Living the Eucharist means loving the poor - Cardinal · PDF fileSUPPLEMENT ISSUE VOLUME 20, NUMBER 5, JANUARY 25 - FEBRUARY 7, 2016 IN THIS ISSUE: Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop

SUPPLEMENT ISSUE

VOLUME 20, NUMBER 5, JANUARY 25 - FEBRUARY 7, 2016

IN THIS ISSUE:

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon in Myanmar and Papal Legate to the 51st International Eucharistic Congress, visits Cebu’s renowned historical landmark, the Magellan’s Cross, Jan. 27, 2016. The cross, the pilgrim symbol of the IEC, recalled the birth of the Christian faith in the archipelago and in Asia.’ ROY LAGARDE

Living the Eucharist means loving the poor - Cardinal Quevedo

By Felipe Francisco

CEBU City, Jan. 27, 2016 – How exactly does one “live the Eucha-rist,” the man-tra of Eucharistic congresses? For Orlando Cardi-nal Quevedo, it’s simple: practice what you preach, and have genuine love for the poor and oppressed.

“Our sharing in the Eucharist the Body and

Blood of Christ is also a sharing in his mission,” said the prelate. “[I]n the Eucharist we are sent by the spirit of Jesus on mission – a mission to the poor, the oppressed and marginalized – to all who are needy and in need of love and service.”

“To be Eucharistic is to live the life of Jesus, a life of love and service. It is by living Eucharistically that we act Eucharistically … We see a host of burning issues that need

Eucharistic action. We cannot be indifferent to them.”

Where are the men?In the Philippines,

noted the prelate, the men seem to be missing in Sunday Masses. And even if the churches are full every week, only a fifth of parishioners are able to attend. Thousands receive Holy Communion, even if only a handful go to confession.

So, even if on Sundays “we seem to be a nation of Saints,” social ills

r e m a i n . “ T h e r e i s m a s s i v e p o v e r t y , homelessness, street c h i l d r e n , h u m a n trafficking, the drug problem, and other forms of criminality. And media reports speak of horrendous corruption from top to bottom,” Quevedo told 51st International Eucharistic Congress d e l e g a t e s a t t h e Waterfront Hotel.

“Our faith is focused o n e x t e r n a l s a n d rituals, processions and private devotions.

Filipinos’ ‘Eucharistic joy’ converts Belgian Protestant

CEBU City, Jan. 26, 2016 – A recent convert to the Catholicism lauded the Filipinos’ deep faith and spirituality, encouraging them to shun “artificial happiness” and instead continue to radiate the joy and hopefulness Filipinos show even in the midst of trials and suffering which she described as “Eucharistic”.

Belgian national Marianne Servaas expressed admiration for the Filipinos’ thankfulness and humility, which she said were attributed to being “sacramental”, during her testimony at the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC).

Heart opened to joyShe said the way Filipinos represent

Christ is “very sacramental” and “almost touchable.”

“You opened my heart to receive joy in life itself. And more so, your joy is related to thankfulness and to humility. Please do not lose it.”

Servaas left Belgium for France, married an Englishman and lived in England. It was there that they joined an Anglican community. They then decided to come to the Philippines as missionaries. For seven years, she and her husband worked with an evangelical Filipino student organization.

She said it is in the Philippines and in Filipinos that their lives “were profoundly changed in such a way that it prepared - even cleared - our hearts to begin to see the beauty of the Eucharist and Eucharistic living.”

“Filipinos were and are genuinely sacramental. They opened my heart to receive joy and trust in life itself, something that we have lost in my country. More so, the joy that is almost palpably present is related to thankfulness and to humility. My country, sadly, appears to thrive but actually dies due to an absence of thankfulness.”

Two ‘gifts’She explained that joy, freedom, and

hunger made the question “Where do I belong as a Christian?” burn more in her heart.

Servaas shared two events that she calls “gifts” changed her life.

First, when she witnessed the Litany of Saints. Second, the lifting of the Host at consecration.

Servaas describes that upon her conversion, “I was freed from the western thought that faith begins with a concept or idea. It does not.”

She also expressed that the joy of Eucharistic life is in the paradoxes of man’s deepest source of happiness: “lose to find, receive by giving, and live by dying.”

She urged Filipinos never to result to quick fix solutions in order to pursue one’s personal happiness, calling it “artificial happiness”. “In your joy, you

Fight food scarcity with sharing – papal legateCEBU City, Jan. 27, 2016 – Papal legate Myanmar Archbishop Charles Maung Cardinal Bo reiterated the need for sharing of the world’s resources in a bid to fight off poverty.

During the fourth day press conference of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC), the Holy Father’s official representative to the IEC called for the equal distribution of food in all countries, particularly in his homeland, Myanmar. The prelate previously urged the people to “declare a third

World War” against poverty during the IEC Opening Mass at the Plaza Independencia on Jan. 24.

Poverty in rural areas“All the [Burmese] generals

and Yangones get 90 percent of the resources of the country while 80 or 85 percent of the [Burmese] people are poor,” Bo told the media.

Poverty in Myanmar is l a r g e l y c o n c e n t r a t e d i n rural regions of the country, where the people rely only on agricultural work.

Catholic convert Maria Servaas gestures during her presentation at the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu City. DOMINIC BARRIOS

Converts / A2Scarcity / A2Young Cebuanos greet papal legate Myanmar Archbishop Charles Maung Cardinal Bo upon his arrival in Cebu, Jan. 24, 2016. ROY LAGARDE

‘Be Mary’s face’, faithful told, A3

IEC in Cebu ‘fully secure’, A2

IEC speaker lauds poor’s hunger for

Eucharist, A2

Bishop Barron: Eucharistic faith is counter-culture, A3

Cardinal Bo to Cebu dancing inmates:

‘Pray for me. I love you all!”, A7

Pope may deliver live message to 51st IEC, A6

No campaigning in IEC, politicians

told, A6

Eucharist / A2

A2 CBCP MonitorJanuary 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 5NEWS

IEC speaker lauds poor’s hunger for EucharistCEBU City, Jan. 26, 2016 – A foreign missionary to the Philippines on Tuesday lauded the poor and their hunger for the Eucharist, saying often, those who have little in life are the ones more excited to receive Christ.

“This is where I learned that the poor feel a very special connection with Jesus in the Eucharist. They really love and treasure Jesus so much. Jesus is alive in those places in the peripheries where no one wants to go,” said Fr. Luciano Ariel Felloni, parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, in a session he was facilitating at the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in Cebu on Jan. 26.

Addressing pilgrims from various parts of the world, the Argentine priest introduced his talk by admitting he lacks advanced degrees unlike the other speakers who

“I don’t have [a] doctorate in anything. I don’t teach anything. I’m a professor of

nothing. [That’s why] I don’t now what I’m doing here,” he said in a combination of English and Filipino.

Becoming Church However, he expressed

pride he can speak from the

point-of-view of his 21-year experience living among the Filipino poor.

Felloni went on to share his first encounter with residents of Payatas, a huge dumpsite north of Manila, thanking them for helping him become

the person he is now. “Once I told a lady [in

Payatas], ‘Poor you.’ [She said,] ‘No, Father, it’s okay. When you were not here we were just poor. Now that you are, here we are Church,’” he said.

According to him, being with the poor enables them to become Church with oneself, and vice-versa.

“When you are there you make them the Church with you. And they make you the Church with them. That’s beautiful. They need that presence in the peripheries. We [also] need that presence,” he exclaimed.

Felloni also confessed to patronizing before Filipinos who seem “addicted” to Mass and insist on having one celebrated even for seemingly trivial reasons, rejecting this practice as resulting in “Eucharistic overdose.”

‘Spirituality of the people’“I used to look down on

that, saying this is ‘superficial sacramentalism.’ And in 21 years the poor have taught me to eat my words one by one. I realize this is what Pope Francis calls ‘spirituality of the people’,” he said.

Noting that the Holy

Father recognizes them in all simpilicity, Felloni stated the poor don’t just have devotions but a deep spirituality.

“They want the Lord to be there for them. They want the Lord in their happy moments and their not-so-happy moments. They want the Lord all the time and everywhere, and that hunger for the Eucharist is one of the biggest lessons I have learned from my people,” he explained.

Felloni, moreover, pointed out the poor is the “privileged place of Jesus outside the Eucharist.”

“Many times the poor, not us the priests, are the ones who make the presence of the Church felt in those places. Many times even we have no courage to live among them. But they keep the presence of Jesus alive. So let us learn among them,” he added. (Raymond A. Sebastián / CBCP News)

Fr. Luciano Ariel Felloni, parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. DOMINIC BARRIOS

More than just cool: New Evangelization at the IECCEBU City, Jan. 27, 2016 – Walking billboards of the Eucharist all over Cebu, nay, the whole world.

This is the New evangelization vision of Ablaze Communications, the social communications arm of Couples for Christ, not just for the 51st International Eucharist Congress (IEC) but especially in the days after.

“One of the most effective media in promoting something is through billboards and we know that we, humans, are walking billboards. We are basically spreading the Good News by just wearing the IEC shirt,” said Ablaze marketing head Keith Janohan in an interview with CBCP News.

15,000 walking billboardsAccording to the former lay

missionary to Singapore and Indonesia, one of the roles of every Christian is to communicate Christ, a task the group even includes in its official mission-vision statement.

“One of our roles in the Church is to communicate Christ and the very best medium in communicating Christ is through the shirts we are wearing, through our fashion,” explained Janohan, who heads a 15-man team to run the Ablaze booth where the official IEC congress shirt

Manila Archbishop emeritus Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales visits the Ablaze booth at the San Carlos Major Seminary Hall, right beside IEC Pavilion, Jan. 27, 2016. MARY LEBRIA

is being sold, at the San Carlos Major Seminary, a stone’s throw away from the IEC Pavilion.

He added: “That’s what Ablaze uses to propel the the message of the Eucharist...Imagine 15,000 delegates wearing the shirts. Imagine the impact they will create when they go outside and roam around Cebu city, when they go home to their respective areas.”

While Janohan admits the Ablaze statement shirts, some of which feature doodled shirts of Jesus,

Mary as well as Pope Francis, are mainly targeted at the younger set, the attraction of Ablaze seems to cut across demographics.

Official IEC shirtThe official IEC shirt, which

comes in tangerine, was presented to Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Villarojo and then formally, at an IEC press conference on Dec. 14, 2015 at the Arzobispado de Manila in Intramuros,

According to Ablaze publications head Dana Superable, they were surprised to serve matronly ladies toting their Prada bags who sweetly asked for the official IEC shirts the group designed specially for the event.

One of their visitors include Manila Archbishop emeritus Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales who wandered in and said he liked the designs.

According to Janohan, the location of the booth, which is not exactly at the IEC Pavilion, did not hinder delegates from flocking in droves.

For those interested, the official conference shirt as well as limited edition Ablaze statement shirt designs are available at the San Carlos Major Seminary Hall, right beside the IEC Pavilion. (Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz / CBCP News)

IEC in Cebu ‘fully secure’

CEBU City, Jan. 27,2016 - Interior and Local Government Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento said he is satisfied with the security measures provided by the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the ongoing 51st International Eucharistic Congress, ably supported by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other law enforcement agencies.

In an interview, Sarmiento said the partnership and cooperation between the private and public sectors made the IEC a success.

