Not For The Single Blessedness

When my family went to church last Sunday, in the entrance I noticed this poster of the Redemptorist congregation inviting people to join them.  In the poster was a life-size image of a priest's body and one can actually stand at it's back and place his head in the face portion (just like in some theme parks or photo booth).  Curious of what I would look like, I said to my self that I'm going to take photos with it.

We were too early for church that day (about 3 hours before the first afternoon mass), so in silence we said our very own prayers.  It was good though, since there were very few people which made it very conducive for having a personal conversation with the Lord.  We were not able to wait for the mass, so we left the church after we finished praying.

But before we could leave, I took the opportunity to ask my wife a favor to take a pic of me with the poster.  I handed to her my cellphone and positioned myself at the back of the poster.  When she showed me my pic, and I told her that I looked great being a priest (jokingly praising myself).  She did not comment at first and just smiled with a familiar grin on her face.  So I asked her directly, why not?  She just answered me, that aside from the obvious reason that you're married, you definitely can not be a priest nor a brother... and showing me that grin again... Owww!!!  Don't get me wrong, but I just love it when she does that.  LOL.

Well, honestly, it never came to me entering priesthood even in my younger years.  But you see, even the disciples of Jesus, were not also prepared when they were called to be with Him.  So no one really knows what our Heavenly Father prepared for each one of us.  There will always be those chosen to live the life of single blessedness, more being a priest or a brother... even if it is not in their wildest dream of becoming one, they'll just find out they're already embracing their calling with all their heart.  For me, my calling would be, to be a good and responsible father and husband, and I'm happy with it.  Yahweh bless.

   

Visita Iglesia Moments

It's again Maundy Thursday, the time when a lot of Filipinos have their "Visita Iglesia" or church visit and offer some prayers.  There's no really particular rule on the number of churches to visit, it's up to one's means and determination.  My family, along with some relatives started late yesterday, good thing my brother lend us his pick-up, it became convenient for us to move from church to church around the Davao City.

We really wanted to visit all the churches in our city but since the kids were already tired and sleepy, we only managed to visit 8 churches.  Here are some of the shots I took of the churches and their altars:

St. Joseph The Worker Parish Church

Carmelite Monastery Church

Our Mother Of Perpetual Help Parish (Redemptorist Church)

Our Lady Of The Assumption Parish Church

St. Jude Thaddeus Parish Church

San Pedro Cathedral

Sta. Ana Shrine Parish Church

San Antonio De Padua Parish Church

Many people say that in every church you visit, you can pray and ask for something you want.  As for others, they do this as part of their vow to our Lord.  And for some, just keeping the family tradition alive.  For whatever reason each person may have, I just hope that they're praying for betterment and more strengthen faith of the people... for His greater glory.  Might be a long shot, but hey, everything is possible with Him.  Yahweh bless.

Preserved Heart Of Saint Camillus

My wife told me about this preserved heart of a saint she got to see up close when she passed by the chapel of Southern Philippines Medical Center or SPMC (formerly known as Davao Medical Center).  It got me curious, who wouldn't want to see a heart of a real saint preserved though centuries?  It's one of a lifetime opportunity but missed it.  Wifey told me it only stayed there for hours.
 

So I did some surfing.  Saint Camillus de Lellis died on July 14, 1614, and his traveling heart is part of the commemoration of his 400-year death anniversary celebration.  Also, his dedication in caring for the ill made him the patron saint of the sick, hospitals and health workers, this besides the chapel being named after the patron saint, might be the very reason why his blessed remains was chosen to visit the chapel at SPMC.

But then again, as we Catholics are always reminded, that such relics do not posses the power to heal sickness or take away your problems, it is there simply to remind us of people who made sacrifices and offer their lives to Christ, that we may also follow their footsteps and be inspired of their works. 

According to a Camillian priest, St. Camillus' heart can be viewed within the country through a series of pilgrimages before it will be returned to Rome on March 11 of this year.

Other information and details from their poster “Journey of the Heart” that may answer queries about the pilgrimage schedules:

• The pilgrimage duration will be from February 18 to March 10, 2013;
• Visiting Philippine places in Metro Manila, Baguio, Cebu, Davao, Mati and Calbayog Cities;
• You can also visit: www.facebook.com/TheCamillian; and/or
• Contact them at 0917-6039241.

“And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he shall be forgiven by him” - James 5:15.  Yahweh bless.

