viatico publico on Holy Thuesday

the Legion of Mary and the Divine Mercy organization of the Parish sponsored the Viatico Publico on Holy Tuesday as part of the Holy Week Celebration of the Parish. It was an especial day of commendation of the sick, both in body and soul, to the Lord, whose ministry and paschal mystery brought healing into the world.

SEMANA SANTA 2010

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stations of the cross

COME AND JOIN THE

stations of the cross every Sundays of Lent at 3:30 pm
with the especial intention for a clean honest and peaceful 2010 elections

Season of Lent

St. Joseph Parish welcomes the season of lent last February 17, 2010, the celebration of the Ash Wednesday with the imposition of ashes on the forehead of the people. Rev. Fr. Jojo Revidad celebrated the mass at 6am and together with the ministers of the Holy Communion, imposed ashes as a reminder to all Christians that we are all dust and to dust we shall return. The ash is also a call to everyone to repent and believe into the Gospel.

Lent is the Christian season of preparation before Easter. In Western Christianity, Ash Wednesday marks the first day, or the start of the season of Lent, which begins 40 days prior to Easter (Sundays are not included in the count).

Lent is a time when many Christians prepare for Easter by observing a period of Fasting repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline. The purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ- his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection.

Below is the homily of Pope Benedict XVI on Ash Wednesday which explains in depth the meaning of this great season.


Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin the Lenten journey: a journey that extends over 40 days and that leads us to the joy of the Lord's Easter. We are not alone in this spiritual itinerary, because the Church accompanies and sustains us from the start with the Word of God, which encloses a program of spiritual life and penitential commitment, and with the grace of the sacraments.

The words of the Apostle Paul offer us a precise instruction: "Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: 'In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.' Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:1-2). In fact, in the Christian vision of life every moment must be called favorable and every day must be called the day of salvation. But the liturgy of the Church refers these words in a very particular way to the time of Lent. And that the 40 days of preparation for Easter be a favorable time and grace we can understand precisely in the call that the austere rite of the imposition of ashes addresses to us and which is expressed, in the liturgy, with two formulae: "Repent and believe in the Gospel," and "Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return."

The first call is to conversion, a word that must be taken in its extraordinary seriousness, discovering the amazing novelty it contains. The call to conversion, in fact, uncovers and denounces the easy superficiality that very often characterizes our way of living. To be converted means to change direction along the way of life -- not for a slight adjustment, but a true and total change of direction. Conversion is to go against the current, where the "current" is a superficial lifestyle, inconsistent and illusory, which often draws us, controls us and makes us slaves of evil, or in any case prisoners of moral mediocrity. With conversion, instead, one aims to the lofty measure of Christian life; we are entrusted to the living and personal Gospel, which is Christ Jesus. His person is the final goal and the profound meaning of conversion; he is the way which we are called to follow in life, allowing ourselves to be illumined by his light and sustained by his strength that moves our steps. In this way conversion manifests its most splendid and fascinating face: It is not a simple moral decision to rectify our conduct of life, but it is a decision of faith, which involves us wholly in profound communion with the living and concrete person of Jesus.

To be converted and to believe in the Gospel are not two different things or in some way closely related, but rather, they express the same reality. Conversion is the total "yes" of the one who gives his own existence to the Gospel, responding freely to Christ, who first offered himself to man as Way, Truth and Life, as the one who frees and saves him. This is precisely the meaning of the first words with which, according to the Evangelist Mark, Jesus began the preaching of the "Gospel of God." "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel" (Mark 1:15).

"Repent and believe in the Gospel" is not only at the beginning of the Christian life, but accompanies all its steps, [this call] remains, renewing itself, and spreads, branching out in all its expressions. Every day is a favorable moment of grace, because each day invites us to give ourselves to Jesus, to have confidence in him, to remain in him, to share his style of life, to learn from him true love, to follow him in daily fulfilling of the will of the Father, the only great law of life -- every day, even when difficulties and toil, exhaustion and falls are not lacking, even when we are tempted to abandon the following of Christ and to shut ourselves in ourselves, in our egoism, without realizing the need we have to open to the love of God in Christ, to live the same logic of justice and love.

In the recent Message for Lent, I wished to remind that "humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from 'what is mine,' to give me gratuitously 'what is his.' This happens especially in the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ’s action, we may enter into the 'greatest' justice, which is that of love (cf. Rm 13, 8-10), the justice that recognizes itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected" (L'Osservatore Romano, Feb. 5, 2010, p. 8).

The favorable moment and grace of Lent shows us the very spiritual meaning also through the old formula: "Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return," which the priest pronounces when he places ashes on our head. We are thus remitted to the beginning of human history, when the Lord said to Adam after the original fault: "By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return" (Genesis 3:19).

Here, the Word of God reminds us of our frailty, including our death, which is the extreme expression of our frailty. In face of the innate fear of the end, and even more so in the context of a culture that in so many ways tends to censure the reality and the human experience of dying, the Lenten liturgy on one hand reminds us of death, inviting us to realism and to wisdom but, on the other hand, it drives us above all to accept and live the unexpected novelty that the Christian faith liberates us from the reality of death itself.