During an interview at the IEC Pavillon where he was conducting an on-the-spot inspection, he added they also have operatives who conduct incognito random inspection at various venues.

8,000 policeAsked about potential threat

groups to the international religious activities at IEC in Cebu

City, Sarmiento said they have considered every possible aspect which led them to deploy some 8,000 police personnel.

Sarmiento said he was sent by President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino to oversee the security blanket.

“We’ve also augmented our elements with those from other nearby provinces,” Sarmiento added.

Remaining vigilantHe said the PNP cannot do the

job alone as he sought the general public’s support to remain vigilant against possible lawless elements.

“The PNP chief (Director General Ricardo Marquez) will also check on the security situation within a day or two,” Sarmiento added.

The 51st IEC organizers said they’ve exceeded their expectations of 15,000 participants. (Melo M. Acuña / CBCP News)

According to 51st IEC organizers, more than 15,000 people are at the event in Cebu City, Jan. 25, 2016. DOMINIC BARRIOS

are more human and it is a gift to the world,” she said.

Falling in love with the Eucharist

“I fell in love with the Eucharist, and therefore with the Church. It’s the Eucharist that drew me, that holds me.”

She said one of her sons noticed and asked her why she was so happy.

“I can say only one thing: Christ and Christ alone. I became a Roman Catholic due to the Eucharist and it is here that I have found my true home. How I long for every single person as well as for whole nations to taste and see how great our God is and how

indescribably beautiful his desire is for us to receive hope and grow in His glory.”

She admitted however, that being a Catholic is “weird” especially whenever she was asked about her conversion. She simply says, “I became a Catholic, as an adult by choice.”

In a separate interview w i t h E t e r n a l W o r d Television Network- Asia Pacific, Servaas further admitted her admiration of F i l ip inos , adding despite the dilemma of poverty and corruption, Filipinos remain positive and happy.

“You’re dealing with poverty. You’re dealing

with corruption, and yet when there i s a deep sense of joy and of thankfulness.”

She admit te d that Filipinos “know much more what it is to live from the Eucharist”, adding this Filipinos can share this as “a gift you can give to the world.””

Prayers for EuropeShe appealed to the

IEC delegates to “not follow Europe on the road to secularization and unbelief.”

Servass said that Europe has “lost the ability to kneel and it makes us unfree.”

“We have lost humility

and it makes us decrease i n h u m a n i t y . O n l y Christ Himself can save us and He is needed in the most joyful and real way possible, free from our interpretations and ideologies.”

She asked for prayers that Europe will return to God in the Eucharist, “ w h e r e C h r i s t i s unconditionally present, so that we can be like Him present as peacemakers pure in heart and poor in spirit, empty of ourselves and so full of Him that it spills out in deeds of pure goodness.” (Rommel Lopez / CBCP News with Paul de Guzman and Krisha Socito)

The papal legate also stressed the need for “assistants” in the churches of all regions in Myanmar as well as in Christian communities. He said the Church, government, and communities in the world need to have a “system where resources and the riches are shared.”

The cardinal said the Burmese people are expecting a smooth transition of government, from its current junta administration to a democratic one, led by the famous Aung San Suu Kyi.

Filipino faith and hospitality

Bo said he has a lot of things to report to Pope Francis, including

Filipinos’ hospitality, good cuisine, and the people’s smiles.

“This reception is the warmest welcome I have received,” stressed the prelate.

Bo, however, said the most important thing he will report to the Holy Father is the faith of the people.

“ D e s p i t e a l l t h e n a t u r a l disasters, the only thing that m a i n l y r e m a i n e d w i t h t h e Filipinos is faith. Faith in the Church, faith in the Eucharist and faith in God,” he explained.

He praised the zeal of Filipinos, particularly those working overseas, in spreading the Catholic faith all over the world. (John Gabriel M. Agcaoili / CBCP News)

Converts / A1

Deep down, they manifest the Filipino’s authentic awareness of God’s presence in everything that is blessed or holy,” he added.

“But the question remains: What does the Holy Eucharist really mean? How should we participate? What does it tell us about how we should live?”

‘A being for others’Quevedo, 76, the archbishop

of Cotabato, recalled how as a young theology student in the 1960s he learned a classic Latin theological formula, “Eucharistia facit Ecclesiam, Ecclesia facit Eucharistitam,” which means “The Eucharist makes the Church; the

Church makes the Eucharist.”According to him, the Eucharist

makes the Church because the Church was borne out of the Paschal Mystery – the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ. The Church makes the Eucharist, he explained, because in the Mass, the New Sacrifice, the Church commemorates Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross for the salvation of men.

But it can also mean more, Quevedo said, because the Church is “living and operating in our space and time.”

He reminded IEC delegates that the Eucharist is communion, the deepest kind of union, and communion with Jesus is “with his very being, a being for others.”

Scarcity / A1

Eucharist/ A1

French nuns of the Sisters of Maria Stella Matutina enjoy a moment with Jesus at the IEC Pavilion adoration chapel in Cebu City, Jan. 25, 2016. ROY LAGARDE

A3CBCP Monitor January 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 5NEWS NEWS

Bishop Barron: Eucharistic faith is counter-cultureCEBU City, Jan. 26, 2016 – In a secular culture that has become relativist, the Eucharist is the only refuge.

One of the most-awaited s p e a k e r s a t t h e 5 1 s t International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) was Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron, a gifted p r e a c h e r o f t h e N e w Evangelization. Barron, 56, gained famed for his Youtube preaching as a Chicago priest. At the catechesis for Day 2 of the congress, Barron was in his element.

“What’s sad today is so many in the Catholic world have become blasé about the Eucharist. In my country, 70 percent of Catholics stay away from the Eucharist,” he said.

Nothing , however , i s more important than the Eucharist. Barron quoted t h e m o s t f a m o u s o n e -liner in the text of Vatican II: the Eucharist is the “source and summit of Christian life.”

“The Great Fathers of Vatican II, what they wanted was to revive the Eucharist, to draw people toward it more and more. To tell them

that in 2016 that 70 percent, more in western Europe, stay away from the Eucharist on a regular basis, they would feel their work had been a failure,” he said.

‘We are sinners’The indifference toward

the Euchar is t i s borne out of a popular culture t h a t d o e s n o t w a n t t o acknowledge, or be told of, its brokenness. Yet “it is indispensable to our Eucharistic faith that we acknowledge that we are sinners, that we are lost, walking in the wrong way.”

Barron cited the words of a Christina Aguilera song: “I am beautiful in every single way, and words can’t bring me down.”

“We’ll never get a salvation religion off the ground if we believe that. So many voices in the culture insist upon it. ‘Don’t put me down, don’t tell me I’m wrong. In fact, I’ve got the infinite right to define my own life, to define who I am,’” he said.

“That is repugnant to the salvation religion. It’s repugnant to a Eucharistic faith.”

‘Right attitude’He said “to stretch out like

someone dying of hunger is the right attitude toward the Eucharist.”

B a r r o n r e c a l l e d t h e first time he gave Holy Communion at St. Peter’s Square about 10 years ago, on Easter Sunday. He thought it would be an orderly affair. But the people surged, begging for the Body of Christ.

“It’s the Bread of Life, it ’s what keeps us alive spiritually,” he pointed out. “We should all stretch out our hands as though we were starving for the Bread of Life.”

Barron reminded IEC de legates o f the three aspects of the Eucharist: the Eucharist as a meal; the Eucharist as a sacrifice; and Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist.

Too often the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist is ignored. Sacrifice straightens out man from his sinfulness, he said.

“The logic of sacrifice is pretty straightforward, we take some aspect of creation and we return it to God … If we are off-kilter, which we

are, if we are worshipping the wrong way, we need to be brought back and that process is painful. We need to go through into a painful realignment,” he explained.

Vibrant churchLike many other foreign

speakers at the 51st IEC, Barron paid tribute to the growing influence of Filipino Catholicism, which has kept the faith alive in the post-Christian West.

“I don’t know of any church right now in the world that’s more vibrant than the Filipino Church,” he said. “[In Chicago and Los Angeles], it’s the Filipino community which is keeping the Church alive … so to come here and be with you is a great thrill for me.”

“I do think, in God’s often strange providence, He’ll take a particular church, a particular people, and use them as a means to invigorate and to evangelize the rest of the Catholic world. I do believe, in God’s always b e g u i l i n g p r o v i d e n c e , you are playing that role now,” Barron said. (Felipe Francisco / CBCP News)Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron. DOMINIC BARRIOS

‘Be Mary’s face’, faithful toldCEBU City, Jan. 26, 2016 – Speaking with a poster of Our Lady of Guadalupe covering his podium, the chaplain of the National Shrine of St. Juan Diego in Mexico called on thousands of 51st International Euchar is t ic Congress ( IEC) delegates on Jan. 26 to be the face of “our dear Lady of Guadalupe” in the world.

Monsignor Diego Monroy Ponce, Episcopal and General Vicar of Guadalupe and rector of the Basilica de Guadalupe, was one of the IEC concurrent sessions on Jan. 26, 2016.

“We want to be the sweet face of the little virgin. How do we do this?,” said Msgr. Diego Monroy Ponce, one of the speakers of the IEC’s Jan. 26 concurrent sessions.

According to the Episcopal and General Vicar of Guadalupe, “task of being the sweet and gentle face of our dear Lady of Guadalupe” means to “let all people know about Jesus Christ.”

‘Revolutionary tenderness’It is because of the Virgin Mary,

the priest explained, that the faithful “believe again in the revolutionary aspect of tenderness.”

Ponce, who heads the Pastoral Liturgy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, also assured all present about their intimate ties with the Blessed Virgin.

“To my brothers and sisters

who are pilgrims here, you also are Guadalupans. In you flows the blood of this precious Lady,” he said during his talk on “Evangelization and Popular Religiosity” at the IEC Pavilion.

20 million visitors“[Our Lady of Guadalupe is]

our Mother, Mother of all men, of all those who are here together as one, as has already been for many centuries. We were born in her lap and we bear the blood of this sweet Lady,” stressed Ponce.

According to him, the fact that the site of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalulpe to Juan Diego in 1531 on Tepeyac hill draws some

20 million people yearly, excluding tourists, while only 6 million people visit the Vatican annually is already a testament to the power of popular religion, specifically of the Marian devotion.

“It is the most visited [place] in the Christian world, as I have pointed out,” said Ponce.

For 24 years, I’ve been coming to the sanctuary of Guadalupe as the one responsible for the preaching there and I am witness of the many religious expressions that aim to be simple and straight forward, not overly intellectual … not with great discursive methods.” (Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz / CBCP News)

An image of the Blessed Virgin holding the Child Jesus, at the IEC Pavilion, Jan. 27, 2016.DOMINIC BARRIOS

IEC speaker: Daily adoration important for priestsCEBU City, Jan. 27, 2016 – A speaker at the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in Cebu City on Tuesday encouraged fellow priests to spend at least an hour daily with the Blessed Sacrament for the sake of their ministry which, he said, needs continuous nourishment.

“When I don’t pray meaningfully t h e n m y m i n i s t r y b e c o m e s ‘routinary.’ I’m not telling you because I studied about that. I’m telling you because I experienced that. The moment I neglect my prayer life, my ministry becomes burdensome,” shared Fr. Luciano Ariel Felloni, chief pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Camarin, Caloocan City.

