.

St. Anthony had riches growing up for his family was wealthy, but he had a calling in his heart to know more and more about our Lord, Jesus Christ. So at an early age he asked to enter into the Monastery. When his father died he sold his inheritance and all his possessions and gave them to the poor. He took the Bible reading, (Matt. 19:21) “If you want to be ‘perfect’, go sell all you have give to the poor and come follow me”, seriously which was said by a deacon during a church service and considered every word he heard as directed to him personally. He wanted to live as Jesus and His disciples lived, a life of poverty. Because of his quest for spiritual excellence and perfection he chose to live in solitude.

In his quest for spiritual closeness to the Lord he learned quietness, humility, silence, continuous prayers, asceticism and keeping vigil from examples of ascetics he met; all the virtues that are connected in living a life in spiritual perfection in solitude. He sought out these virtues in every person and learned from them, not imitating one but learning lessons from many. From years of practicing and learning about the virtues he taught others his wisdom, to meditate on the scriptures not to rigidly interpret them.

With living the life in solitude he found peace and the Lord and went on to teach and guide other monks his examples. He may have sold his riches and not marry, but in the end he received more than he gave. For the land and properties that now belong to the monasteries of St. Anthony greatly exceeds 300 acres he had given up and now has thousands of monk-sons in every generation who call him “father”. Because of his determination to know more of our Lord and follow Him, his love of solitude had made his name eternal that we call him “St. Anthony the Great”, a symbol of a life of solitude, meditations and prayers and a symbol of the life of a monk with all its virtues and spiritualities.

So when you find yourself wanting to know more about the Lord look at the life of St. Anthony and follow on his footsteps. Don’t be scared of being in solitude for who knows you may one day be as great as he.

God calls and invites His children to serve him in different ways. For those individuals who have chosen the married life as their vocation, serving Him through active participation in a Church ministry is indeed a special calling.

When Jesus Christ instructed husbands to love their wives just as He loved the Church, this love was not purely meant for the benefit of the married couple alone. Our Lord also wants married couples to share their love to the church or community where they belong and more importantly, to offer their love and service to a “much important master, the one Lord.”

Serving our Lord through a church ministry not only requires a deep commitment, but more importantly, humility, selflessness and service.

As with all earthly organizations, there will be “high and low” points that can contribute to frustration or even disillusionment. Occasionally, couples may feel that they are doing all the “heavy lifting” in their ministries and lose sight of the sacred purpose. However, it is important for couples to realize not to rely on themselves in dealing with frustration
and disappointment.

To sustain and constantly experience God’s love and inspiration, both husband and wife have to create their own “individual” spaces on a daily basis and establish their own personal and loving relationship with God. This “space” and personal relationship with God will help them “to carry on” in serving Him through their respective ministries despite difficulties and tribulations.

We welcome the Marian month of May with our veneration to Our Lady. Continuing our annual tradition, children are invited to offer flowers to Our Lady during the 6:00pm daily masses. The Flores de Mayo procession will be on May 31st, 5pm at the parish grounds.

It was only 11 months ago when we installed the Relic of St. Anthony into our church. Like previous Fiestas, our ever hardworking local Catholic Womens League will be spearheading different outreach programs such as Pan de San Antonio (libreng almusal), Mass Wedding, Mass Confirmation, Mass Baptism and Medical Mission.

Fundraising efforts for this year’s Fiesta is focused on reconstructing the architectural “as built plans” of the Church which are no longer available and all other physical structures in our Parish compound through digital scanning. These scans will allow us to determine areas requiring structural restoration. It is our vision to extend all structures of our parish for the next 60 years.

We enjoin all parishioners to help us secure the future of our church through donation pledges in the Novena envelopes and sponsorships for our Novena Masses and the Fiesta Mass. Our Fiesta Masses to St Anthony shall commence on June 4th. Procession for Saint Anthony will be on June 12th. The Fiesta Mass and Fiesta Dinner will be on June 13th. We invite all parishioners to join us in our outreach programs, Novena masses, Procession in honor of Saint Anthony, Fiesta mass and Fiesta dinner and all the other Fiesta activities as we pray for our community.May St. Anthony continue to pray for us all…..

Edmund Lim, KHS
PPC President

Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children received
apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon.

Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War
I, for sinners and for the conversion of Russia. The third visionary, Lucia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun and died in 2005 at the age of 97.

Mary gave the children three secrets. Since Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta the
following year, Lucia revealed the first secret in 1927, concerning devotion to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary. The second secret was a vision of hell.

Pope John Paul II directed the Holy See’s Secretary of State to reveal the third secret in 2000; it spoke of a “bishop in white” who was shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows into him. Many people linked this to the assassination attempt against Saint John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981.

The feast of Our Lady of Fatima was approved by the local bishop in 1930; it was added to the Church’s worldwide calendar in 2002.

American Catholic.org

Fr. Reu Jose C. Galoy, OFM

To All My Beloved Servants and Co-journeyers in the Lord:

Peace and every blessing!

Our 2016 fiesta celebration is another grace-filled occasion for our parish to be simply grateful for all our life’s undeserved blessings; to humbly recognized God’s untiring guidance as we go through life’s challenging journey and; to trustingly surrender our best endeavor to God’s life enhancing and changing plan as well. Similarly, this fiesta celebration calls on every member of our parish to charitably contribute in deepening our spiritual communion, strengthening our fraternal bonding, mobilizing our human and material resources to serve those have less in life.

Since our fiesta is coming sooner than we might expect, the theme we selected to give a meaningful direction to all our religious, social, pastoral events and activities is: A Eucharistic Community of Families Guided by the Virtues of St. Anthony. Our traditional fiesta activities such as novena masses, procession, free breakfast, medical-dental mission, mass baptism and wedding, fiesta diner to name a few, hopefully, will provide the venue to facilitate the realization of our theme and that which will be extended throughout the year.

In line with our celebration, I am honored to personally request you and your family to actively participate with your presence and support. Solicited donations activities will go to our fiesta outreach programs, digital scanning of the as-built plans of the parish church and other existing physical structures.

May St. Anthony of Padua, our patron and guide us as we start in all our fiesta preparations, plans and projects. May St. Anthony intercede for us that we have wisdom and compassion in all we do and to do all for God alone in loving service of our sisters and brothers; and mother earth, our common home.

Your co-journeyer in faith and life,

Fr. Reu Jose C. Galoy, OFM