My Beloved Parishioners,
Welcome and cheers to a new year once again!
Happy New Year! Bonne Année! Prosit Neujahr! Hauoli Makahiki Hou! Naye Varsha Ki Shubhkamanyen! Xin Nian Kuai Le 謹 賀 新 年 ! Sun Leen Fai Lok! Selamat Tahun Baru! Bliain nua fe mhaise dhuit! Felice anno nuovo! Akimashite Omedetto Gozaimasu! Saehae Bock Mani ba deu sei yo! Manigong Bagong Taon! Szczesliwego Nowego Roku! Feliz Ano Novo! С Новым Годом (S Novim Godom)! Féliz Año Nuevo! Sawadee Pee Mai! Chuc Mung Tan Nien!
Did you find your own way of greeting the year? You might be wondering, what do those words mean? They mean the same Happy New Year, in different languages. You might want to learn how other people say it. It could be a fun guessing game for your new year’s party. Ask your friends, from which country is this particular greeting from (hint: the answers are written below). Even if you did not find your language on the list, I still hope and pray that you will find the way to be happy this year. Let that happiness be for the whole year. That’s why the greeting above is Happy New Year, not Happy New Year’s Day.
I am always fascinated how people from different countries celebrate New Year’s Day and some of them have kept these unusual and sometimes funny customs and traditions. In Spain people eat 12 grapes as the clock strikes midnight (one each time the clock chimes) on New Year's Eve. Similarly in the Philippines, there’s a tradition of serving 12 kinds of round fruit during the New Year’s celebration and the wearing of polka dot clothes to usher in good luck for the year. In Greece children leave their shoes by the fireside on New Year's Day, which, incidentally, is also the Festival of Saint Basil in Greece, with the hope that Saint Basil, who was famous for his kindness, will come and fill their shoes with gifts. In Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, and Mexico, those with hopes of travelling in the New Year carry a suitcase around the house at midnight. Some people may even carry it around the block, to ensure travelling at greater distances. People in China believe that there are evil spirits that roam the earth. So on New Year they light fire crackers to scare the evil spirits. The Philippines must have been influenced by this custom, as they do a lot of fireworks and loud noises too, even as early as New Year’s Eve. In Japan, everyone gets dressed in their new clothes. Homes are decorated with pine branches and bamboo, both of which are considered to be the symbols of long life. Apparently, in Mexico, wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve is said to bring new love in the upcoming year.
A journey begins with a single step. Happiness for the whole year begins on the first day of the New Year. “Let there be peace and love on earth and let it begin with me!”
Happily yours in Christ,
Fr. Arnold E. Zamora
Answers: English, French, German, Hawaiian, Hindi, Mandarin, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, Polish, Portugal, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese.
January/February 2012
November/December Letter
My Beloved Parishioners,
Believe it or not, 2011 is almost over. Did I just celebrate my 25th birthday, (for the second time of course), last February? Did I just celebrate my 25th Priestly anniversary last June? Did we not just start a new School Year? How swiftly all those months went by? And yes, the year is almost ending, yet opening doors to a new beginning.
We are beginning the new translation of our Mass on the first Sunday of Advent, which is on November 27, 2011. Again, we are not implementing a new mass. The mass is the same! The structure of the Mass (the order of the elements, the actions of the priest celebrant, and so forth) remains unchanged in the new edition of the Roman Missal. However, the translation of the prayer texts will change to more closely reflect the original Latin texts. In some cases, new options for prayers may be available, and some old options may no longer be present.
Taking this change into consideration, we have decided to move the 9-day Dawn Novena of Masses before Christmas from the Flanagan Center to the Church and from the 5:30 AM mass to a 7:00 PM mass, starting on the 15th of December. These HN Fil-Am Group sponsored masses have been aptly called “Misa de Gallo” or “Mass of the Rooster,” since they are celebrated in the early morning when the roosters start to crow. In the Philippines it is interchangeably called “Simbang Gabi” (literally translated as “Evening Mass”) since the mass is celebrated when it is still dark. Now, with the change to the 7 PM mass, we are now living to its literal translation, a move from Misa de Gallo to Simbang Gabi. Although they are Spanish influenced and Filipino sponsored masses, these masses are open to everybody. We wish to invite all of you to join us.
