THE month of October is dedicated to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Each Catholic Household is reminded of the beautiful prayer that had really brought peace to the people who have devotion to this prayer. Allow me to share to you a little about the devotion to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. The title of Our Lady of the Rosary could be traced to a supposed apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Dominic. According to Dominican tradition, in 1208, St. Dominic was in Prouille, France attempting to convert the Albigensians. Dominic was meeting little success until one day he received a vision of the Blessed Virgin, who gave him the Rosary as a tool against the heretics. Though Mary's giving the rosary to St. Dominic is recognized as a legend, the development of this prayer form owes much to the followers of St. Dominic.
The Lady is also known as the Lady of Victory because of this story. In thanksgiving for the victory of the Battle of Muret in 1213, Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, built the first shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Victory. In 1571, Pope Pius V instituted "Our Lady of Victory" as an annual feast to commemorate the victory in the Battle of Lepanto. The victory was attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, as a rosary procession had been offered on that day in St. Peter's Square in Rome for the success of the mission of the Holy League to hold back Muslim forces from overrunning Western Europe. October 7 is designated as the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the title of the "Feast of Our Lady of Victory" to "Feast of the Holy Rosary". This feast was extended by Pope Clement XI to the whole of the Latin Rite, inserting it into the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1716, and assigning it to the first Sunday in October. Pope Pius X changed the date to 7 October in 1913, as part of his effort to restore celebration of the liturgy of the Sundays. (thanks to Wikipedia)
Now, going back to the issues on this country. The “pork Barrel” issue seemed to be left because of the natural calamities that passed by. Napoles and other stars of the sensational pork scam seem to be out of circulation these days. It’s now more on the dramas and literary plays moving around the country. We all have been set out of focus. Pnoy and his cohorts might be dancing around and marrying themselves for the issue has died down and the real culprits have all been erased from the issue. The fall guys are now in place.
This administration has also a lot to thank the “Zamboanga crisis”. Without it, there might have been a lot of men of Pnoy that could have been charged for their involvement in the scam. The Aquino administration and its company should also thank the typhoon that has swept the country and the memory of one of the world’s impossible scam in government.
Actually, if one would really look at the real scenario, the small fishes are those that were enclosed and caught. The big fishes are still out. One small fish wanted to drag all the other fishes into the net. My applause to him but he was not listened to rather his expose was ridiculed and was branded as “hasty generalization”. He is correct in saying that those charged have only taken a little but those hiding under the wings of the Mother goose had really pulled out a lot of the people’s money.
Also, today, the country has shifted its anger to those big fishes to a useless comment of one foreigner on the 2013 Miss World winner. This are simply distractions and are done to divert the real issues of the country. I believe that once more many ill spend most of their time and energy at answering and defending the “Filipina”. As a nation, we have to be concerned of real things of how the government is spending our money. We have to be vigilant for our money should be for public service and not for the pockets and luxury cars of the politicians nor for the “sharks and crocodiles” in our government system.
A group is shouting for a change in the system and so as Malacañang. However, the system, they are referring to, is not the system of returning the people’s money but a mechanism that would make invisible the “under the table” transactions. They were not really for the abolishing of the pork but simply diverting the pork. It is just simply changing the name and not the system.
It has been the culture of the Filipino that we often forgive the “underdogs”. We despise a criminal only for a time and make him the leader in another time. The system of framing “fall guys” had been with us since time immemorial. We have “fall guys” to justify the errors done by the administration. This is the one that should be changed and nothing more.
Our Lady of the Rosary, St. Lorenzo Ruiz, St. Ezekiel Moreno, St. Pedro Calungsod, Blessed John Paul II, Monsignorii John Liu and Su, and Sir Faraon Lopez, pray for us.