Ministry becomes torture In his talk, “Washing the Feet

of the Poor: The Eucharist and the Priesthood,” he went on to tell congress delegates from around the world, many of whom are priests like himself, at the city’s Waterfront Hotel, that delivering homilies becomes a challenge and “a torture” for a minister with little or no prayer life at all since one cannot give what one lacks.

“When you don’t have what to say, when you don’t know what to say, when you don’t know what to

do with the problem of the parish, it’s a sign maybe that you’re not giving the Lord that one hour at least of adoration everyday,” he explained.

According to Felloni, a missionary to the Philippines for 21 years now, the most important and difficult duty of a priest is to be faithful and to stay thus.

Duty to stay faithful“It helps so much for us priests

to be sent there. To do the most important duty that we have to do, that is, to be faithful, [is] the most difficult of them all. It’s easier to say the Mass. It’s easier to work for the poor. The most difficult is to be faithful. Without that one hour, fidelity is impossible,” the Argentine priest stressed.

It is in this way, he added, that the Presence—Christ’s Presence—in the Eucharist, gives meaning to the presence of a priest in his parish.

“I give Him away to my people. If that circle is cut it’s a disaster. And we priests know that it is a disaster because we experience times of ‘brownout,’ times when we are not connected as we should. And we know how much it affects us,” Felloni noted. (Raymond A. Sebastián / CBCP News)

More women empowerment in Orthodox church soughtCEBU City, Jan. 25, 2016 – Discussions on the role of women in the Roman Catholic Church are more open as compared to their Orthodox counterpart, says an Orthodox diplomat, who seeks more women empowerment in the the second largest Christian Church in the world.

A m b a s s a d o r T a m a r a Grdzelidze of Georgia made this observation during her talk on the role of Women in the Church in one of the concurrent sessions of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress here in this city.

“ C a t h o l i c w o m e n theologians part ic ipate i n C h u r c h l i f e m o r e formally than women in t h e O r t h o d o x C h u r c h , [ t h e y ] r e p r e s e n t t h e Church at various levels, are members of theological commissions, take part in dialogues and [some] also attended the recent Synod of the Cathol ic Church o n t h e F a m i l y . F r o m my point of view, I wish Orthodox women, could be as seriously taken by their

Church, as the Catholic women are at present,” she expressed.

Differences and similaritiesThe Georgian ambassador

to the Holy See and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta pointed out that the role of women has been more openly recognized in the Catholic Church than in the Orthodox Church in which

she professes her faith.T h o u g h f a c e d w i t h

theological d i f ferences brought about by the 1054 schism, Grdzelidze says both Orthodox and Roman Catholics basically believe in the Trinity and in the marks of the Church: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.

“ N o o n e d e n i e s t h e importance of the later, post 1054 doctrinal development

on either side when our Churches sadly broke apart, but the core of the Trinitarian and the Chr is to log ica l theology of both Churches is similar,” Tamara said.

The early Church shows a different picture on the role of women in Church life and the ambassador stressed that the women of today deserve to be believed in and are as capable as before.

Women’s role in the Church

Grdzelidze, who possesses a Ph. D. in Theology, says in Christ “both male and female become children of God and both are given the redemptive potency through the Eucharistic communion.”

She added that women cannot be reduced to the role of an “honorable company.”

“Nothing is revolutionary than in making women in the Orthodox Church an indissoluble part of the human response to God’s call for unity and spiritual advancement.” (Chrixy P a g u i r i g a n / C B C P News)

Ambassador Tamara Grdzelidze of Georgia. DOMINIC BARRIOS

A4 CBCP MonitorJanuary 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 5

A BURNING topic in this week’s Congress is the tricky issue of how to make the Eucharist more appealing, especially in the age of social media. It’s tricky because it’s not easy to introduce changes to centuries, if not millennia of tradition. But it has to be done. St. Paul, the apostle par excellence, preached a difficult message in a difficult setting. He went to the Areopagus, the middle of the city, reached out to the unbelieving Greeks and introduced them to Christ. This was how the Church began.

In one of the daily IEC press conferences, a journalist asked how come people are going to Mass in the shopping malls. If one goes back to the example of St. Paul’s encounter with the Gentiles, the mall—the modern marketplace in the middle of the bustling city—is a natural place for preaching Christ.

It’s a new way of looking at ecclesiology, or being Church, and a new way of evangelization, said IEC communications department chairman Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara in the same press conference. “People may be in the marketplace and this is where we have to reach out. They may find the mall, because it’s air-conditioned, very comfortable. But there you have a chapel in the midst of the marketplace reminding us of God,” he said.

In this sense, the Eucharist becomes a refuge from life’s difficulties, from the distractions brought by gadgets and electronic media, and from the emptiness and false promises offered by a society that is increasingly materialistic.

That’s what Patlyn Antonette Pañares, a young church volunteer in one of the parishes in Cebu, told us when we asked why the youth are joining the activities for the 51st IEC, an event sometimes described as the “World Youth Day” for old people. Meeting Christ in the Eucharist is also what’s prompting Ninnelynn Taburnal of Barangay Guadalupe, a bakery worker and a mother of four, to go to Mass every Sunday. At the Opening Mass of the IEC at Plaza Independencia, Ninnelynn even brought her mother Elena for what she told us was a “once-in-a-lifetime event.”

At the IEC, Church leaders and experts talked about innovative proposals like “inculturation” or cultural adaptation. This is commendable, especially if developed organically, and does not distract from the true meaning of the Mass. Amid restlessness and hardships, people like Patlyn and Ninnelyn simply want to meet Christ.

The mystery of the EucharistFr. Roy Cimagala

Candidly Speaking

MonitorPROTAGONIST OF TRUTH, PROMOTER OF PEACE

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Pedro QuitorioEditor-in-Chief

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Eucharistic Faith: Christ’s True Presence

This special issue of the CBCP Monitor is published daily for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress by Areopagus Communications, Inc. with editorial and business offices at Ground Flr., Holy Face of Jesus Center & Convent, 1111 F. R. Hidalgo Street, Quiapo, Manila. Editorial: (632) 404- 2182. Business: (632) 404-1612.; ISSN 1908-2940

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Fr. James H. Kroeger, MMLiving Mission

Eucharistic Congress Reflection

OPINION

CATHOLICS believe that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist in his body and blood, humanity and divinity, under the form of bread and wine. This real presence flows from Christ’s total self-gift on the cross; his presence effects communion with His Church through His body and blood.

Personal Experience. Some years ago while I served in Saint James Parish in Cateel, Davao Oriental (located in Mindanao, southern Philippines), I had a powerful experience from an unexpected source that reminded me of Christ’s Eucharistic presence. It involves Catalino, a man of about thirty years who only had the mind of a child. He liked to be around the parish rectory (convento); no one objected to his presence. He was friendly, liked to talk to everyone, and never caused any disturbance.

Catalino would often ask me for some bread, cookies, or crackers, especially if he saw me come home from the nearby bakery. He normally was present at

Mass and would always reverently go to communion. One day, after I was in the parish for some months (to satisfy my doubts), I decided to ask: “Catalino, when you are in Church and go to get something to eat, what is that? Is it a special cookie or cracker?” Immediately, he responded to my question: “Oh no, Father. That’s Jesus!” There and then, all my doubts were resolved; I had no more reservations about giving communion to Catalino! In fact, I was humbled at his genuine expression of faith!

Archbishop Oscar Romero . Recently, on May 23, 2015, Oscar Romero, the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador in Central America, was beatified, setting him on the path to sainthood. Earlier on February 3, 2015 Pope Francis had officially declared Romero a martyr of the Catholic faith. Romero had been murdered on May 24, 1980 as he celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Carmelite Sisters’ cancer hospital where he lived. As he raised

the chalice after the consecration, he was shot and killed by a hired assassin.

In the superb film Romero released in 1989, one sees a particularly powerful scene which manifests Romero’s Eucharistic faith. The government soldiers had taken over the parish church in a rural village, because this community was very active in seeking social justice. The church had been turned into a military barracks. Romero goes to retrieve the Blessed Sacrament; he is taunted and intimidated by the vicious soldiers. When he tells them he has come to get the Blessed Sacrament, the tabernacle is machine-gunned. Romero retreats to his car, but then returns to lovingly pick up the scattered hosts, despite more intimidation and physical abuse. Romero then drives off, only to return a second time. He puts on his vestments and leads the people into the church to say Mass, facing down the soldiers. Romero’s Eucharistic faith shines out clearly in

Teresa R. Tunay, OCDSAnd That’s The TruthGifts for priests

Conclusion

YOU can’t s top people from giving gifts to priests but you can’t stop priests either from giving them away. Sometimes, though, the situation gets sticky—as when the priest himself does not have the heart to hurt the eager giver. I was once placed in that situation, and I admit I had to pray hard for a solution. (Let me use fictitious names to protect the innocent).

Guests were beginning to notice something odd in Fr. Resty’s office. There were angels everywhere. Ceramic angels, resin angels, wooden angels, papier mache angels, clay angels—mostly “cute” o n e s h o l d i n g m u s i c a l i n s t r u m e n t s , f l o w e r s , candles, etc. They were

sitting on the shelves behind him, in front of him, on his desk, in the toilet; a huge cross-stitched angel was even mounted on the wall, upstaging a reproduction painting of the Immaculate Conception on the opposite wall.

A c o u p l e o f s i s t e r s unintentionally called my attention to it when they said, “Uy, ang gaganda ng angels sa office ni Father, ang dami-dami! Humingi kami, ayaw kaming bigyan!” (Hey, there are so many nice angels in Father’s office! We asked for some but he wouldn’t give us any!)

Because I’m Ate-Nanay-Ninang to Fr. Resty, I had no second thoughts about nosing around (subtly) in his

office the next day to validate the sisters’ report. I feigned surprise (“Wow, such pretty angels!”) and in a spirit of “lambing” said, “Won’t you give your Ate one? Or… is this a collection?”

Fr. Resty knows me well enough to know I’m not interested in angel figurines and that by the tone of my question he was being boxed with velvet gloves into a corner. I also now him well enough to say he’s not the collecting type; in fact, he easily gives unneeded gifts away. After a pregnant silence, while I scrutinized the angels, he sheepishly said, “They’re from Belle…”

Oooh, I see… Belle is a rather frequent visitor from another parish, a “fan” of Fr.

Resty. I continued to inspect/appreciate the figurines: “So, Fr. which one may I have? Hmmm, this one is just plaster of Paris, but it’s well-made… This one, too pa-cute naman… I kinda like that one holding a candle, at least it’s not that ordinary.” Fr. Resty was busy at the computer; or maybe he was pretending to be, in order to evade my chatter. Then I went for the kill, so to speak: “What will you do with all these angels? Are you getting attached?” It was a silent bomb that was also met with silence. Finally, Fr. Resty said, “Can I help it if she wants to give and give? But of course, I can give them away. Would you like to help?”

WE have to learn how to live with mysteries in life. They are unavoidable. Even in the natural sphere, there are things that we can already regard as mysteries. Much more so when we consider the spiritual and supernatural spheres of our life.

A mystery is, first of all, a truth, a real thing, and not a fiction, a figment of our imagination. But it’s a truth that is so rich that the human mind finds it hard if not impossible to fully understand. Just the same, it has elements that would make it recognizable and believable by us.

