St. Expeditus: Patron Saint of Speedy Causes

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St. Expeditus:  Patron Saint of Speedy Causes The venerated image of St. Expeditus in  the Lipa Cathedral In the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Sebastian in Lipa City is a venerated image of a young Roman Centurion saint named Expeditus. Every month of April, a nine day novena in his honor is held in the cathedral that culminates in the celebration of his feast day on the 19th of the month. Who is this saint whose intercession was also invoked in the Oratio Imperata  to avert a catastrophic eruption of Taal Volcano prepared by the Archdiocese of Lipa when the volcano exhibited extra-ordinary activity early  in January, 2020?  St. Expeditus could have found affinity with the Lipenos since the martyr shares a lot of commonality with St. Sebastian, the city’s patron. St. Expeditus, like St. Sebastian was also a young Roman soldier who converted to Christianity and was also martyred as a consequence, during the period of Diocletian persecution.  Hence, a devotion to him has developed amo
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Reflections: May 4, 2018. Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

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May 4, 2018.  Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Reflection on the Holy Gospel according to John 15: 12-17

Jesus said to his disciples:
"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one's life for one's friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another."

Reflection (Sem. Eldrick S. Peña)

Today, Jesus calls us into a different kind of relationship – Friendship. And one requisite for friendship to exist is love – that kind of love that Jesus Himself showed to us, a love that is willing to sacrifice, to endure suffering for the beloved. It is the new covenant that Jesus wanted to establish with us – a covenant of friendship founded on service and love for one another.

When we are in friendship with Jesus, the friendship naturally flows to our other relationships. Our love is ordered in a way that we begin to know and love Jesus, establish an intimate relationship with Him and then we reach out to others also in love because of the love we first experienced from Jesus. And just like any other friendships, our friendship with Jesus should be nourished with constant communication (prayer) and an open heart that is always faithful and trusting; a heart that listens intently to what He says.

Our service to one another is that bond that forever unites us to the One who commanded us to love and serve one another. Everything that we do should have a mark of Jesus, done out of love. Let us make Him our model of service and self-sacrifice “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”


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