“Yeshua” or “Jesus”

I first knew Jesus’ original Aramaic proper name “Yeshua” when we were visited by my wife’s cousin.  Honestly, I’m quite bothered by this information.  Since I was a child, I was taught Jesus to be my savior.  So I did some research on the net and these are what I got so far:

Yeshua in Hebrew characters is יֵשׁוּעַ which literally means The LORD's Salvation, or Salvation from the LORD. So, how is it transliterated to Yeshua?

The name begins with a י (yud/yod), which carries with it the sound of our English "Y".  The vowel point associated with the yud is the ֵ (tsere), which makes the vowel sound "eh" in sephardic/modern Hebrew ("ey" in Ashkenaz). So the first sound is יֵ "yeh".

The second letter is the שׁ (shin), which makes the "sh" sound.

The שׁ is followed by a ו (vav) with the וּ (shuruk) pointing, which makes an "oo" sound. (The ו alone makes a "v" sound, but when it appears as וּ the ו functions as a vowel.)

Together, יֵשׁוּ makes the sound "yeh-shoo". The final letter is the ע (ayin).

By itself, the ע is a silent letter, however, it appears as עַ with the ַ (patakh) vowel pointing, which adds the "ah" sound to the letter.

Together, the three syllables of יֵשׁוּעַ are pronounced "yeh-shoo-ah".  We transliterate this in English as "Yeshua."

And this is how Yeshua became Jesus:

The first letter in the name Yeshua is the yod. Yod represents the "Y" sound in Hebrew. Many names in the Bible that begin with yod was transliterated in English Bibles with the letter "J" rather than "Y". This came about because in early English the letter "J" was pronounced the way we pronounce "Y" today.  Thus, such Hebrew place names as ye-ru-sha-LA-yim, ye-ri-HO, and yar-DEN have become known to us as Jerusalem, Jericho, and Jordan; and Hebrew personal names such as yo-NA, yi-SHAI, and ye-SHU-a have become known to us as Jonah, Jesse, and Jesus.

The second sound in Yeshua's name is called tse-RE, and is pronounced almost like the letter "eh" in the word "net".  The translators of the earliest versions of the English Bible transliterated the tse-RE in Yeshua with an "e". Unfortunately, later English speakers guessed wrongly that this "e" should be pronounced as in "me," and thus the first syllable of the English version of Yeshua came to be pronounced "Jee" instead of "Yeh".

The first sound of the second syllable of Yeshua is the Hebrew letter shin with the "sh" sound.  However Greek, has no "sh" sound so the Greek sigma was used in transcribing "Yeshua" as "Iesus".  The Greek transcription was transliterated in English, instead of returning it first to its original Hebrew.  Thus the "s" sound was never returned to its "sh" sound and in English the "s" sound can shift to the "z" sound, which is what happened in the case of the pronunciation of "Jesus".

The fourth sound one hears in the name Yeshua is the "oo" sound, as in the word "true". Like the first three sounds, this also has come to be mispronounced but in this case it is not the fault of the translators. They transcribed this sound accurately, but English is not a phonetic language and "u" can be pronounced in more than one way. At some point the "u" in "Jesus" came to be pronounced as in "cut," and so we say "Jee-zuhs."

The fifth and last sound is "ah" that represents the Hebrew letter "ayin" with "patakh".  There was no letter to represent them in Greek transcription of "Yeshua," so it was dropped -the transcription from which the English "Jesus" is derived.

So we have “Jesu” so far, the final "s" of "Jesus" came from the masculine names in Greek which ordinarily end with a consonant, usually with an "s" sound, so as used to close the name of Jesus.

So what do I think?  In my opinion, I think it does not really matter if we call our Savior as Yeshua or Jesus.  If the Greeks or Romans had His name mis-transliterated or they made used of letters to which they were comfortable of calling Yeshua, then so be it.  What’s important is not the name but to whom we believe in.  Jesus has many names; Prince of Peace, Lamb of God, Hesus, Sto. Niño, Jehovah, Messiah,  and Christ to name a few.  So, Yeshua or Jesus, it doesn’t have difference to me.  As long as He is the Son of Yahweh, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born by Virgin Mary; He who suffered, crucified and died on the cross for our salvation from sin; He who rose from the dead and now seated at the right hand of the Father; He who will return at the end of time to be the judge of the living and the dead.  Then, He is whom I believe to be my personal Savior and my God.