Devotees told to brace for 'different' 2021 grand massive miracle crusade

 Devotees must prepare for a different way of celebrating the feast next year even as preparations for it are underway, a Quiapo Church official said on Thursday.

“At present, we priests are talking on what we shall propose and we in the procession committee are also holding meetings on what shall we ask the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) on following the protocol. But we are also set on the possibility of holding the Luneta event, as well as the other things that we usually do during the event,” said Fr. Douglas Badong, parochial vicar of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, in a radio interview.

Badong is hoping that devotees will be open to the changes in the January 16-18, 2021 celebration, amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic

“There will be big changes in January 16-18. We are hoping that devotees are open to these changes. It will only happen during this pandemic and we need their cooperation to be able to still celebrate the feast of the Santo Nino,” he said.

He added that they already sent letters to Manila City Hall and IATF as part of their preparations for the religious event early next year.

“We really need to practice or at least the people will get used to, on what we want to implement, physical distancing while they go to church,” he added.

The possibility of doing away with the traditional activities for the annual observance looms due to the health crisis. This includes the traslacion or the procession from the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta to the Quiapo Church which is the highlight of the feast.

Among the religious activities being held at Luneta venue are the vigil with the Pope and a midnight Mass.

The procession of Black Nazarene replicas is also being held around the vicinity of the minor basilica days before the feast.

Under quarantine guidelines, religious activities are allowed at 10 percent capacity in areas under general community quarantine and 50 percent capacity under modified GCQ.

Various activities that are part of religious festivities in the country have since been called off to prevent further spread of Covid-19.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1117260

LIVE: TV Patrol livestream | October 1, 2020 Full Episode

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No More Pain, Only Love - Kape't Pandasal kasama si Fr Kali Llamado

As we begin the second ‘ber’ month today

 Today is the start of the last quarter of the year. Government economists and business managers generally expect improved figures in these final three months, making up for any losses in the middle of the year, so that the year-end figures stand out, reflecting progress in the national economy or in the business enterprise.

To most Filipinos, however, today is better known as the start of the second “ber” month. Filipinos cherish the Christmas season so much that they celebrate it longer than other people, starting in September when we start hearing “Ang Pasko ay Sumapit” on radio and other Filipino songs heralding the holiday season. Some streets in Metro Manila already have the traditional Christmas “parol.”

There is still one other important holiday before the spirit of the season takes hold – Undas, when Filipinos traditionally troop to cemeteries all over the land to light candles and say prayers at the graves of departed loved ones. That would be at the start of the third “ber” month – on November 1, All Saints’ Day.

This year, however, after Manila closed all its cemeteries from October 29 to November 4, other towns and cities have followed suit. The COVID-19 pandemic is still with us and it is best to avoid crowds. Thus people will have to carry on with the Undas tradition spread out in the two months of October and November, before or after the banned week.

This is indeed a holiday season like no other. Everything is muted. Many offices, restaurants, and factories remain closed or have partly opened, but only up to 50 percent of capacity, under the rules of the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) in Metro Manila. In any case, most people remain uncertain about going to public places like malls.

We were not able to observe Holy Week last March as we used to. Graduating students were not able to experience receiving their diplomas in April. The month of May passed without the usual fiestas and Santacruzans. Independence Day on June 12 came and went with hardly anyone noticing. July, August, September used to be busy months for going around the country. And now, it is October and the pall of gloom that has hung over the country for the last seven months continues.

But, as the saying goes, hope springs eternal in the human breast. And so we look forward to these coming days of October, November, and December. We hope to see soon the giant Christmas trees in front of malls and hear the music of Christmas in churches, schools, and music halls. Our hopes remain that the pandemic will soon run its course, that when the first day of the fourth “ber” month – December – comes, we will all feel free to step out of our homes and feel the wonder of Christmas after all these months.

https://mb.com.ph/2020/09/30/as-we-begin-the-second-ber-month-today/

Here Is What Is Better Than Believing In Yourself

 I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there" and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.   Matthew 17:20- 21

What keeps the world running?  Is it the Internet, markets or governments that print money as needed?  It's definitely not politicians!  No, the reality is that these all threaten to bring the world to its knees.   In one word, it is faith!  You have faith that another nation will keep its alliances and treaties, faith in your coworkers and faith in your husband or wife that he or she will live up to the promises you made to each other.

Faith is not wishful thinking or hoping.  It is simply taking someone, anyone, at his word and then acting on it.  Some have suggested that there are many kinds of faith, but when you stop and think about it, there's only one kind of faith:  the kind that makes you trust something enough to act on it.

Faith operates on many levels.  You have faith in your car—that it will start when you turn the key or push a button and take you where you want.  You have faith in the financial system when you swipe your credit card at the market.  When you sit down at the end of the day, you have faith that your favorite video service will stream a show of your choice your way.

When it comes to the spiritual realm, it takes the same kind of faith to live day by day, not a different kind.  Faith in the realm of the spiritual is taking God at His Word, and then acting on it.  It is accepting at face value what He tells you about yourself, about His love for you, about your relationships with people, and about your future destiny.  Some people believe that they must have a huge amount of faith in God in order for Him to do anything for them.  But, they know they do not have great faith.  This isn't true, though.  Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20-21).

Have you ever seen a mustard seed?  It is small, a fraction of the size of the little fingernail on the hand of a baby.  It is not great faith you need half as much as small faith in a great God.  A very tiny mustard seed grows into a plant so tall that it towers overhead.  When we think of people of great faith, we often think of Abraham, David and Moses in the Old Testament; Peter and Paul in the New.  But look carefully at their lives and you will discover that Moses was a murderer; David, an adulterer; Abraham, a deceiver.  Paul was an accomplice to murder— the murder of Stephen, and Peter denied his Lord.

No, we have to realize that they were as human as you and I are.  They sinned, but yet God used them.  It was not that they had such great faith; it was that they discovered how great a God rules our world.  Actually, they had small faith in a great God.

When you stop and think about it, faith is no better than the object of your faith.  Put your faith in yourself, and you are in for a disappointment.  Put your faith in others and you may be let down but put your faith in God and His promises and you will never be disappointed.  God has the power to keep His Word; to meet your need; to answer your prayer.  He promises the kind of peace that no psychiatrist can prescribe.  He offers forgiveness and cleansing through our trust in Him.

Faith is your response to God's Word.  It is acting like you believe what He said is true.  What is the need that confronts you right now?  Whatever it is, there is a solution.  God can give you the guidance you need.  Faith is your part.  Leave the rest to Him.

Resource reading: Romans 10:14-17

https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/here-is-what-is-better-than-believing-in-yourself/