It’s like the sun whose light is so bright that we cannot look directly at it without destroying our eyes. But we never doubt about its existence. In fact, we are most thankful for the many benefits it gives us.

The Eucharist is one such mystery.

There we are told that Christ is present, not in a merely symbolic way but in a real way. We believe this because of the gift of faith that God Himself gives us in abundance.

If we are at least receptive to this gift of faith, we can readily acknowledge the truth of the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. But our appreciation of this mystery grows to the extent that we exercise our faith that in turn also relies on the exercise of trust in God’s Word which is the gift of hope, and the fervor of our charity, another God-given gift and the most important.

The mystery of the Eucharist should elicit in us sentiments of awe and amazement, not indifference and over-familiarity. Our sins and unworthiness should be no problem, since the law of magnetism applies here—unlike poles

attract each other.We should never forget what Christ

himself said: “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Mk 2, 17)

Thus, we have to most careful when we think we are already good or saintly enough. If we are truly pursuing sanctity, we should feel all the more humble and in need of God the more progress we achieve in our sanctification.

In the Eucharist, we have Christ both hidden and revealed in his fullness, a most paradoxical phenomenon that is typical of God and of all mysteries. It’s up to us which aspect of the mystery we prefer to give more attention to—his hiddenness or his revelatory aspect.

Candidly Speaking / A5

And That’s the Truth / A5

Living Mission / A6

The Eucharist in the Church’s dialogue with the youth

Seeking solace in the Eucharist

THE Church’s mission today includes directing young people toward the Eucharist for sustenance in the face of their many uncertainties and questions. For it is in the Eucharistic gathering that the Church can best engage the youth in a dialogue in which she proclaims to them the Gospel of Christ from which they get the unique and satisfying response to their most deep-seated aspirations. From their Eucharistic encounter with Christ in word and sacrament are offered enlightenment and guidance in their quest for meaning and purpose in life. In the Eucharist, Jesus looks upon the youth with that special love that he showed upon the young man in the Gospel and invites them to follow him (cf. Mk 10:21) in his loving relationship with the Father and in his saving mission to humanity and to the world.

By engaging them in active participation in the Eucharist—in attentive listening, in generous and appropriate bodily expressions, in the observance of silence at the appropriate moments, or in undertaking specific ministries in the celebration—the youth can best be formed both for their future and present roles in the Church and in the society. In the Eucharistic dialogue, the Church has so much to talk about with the youth and the youth, with their energies and enthusiasm, have so much to share with the Church.

Around the table both of God’s Word and of Christ’ Body, the Church offers instruction and nourishment by which young people can be prepared to be the “good soil “ where the seed of God’s Word can spring up, take root, grow, and bear abundant fruit. The Eucharist is the perfect school for the young where they can learn the values of presence that builds relationships and communities, of a sense of gratitude and responsibility for God’s creation, and of service and sacrifice that gives life, healing, and wholeness to others.

Considering the young people’s attraction to various means of social communication and their adeptness in their use of the same, the Church will do well to present the Eucharist to them as the highest embodiment and ideal of communication where friendships are established and nurtured, where hopes, dreams, joys, and anxieties are shared, and where noble causes and advocacies are worked out together.

In the school of the Eucharist, young people will learn that communication is more than the exchange of ideas and of emotion but, at its most profound level, the giving of self in love. The Church should never get tired of telling the young that Christ instituted the Eucharist as “the most perfect and intimate form of communication between God and man” which leads to “the deepest possible unity among men and women”.

The Eucharist is where the deepest and transforming communication takes place—in response to the prayer of invocation, the Father through his Son sends the Holy Spirit so that the bread and the wine, as also the assembly, will become the Body of Christ.

- Excerpts from the theological and pastoral reflection in preparation for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress.

EDITORIAL

A5CBCP Monitor January 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 5

Miracle of the Holy Eucharist

A Transforming Eucharist

The Eucharist as the embrace of God’s love

Leander V. Barrot, OARBiblically Speaking

P.O.G.I. (Presence Of God Inside)Fr. Alan Gozo Bondoc, SVD

The Eucharist: Source and Celebration of Hope

OPINION OPINION

Fr. Eutiquio ‘Euly’ Belizar, Jr. SThDBy the Roadside

I DON’T know of any other personal way of explaining the Filipino experience of the Eucharist in the IEC than that calling it the embrace of God’s love. God’s love is so much like the rain on the second day. It has poured. Despite our national obsession with our weaknesses (need we mention the culture of corruption, criminality with impunity, lack of discipline?), would we ever doubt the sincerity of the papal legate’s words characterizing us as “a great nation”, “the light of the faith in Asia”, bringing the “Catholic presence” in many parts of the world (he even specified them to be wherever there is land, air, sea etc.), especially “loved by the Holy Father”? Years ago when I was trying to learn Italian, I would sometimes fumble and stumble. Then I would hear Italians encouraging me, “Coraggio! (Have courage)!” It occurred to me that Cardinal Bo, many thanks to him, was giving us a tremendous “Coraggio”. But this is not to say it was simply that. It is more.

Or how about a Bishop Barron proclaiming us to be “chosen by

God to reinvigorate the Catholic world” by our “faith” which he compares to that of his ancestors’ Ireland seventy years ago? We applaud these words, thinking they are a compliment which they are. But we forget that they also spell responsibility. It is a responsibility we can’t take lightly. Yet it is one we

must take.What comes to mind is the Gospel of

Luke 15:20 telling us how the wayward son finally coming to his senses and returning to his father. Instead of meeting offense with a just chastisement of sorts (maybe a harsh word or two, a slap in the face or a closed door), the father runs to the wayward son, ignores the son’s prepared “I’m sorry” speech, falls on his neck in a fatherly embrace and even kisses him. Would a Filipino father or any father do the same or generally the opposite? Thank God, God is God and not man. For that is how I see the great embrace of God’s love for the Filipino at the IEC despite the many ways we have stormed our way out of the Father’s house. God still embraces us through the Catholic world coming into our shores and expressing how we are still looked up to for our vibrant faith, for our resilience during calamities, for bringing the Catholic presence wherever we go in the world, no matter how strong or feeble, pure or stained.

For the Eucharist is the embrace of God’s love for us. It is the Father’s love that is revealed in the Son. This revelation is behind the love of the Son’s self-gift. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you” (John 15:9). In the Eucharist the Father embraces us, our sinfulness notwithstanding, but he embraces us in and through the Son. In the most profound insight of St.

John Paul II the Son, “Jesus Christ,” he declares, “is mercy itself”. The message and the medium is the same.

The Father’s love is especially revealed by the Son because as Word he became “flesh” (John 1:14). The Eucharist is therefore the peak of the loving God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ. Hence, the words: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (Jn 6:57). The Son offers his flesh and blood. In his flesh and blood that we receive, Christ is in us. In a larger and truer sense, in his flesh and blood, we (who receive him) are in Christ.

But the Father is in the Son. In the Son, therefore, the Father comes to us, embraces us, abides in us. Christ in us is also the Father in us. Nay, in the Eucharist we are all in the Father and the Son by the power of the Spirit.

That is to say, the Eucharist is God embracing humanity in the Son. And because we are never worthy of that embrace, we always need to confess the ‘Confiteor’ by our lips during the liturgy and by our reformed lives outside of it.

I once saw a group of people offering free hugs to passersby. It hit me how it symbolizes the Eucharist. It is the embrace of God’s love that we need to also give to others by our doing the mission of the Church.

Happily, unlike ordinary food that always runs the risk of us having “an overload” (so the problem with obesity,

ON the second day of the IEC, the persona of St. Paul looms large. His conversion i s c o m m e m o r a t e d a n d celebrated and how the saint preserved and promoted the memory of Christ’s love from possible demise is highlighted.

Paul’s devotion to the Eucharist began with his meeting with the Resurrected Christ (cf. 1Cor 15:8). Christ t ransformed him from within and he, recognizing the “surpassing value of knowing Christ” (Phil 3:8), considered everything that he once boasted of--his sense of ethnic supremacy, his hard-earned zeal for the faith of his forebears, his fanaticism to defend the same even to death—as rubbish. Everything he earned through diligence, hard-work, and industry cannot compare to the splendor

of Christ’s love manifest in His taking of the cross for humanity’s justification.

Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection has occasioned the greatest equality before the eyes of God, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).

The leveling of the playing field, so to say, for all humanity is very much evident in the Eucharist. Before the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, all prostrate reverently irrespective of one’s status in society and socio-economic prestige. Before our Lord, all are servants, in front of the Father all are children, and before God all are equally loved.

This equality that is an immediate consequence of

Christ’s sacrifice leading to everybody’s justification remains to be the constant challenge of Eucharist. The increasing gap separating the rich and the poor is a constant reminder of how we have become simple devotees of the Eucharist but not committed to the moral consequences of our faith. The disregard for the dignity of women, the stealing from children of their innocence by subjecting them to labor, the indifference to the plight of the elderly are all affronts to our very own faith and remain to be constant challenges to our faith in the Eucharist.

The constant celebration and reception of the risen L o r d i n t h e E u c h a r i s t strengthen our pledge to leave behind what St. Paul calls the “desires of the flesh” (Gal 5:16). The Eucharist

spurs us on to be passionate to care for the poor, to value every person, to respect the dignity of others’ name and honor, to promote equality irrespective of color, religion or nationality, to breakdown walls of defiance, and to promote the dignity of children and elderly. The same Eucharist sustains us in our quest for humaneness.

Perhaps the moral question one can ask is how has our reception of the Eucharist transformed us from within. St. Paul has identified the beginning and summit of his conversion as “the surpassing value of knowing Christ.” This has transformed him from being a persecutor of believers to become a defender of the faith and a missionary of Jesus Christ to the gentiles. The value of Christ for Paul is everything.

I MET and came to know a very devoted lady who shared with me her thoughts on the Holy Eucharist. She said that every time she attends the Holy Eucharist she always witness a miracle.

For her, the miracle always unfolds before her eyes during Consecration, every time the priest makes the sign of the cross to consecrate the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

I do agree with her realization. Jesus becomes real as the bread and wine become His Body and Blood. They are not symbols or signs of His presence but they are, in fact, His true presence.

As a priest, I celebrate the Holy Mass with my heart because I firmly believe Jesus uses me to make His presence seen, held, felt, and received. I take it to heart that every time I celebrate the Holy Eucharist, it is as if it will be my first, my last, and only Eucharistic celebration. I pray every prayer of the Eucharist by heart as if Jesus is the One

praying, I feel Him dearly and nearer whenever I raise the Body and Blood of Jesus.

Indeed, it is in the Consecration that the greatest miracle unfolds, nowhere else but in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.

It is right there at that very moment that the bread becomes the Body of Jesus and the wine becomes the Blood of Jesus.

A miracle is revealed before us because the very Person of Jesus is alive in the Holy Eucharist.

A miracle is given to us whenever the priest gives to us the Holy Body of Jesus during communion. During communion, Jesus unites Himself with us, He is giving Himself to us. As we take the Holy Body of Jesus, He feels joy as we accept Him and He shares His joy with us. It is in the Holy Eucharist and through the Holy Eucharist, that Jesus becomes part of us.

The Holy Eucharist literally makes

Jesus live in us. He makes Himself using our very own eyes. He allows Himself to be held in our own hands.

