Simbang Gabi- Misa de Gallo or Misa de Aguinaldo?

The Miracle of Christmas-sang by Little Rita Faye. The song that I love very much since when I was a kid.  Click and listen the link- video below. This is the song that relates me to "Simbang Gabi".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnt3G7lSpUw#t=42

When the Christmas season would begin, it was customary to hold novenas in the evenings, but the priests saw that the people would attend despite the day's fatigue. As a compromise, the clergy began to hold Mass in the early dawn when the land would still be dark before the people went out to toil in the fields again. The custom spread and it evolved into a distinctly Philippine tradition to attend Mass at a rather early time.

History:

The tradition of midnight mass on Christmas Eve was first chronicled by Egeria, the Galician woman who went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land around 381–384. She witnessed how the early Christians of Jerusalem honored the Christmas mystery with a midnight vigil at Bethlehem. This was followed by a procession with torchlight to Jerusalem, arriving at the Church of the Resurrection at dawn.

Half a century later, Pope Sixtus III, inspired by the midnight vigil, instituted the practice of a midnight mass after the cockcrow in the grotto-like oratory of the famed Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. There are discrepancies, however, with the exact time of the cockcrow due to the fact that the ancient Romans set it at the start of the day.

In 1587, the head monk from the Convent of San Agustin Acolman, Fray Diego de Soria, petitioned the Pope to allow holding the mass outdoors because the church could not accommodate the large number of attendees at the evening celebration.

Misa de Gallo or Misa Aguinaldo:

In the Philippines, a predominantly catholic religion, they called it "Simbáng Gabi" ("night Mass"), is the Filipino version of the Misa de Aguinaldo or Misa de Gallo (literally translates to "Rooster’s or dawn masses") and traditionally begins on December 16 and ends on December 24. The celebration is held at around four o’clock in the morning. Pope Sixtus V ordered the mass be heard before sunrise since it was the harvest season, and the farmers needed to be in the fields or farms right after the celebration. This is the most important Filipino Christmas tradition.

These nine dawn Masses are also considered as a Novena by the Catholic and Aglipayan faithful’s. This is a practice of performing nine days of private or public devotion to obtain special graces. A well-known belief by Filipinos is that if a devotee completed all nine days of the Simbáng Gabi, a request made as part of the novena may be granted. This centuries-old custom is still popular to this day.

Similar to the Spanish tradition of lighting houses with small oil lamps on Christmas Eve, Filipinos adorn their homes with colorful star-shaped lanterns called paról. This is believed to have originally been used by worshipers to light their way to church in the mornings, as well as to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem. That’s why many lanterns of varied sizes are also displayed inside the church.

This is what struck me to feel the nostalgia when I was yet a little boy, in our place at Bacuag, Surigao del Norte when Misa de Gallo or dawn mass started, a loud but so solemn Christmas music were played that reverberated the whole community to back up the church bell ringing as if to entice the parishioners and invite them to attend the Misa de Gallo. In the culmination of mass, on the 9^th mass would be held on Christmas eve where our eyes, the children’s attention were focused on the live shooting stars (bisayan version “padagan sa bitoon”), where the three big parols or colorful star-shaped lanterns were traveling or shooting fast from the entrance of the church to the altar where the Belen was located to be done during the proclamation part of the mass. As we were told by our elders, the three stars symbolized the 3 Kings Melchor, Gaspar and Baltazar.

 After mass, Filipino families share in various traditional Christmas foods. Bibingka, (rice cake, cooked using coals on top and under), and puto bumbong (purple-colored rice pastry, seasoned with grated coconut and brown sugar) are two of the most popular of these delicacies, and suman or "bodbod" in bisaya while tsokolate (hot chocolate drink made from local cacao beans) and salabat (ginger tea) are sought-after breakfast drinks.

  Source: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,http://en.wikipedia.org

Congress has power of the purse but the power of ballots goes to the poor!

By: dodong

With our power of the ballots we can choose a good leader in its true sense. Power of the government emanates from its sovereign people, therefore it’s not right to just wait what the government commit to the people whatever projects or benefits purportedly for the public but directly beneficial to the leaders only, instead the people shall dictate whatever undertakings that will redound to the welfare relevant and deserving  for the people.

The people and the government should undergo reformation. The people shall revolutionize its change of attitude and conduct overhaul of its character and practices. Government too can reform itself. Reform should include the willingness to listen to all groups of citizens, especially the poor. Since the people have the power and duty to select its leaders, the leaders in turn shall reciprocate their duties to help shape the future of the poor people. The government must provide jobs, better jobs with security of tenure as enshrined in the constitution (not contractual), and education. The government should break the vicious circle which only gives the opportunity of the rich children to get good education and get good jobs thus become richer, while the poor children bereft of education, could not land a job or good jobs to remain poor thus become poorer as time goes.

