Religion

• Advent


  A season to prepare for Christmas when Christ's first coming to us is remembered, and a season when that remembrance directs the mind and heart to await Christ's Second Coming at the end of time
• Advent is a time of

  • Waiting-memory of the first, humble coming of the Lord in our mortal flesh
  • Conversion, referring to the Old Covenant prophecy especially John the Baptist
  • Joyful hope that the salvation already accomplished by Christ and the reality of grace in the world, will mature and reach their fullness
• Liturgical Colors used in Advent

  Violet or purple is used, with a notable exception for the Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) where rose may be used
• Beginning and End of Advent Season

  Advent begins on four Sundays before December 25 (probably the last Sunday of November or the first Sunday of December) and ends on December 24
• The Four Sundays of Advent

  • First
  • Second
  • Third (Gaudete Sunday)
  • Fourth
• Advent Candle Names


  • The Prophecy Candle
  • The Bethlehem Candle
  • The Shepherd's Candle
  • The Angel's Candle
  • The Christ Candle
• The Prophecy Candle


  Symbolizes hope and God's forgiveness toward man, and can symbolize the expectation of the coming of the Messiah
• The Bethlehem Candle


  Symbolizes faith and reminds Catholics about the experience of Joseph and Mary in the city of Bethlehem
• The Shepherd's Candle

  Represents Gaudette Sunday and the joy that the birth of Christ brought to the world
• The Angel's Candle

  Represents the peace and justice that the angels and Christ brings to the world, and can also represent purity
• The Christ Candle


  If included, this candle is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and represents Christ and purity
• Christmas


  Celebrated to remember the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God
• Christmas


  The name 'Christmas' comes from the Mass of Christ (or Jesus)
• The Church desires that the faithful should prepare for the celebration of Midnight Mass on the 24 December
• Filipino traditions celebrated during Christmas season


  • The Christmas dinner
  • Social gatherings
  • Giving of gifts
• Noche Buena


  The Christian family's Christmas dinner, which traditionally blesses the table and gives thanks to the Lord for the gift of food
• Beginning and End of Christmas Season

  Christmas begins on December 25 and ends on the Epiphany
• Different Celebrations during Advent and Christmas

  • Immaculate Conception (December 8)
  • The Feast of the Holy Family (Sunday after December 25)
  • The Feast of the Holy Innocents (December 28)
  • The Solemnity Of Mary As the Mother of God (January 1)
  • The Solemnity of the Lord's Epiphany
• Immaculate Conception


  According to the Dogma, it has been revealed by God that Mary was preserved from original sin from the moment of her conception
• The Feast of the Holy Innocents


  Commemorates the children killed because of Herod's rage against Christ, and is an appropriate time to recall the vast host of children not yet born who have been killed under the cover of laws permitting abortion
• The Solemnity Of Mary As the Mother of God


  On New Year's Day, the octave day of Christmas, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God
• The Solemnity of the Lord's Epiphany


  Commemorates the first manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, represented by the Magi, and the gifts offered by the three wisemen (frankincense, gold and myrrh)
• Lent


  Lent is a preparation for the celebration of Easter. It is a time to hear the Word of God, to convert, to prepare for and remember Baptism, to be reconciled with God and one's neighbour, and of more frequent recourse to the "arms of Christian penance": prayer, fasting and good works (cf. Mt 6, 1-6. 16-18).
• Beginning and End of the Season of Lent

  Lent start from Ash Wednesday and will end on Palm Sunday. The Alleluia and Gloria are not used from the beginning until the Easter Vigil.
• Ash Wednesday


  1. In the Roman Rite, the beginning of the forty days of penance is marked with the austere symbol of ashes which are used in the Liturgy of Ash Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday, a universal day of fast, ashes are distributed. The use of ashes is a survival from an ancient rite according to which converted sinners submitted themselves to canonical penance.

  2. The act of putting on ashes symbolizes fragility and mortality, and the need to be redeemed by the mercy of God. Far from being a merely external act, the Church has retained the use of ashes to symbolize that attitude of internal penance to which all the baptized are called during Lent.

  3. The faithful who come to receive ashes should be assisted in perceiving the implicit internal significance of this act, which disposes them towards conversion and renewed Easter commitment.
• Those of the faithful who infrequently attend the sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist should be aware of the long ecclesial tradition associating the precept of confessing grave sins and receive Holy Communion at least once during the lenten season
• Sundays of Lent


  The Sundays of this season are called the First, Second, Third, Fourth (Laetare Sunday), and Fifth Sundays of Lent. The Sixth Sunday, which marks the beginning of Holy Week, is called Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday).
• Liturgical colors used in Lent

  • Violet or purple is used in Lent
  • Red is used on Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion and on Good Friday. It will be used also on Pentecost Sunday, on celebrations of the Lord's Passion, on the feasts of the Apostles and Evangelists, and on celebrations of Martyr Saints
  • Rose may be used, where it is the practice on Laetare Sunday (Fourth Sunday of Lent)
• Christ told the disciples: '"when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward" (Matthew 6:16)'
• A small personal sacrifice should not be "a badge of pride." The intent of a Lenten observance is to recognize our need for repentance and our depravity apart from God (1 John 1:9; Ephesians 2:1-5; Colossians 2:13), to draw closer to God, and to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Easter.
• Undertaking something difficult (giving to charity, serving the poor, abstaining from certain foods, memorizing Scripture) makes one feel needy and weak; humble: the perfect posture from which to approach God Almighty. For people whose lives are generally easy, Lent is a time to empathize better with those who genuinely go without luxuries or even simple needs. Lent can help establish a stronger sense of one's need of God minute by minute and to develop a more disciplined, intimate, and authentic prayer life.
• "Solitary observance of lent is good. But a communal celebration is better" Journeying with others on this season will help us feel that we are a social being who needs others to live. The church liturgies are oriented towards the communal aspect of this celebration of faith. Every time we joined the liturgical celebrations, celebrating assembly is the most important because Christ did not came to save only one but to save all.
• Abstinence from meat is to be observed during the seasons of Lent especially on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
• However our observance of the fasting and abstinence must go beyond the spirit of the Law. It is implemented by the church to give emphasis on giving discipline to ourselves and to value the spirit of Longing for God.
• When we are full, we may feel that we don't need God. But when we are empty, it is then that God can fill those need in us. Let us empty ourselves so that God can enter into us.
• In this aspect fasting and abstinence are not only for the foods that we intake, it is also anything else that make ourselves full either spirituality, emotionally and socially. Just like motorcycle or bicycle riding, spending more time in facebook, messenger, youtube, online gaming and others. We should spend more time to God than those things that we usually do.
• Helping others is also a tradition of the Lent season, inspired by the command of Jesus to "love your neighbor as yourself." While we should likewise give to others in love throughout the entire year, an extra emphasis is added during the time of Lent. "Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God." ~ Hebrews 13:16 "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." ~ Philippians 2:4