The Holy Eucharist is a celebration of the Incarnation wherein the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus as the Word of God becomes alive in the hearts of all.

The Holy Eucharist is also the celebration of the Resurrection wherein Jesus rose victoriously from the dead to bring us life to its fullest. We are given life anew in the Eucharist.

The Holy Eucharist is the celebration of the continuous love of Jesus for us. He is blessed, broken, and shared so that we could be sanctified, made whole, and experience His love in us.

The Holy Eucharist is not just an encounter of Jesus but a transformation of becoming Him. Every time we receive Jesus in the Communion, we become Him (Alter Christus).

We should value and be grateful always for the gift of the Holy Eucharist

Fr. Amado L. Picardal, CSsR, SThD

Along the Way

OVER forty years ago, when our country was ruled by a dictator, I attended a Mass celebrated inside a political detention camp in Cebu. I was still a seminarian and a political prisoner and we were on hunger strike a week before Christmas. Ten years later, I was already a missionary priest, celebrating the Eucharist in a chapel in a remote barrio in Hinatuan, Surigao with the members of a Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC). They had stopped gathering for their weekly Bible-service out of fear. Their parish priest had earlier been arrested and imprisoned by the military. Three years later, I celebrated the funeral Mass of my elderly mother who was robbed and killed by a gang composed of off-duty military men. Two years, later, after the dictator was ousted, I was concelebrating the Eucharist in San Fernando, Bukidnon, during the height of the barricade put up by the members of the BECs and people’s organizations against logging to defend their forest. The judge had ruled that what the people were doing was illegal and a Philippine Constabulary unit would be sent to disperse them. During these moments of suffering and grief, when we felt helpless and hopeless, the Eucharist became the source and celebration of hope.

How can the Eucharist be the source and celebration of hope? The answer to this question lies in the consideration of the eschatological dimension of the Eucharist: the Eucharist is the celebration of the Kingdom.

At the core of Jesus’ ministry is the proclamation and the inauguration of the kingdom of God. The table-fellowship is the sign and symbol of the kingdom. What is signified is the communion between God and humanity and among humans - unity, reconciliation, peace, abundance, sharing. The kingdom is already present but yet to be fully realized in the future. The full realization of the kingdom in the parousia--the object of our hope. On the night before he died, Jesus had a meal with his disciples which is now popularly known as the Last Supper. That supper was grounded on hope--that it would not really be the last time that Jesus would break bread with his disciples, hope--that what would happen would not lead to defeat but to victory--a passing over from death to life, from slavery to freedom. Jesus’ offering of bread and wine - his body and blood - is grounded on hope that it will inaugurate the kingdom. The Last Supper was not really Jesus’ last table fellowship with his disciples. It continued after his Resurrection - in the post-Resurrection appearances. For instance, at the end of his journey with the disciples walking on the road to Emmaus, Jesus broke bread with them. Christ’s table-fellowship with his followers continues today whenever they gather as a community to celebrate the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is not simply the re-enactment or memorial of Christ’s death on the cross, it is the celebration of Christ’s paschal mystery--the mystery of his suffering, death, and resurrection. It is a victory celebration--a remembering of the new exodus. It is the celebration of liberation. When the community of believers come together to celebrate the Eucharist they celebrate the presence of the glorified Christ who is victorious over the power of death, of sin, and evil. The Eucharist becomes a source and celebration of hope for those who struggle, those who suffer - the victims of injustice, of violence, of the culture of death. The Eucharist is an assurance that the future that is to come will be brighter than the present - that in the end, good will prevail, that God’s kingdom of justice, peace, freedom, and abundance will be fully realized. In the darkest moments of our life - when we suffer and grieve, when feel helpless and hopeless, we celebrate the Eucharist. It is, indeed, the source and celebration of our hope of the future glory of the resurrection, of the salvation, of the fullness of the kingdom.

Or we can try to consider both aspects more or less at the same time in some dynamics where these two aspects are mutually interacting and perpetually developing.

His hiddenness will arouse more faith and trust in God and will help us to purify our intentions and attitude toward Christ. Remember that Christ, though aware of his mission for the whole world, was

not all too eager to be known by all in just any manner, especially when he would be viewed as some kind of earthly king, hero or celebrity.

He escaped from that possibility with all his might. He did not like to be known merely as a miracle-worker. He wanted to be known as God our savior, and that could only be achieved through his passion, death, and resurrection, made into sacrament of

the Holy Eucharist. Before this took place, he knew how to be discreet in his utterances and behavior even as he presented himself as the Son of God, the Son of Man.

The revelatory aspect of the Eucharist should fill us with joy, praises, and thanksgiving. We cannot have anything better than the Eucharist in this life. In the Eucharist, we have all that we need.

The Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith. As the Catechism tells us, “Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking.” (1327) We ought to have a Eucharistic mind and heart.

Yes, the Eucharist is the greatest treasure we can have since with it we have no one less than Christ himself, God Himself who became

man to save us, and who wants to be with us in our earthly pilgrimage.

Our marvel should know no end as we consider God who appears to us like a simple bread, God who is willing to take on all our human weaknesses and sins just to save us. This is the divine madness of love that should take our breath away. We should be moved most deeply by this realization.

Candidly Speaking / A4

Now the ball was in my court. I let out a quick “Give them away? Sure! To whom?” He was just as quick: “It’s up to you. Just get as many as you want.”

I didn’t want any of them but I smelled he needed help from his “Ate”. I thought he was being courteous to the giver Belle but it was also unusual for him to be so courteous to anyone. He didn’t need to say more; I understood. So, that afternoon I went home with a boxful of angels.

I had those angels in my storage for about two weeks, clueless as to who’d want to “adopt” them. Shall I give them to the sisters or friends who likes such stuff? To an orphanage? Raffle them off at the next Christmas party? I prayed for guidance, for Fr. Resty, and for Belle especially. Fr. Resty is a strong guy, but

Belle might get hurt seeing all her angels gone. Then one day, I wasn’t particularly thinking of the angels at all, the idea hit me. I would wrap each figurine individually in a brown paper bag, and leave them one by one in a church—with a note inside (also written after much praying) that would assure the finders that God hears their prayers. A few at a time I left them randomly on the pews of Sta. Cruz church.

Of course, I never found out who got the message-bearing angels. When I left them there, I wasn’t just abandoning them on the pews; I was entrusting them all to the Holy Spirit—the “lost” angels and their finders-keepers. I really hoped that that “crazy” act, by the endless mercy of God, somehow helped people feel loved and blessed by God. And that’s the truth.

And That’s the Truth / A4

A6 CBCP MonitorJanuary 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 5FEATURES

these powerful scenes.Catholic Faith in the Real

Presence. The two narratives just presented clearly manifest the consistent faith of the Church: we believe that in the celebration of the Eucharist, bread and wine become the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and the instrumentality of an ordained priest. The whole Christ is truly present, body, blood, soul, and divinity, under the appearances of bread and wine. This is what the Church affirms when she speaks of the “Real Presence” of Christ in the Eucharist.

This consistent faith of the Church reflects Jesus’ words in the Gospels: “This is my body, which will be given for you” (Lk 22:19). “I am the living bread that has come down from heaven; anyone who eats this bread will live forever. The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). The words Jesus spoke were very clear to the Jews, because they “quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat’?” (Jn 6:52).

One may ask: “Are the consecrated bread and wine merely symbols of Jesus’ presence? In everyday

language we use the word “symbol” to describe something that points beyond itself to something else. For Catholics, the transformed bread and wine are the true Body and Blood of Christ, not mere symbols. The true presence of Christ remains, even after the celebration of the Eucharist is completed; Christ’s presence is not somehow lost after the Mass. Thus, the Church carefully guards the “sacred species” of the Eucharist in its tabernacles. She also promotes personal visits to Christ-in-the-Blessed-Sacrament as well as Benediction, Eucharistic processions, and Viaticum for the sick and infirm. All these devotions are based on the fact that Christ is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. Such is the consistent faith of the Church.

A Child’s Faith. The true story is told of a five-year-old boy who consistently attended Sunday Mass with his family. At such a tender age he already understood the core teaching of the Church. One Sunday, when the congregation began approaching and receiving the Eucharist at communion time, the boy loudly said to his parents: “Hurry, Mom and Dad, let’s go get some Jesus!” Indeed, out of the mouth of babes, profound wisdom is spoken!

Living Mission / A4

Pope may deliver live message to 51st IECJan. 24, 2016--Pope Francis is expected to give a message to the participants of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC), which is set to open this afternoon in Cebu City.

It was not sure, however, whether the papal message will be recorded or streamed live over the Internet, IEC organizers told reporters.

“Let us allow the pope to surprise us. He’s known to be like that,” said Pasig Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara, chairman of the communications department of the 51st IEC, in a press conference at the IEC Pavilion at the compound of Cebu’s Pope St. John XXIII Major Seminary.

Happening a year after Pope Francis’ tumultuous apostolic journey to Manila and Leyte, the 51st IEC, the quadrennial Catholic gathering aimed at promoting the centrality of the Holy Eucharist in Christian life, is a “spillover of grace” from the 2015 papal visit, Bishop Vergara said.

Some 12,000 pi lgr ims are expected to flock to various IEC events, while 300,000 people are expected to attend today’s opening Mass at the Plaza Independencia at 4 p.m. Around 800 media personnel have been accredited to cover the international event,

Bishop Vergara said. There will also be 5,000 first communicants.

The 51st IEC is a Catholic gathering but people from other faiths will not be excluded. Bishop Vergara said IEC speakers would tackle the Church’s dialogue with other religions.

This is only the second time for the Philippines to host an International Eucharistic Congress, after the 31st IEC held in Manila in 1937, which makes the Cebu event an “experience of a lifetime.”

Bishop Vergara said the IEC was an occasion for Catholics to reaffirm the Second Vatican Council’s proclamation of the Eucharist as the “source and summit of Christian life.”

He said people could expect “HOPE” from the IEC: H for a “happy congress,” O for an “overwhelming experience of God’s love,” P for a “personal encounter with the Lord,” and E for a eucharistic renewal.

Msgr. Joseph Tan, media relations head of the IEC Secretariat, said Cebu’s hosting of the 51st IEC is part of the nine-year preparation for the fifth centenary of the Christianization of the Philippines, which began in Cebu.

“Cebu is the cradle of Christianity in the Philippines,” the Cebu cleric noted. (Felipe Francisco/CBCP News) Pope Francis. ROY LAGARDE

Rome-based seminarians volunteer to translate for IEC

CEBU City, Jan. 24, 2016--“We’re l i k e b r i d g e s , w e f a c i l i t a t e interaction.”

This is what Br. Luis Lorenzo, a Filipino seminarian of the Legionaries of Christ based in Rome, said to describe the role of volunteer interpreters for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC).

Lorenzo, along with five other seminar ians f rom di f ferent nationalities, had been translating the English talks of the pre-IEC symposium talks to the delegates into Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Italian.

While their role as talk translators ended with the symposium, the interpreters will continue to assist groups of non-English speaking delegates by answering their questions about general information on the IEC schedules, venues, and the like.

“It was a very profound experience, especially of the theological insights that the speakers were giving.

I was very struck as well by the interest from so many people here, especially from the Philippines. I was also able to see also even people from Mexico, from my country,” said Br. Manuel Cervantes, a 31-year old Mexican seminarian who will continue to serve as a Spanish interpreter.