The people must be vigilant, vocal and hold the leaders accountable of their duties and responsibilities. To voice out and highlights whatever inadequacies they have done is not destructive criticism but rather constructive so that something could be improved, and to avert blaming  everybody of doing nothing but frivolities. Be relevant electorate!

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Positive Input in the recent Yolanda tragedy:

It’s the responsibility of the government to help the people. Majority of the poor people always die when there’s natural calamity and it’s the responsibility of the government through its leader politicians to raise the poor out of poverty and their vulnerability to manipulation.

We are grateful for the heroism of people in the devastated areas caused by Yolanda the strongest typhoon ever recorded. It showed that the victims though they are battered they refuse to surrender. The volunteers and workers who are Filipinos and the people from other countries who distributed relief goods, helped clean the debris and attended some sickly victims with their professions and medicines, they themselves refuse to leave are good traits not only of the Filipinos but of the community of nations who are concerned of the lives of the people.

 Manny Pacquiao after he won his fight in Macao with Brandon Rios, he visited the devastated areas of Samar and Tacloban, handed relief goods and delivered a very inspiring speech: “Don’t lose hope. As long as we live, there is hope. We can manage to return to normal living. Never forget God. He will never abandon us. I know you can rise again just like me. In the past, I, too, fell. But I persevered to get up and I rose again.” 

 The resilient Filipinos now start working for the rehabilitation of their places and their lives. Move on Pinoys, Bangun Visayas!

An open letter address to Sulpicio Lines, Inc. (SLI), before the case was decided and settled.

December 17, 2011 posted at FB

THE PRESENT SEA TRAGEDY
TO: 1 recipient
Sent 2008.Extracted from an old file.

                                          MV Princess of the Stars capsized on June 21, 2008. 

It was yet very vivid in my recollection and I know how it feels to be a passenger of the vessel in the middle of the ocean whose luggages and bedding were turned to pieces because our things were moving from one side to the other sides when the ship was hit by the typhoon. I had a first-hand experienced as a passenger on a ship which was nearly sank at the height of typhoon "Barang" in the ocean of Mindoro on October 3, 1971. I was on board MV Kolambugan of Escano Lines which I think 5 times smaller than the size of the Princess of the Orient. The ship which sailed from Manila bound for Surigao on October 2, 1971 was struck by the storm on the following day morning and was able to go back and hid to one safeside of the Minddoro island in the afternoon after nearly 5 hours of battling the giant waves. Thanks to the Lord God, and to the able and utmost diligence of the crews we successfully manuevered to a safe shore.

My brother-in-law Engr. Oscar Dela Pena, a Professional Civil Engineer, was one of the passengers of the ill-fated vessel Princess of the Orient of Sulpicio Lines, Inc. (SLI) which sank on Sept. 18, 1998. Just less than a month's time from my father's death who succumb to a heart attacked. He was never found till to date as there were also corpses found beyond recognition. The agony of pain of the family of my sister was too much to bear as another member of the family was lost. (It affected the health of my sister and her younger child) The sudden loss of the only bread-winner in the family of 6 with 4 little kids, 3 girls and a boy came very shocking to them. If the incident did not happen, my bother-in-law will graduate on that same year of his doctorate degree of (Structural Engineering at the University of Xavier, Cagayan de Oro City). Engr. Oscar Dela Pena was connected with DPWH as Project Manager in the construction of Kinalablaban bridge of Surigao del Sur.

The SLI has changed a little when it comes to paying the indemnity to passengers who were involved in the misfortune. They even advertised their offer to pay P200T per passenger in the Princess of the Stars as long as the passenger's name was in the manifest. Unlike the case of my bother-in-law even his name was in the manifest as passenger of the Princess of the Orient, we were ignored, as hundreds of us came to Manila as well as in Cebu offices of SLI to inquire about the fate of our loved ones, only to be met with a blank wall and a huge wave of rejection. And even if questions could not be answered then, there was no one to face us right and to listen. But now it seems with highhandedness attitudes are the same approach shown by the ship owner and their staffs. Until now the family of my sister feel so much injustice, not even one centatvo is received from SLI. The tribulation that the family had suffered is the trauma that had long been hounding the children which would cease to be forgotten. Especially after few weeks from the time tragedy happened, we did not give up as we continued our search for the missing relative, we were only left alone in the cold of the nights and in bad weather during the search along Batanggas area and its neighboring islands without financial aids from SLI.

