LENTEN OBSERVANCE

MOMENTS OF
REFLECTION
Father Jojo Opinio
Holy Family Parish - Diocese of Pasig
Let's talk
about:

Holy Week celebration

Lenten Preparation
Essential Oils in the Bible
Using your EO for your Lenten Journey
 P A S C H A L

M Y S T E R Y
center of christ salvific missions

Camping Survival Tips Presentation

 suffering
Jesus’ life was a life of suffering which
He humbly accepted to save humanity

His suffering was concluded by

carrying the cross

The weight he carried was actually the

weight of the sins of the entire world
(Jn 2:2)

His suffering was foretold by the

prophets in the Old Testament
 death by crucifixion

Jesus’ brutal physical suffering was augmented by

His having to bear the guilt of our sins and die to
pay our penalty.
(Romans 5:8)

By DEATH, Christ showed us

His greatest LOVE.
 RESURRECTION
RESURRECTION

Jesus predicted his Resurrection three

times in the Gospel of
Mark (8:31, 9:31, 10:34)

All four Gospel accounts record Mary

Magdalene’s story about
the empty tomb.

Jesus made multiple appearances

after the resurrection event
ASCENSION

The ascension of Jesus

Acts of the Apostles 1:8-11
Gospel of Mark 16:19
and Luke 24:50-53

Jesus refers to his ascension when He

tells Mary Magdalene not to hold Him
for he has not yet ascended to the Father.
The PASCHAL MYSTERY OF CHRIST,
his Passion, Death, Resurrection, and
Glorious Ascension,
constitutes ONE ACTION FOR THE
SALVATION OF MANKND.

Jesus "was handed over to death for

our trespasses and was raised for our
justification"

(Romans 4:25)
 3 PILLARS OF
LENTEN OBSERVANCE

fasting
almsgiving
prayer
 FASTING/ ABSTINENCE

To deny oneself from eating a meal

in a day
To abstain means not to eat meat

Nowadays, both may mean to DENY

ONESELF FROM ONE WHAT CRAVES
 Spiritual Value of
Fasting / Abstinence

SELF- CONTROL
(spirit over flesh/ mind over matter)

SELF-DENIAL / detachment

DEPENDENCE ON GOD
( spiritual takes primacy over material)

ONENESS in the suffering of Christ

 WHAT ELSE CAN WE FAST / ABSTAIN FROM ?

Give up your normal entertainment—music, social media, television, Netflix—

and replace that time with prayer, spiritual reading, or quality time with loved
ones.
Abstain from complaining. Instead, spread some compliments.
Pray the Stations of the Cross and meditate on the Lord’s Passion.
Offer your illness or suffering for the conversion of sinners.
Get out of bed right when your alarm goes off. Or, get up early for extra prayer
time!
Do some extra chores around the house.
Take a shorter or cooler shower than usual.
Go out of your way to help a friend or visit the homebound.
Offer your day for a specific intention—pray a Memorare once each waking hour
for that intention.
Stop by an Adoration chapel for face-to-face time with the Lord.
 ALMSGIVING
The SERVICE dimension of Christian living

Helping the poor is an integral part of our mission

(Mt 6:1-6)

That is why the church has also been

active in social issues etc.

The church was the first one who promoted the

dignity of human labor

A person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

James 2:24
 WHAT ARE FORMS OF ALMSGIVING?

Donate money or goods to the poor and performing other acts of charity.
Offer your time, talent and treasure to needy individuals and organizations

Perform acts of kindness (to a stranger)

Laugh and make other laugh!)
Emit positivity (offer encouragement, optimism)
Apologize (even if you feel justified)

Offer to listen (some people just need your ears)

Give advice (from personal experience!)

Reach out, simply to offer help!
 PRAYER

An act of union with God

it draws on the glory and might of the infinitely powerful God

of the universe

Prayer provides us the strength, endurance and inspiration to

live in conformity with our faith

Feeds the soul

Sustains the values needed to do our share in the mission

Keeps our sanity

Strengthens our our hope to endure in the midst of trials
dynamo of Christian living, must be observed everyday

FASTING ALMSGIVING PRAYER

USAGE OF OILS
IN ANCIENT
HISTORY

RELIGIOUS
POLITICAL
ECONOMIC

*BIBLE IS A GREAT SOURCE OF

REFERENCE ON OILS USED EVERYDAY
DURING THE OLDEN TIMES
COMMON USES OF ESSENTIAL OILS IN ANCIENT TIMES

Anointing and consecration

of prophets, priests and
kings
For purification and
sanctification
Aids to set the atmosphere of
prayer
For healing
 OILS MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE
At least 33 specific essential oils and aromatic oil-producing plants are mentioned in the Bible, and the word
“incense” is mentioned 68 times in Scripture. Psalm 45:7-8, Proverbs 27:9, Isaiah 61:3 and Hebrews 1:9 all
reference oils in some way, as in “the oil of joy” and “the oil of gladness,” and they speak of how oils “rejoice the
heart.”

