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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Homilies and Reflections: July 2, 2020. Thursday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time

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July 2, 2020. Thursday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time

Reflection on the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 9: 1-8

Today Jesus was confronted by the teachers of the law because of his act of healing and forgiving the paralytic man.

In a way, the teachers of the law were partly correct with their reaction when they heard Jesus say “Your sins are forgiven.” In such a way that they acknowledge that forgiveness is indeed a Divine action. But they were wrong in accusing Jesus of insulting God by forgiving the sins of the paralytic man. For truly, God has given man the power to forgive others’ transgressions not for him to become another god, but for him to acknowledge and further appreciate his own humanity. That like the person he forgives, he is as human and as frail, also in need of healing.

Indeed, the act of forgiving is not an act of man. When we forgive, there is always the element of the Divine present because, humans as we are, we cannot forgive so easily just by ourselves. There is always this tendency to recourse to the hurt and the anger brought about by broken trusts and relationships. But healing has to happen sooner or later.

It is also good to realize that we share in God’s divinity if we are able to forgive for we are trying to emulate His perfection, by making ourselves vulnerable.

Healing begins when we come to accept our human weakness and frailties, and that is what happens to us when we forgive or we are forgiven. We are healed of our hurts and pains, we are freed from the bondage of anger and guilt. It’s a two way process. The person forgiven is healed of his guilt and the person who forgives is freed from his anger. Real healing has taken place when we have forgiven others as well as ourselves.

Healing is a gradual process and might take long. But what is important is that we have mustered enough courage to take the initial step through our act of forgiving. We can truly say that we are children of God if we have forgiven much.

Let us begin the process of the healing of hurts and the recovery of trusts and relationships through forgiveness.

How ready am I to forgive?

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