As published in the newspapers, there were eerie similarities between the circumstances of the Princess of the Orient and the Princess of the Stars. Both were considered the biggest ships of SLI during their time-in 1998 and 2008 respectively. MV Princess of the Orient sank on September 18, 1998. Both ships set sail in stormy weather even though there were reports already that typhoon were forthcoming. Both skippers remain missing until at present and therefore no high ranking official of the ship could be question and more so could give proper and truthful information relative to the sinking or attest to the fact that they observed extra ordinary diligence to counter the presumption of guilt as prescribed in Art. 1756 of the Civil Code. Is it not the burden of proof lies on the common carrier to prove that they had not acted negligently? Why Princess of the Orient sank despite of its being huge vessel compared to other ships which sailed that stormy day but did not capsize? Passengers should have been given primordial consideration over with their profit and that safety must not be compromised, as provided in the following:

"Art. 1733. Common Carriers, from the nature of their bausiness and for reasons of public policy, are bound to observe extra ordinary diligence in the vigilance over the goods and for the safety of the passengers transported by them, according to all the circumstances of each case."

"Art. 1755. A Common Carrier is bound to carry the passengers safely as far as human care and foresight can provide, using the utmost diligence of very cautious persons, with due regard for all the circumstances. [Merriam-Webster dictionary- foresight (n)-the act or power of foreseeing; care or provision for the future; prudence]. So if the skipper was guilty of imprudence and lack of foresight, the SLI can be equally guilty of such and considered negligent.

"Art. 1756. In case of death or injuries to passengers, common carriers are presumed to have been at fault or to have acted negligently, unless they prove that the observed extraordinary diligence..."

As per Judge Estela Alma Singco of Cebu RTC Branch 12 in Unabia vs. SLI, ruled that the ship's skipper Isrum Mahilum and his crew were also to blame. The weather disturbance at that time of the Princess of the Orient's voyage was "not the sole proximate" cause of its sinking. Judge Singco even quoted the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) report that the cause of its sinking was the Captain's "erroneous manuevers of the vessel before it sank" and there was a "preponderance" of evidence that the Captain also miscalculated when he "erroneously navigated the ship at its last crucial moment."

Similar case was recently decided by the Appellate Court affirming the Manila RTC's finding that Sun Holidays Inc. (SHI) was liable for negligence. In a decision promulgated on June 18, 2008, the Appellate Court upheld the lower court's decision and hold SHI responsible for the accident and set aside the testimony of a Philippine Coastguard official that the sinking of the ferry was an "Act of Nature" but "NEGLIENCE'.

Can we not ask the judges, for those cases which are still pending, to resolve the case expeditiously? Is it not that we are entitled to a speedy trial, otherwise justice delayed is justice denied. Thank you.

UNDAS…........

By: dodong.

November 2, 2010 & 2011

From the Spanish translation -Dia de muertos, it means the day of the dead. The Christian celebration of All Souls Day takes place in every 2^nd of November each year throughout the world. Usually the celebration is a holiday in other countries. The holiday is seen as the opportunity for the families to have a reunion, the time for the family and friends to gather together to pray for and remember their family members and friends who have died. 

 

In the Philippines, included in the special non-working days in the Proclamation # 459-Philippine holidays for 2013 issued by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III are November 1 and 2, but usually the religious holidays start in November 1, the commemoration of All Saints Day (Todos Los Santos) up to November 2 the commemoration of All Souls Day. Filipinos are expected to be busy a week or two prior to the celebration of UNDAS since they will clean, repaint the tombs, gravesites, small pantheons or their family mausoleum for their dear departed. On the day of the celebrations, people visit to the cemeteries and bring flowers, foods, and sometimes beverages and offer prayers or mass for their deceased relatives and light a burning candle.

As we celebrate All Saints Day, we remember our young children who died innocently as certain for their sainthood and this reminds ourselves too of our call to holiness, our great challenge to become saints.

 As we celebrate All Souls Day, we have to remember the souls of our dead love ones who depart from our midst but not really gone from us in our memory. So that in essence we are thinking that all of us have souls not only the dead but also importantly the living. Hence we have to be thoughtful of what we are going to do to feed the souls of the living to prepare for our own departure to be able to pass from life to death… to life after death and have everlasting peace in the Eternal kingdom of our Lord God in Heaven.

The Mental Faculties which make man a better person

There are six (6) mental faculties:

            Will,  Perception,  Memory,  Reason,  Imagination, & Intuition

I purposely write these thoughts as my guide on how to use them properly.

Will – Is the only mental faculty which has no subconscious mind function. It’s a conscious mind function that we use to focus our attention. It can be built by exercise. We can help stay focused by doing short meditation exercise like we focus our attention on a candle flame or a pool of water.  Get relaxed and do it without our mind wandering. It is said that normally we have only 5 or 10 seconds of focus and the mind will be wandering to other issues of concern. Some have trouble and they are easily distracted. They bounce around from one thing to another and they never finished anything because they can’t stay focused. Lack of focus ruins productivity, and success in anything depends on productivity.