Essential oils are also referred to in the Bible as fragrances, odors, ointments, aromas, perfumes and sweet
savors. In total, there are over 600 references to essential oils and/or the aromatic plants from which they were
extracted in the Bible.

Frankincense
Myrrh
Cinnamon
Cedarwood Hyssop
 "And when they had opened their treasures, they
Frankincense presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and
myrrh” (Matthew 2:11).

"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Take fragrant spices—gum resin,

onycha and galbanum—and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts
and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to
be salted and pure and sacred. Grind some of it to powder and place
it in front of the ark of the covenant law in the tent o f meeting, where I
will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you’”
(Exodus 30:34-36).

The Bible mentions frankincense is used as part of a holy ritual as an

incense.
People claimed frankincense had more worth than gold.
It was used as a natural healer, and an aid to heal almost any disease
that plagued people during that time.
 Not only was myrrh used as a gift to the baby Jesus, but Myrrh is
MYRRH also known as a highly valued and desired oil.

Myrrh in Scripture:

“Before a young woman’s turn came to go into King Xerxes, she

had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed
for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with
perfumes and cosmetics”
(Esther 2:12).

“And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and
looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from
Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on
their way to carry them down to Egypt”
(Genesis 37:25).
 Used as a spice in food, the Bible notes cinnamon is both an anointing oil

CINNAMON and an attractive scent.

Cinnamon is related to a bark called cassia, a fragrant, aromatic bark
ground into powder.

Cinnamon in Scripture:

All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces
adorned with ivory the music of the strings makes you glad” (Psalm 45:8).

Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of
liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250
shekels of fragrant calamus, 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the
sanctuary shekel—and a hint of olive oil. Make these into a sacred
anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred
anointing oil. Then use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the
covenant law, the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its
accessories, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and all its
utensils, and the basin with its stand’” (Exodus 30:22-28).
 Egyptians used cedarwood to embalm the
CEDARWOOD dead as a means of preservation for the
afterlife.

Cedarwood in Scripture: 

“The priest shall order that two live clean birds

and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and
hyssop be brought for the person to be
cleansed” (Leviticus 14:4).

“The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,

He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon” (Psalm
92:12).
CYPRESS
Cypress is celebrated in Scripture as a
symbol of strength, security and
prosperity. The Bible mentions cypress as
the choice wood for building, trading and
even weaponry.

In Genesis 6:14, God commanded Noah to

“make yourself an ark of gopher wood,”
which in modern English is in fact
“cypress.”
 King David is someone who actively cleaned his spiritual
throne room. After he sinned with Bathsheba, David
HYSSOP recognized that he needed a cleansing from the Lord.

He implored, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be

clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
Psalms 51:7
In Exodus 12:22 the hyssop is used at the first Passover to spread the blood
around the door frames.
In Leviticus 14:4-7 the hyssop and the blood are used in the ceremonial
cleansing of the leper.

In Numbers 19:1 hyssop is used for cleansing someone who has touched a
dead body.

The sixth reference is during Jesus' crucifixion when Hyssop was dipped in vinegar and wiped
across Jesus' lips to ease the suffering
USE OF OILS IN CHURCH TODAY

Beatification of holy person

Ordination of priests and bishops

Consecration of churches

Sacraments of: baptism,

confirmation, anointing of the sick
 SUPPORT YOUR LENTEN JOURNEY
WITH ESSENTIAL OILS
Diffuse when attending online masses, retreats, recollections, novena, or
stations of the cross.
Put a drop of essential oil on your rosary beads.
Anoint yourself or your loved-ones for physical, spiritual healing,
consecration, and general blessing.
Use anointing oil in your home or your altar - The idea behind anointing
your home is that you are turning it into holy ground for God.
Use the oils during your daily prayers of thanksgivings, meditations or
reflections.
CHALLENGE TO YOUNG LIVING COMPANY
AND MEMBERS

May Young Living continue to discover other

possible biblical names
to carry her future products for catechetical purposes.
 POINTS OF REFLECTION

In the spirit of renewal this Lenten season, what are the things,
lifestyle, personal principles, attitudes, etc. that hinder or even
destroy our relationship with other and God that we
should fast /abstain from?

Jesus Christ gave up his life even unto death to save each one of us
from eternal damnation, in return what can we share in His name
to let others feel and experience God’s love?
May the Resurrection
of Jesus brings us
new inspiration to
take the
Road to Renewal.
 Thank you and
God bless you all.