thank you for the love and care

June 24, 2011

Holy Mass of the Angels:

ACIM staff, assisted by Apostles of Mary members, assisted in the Mass of the Angels celebrated by Fr. T. Pfeiffer in Kawas, Sarangani Province.  The Mass was for Baby Erlyn Claire who died on June 20 in General Santos City Hospital.  She was baptized by Fr. T. Pfeiffer on June 17.  This is the second Mass of the Angels that the villagers have the grace to assist.  The first was for Baby Louie Jay.


There were seventy who attended the Mass together with the family of baby Claire.  Both mother and father went to confession and received Communion.  The Mass started late because the family struggled with the local superstitious customs which prohibited any movement of the body from the house before the final moment of the burial.  It took long to convince the elder folks to bring the body before the altar for the Holy Mass. 

 Adults came forward with their questions.  There were lively and hopeful discussions regarding the practice of the Catholic faith. Catechism lessons were given to the children and adults.  Sick residents in the village were blessed.  Houses were also blessed. As Fr. Pfeiffer went around, he gave brief sermons to the crowd following him.  A group of interested residents were gathered for singing practice.  Hymns for the Holy Mass were rapidly translated and taught to them.  The team went home just before midnight, tired but joyful.

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June 23:

Feast of the Corpus Christi

Patients from Sarangani Province were delighted to be part of the Corpus Christi celebration:  Holy Mass, procession and party.  The floral carpet painstakingly made by the faithful and mission patients and sponsors are shown below.

Baskets, sacks and buckets of flowers and leaves found their way to the office where petals and leaves where segretated according to color and size.  Volunteers took turns putting the petals in place to complete the pictures.  

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 June 17:

Catechism and First Holy Mass in Kawas
ACIM staff went to the village of dear Louie Jay in Kawas for the catechism visit and for their first Holy Tridentine Mass in the area. Apostles of Mary and aspirants of the Knights of Our Lady went along to assist.  An altar was set up. Fr.T. Pfeiffer gave a catechism lesson for the children about the  beauty of the Traditional Mass and the importance of confession.  Immediately afterwards, he heard confessions. There were nine humble hearts who made their confession including the parents of Louie Jay. After an hour of confession, 30 attended the Holy Mass.

Father sought out the menfolk in their meeting place.  He explained basic catechism to them and exhorted them to live good Christian lives and to lead their families to a Christian lifestyle.

 Teenagers gathered around Father to learn about Confession and the Holy Mass.

 Father visited the families in their homes, blessed their houses and gave them brief sermons about family prayers and the observance of the Commandments of God.

Before going home, Fr. T.Pfeiffer listened to the earnest request of a father from the village who asked if it were possible for the priest to visit his dying daughter who was in the public hospital in General Santos.  The team therefore went straight to hospital’s Emergency Room; thus, baby Erlyn Claire was baptized. After baptism, a man in the next bed asked for Confession, which Fr. Pfeiffer heard.  After giving him blessing, Father proceeded to the pediatric ward to bless sick babies.  Twenty one babies were blessed.

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June 16:

Sick visitation  
Three Apostles of Mary members, together with Fr. T. Pfeiffer, went to Fatima 39 village to visit a bedridden patient for her confession. Surprisingly, she was already up and about when the team arrived.  Still, she made her confession.  Days before this visit, the Apostles of Mary members had prayed at her bedside and assisted her in preparing for her confession.  Her family had been fearing that she would die soon as she was no longer eating well and was too weak to move.

  

Blessing of Graves
Afterwards, the team proceeded to the public cemetery in Uhaw to bless the grave of a mission patient who died some months before.  The priest also blessed other graves.

Jail Visitation

That same day, the team visited the jail, particularly the female ward, for their Confession.  There were 12 inmates who made their confession.  Due to lack of due preparation, the male ward was not considered secure enough for the Priest's visit.

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Thank you for the love and care!
June 8:
A woman in crisis came to the office with a desperate request:  can she leave her children in the office?  She had nowhere to go, and did not know what to do...  Today she is repairing her house and is looking forward to bringing her children back home.  Deo gratias.

The children stayed in the office for some days while the mother received crisis counseling. 

thank you for the toys!