We use our will by developing the power of our mind. And power of mind is developed when our mind is directed on something specific and it filters out all non-relevant information, eliminates all the clutter or negative thoughts that fill our mind.  This is something that it works not to allow distractions, like negative thoughts that impede our ability to succeed and eventually create a positive outcome in our life.

“You’ve got to develop mental strength. And you develop mental strength with the Will. The Will is the mental faculty that gives you the ability to hold one idea under the screen of your mind to the exclusion of all outside distractions.” –Bob Proctor

Perception – Has both conscious and subconscious mind functions. It controls what we become aware of in our environment and we choose to see it, bad or good. And that’s it in the conscious mind we have a choice. The choice we make has a big influence on how we respond and how we feel about it. We perceived to stimuli or everything in a contrast of choice to see the good or bad, front or back, in or out, and up or down, showing the duality in most everything, as Bob Proctor puts it, “Law of Polarity.”

Sometimes we ask advices and suggestions purposely not to know other ideas or wisdoms or sort of other perceptions but only to gather and know who and what agrees with our beliefs to reinforced our egos because what matters and important to us is our beliefs.  That’s why most of us are blind to contradictory evidence and we only believe that our beliefs are true. It’s a conceited perception. Supposedly, subconscious mind through different experiences and inputs determines and filters what becomes morally and upright perception to focus on.

  

“You must be able to see yourself, with your inner eye, already in possession of the good you desire.” –Bob Proctor

Memory – Has both conscious and subconscious mind functions.  When we get new inputs of information, they get processed by the short term memory of the conscious mind, and while they’re there, they’re easy to remember. But new information only stays in the conscious mind for about 20 seconds and after that it’s gone if no emotions attached to it. Very strong emotions either good or bad passed through subconscious mind for storage and the thing perceived as important and have some strong emotions especially love attached to it would stay much longer in our mind. They can be the source of belief systems that control us unconsciously.

“ Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.”- Kevin Arnold

Reason –Has both conscious and subconscious mind functions. It works primarily in the conscious mind and its job is to analyze, compare and evaluate ideas. Subconscious mind cannot originate ideas. It can only take ideas pass through from conscious mind and only decide how to apply them.  It is a small part of our mind but it’s part we’re most aware of and it’s what we usually mean when we say that we’re thinking. Neuroscience has shown that the conscious mind only uses about 5% of the brain, and some important parts of it don’t develop until we’re in our 20’s. That’s why teenagers do dumb things—one of the last parts to develop has to do with understanding the consequences of choices. We always have choice, and the power of reason comes in to help us choose wisely.

It has one other really important capability- it can take all the information it has and stir up and come up with brand new ideas. If it’s a big new idea that disrupts the balance between our beliefs and life experience, the subconscious mind may object by making us uncomfortable.  But if we persist, it has to move into action with our new idea. The bigger the new idea, the more the discomfort has become. Go ahead with that new idea, we’ll get used to it.

“Reason is always weak where prejudice is strong “- Norman MacDonald

Imagination –Has both conscious and subconscious mind functions. It is the way that we can test and experience our future and our dreams. When we vividly imagine something with emotional intensity in our conscious mind, we impress it on the subconscious mind and produce the same emotional and biochemical reactions in our body as the actual experience. The power of imagination must be used correctly. Whenever we are imagining something good or bad, that power is at work. Don’t imagine what we don’t want our mind because dreaming is a form of planning. It must be used correctly to visualize what we want, and it’s one of the most powerful tools. It trains our mind in what to notice and what to remember.

“Thoughts become things. If you see it in your mind, you will hold it your head.”- Bob Proctor  

 “If you conceive in your mind, then it can be brought to the physical world.” – Bob Proctor

Intuition – It works both conscious mind-verbal and subconscious mind-emotional functions. Which means it works with feelings instead of ideas, the “gut-feeling” that we sometimes have. So when our conscious mind intuits something, we’ll get an idea, something that we can verbalize. Our subconscious mind will give us a feeling about whether something is right or wrong.

The power of intuition is very powerful and very important.  Where does this information come from? Many people call it a “spiritual power” because it works on information we don’t consciously have. WES calls it “metaphysical power” which just means “beyond the physical.” Intuition is our connection to the Mother ship of consciousness, which pretty much knows everything. Some people call it God.

“Vibrations never lie. A person could be saying one thing and yet, thinking another.  Get to the point where you pay closer attention to the vibrations you are receiving rather than the words you are hearing. Intuition is one of the most valuable mental tools you possess. Begin to consciously use it.  Your rewards will be worth the effort.”- Bob Proctor

These are our mental faculties, and we humans are the only species on this planet that have them all.  With them we can build the life of our dreams. So we use them wisely.

 Source: Daily Gratitude by Wes