Man is dust and to dust he shall return, but he is precious dust in God's eyes, because God created man for immortality. Thus the liturgical formula "Remember man that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return" finds the fullness of its meaning in reference to the new Adam, Christ. The Lord Jesus also wished to freely share with every man the lot of frailty, in particular through his death on the cross; but precisely this death, full of his love for the Father and for humanity, has been the way for the glorious resurrection, through which Christ has become the source of a grace given to those who believe in him and are made participants of divine life itself. This life which will have no end is already present in the earthly phase of our existence, but will be led to fulfillment after the "resurrection of the flesh." The little gesture of the imposition of ashes reveals to us the singular richness of its meaning: It is an invitation to live the time of Lent as a more conscious and more intense immersion in the Paschal Mystery of Christ, in his death and resurrection, through participation in the Eucharist and in the life of charity, which stems from the Eucharist and in which it finds its fulfillment. With the imposition of ashes we renew our commitment to follow Jesus, to allow ourselves to be transformed by his Paschal Mystery, to overcome evil and do good, to have the "old man" in us die, the one linked to sin, and to have the "new man" be born, transformed by the grace of God.

Dear friends! While we hasten to undertake the austere Lenten journey, we want to invoke with particular confidence the protection and help of the Virgin Mary. May she, the first believer in Christ, be the one who accompanies us in these 40 days of intense prayer and sincere penance, to be able to celebrate, purified and completely renewed in mind and spirit, the great mystery of her Son's Easter.

Good Lent to all!

feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

February 11, 2010 Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes - the parish celebrated the feast of our Blessed Mother Mary with series of activities done during the day:

1. Eucharistic Celebration - at Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto beside St. Joseph Parish Church. The celebration was sponsored by the commission on worship of the PPC and the Marian Council of the Parish.
2. Visitation of the Sick and Holy Viaticum - Bro. Jupe visited and gave Holy Communion to several sick elderly around the poblacion.
3. Praying of the Holy Rosary at the Grotto - The Handmaids of Mary and of the Eucharist ( Little Marians) led the praying of the Holy Rosary at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes at the evening of February 11.

Preparations for this feast were already done weeks before the celebration. Several religious and civic organizations take turns in cleaning the grotto making it ready for the celebration of the world day of the sick. The parish extends its gratitude to the Little Marians, Bantay Pamilya, 4 Ps beneficiaries from Brgy. Tres Marias and Our Hermanos and Hermanas Majores.

Pit Senor in Donsol

Our parish turned red last January 17, 2010 as we celebrate the Feast of Sto. Nino here in Donsol. The festivity was highlighted by a Solemn Eucharistic Celebration presided over by Fr. Jojo Revidad, Soft Blessing of the construction site of Grotto of Sto. Nino and the first ever Dance Procession around the poblacion barangays. Parishioners and participants, mostly wearing red t-shirts, brought with them different kinds of Sto. Nino images, as they dance out their prayers and petitions to Sto. Nino in the streets of Donsol. The activities were actively participated by the different religious organizations, kapilya delegates and the devotees of Sto. Nino.


Our Parish Priest, together with his hard working Parish Pastoral Council, thought it as proper to promote a special devotion to the Child Jesus here in Donsol by the fact that we have St. Joseph and Mother Mary in the title of Our Lady of Penafrancia, as our parish's primary Patron and secondary Patroness respectively. In order to strengthen the devotion of the Donsolanons to the Sto. Nino, the parish is now building a grotto in His Honor at he side of our Parish Site. And in this year's festivity the parish also initiated a sinulog-inspired dance procession which was led by the Donsol National Comprehensive High School Dance Troupe.



The rain poured during the dance procession but it did not stop both young and old devotees from dancing on the street, a good sign of their great love to the Child Jesus. Despite going home wet, most if not all of them went home fulfilled with their experience.

Below are some photos of the Dance Procession:

the dnchs dance troupe led the dances

Sto. Nino for the little children

altar servers were also there in red

elderly people also participated in the procession in their own ways

Sister Eden Shouts Viva!!!

Sister Nancy grappled with the steps

Fr. Jojo would like to thank in a very special way those who came from far flung kapilyas , who , despite of the weather, they still came and participated in the activity. He also hopes that Sto. Nino festivity becomes better and brighter in the coming years as we plan to have it participated by more organizations and institutions here in Donsol.

Fr. Jojo with the PPC officers also joined the procession.

Since this year's dance procession was the very first here in Donsol, we made our way to get the feel of some participants and some PPC officers regarding our activity in order to make our future Sto. Nino celebration in the coming years become better and brighter. Here are their comments:

Parish Advent Recollection

Here are some scenes of the Parish Advent Recollection held last December 12, 2009


commission on worship chairpersons - sis. Eden, Sis. Erie and Bro. Roy (not in the picture) facilitated the registration of participants, wherein more than 130 persons - religious organization members, kapilya pastoral councils and other parishioners attended.

Msgr. Noe delos Santos, a Biblical Expert from the Diocese of Legaspi, deepened the group's knowledge of Jesus, whose coming we await in joyful hope, according to the Gospel of Matthew and Luke.

Through Msgr. delos Santos' insight, the group appreciated Jesus, the God's Love incarnate, and their acceptance of Him in their lives more meaningful.


They also realized the immensity of God's Love shown in the Incarnation - A God who stripped away His being God by becoming one of us, sharing everything of our Humanity except in sin.

Christmas, then, calls everyone to that the same love of God, by stripping out our ownselves and by becoming one with our neighbors.

The Holy Mass - in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Blessing of Holy Bible

Msgr. delos Santos also distributed Holy Bible to the group.