In the next few months, or maybe starting next year, we will also be moving the Our Mother of Perpetual Help devotion from Friday to Saturday. Saturday is the appropriate day to honor our Blessed Mother, as prescribed in our Church Ordo. Friday is more for our Christ our Lord, who was crucified on a Friday. Moving it to Saturday will allow more people to participate in this weekly devotion. This would also give us a chance to do a First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” ~ Henri Bergson
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Rev. Arnold E. Zamora
Believe it or not, 2011 is almost over. Did I just celebrate my 25th birthday, (for the second time of course), last February? Did I just celebrate my 25th Priestly anniversary last June? Did we not just start a new School Year? How swiftly all those months went by? And yes, the year is almost ending, yet opening doors to a new beginning.
We are beginning the new translation of our Mass on the first Sunday of Advent, which is on November 27, 2011. Again, we are not implementing a new mass. The mass is the same! The structure of the Mass (the order of the elements, the actions of the priest celebrant, and so forth) remains unchanged in the new edition of the Roman Missal. However, the translation of the prayer texts will change to more closely reflect the original Latin texts. In some cases, new options for prayers may be available, and some old options may no longer be present.
Taking this change into consideration, we have decided to move the 9-day Dawn Novena of Masses before Christmas from the Flanagan Center to the Church and from the 5:30 AM mass to a 7:00 PM mass, starting on the 15th of December. These HN Fil-Am Group sponsored masses have been aptly called “Misa de Gallo” or “Mass of the Rooster,” since they are celebrated in the early morning when the roosters start to crow. In the Philippines it is interchangeably called “Simbang Gabi” (literally translated as “Evening Mass”) since the mass is celebrated when it is still dark. Now, with the change to the 7 PM mass, we are now living to its literal translation, a move from Misa de Gallo to Simbang Gabi. Although they are Spanish influenced and Filipino sponsored masses, these masses are open to everybody. We wish to invite all of you to join us.
In the next few months, or maybe starting next year, we will also be moving the Our Mother of Perpetual Help devotion from Friday to Saturday. Saturday is the appropriate day to honor our Blessed Mother, as prescribed in our Church Ordo. Friday is more for our Christ our Lord, who was crucified on a Friday. Moving it to Saturday will allow more people to participate in this weekly devotion. This would also give us a chance to do a First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” ~ Henri Bergson
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Rev. Arnold E. Zamora
September/October Letter
My Beloved Parishioners,
Welcome to the “ember” or “ber” months of September, October, November and December! Four months to go and then the year is going to be over. “Tempus fugit”, time flies. It surely has wings!
What are we going to do in these few remaining months? If you missed my notes in the bulletin last year, here’s what you can do for these “ember” months:
E- Expect good things to happen. Have that positive attitude. Ember months are not decrescendos, they are accelerando. The year is ending but we are not going down; we are going up. Things will get better. Good things will come your way.
M- Make the best of every day. Whether at home, at work, at school, at play or with every relationship, give your best. Be the best you can. You’ll never regret the future, if you make the best of every day.
B – Be Kind, Be Gentle, Be Compassionate, Be Understanding, Be Humble. Be Giving, Be forgiving! These are the months of embers or bers, but most especially the months of “BEs.”
E – Exercise! Yes, exercise your body! But it is also time to exercise your love, exercise your patience. Exercise your Christian virtues, exercise your Family values.
R – Remember to give thanks to God. Thanksgiving Day is still in November, but each day of these ember months should be a day of thanksgiving. A grateful person knows that everything he or she has is from God. As the song goes, “Try to remember the kind of September. Then, follow, follow, follow!”
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Arnold Zamora
Welcome to the “ember” or “ber” months of September, October, November and December! Four months to go and then the year is going to be over. “Tempus fugit”, time flies. It surely has wings!
What are we going to do in these few remaining months? If you missed my notes in the bulletin last year, here’s what you can do for these “ember” months:
E- Expect good things to happen. Have that positive attitude. Ember months are not decrescendos, they are accelerando. The year is ending but we are not going down; we are going up. Things will get better. Good things will come your way.
M- Make the best of every day. Whether at home, at work, at school, at play or with every relationship, give your best. Be the best you can. You’ll never regret the future, if you make the best of every day.
B – Be Kind, Be Gentle, Be Compassionate, Be Understanding, Be Humble. Be Giving, Be forgiving! These are the months of embers or bers, but most especially the months of “BEs.”