According to Cervantes, the IEC delegates’ interest in the Eucharist inspired in him a desire to celebrate the Mass “with fervor”.

“It was a kind of spiritual experience. Because in order to translate well, I have to go deeper, understand, meditate well, on the talks that we translate” said Br. Stefano Panizzolo, an Italian seminarian who shared he had to study the pre-IEC symposium talks beforehand to be able to be a good translator.

The IEC is ongoing until Jan. 31. (Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz / CBCP News)

Br. Manuel Cervantes. NIRVA DELACRUZ

No campaigning in IEC, politicians told

CEBU Ci ty , Jan 24, 2016--Politicians are welcome to attend the 51st International Eucharistic Congress here, but only as “pilgrims.

The week-long IEC, which is expected to draw 12,000 participants, is open to all but is not an occasion for electioneering, said Msgr. Joseph Tan, executive secretary of the IEC Communications Department.

“Although the IEC is open to everybody,

including politicians, we want to make sure that we will not change the IEC to become some kind of a political event for one party or the other, or one candidate or the other,” the priest said in a press briefing this morning at the IEC Pavilion.

“Of course we expect … some of the people running for office to be present, but they will be treated like any other person, as pilgrims,” explained Tan.

“We are open to their

presence but rest assured that this will not become a platform for their electioneering,” he added.

The IEC, a major religious event that promotes the centrality of the Eucharist in Christian life, features daily celebrations of the Holy Mass as well as catechetical talks. The theme of the 51st IEC is “Christ in You, Our Hope of Glory,” taken from Colossians 1:27.

Two celebrations of the Eucharist will serve as the high points of the 51st

IEC — the opening Mass at the Plaza Independencia signalling the start of the quadrennial congress today, Jan. 24, and the Statio Orbis (“The World S t o p s ” ) o r M i s a n g Mundo at the South Road Properties on Jan. 31.

Both Masses will be led by Yangon Archbishop Charles Maung Cardinal Bo, the papal legate or Pope Francis’ personal representative to the 51st IEC. (Felipe Francisco/CBCP News)

Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara of Pasig, chairman of the Department of Communications of the International Eucharistic Congress, leads the press conference at the IEC Pavilion. SKY ORTIGAS

IEC pilgrims be feted with religious, cultural festivalsCEBU CITY Jan. 24, 2016--Pilgrims f rom around the wor ld are experiencing the Cebuano brand of hospitality during the entire duration of the International Eucharistic Congress in the form of religious and cultural festivals.

For the week-long celebration of the IEC, numerous events are being continually held simultaneously in different venues around the city, giving pilgrims and simple tourists alike a taste of Cebuano cultural and religious heritage.

The “IEC 2016 Heritage Night” NIGHT was held beginning on Jan. 25, 7:00 p.m. Delegates can also have a walking tour starting at the old district of Cebu called Parian up to the Minor Basilica of the Santo Niño. Participating museums along the route will open their doors to delegates for these. Live cultural entertainment such as traditional folk dances, songs, and plays will be held as well.

‘Faces of Supplication’For music enthusiasts, chorale

groups will be performing at the IEC 2016 Choral Festival at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral from 7:00 till 9:00 p.m. Singing in the festival are the Coro de San

Jacinto, which will also be singing during the (Opening Mass); the Cebu Normal University Chorale; the Basilica del Sto. Niño; and Metropolitan Cathedral Grand Choir.

Meanwhile, a local mall, will host the staging of a “religious-cultural presentation” titled, “Mga Dagway sa Pangaliyupo (Faces of Supplication).

Various Cebuano stage artists will demonstrate via songs, dances, and drama “the different forms of prayers brought about by experiences of conflicts, trials and tribulations”. Ayala Center Cebu will host a series of evening presentations for the IEC 2016.

Free admissionAll interested IEC delegates

should always wear their IEC IDs to avail of the free admission to all the cultural events.

Many cultural events like concerts, theater plays and religious-cultural presentation have also been held as pre-congress activities. Other cultural events have been also announced by the IEC Central Committee through their website www.iec2016.ph

Papal Legate, Cardinal Charles Maung Cardinal Bo of Myanmar presided over the Opening Mass of the IEC at the Plaza Independencia in the afternoon of Jan. 24. Later in the evening, delegates enjoyed cultural events. (Chrixy Paguirigan / CBCPNews)

The Teen Saint Pedro Musical is just one of several cultural and religious festivals being offered during the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC). DOMINIC BARRIOS

A7CBCP Monitor January 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 5FEATURES FEATURES

Cardinal Bo to Cebu dancing inmates: ‘Pray for me. I love you all!’CEBU City, Jan. 26, 2016 - Papal legate Charles Maung Cardinal Bo, SDB, DD asked the famous Cebu dancing inmates to remember him in prayer, saying the prayers of the prisoners are “powerful” since God is near to them and always wishes to see them soon at the table of fellowship, the Mass.

T h e p o p e ’ s p e r s o n a l representative to the 51st International Eucharistic Congress currently being held in this city was entertained by the inmates their world famous dance routines.

“We pray for each and one another. We will be waiting for you for the table fellowship like the Eucharist,” he said.

‘I love you all’Bo then said in Cebuano “I

love you all. I’ll pray for you all”, which elicited smiles and applause from among the inmates.

The prelate said that he will also include those who are in the prison ministry, calling them “those who have brotherly or sisterly care over you.”

“Your prayers are very powerful because God is very near to you. So pray for all of us. Pray for a more peaceful

Philippines,” he added. T h a t d a y , i n m a t e s

p r e s e n t e d a M i c h a e l Jackson dance routine, which had previously gone viral after it was uploaded to YouTube. After which, they danced the IEC official hymn “Christ in us, our hope of glory.”

The cardinal , v is ib ly touched by the prisoners’

dance number, addressed them, saying, they are always in his thoughts and prayers.

Dancing in the rain“Life is not about waiting

for the storms to pass but it is about learning to dance in the rain,” said Bo noting that the inmates danced heartily while a light drizzle fell.

“Yes, you have danced in the

rain. Your dance is a beautiful love directed straight to the heart of all of us. Thank you for your love. Daghang salamat.”

The Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar told the inmates to “never, never, never, give up’”

Quoting Martin Luther King, Jr. who was himself jailed many times, the papal legate said that only light can

drive out darkness, hatred by love.

“ D a r k n e s s c a n n e v e r drive darkness. Only light can drive out darkness. Hatred can never drive hatred. Only love can drive out hatred.”

After his address, the cardinal mingled with the inmates, smiling, and blessing them.

Closer to GodOne of the inmates who

danced, Lito Granada from Camotes island, said he was touched by the visit of the papal legate, impressed by how a busy VIP like him could consider visiting them.

“We thank him for visiting us. We hope he always prays for us,” he said.

Granada, who has been incarcerated for 14 years serving a life sentence, said prison life changed him by making him closer to the Lord, describing himself as “not believing in the Lord before [he] was jailed”.

He said life in prison changed him and made him realize that there is a Lord who loves everyone.

“I know that problems are big and heavy, but recognizing that the Lord is with us, the load becomes lighter,” he said.

The 44-year old family man said he first of all offered his dance to the Lord and secondly to “our visitors, especially the cardinal.”

“ W e a r e p a r t o f t h e Eucharistic Congress. And for that we are happy,” he said. (Rommel Lopez with reports from Roy Lagarde / CBCP News)

More than 300 inmates perform in honor of Myanmar Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, papal legate to the IEC, during his visit to the Cebu Provincial Jail on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. ROY LAGARDE

Cardinal Rosales: ‘Eucharist not just a task, but a mission’

CEBU City, Jan. 26, 2016 – Do we keep the Eucharist to ourselves?

This was the question, and challenge, posed by Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales to pilgrims at the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC).

Delivering the homily for the Mass on the third day of the congress, Rosales, Archbishop emeritus of Manila, reminded IEC participants that the Eucharist is “not just a task, but a mission.”

The power of faithYes, the Eucharist is the memorial

of Christ’s saving sacrifice, just l ike the Passover meal that commemorated the escape of

the Jews from slavery under the pharaohs of Egypt. But Christ’s mandate to “Do this in memory of me” goes beyond repeating Christ’s last meal on earth, he said.

“‘Do this in memory of me’ means that as often as one eats the Body of Christ, he or she announces to others the power of the faith of our Lord Jesus,” explained the prelate.

“Do the Eucharist, live the Eucharist, release the Eucharist from sheer celebration! And allow the Body and Blood of Jesus in you to roam the streets and byways, in jeepneys, tricycles and buses, stores and cafés, offices and schools, in every dining table, in homes where families engage in dialogue,” he said.

World-changing“It could change the world.”Sinfulness, however, should

not hinder the faithful from approaching the Eucharist. “It is our sinfulness that brought us the Jesus that we know today. It is because we are sinful that we came to know Jesus,” Rosales said.

“Above all the passion and the death of Jesus redeemed humankind from sin. I f the triumph of Jesus over death, the harshest face of evil, were not true, then all our confidence, all our faith in Christ is completely e m p t y , ” h e a d d e d . (Fel ipe Francisco / CBCP News)

Prelates prepare for procession before Mass at the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC), Jan. 26, 2016. MARIA TAN

Delegate praying for Ireland’s youth at IECCEBU City, Jan. 24, 2016--One of 30 Irish nationals attending the 51st Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in Cebu has promised to pray for young people back home whom he laments are slowly losing the faith.

“Yes, Ireland is still very much Catholic, but unfortunately quite a few of the young people are not practicing,” Thomas Michael Burns of Dublin told CBCP News in an interview.

W h i l e b a p t i s m i n t h e predominantly Catholic country remains high, with most of their children receiving First Communion at age eight, he bewailed that many begin to lose interest in the Church as soon as they reach early adulthood.

Ireland’s future“Unfortunately, when they

come to teenage years or the early twenties they are inclined to fall away. We hope and we pray that they will come back,” he said.

Burns stressed, however, that although they are not as passionate and involved in the life of the Church as their ancestors had been, this new generation of Irish Catholics still believe in God.

“They do have faith. They do believe in God. They pray in times of trouble. But as far as going to Church on Sundays and worshiping the Lord in Holy Mass, they neglected that. So we pray for them,” he explained.

I r e l a n d , a b a s t i o n o f Catholicism in Europe, recently saw the legalization of same-sex marriage.

Pilgrimage of faithBurns, an IEC veteran, went on

to express excitement over the week-long congress, especially since it is his first time in the Philippines.

“We expect it is a pilgrimage of faith. And we hope to learn, to listen … and we hope we would be able to contribute a little as well, to meet the international delegates, people from all over the world, and to make sure they’ll come back to their own country with new ideas, new thoughts, and new enthusiasm as well,” he said, speaking for his co-delegates.

Pilgrims from across the planet

According to Burns, when he and fellow pilgrims attended the last IEC which Ireland hosted in 2012, they vowed to also take part in the next one even if it means traveling halfway around the world.

“The Congress was held in Dublin four years ago, so we said we have to come to the next one. But the last time we didn’t know where we would be traveling. So we’ve come a long way. We’re delighted to be here and we’re excited about this congress,” he shared.

Burns, moreover, praised the friendliness of their Filipino hosts and the warm climate.

