Last year, my birthday wish was for my wife's cancer to take a hike. It seems that my prayers as well as the prayers of those who care for her have been answered because she is on the road to recovery! Her recent check-ups were found to be positive, i.e., the cancer cells did not spread to other parts of her body. The next and final step, though, is a long one: she has to undergo five years of daily and expensive medication. For now, barring other unforeseen tragedies (God forbid), I think we can sail through that easily. Thank you again to all those who have assisted us in our struggle!

My birthday wish for this year is reserved for the current pontiff, Pope Francisco, who has gotten into my nerves lately when he issued his latest motu proprio which gives severe restrictions to the Tridentine Mass, more popularly known as the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM). Insultingly, he decied to release the document during the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The TLM is an ancient Catholic rite that my family adheres to, the rite which is very close to my heart, the rite which gives hope to my sometimes wobbly faith. I am not about to give a lecture on the merits of the TLM, how it differs from the Mass that you are all familiar with (Novus Ordo Missae), why it matters, or why it is still significant to the modernist Church. I am aware that not all of you are attached to this sort of thing. Suffice it to say that it played a major role to my reconversion to the Catholic fold after years of being bedfellows with Marxist–Leninist atheism. The TLM and all the other ancient rites of my faith —the historico-traditional treasures of the Church— changed my perspective towards life. I even made it a point to have my wedding with my longtime partner celebrated in Mozarabic rite. A few years after that, my youngest daughter was baptized in ancient rituals as well.

Since the global lockdowns began last year, my family and I have always attended the online TLMs of the Societas Ecclesia Dei Sancti Ioseph - Una Voce Philippines celebrated by Rev. Fr. Jojo Zerrudo of the Diocese of Cubáo. Unfortunately, they have no livestream for today. I'm still not sure if it has something to do with the Pope's latest motu proprio. So we instead tuned in to this livestream by the Traditional Latin Mass Society of the Dicoese of Tagbilaran celebrated by Rev. Fr. Rommel Anico. We just had difficulty keeping up during the sermon because it was interspersed with Cebuano.

The pandemic somehow became a blessing in disguise when it comes to my family's Mass attendance. You see, we attend the TLM in faraway Cubáo, Quezon City (we live in San Pedro Tunasán, La Laguna), but not regularly because of the distance. But when the pandemic forced many churches to go online with their Masses, we were able to have access to the TLM on a regular basis. We haven't missed a single TLM celebrated by Fr. Jojo Zerrudo since the lockdown began last year. But with this motu proprio issued by the Pope, our access to the TLM stands in peril.

My heart has been troubled since this very divisive motu proprio. It claims to "unite the Church", but Pope Francisco did not unite it; he further divided it, ruptured an already festering wound that he was supposed to heal, that his predecessors sought to cure. So this is my birthday wish, for him to turn away from his modernist ways. May his heart soften up towards the Tridentine Mass which is the "Mass of All Time", the Mass which has nurtured and produced thousands upon thousands of saints (as compared to the Novus Ordo Missae's zero toll), the Mass which has changed my life.

PS: The fist Mass in our country which occurred on 31 March 1521 in Butuan was celebrated in the Traditional Latin Mass. Our Filipino Identity's spiritual side was nurtured for more than three centuries using this rite. Think about it.

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