E – Exercise! Yes, exercise your body! But it is also time to exercise your love, exercise your patience. Exercise your Christian virtues, exercise your Family values.
R – Remember to give thanks to God. Thanksgiving Day is still in November, but each day of these ember months should be a day of thanksgiving. A grateful person knows that everything he or she has is from God. As the song goes, “Try to remember the kind of September. Then, follow, follow, follow!”
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Arnold Zamora
July/August 2011
July/August 2011
My Beloved Parishioners,
July marks the completion of my two years as Pastor here at Holy Name. What is there to say about those two years? A lot! But let me start by saying you parishioners are so lovable, and easy to love, that after two years I have the right and you deserve to be addressed as “Beloved.”
I heard from someone that the first two years of being a pastor in a parish are the busiest and the hardest. I certainly hope so. Indeed, I have been so busy in the past two years that my day-off was always in jeopardy. I wish I could be “a priest who plays golf every day, except on his day-off.” But, I don’t play golf and I like to keep busy. Adjusting to the new environment and the new responsibilities was not as hard as looking at the financial stability and viability of the parish and taking care of the physical condition of the huge facilities and titanic buildings that we have.
Being busy doesn’t mean you are not enjoying. These two years were sweetened by many jubilant celebrations – for instance, the Triple “N” Celebration (85th anniversary of the Church, Installation of a Pastor and Unveiling of the Tree of Life) and the upcoming Double Celebration of my 25th Ordination Anniversary and the comeback Concert of the Philippine Madrigal Singers.
We have not just patched some holes and leaks in the roof, but more importantly, we have built a community that has started to fully come alive. You have become more and more generous, as seen in the increase in our weekly collections and contributions. The school is another area that we can be proud of. While other schools in the city are considered on the “watch list” due to lack of enrollment, our school has thrived with an increase in enrollment for next school year.
The work continues and there’s more to be done. Like for instance, this summer we will be replacing the windows in the Flanagan Center. We will also try to replace the fire escape at the Pastoral Center, which will cost us a great amount of money. We will still be busy, but it comes with great results.
What do you call six weeks of rain in Scotland? - Summer!
And what city has the coldest summer? – San Francisco!
Enjoy your summertime!
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Rev. Arnold E. Zamora
My Beloved Parishioners,
July marks the completion of my two years as Pastor here at Holy Name. What is there to say about those two years? A lot! But let me start by saying you parishioners are so lovable, and easy to love, that after two years I have the right and you deserve to be addressed as “Beloved.”
I heard from someone that the first two years of being a pastor in a parish are the busiest and the hardest. I certainly hope so. Indeed, I have been so busy in the past two years that my day-off was always in jeopardy. I wish I could be “a priest who plays golf every day, except on his day-off.” But, I don’t play golf and I like to keep busy. Adjusting to the new environment and the new responsibilities was not as hard as looking at the financial stability and viability of the parish and taking care of the physical condition of the huge facilities and titanic buildings that we have.
Being busy doesn’t mean you are not enjoying. These two years were sweetened by many jubilant celebrations – for instance, the Triple “N” Celebration (85th anniversary of the Church, Installation of a Pastor and Unveiling of the Tree of Life) and the upcoming Double Celebration of my 25th Ordination Anniversary and the comeback Concert of the Philippine Madrigal Singers.
We have not just patched some holes and leaks in the roof, but more importantly, we have built a community that has started to fully come alive. You have become more and more generous, as seen in the increase in our weekly collections and contributions. The school is another area that we can be proud of. While other schools in the city are considered on the “watch list” due to lack of enrollment, our school has thrived with an increase in enrollment for next school year.
The work continues and there’s more to be done. Like for instance, this summer we will be replacing the windows in the Flanagan Center. We will also try to replace the fire escape at the Pastoral Center, which will cost us a great amount of money. We will still be busy, but it comes with great results.
What do you call six weeks of rain in Scotland? - Summer!
And what city has the coldest summer? – San Francisco!
Enjoy your summertime!
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Rev. Arnold E. Zamora
May/June 2011
Dear Holy Name Parishioners,
As we approach the months of May and June, my heart is filled with much excitement and enthusiasm! We look forward to the excitement for all the graduating students and their proud families. I congratulate our 8th Grade Students for their enthusiasm in accomplishing their scholastic goals. I feel their excitement as they look forward to the end of the school year and on to their summer vacation.