“Yes, lovely [the Philippines]. People are very friendly. And we’re delighted to be here. It’s warm. But we’re happy with that because it’s cold and wet in Ireland at this time so we’re happy to be in this warm, hot, dry country,” he added. (Raymond A. Sebastián / CBCP News)

CEBU City, Jan. 24, 2016 – If only because of the Rosary hanging on his rear-view window, one would assume taxi driver Richard Hijapon is a Catholic.

He is not. While he has been member

of the Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Church since birth—and an active one at that—he has enormous respect for Catholics who are sincere

about their faith, especially the delegates of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC).

Catholic friends“No. I’m not the kind

who passes judgement on people who happen t o b e l i e v e d i f f e r e n t l y from me,” he stressed in Filipino, as he drove past the Minor Basilica of the

Santo Niño, the birthplace of Catholic Christianity in the Philippines.

In fact, the 26-year old soon-to-be-married counts among his many good friends no less than a priest, Fr. Ben Alforque of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC).

“I’m happy that I’m able to meet Catholics who are kind and who practice what they preach,” he added.

T h e c h u r c h H i j a p o n had lately been picking up passengers from is near Plaza Independencia, where pilgrims from all over the world flocked Sunday to take part in the opening Mass of the week-long religious gathering.

More similar than different

According to him, he

would rather focus on what is common between the two Christian groups like the Holy Trinity than on what separates them

“If Catholics believe that God is three Persons, we also do,” he shared.

Hijapon went on to express admiration for Catholics and those of other religions who take time off their busy routine to worship God.

“It is important that we find time to spend with the Lord. We always think of how to earn money, or waste our energy on trivial matters, but many of us unfortunately forget about the most important, which is the state of our souls,” he said.

“We should always look after our spiritual health so that we will attain salvation,” he added. (Raymond A. Sebastián / CBCP News)

Non-Catholic admires IEC pilgrims’ faith

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Priest cheers group’s 20th ‘pain-healing mission’MANILA, Jan. 26, 2016 – A priest lauded a group’s 20th pain-healing outreach that recently benefited over a hundred less fortunate villagers in a mountainous section of Quezon Province.

Fr. Dari Dioquino, former Kanlungan ni Maria priest-in-charge, likened Helping One Person Everyday’s (HOPE) pain-healing team to the four men who, despite great difficulty, brought a paralyzed man to Jesus.

“They were undaunted by the difficulties,” he said. “They carried the man to the roof, opened a hole in the t i les. Through it they lowered him down before Jesus.”

Painful conditions treatedHOPE conducted magnesium

therapy sessions for at least 125 indigent people during the three-day outreach at barangay Kinabuhayan in Dolores town, said HOPE executive director

Victoria Baterina-Solis.According to her, recipients

of the free magnesium therapy were patients with various painful conditions, l ike headaches, arthritis, muscle cramps, back pain, and also skin itchiness.

HOPE also gave away 150 bottles of 100 ml. magnesium oil, Baterina-Solis said. They were also able to train seven magnesium therapy volunteers.

HOPE rolled out its pain-healing outreach in 2015. The effectiveness of magnesium therapy in addressing painful conditions related to magnesium deficiency inspired the team to venture across the country to reach more people.

Magnesium healing sessionsHundreds who complained

of migraine, frozen shoulders, stiff fingers, and other painful conditions as well as insomnia experienced relief and treatment

during HOPE’s outreaches in Rizal, Bohol, Sorsogon, Camarines Norte, Sagada, Tagum and other parts of the Philippines.

HOPE’s 20th pain-healing mission was sponsored by Magiteque Pain Therapy Centre, the f irst magnesium cl inic worldwide.

Mary Jean Netario Cruz, owner of Magiteque Pain Therapy Centre, expressed gratitude for magnesium therapists Lyn Iglesias Domingo and Shirley Umali Griba, Rudy Encela, and everyone who supported the 20th mission in Mt. Banahaw.

Dioquino, who is assistant priest at the Immaculate Concepcion parish in Marikina, noted that “human concern for others, combined with faith in God, can work miracle.”

He accompanied HOPE in a number of its pain-healing missions in 2015. (Oliver Samson / CBCP News)

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma blesses one of the statues of Jesus inside the “Eukaristia Garden,” located inside the Archbishop’s Residence in Cebu City, Jan. 25, 2016. With its iconic features, including a 14-meter monolithic structure called the “The Cross Tower,” the Eukaristia Garden is the city’s newest landmark and a memorable feature of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress. ROY LAGARDE

B1CBCP Monitor January 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20 No. 5

life is lost.Migrants are our brothers and sis-

ters in search of a better life, far away from poverty, hunger, exploitation and the unjust distribution of the planet’s resources which are meant to be equitably shared by all. Don’t we all want a better, more decent and prosperous life to share with our loved ones?

At this moment in human history,

marked by great movements of mi-gration, identity is not a secondary issue. Those who migrate are forced to change some of their most distinc-tive characteristics and, whether they like or not, even those who welcome them are also forced to change. How can we experience these changes not as obstacles to genuine development, rather as opportunities for genuine human, social and spiritual growth, a growth which respects and promotes those values which make us ever more humane and help us to live a balanced relationship with God, others and creation?

The presence of migrants and refu-gees seriously challenges the various societies which accept them. Those societies are faced with new situations which could create serious hardship unless they are suitably motivated, managed and regulated. How can we ensure that integration will become mutual enrichment, open up positive perspectives to communities, and prevent the danger of discrimina-tion, racism, extreme nationalism or xenophobia?

Biblical revelation urges us to wel-come the stranger; it tells us that in so doing, we open our doors to God, and that in the faces of others we see the face of Christ himself. Many institutions, associations, movements and groups, diocesan, national and international organizations are ex-periencing the wonder and joy of the feast of encounter, sharing and

PASTORAL CONCERNS

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Vatican City - September, 7, 2013: Pope Francis led a prayer vigil for peace in Syria in St. Peter’s Square on September 7, 2013.

Erbil, Iraq - April 4, 2015. Yazidi refugees outside of an abandoned building, helped by Christians in Erbil, Iraq.

Those who migrate are

forced to change some of their

most distinctive characteristics and, whether

they like or not, even those who

welcome them are also forced to change.

‘Migrants and refugees challenge us. The response of the Gospel of Mercy’

DEAR Brothers and Sisters,In the Bull of indiction of the Ex-

traordinary Jubilee of Mercy I noted that “at times we are called to gaze even more attentively on mercy so that we may become a more effec-tive sign of the Father’s action in our lives” (Misericordiae Vultus, 3). God’s love is meant to reach out to each and every person. Those who wel-come the Father’s embrace, for their part, become so many other open arms and embraces, enabling every person to feel loved like a child and “at home” as part of the one human family. God’s fatherly care extends to everyone, like the care of a shepherd for his flock, but it is particularly concerned for the needs of the sheep who are wounded, weary or ill. Jesus told us that the Father stoops to help those overcome by physical or moral poverty; the more serious their condi-tion, the more powerfully is his divine mercy revealed.

In our time, migration is growing worldwide. Refugees and people flee-ing from their homes challenge indi-viduals and communities, and their traditional ways of life; at times they upset the cultural and social horizons which they encounter. Increasingly, the victims of violence and poverty, leaving their homelands, are exploited by human traffickers during their journey towards the dream of a better future. If they survive the abuses and hardships of the journey, they then have to face latent suspicions and fear. In the end, they frequently encounter a lack of clear and practical policies regulating the acceptance of migrants and providing for short or long term programmes of integration respectful of the rights and duties of all. Today, more than in the past, the Gospel of mercy troubles our consciences, pre-vents us from taking the suffering of others for granted, and points out way of responding which, grounded in the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, find practical expression in works of spiritual and corporal mercy.

In the light of these facts, I have chosen as the theme of the 2016 World Day of Migrants and Refugees: Migrants and Refugees Challenge Us. The Response of the Gospel of Mercy. Migration movements are now a structural reality, and our primary issue must be to deal with the present emergency phase by providing pro-grammes which address the causes of migration and the changes it entails, including its effect on the makeup of societies and peoples. The tragic stories of millions of men and women daily confront the international com-munity as a result of the outbreak of unacceptable humanitarian crises in different parts of the world. Indiffer-ence and silence lead to complicity whenever we stand by as people are dying of suffocation, starvation, vio-lence and shipwreck. Whether large or small in scale, these are always tragedies, even when a single human

solidarity. They have heard the voice of Jesus Christ: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Rev 3:20). Yet there continue to be debates about the conditions and limits to be set for the reception of migrants, not only on the level of national policies, but also in some parish communities whose traditional tranquility seems to be threatened.

Faced with these issues, how can the Church fail to be inspired by the example and words of Jesus Christ? The answer of the Gospel is mercy.

In the first place, mercy is a gift of God the Father who is revealed in the Son. God’s mercy gives rise to joyful gratitude for the hope which opens up before us in the mystery of our redemption by Christ’s blood. Mercy nourishes and strengthens solidarity towards others as a necessary response to God’s gracious love, “which has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5). Each of us is responsible for his or her neigh-bor: we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they live. Concern for fostering good relationships with others and the ability to overcome prejudice and fear are essential ingre-dients for promoting the culture of encounter, in which we are not only prepared to give, but also to receive from others. Hospitality, in fact, grows from both giving and receiving.

From this perspective, it is impor-tant to view migrants not only on the basis of their status as regular or irregular, but above all as people whose dignity is to be protected and who are capable of contributing to progress and the general welfare. This is especially the case when they responsibly assume their obligations

towards those who receive them, gratefully respecting the material and spiritual heritage of the host country, obeying its laws and helping with its needs. Migrations cannot be reduced merely to their political and legisla-tive aspects, their economic implica-tions and the concrete coexistence of

various cultures in one territory. All these complement the defence and promotion of the human person, the culture of encounter, and the unity of peoples, where the Gospel of mercy inspires and encourages ways of re-newing and transforming the whole of humanity.

The Church stands at the side of all who work to defend each person’s right to live with dignity, first and foremost by exercising the right not

to emigrate and to contribute to the development of one’s country of origin. This process should include, from the outset, the need to assist the countries which migrants and refu-gees leave. This will demonstrate that solidarity, cooperation, international interdependence and the equitable distribution of the earth’s goods are

essential for more decisive efforts, especially in areas where migration movements begin, to eliminate those imbalances which lead people, indi-vidually or collectively, to abandon their own natural and cultural envi-ronment. In any case, it is necessary to avert, if possible at the earliest stages,

the flight of refugees and departures as a result of poverty, violence and persecution.

Public opinion also needs to be correctly formed, not least to prevent unwarranted fears and speculations detrimental to migrants.

No one can claim to be indifferent in the face of new forms of slavery imposed by criminal organizations which buy and sell men, women and children as forced laborers in

construction, agriculture, fishing or in other markets. How many minors are still forced to fight in militias as child soldiers! How many people are victims of organ trafficking, forced begging and sexual exploitation! Today’s refugees are fleeing from these aberrant crimes, and they ap-peal to the Church and the human community to ensure that, in the outstretched hand of those who re-ceive them, they can see the face of the Lord, “the Father of mercies and God of all consolation” (2 Cor 1:3).