The seasons of spring and summer bring forth new life, new growth, new directions, much fruit and cause for celebration. In May we celebrate Mother’s Day and honor our mothers who give us life and nurture us to find our strength, direction and potential. In June we honor our fathers on Father’s Day who guide, provide and watch over their families. Priests are called “fathers”, so June is also our special month. Indeed, it is a special month for me because June 7, 2011 marks the 25th year of my priesthood. How special it would be if I could celebrate that day with you, my beloved Parishioners of Holy Name. I would be deeply honored if you could join me in thanking the Lord for the gift of priesthood and those fruitful years of servant hood, with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that I will offer that day, together with some other priests.
Added excitement to that particular week will be the return of the Philippine Madrigal Singers, who will be performing again in our church on Friday, June 10, 2011, at 7:30 pm. Those who missed their performance here almost two years ago will get to hear their voices and watch them perform as they join us again in celebration. The group will also be singing for my anniversary. I feel very excited and honored that they will be here, and I hope to experience the celebration with all of you. The Philippine Madrigal Singers, fondly called “MADZ,” hold the distinction of being the first choir in the world to win the European Grand Prix of Choral Singing twice in1997 and 2007. The group feels very excited and empowered by what they have accomplished and would like to share their talents and gifts with all of you.
My dear friends, let us look forward to rejoicing and celebrating our joys, talents, accomplishments, new life and our faith together as a community of friends. It is in God – “en” + “theos” that we experience “enthusiasm” and excitement in all that God has given to us. Let us never fail to be inspired by His Holy Spirit “For in Him we live and move, and have our being” – Acts 17:28. So, let us celebrate our Lord, life and each other. Yes, faith in action, faith on fire!
In closing, the word “celebrate” reminds me of a story about an old manuscript found in the Vatican archives. The antiquated crumpled paper revealed only the letters “cel-b-ate.” The old priest who discovered the manuscript thought priests are really called to be celibate and that’s why priests take a vow of celibacy. The word was actually to celebrate. Nonetheless, I am still grateful for that old priest.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Arnold E. Zamora
As we approach the months of May and June, my heart is filled with much excitement and enthusiasm! We look forward to the excitement for all the graduating students and their proud families. I congratulate our 8th Grade Students for their enthusiasm in accomplishing their scholastic goals. I feel their excitement as they look forward to the end of the school year and on to their summer vacation.
The seasons of spring and summer bring forth new life, new growth, new directions, much fruit and cause for celebration. In May we celebrate Mother’s Day and honor our mothers who give us life and nurture us to find our strength, direction and potential. In June we honor our fathers on Father’s Day who guide, provide and watch over their families. Priests are called “fathers”, so June is also our special month. Indeed, it is a special month for me because June 7, 2011 marks the 25th year of my priesthood. How special it would be if I could celebrate that day with you, my beloved Parishioners of Holy Name. I would be deeply honored if you could join me in thanking the Lord for the gift of priesthood and those fruitful years of servant hood, with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that I will offer that day, together with some other priests.
Added excitement to that particular week will be the return of the Philippine Madrigal Singers, who will be performing again in our church on Friday, June 10, 2011, at 7:30 pm. Those who missed their performance here almost two years ago will get to hear their voices and watch them perform as they join us again in celebration. The group will also be singing for my anniversary. I feel very excited and honored that they will be here, and I hope to experience the celebration with all of you. The Philippine Madrigal Singers, fondly called “MADZ,” hold the distinction of being the first choir in the world to win the European Grand Prix of Choral Singing twice in1997 and 2007. The group feels very excited and empowered by what they have accomplished and would like to share their talents and gifts with all of you.
My dear friends, let us look forward to rejoicing and celebrating our joys, talents, accomplishments, new life and our faith together as a community of friends. It is in God – “en” + “theos” that we experience “enthusiasm” and excitement in all that God has given to us. Let us never fail to be inspired by His Holy Spirit “For in Him we live and move, and have our being” – Acts 17:28. So, let us celebrate our Lord, life and each other. Yes, faith in action, faith on fire!
In closing, the word “celebrate” reminds me of a story about an old manuscript found in the Vatican archives. The antiquated crumpled paper revealed only the letters “cel-b-ate.” The old priest who discovered the manuscript thought priests are really called to be celibate and that’s why priests take a vow of celibacy. The word was actually to celebrate. Nonetheless, I am still grateful for that old priest.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Arnold E. Zamora