Dear brothers and sisters, migrants and refugees! At the heart of the Gospel of mercy the encounter and acceptance by others are intertwined with the encounter and acceptance of God himself. Welcoming others means welcoming God in person! Do not let yourselves be robbed of the hope and joy of life born of your experience of God’s mercy, as manifested in the people you meet on your journey! I entrust you to the Virgin Mary, Mother of migrants and refugees, and to Saint Joseph, who ex-perienced the bitterness of emigration to Egypt. To their intercession I also commend those who invest so much energy, time and resources to the pastoral and social care of migrants. To all I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, September 12, 2015Memorial of the Holy Name of Mary

FRANCIS

Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2016

Refugees in the Diocese of Maiduguri, Nigeria, Sept. 9, 2014.

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1st instance process on hand, the appellate tribunal in fact does a remarkably quick work—a few months in most cases, and in cases of urgency even in less than a month.

2nd, because the NAMT is a well-oiled machinery. Through the years, under the tutelage of Abp. Oscar Cruz—undeniably the longest-serving judge in any tribunal in the Philippines—a team of well-qualified judges have been doing their work, the whole process facilitated by a dedicated secretariat.

3rd, because the Chief Judge of NAMT is fully dedicated to the task.

Unfortunately, this is not the situation in many of the diocesan and inter-diocesan tribunals.

The Slowness of the Diocesan and Inter-diocesan Tribunals

The slowness of the declaration of nullity of marriage occurs in the 1st instance: at the diocesan or inter-diocesan tribunals. There are various reasons for this, among which are the following:

1) Lack of trained personnel. Canon Law re-quires that a declaration of marriage nullity be tried by a collegiate tribunal of three judges: all clerics with at least a licentiate in canon law, or at least a cleric with licentiate in canon law aided by two non-clerics knowledgeable in matrimonial law. A sole judge may also be appointed (a cleric with at least a licentiate in canon law) aided by two laypersons, of sound judgment and upright moral background. Many dioceses do not even have their own tribunals for lack of canon lawyers (clerics or otherwise). Those with tribunals, or the inter-diocesan tribunals, are simply swamped with too many cases for their meager personnel to handle. Thus, the time for the resolution of a case in the first instance can range from a fast of 2 years to a slow of more than 5 years. Just before addressing the aforementioned CBCP Plenary Assembly in Cebu, I was reading an e-mail of a hapless lady whose case had been sleeping in a diocesan tribunal for 3 years, despite periodic follow-up. A few years ago, I helped a lawyer friend—a big shot in his profession, but helpless before the Metropoli-tan Tribunal of Manila—speed up his case, which had been languishing for 5 years. It was not the Metropolitan Tribunal’s fault either: at that time, it was still working through the backlog of cases that had built up before the break-up of the monster-archdiocese that Metro Manila was. Now, thankfully, they have accomplished the super-human job and reduced processing time to almost a year (as the CIC stipulates).

2) Difficult accessibility of the tribunals. Ide-ally, the tribunals should be accessible to the faithful because the staff can accommodate them (since they know enough matrimonial law to properly orient them) or—much bet-ter—because the judges themselves, or at least the Judicial Vicar, are accessible in the tribunal office. Unfortunately this is not the case. Most tribunals are staffed by secretaries with very little canon law background, and the judicial vicars are involved in many other pastoral concerns (e.g., taking care of a par-ish, which is really a full-time job in itself ) to be available in the tribunal office. Thus, in many cases—like the hapless lady mentioned earlier—the petitioners are simply given the impression of having been left in limbo. No wonder there are so many couples in irregular situations: they simply could not wait for the declaration of the nullity of a previous marriage and have just opted to live together without a canonical marriage.

PASTORAL CONCERNS FEATURES

Holy Doors in the Year of Mercy

(Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy and dean of theology at the Regina Apostolorum university, answers the following query:)

Q: Is there a period of time required when to open or launch the Holy Door in the local church or in a diocese? In our diocese the bishop has mentioned about the extraordinary Year of Mercy but has not schedule when to open or launch for the people. — M., Lanao del Norte province, Philippines

A: Our reader’s inquiry arrived on January 9 and, as it turned out, the diocesan bishop did open the Holy Door on January 13 at a noon ceremony with the assistance of many priests and faithful. I am sure this fact had been published previously, but our reader was apparently unawares.

However, as the question gives the opportunity to explain the situation of the Holy Door in this jubilee, I will address it now.

In the April 2015 papal bull establishing the Jubilee of Mercy, Misericordiae Vultus, Pope Francis announced the possibility of other Holy Doors besides the traditional ones in Rome:

“On … the Third Sunday of Advent, [December 2015] the Holy Door of the Cathedral of Rome—that is, the Basilica of Saint John Lateran—will be opened. In the following weeks, the Holy Doors of the other Papal Basilicas will be opened. On the same Sunday, I will announce that in every local church, at the cathedral—the mother church of the faithful in any particular area—or, alternatively, at the co-cathedral or another church of special significance, a Door of Mercy will be opened for the duration of the Holy Year. At the dis-cretion of the local ordinary, a similar door may be opened at any shrine frequented by large groups of pilgrims, since visits to these holy sites are so often grace-filled moments, as people discover a path to conversion. Every Particular Church, therefore, will be directly involved in living out this Holy Year as an extraordinary moment of grace and spiritual renewal. Thus the Jubilee will be celebrated both in Rome and in the Particular Churches as a visible sign of the Church’s universal communion.”

Later, on September 1, 2015, in a letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, which is in charge of organizing the Jubilee, the Pope expanded on the idea of opening Holy Doors in every diocese so as to offer the opportunity of receiving the indulgence to as many souls as possible. The Holy Father wrote:

“With the approach of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy I would like to focus on several points which I believe require attention to enable the celebration of the Holy Year to be for all believers a true moment of encounter with the mercy of God. It is indeed my wish that the Jubilee be a living experience of the closeness of the Father, whose tenderness is almost tangible, so that the faith of every believer may be strengthened and thus testimony to it be ever more effective.

“My thought first of all goes to all the faithful who, whether in individual Dioceses or as pilgrims to Rome, will experience the grace of the Jubilee. I wish that the Jubilee Indulgence may reach each one as a genuine experience of God’s mercy, which comes to meet each person in the Face of the Father who welcomes and forgives, forgetting completely the sin committed. To experience and obtain the Indulgence, the faithful are called to make a brief pilgrimage to the Holy Door, open in every Cathedral or in the churches designated by the Diocesan Bishop, and in the four Papal Basilicas in Rome, as a sign of the deep desire for true conversion. Likewise, I dispose that the Indulgence may be obtained in the Shrines in which the Door of Mercy is open and in the churches which traditionally are identified as Jubilee Churches. It is important that this moment be linked, first and foremost, to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist with a reflection on mercy. It will be necessary to accompany these celebrations with the profession of faith and with prayer for me and for the intentions that I bear in my heart for the good of the Church and of the entire world.

“Additionally, I am thinking of those for whom, for vari-ous reasons, it will be impossible to enter the Holy Door, particularly the sick and people who are elderly and alone, often confined to the home. For them it will be of great help to live their sickness and suffering as an experience of close-ness to the Lord who in the mystery of his Passion, death and Resurrection indicates the royal road which gives meaning to pain and loneliness. Living with faith and joyful hope this moment of trial, receiving communion or attending Holy Mass and community prayer, even through the vari-ous means of communication, will be for them the means of obtaining the Jubilee Indulgence. My thoughts also turn to those incarcerated, whose freedom is limited. The Jubilee Year has always constituted an opportunity for great amnesty, which is intended to include the many people who, despite deserving punishment, have become conscious of the injustice they worked and sincerely wish to re-enter society and make their honest contribution to it. May they all be touched in a tangible way by the mercy of the Father who wants to be close to those who have the greatest need of his forgiveness. They may obtain the Indulgence in the chapels of the prisons. May the gesture of directing their thought and prayer to the Father

The Slowness of Marriage Nullity Processes

Mitis Iudex in the Philippine Setting (Part I)

By Fr. Jaime B. Achacoso, J.C.D.

FRESH from presenting the new norms on the process for the declaration of mar-riage nullity to the CBCP Plenary Meeting in Cebu last week, I am moved to take a second look at the two important novelties introduced by this landmark document: (1) doing away with the automatic elevation of a favorable sentence for nullity to an appellate court, and (2) the introduction of a briefer process in which the diocesan bishop himself exercises his judicial power to adjudicate a case under certain conditions. Reserving the briefer process for a future consideration, I would like to dwell now on the first innova-tion, putting it in the Philippine context.

The Fundamental Pretension of Mitis Iudex (MI)

Before going any further, let us remember the fundamental problem which moved the Pope to make the present reform:

a) Motive for the Reform: The zeal to reform has been fueled by the enormous number of faithful who, while wishing to act according to their consciences, are too often separated from the legal structures of the Church due to physical or moral distance; charity and mercy therefore require that same Church, as a mother, to make herself closer to her children who consider them-selves separated. [MI, Par.5]

b) Sense of the Reform: This direction was also indicated by the votes of the majority of our brothers in the episcopate, gathered in the recent extraordinary synod, who implored more flexible and accessible judicial processes. In full harmony with this desire I have decided to introduce, by this motu proprio, provisions that favor not the nullity of marriage but rather the speed of the processes, along with the appropriate simplic-ity, so that the heart of the faithful who await clarification of their status is not long oppressed by the darkness of doubt due to the lengthy wait for a conclusion. [MI, Par.6]

In other words, the fundamental preten-sion was to streamline the process—making it faster and more accessible to the parties involved. If that is the pretension, the solu-tion should focus on those aspects or stages of the process which are slowest and present most difficulty for the parties to give their due participation in. This is a fundamental requirement in problem-solving. To illustrate this, we can consider the problem of the hor-rendously slow traffic along EDSA. To look for a solution, first of all we need to look for the bottlenecks along that long route and facilitate traffic in those sections. It would be bordering on the hilarious to try and solve the slow traffic to the south by improving the exits to the SLEX, or the northbound traffic by widening the exits to the NLEX.

The National Appellate Matrimonial Tribunal is not the Bottleneck

If one asks anybody who has gone through the painful process of getting a declaration of nullity of his/marriage, hardly anyone will complain that the National Appellate Matrimonial Tribunal (NAMT) at the CBCP Headquarters in Manila took long. In fact, that is the fastest stage of the whole process and rightly so, for several reasons:

1st, because the 2nd instance process nor-mally consists in simply ascertaining that the 1st instance process was done properly and considering any observations interposed by the Defender of the Bond regarding the 1st instance sentence. With all the actae of the

3) Lack of canon lawyers to act as advocates. Imagine civil courts without lawyers: the people just go there and the judges have to instruct the cases and resolve them. That is the situation of ecclesiastical tribunals. For lack of trained personnel, the figure of the advocate is virtually non-existent. The poor ecclesiastical judge has to do everything: cite the parties and witnesses, depose them, make the case and adjudicate it. He is like a good chef: he buys the ingredients, he cooks them and plates the dishes (at least a great chef might even have an assistant chef or at least helpers to do the food preparation).

In the few cases I have been involved in as Advocate, I notice that if I make the pleadings well (i.e., I lay out the case for the tribunal, so that they only have to resolve it and dic-tate sentence) the tribunals get the job done very quickly. For ecclesiastical tribunals, to actually receive pleadings from the party con-cerned—as made by a canon lawyer—might be the closest thing to heaven!

T h e Da n g e r o f No t Ha v i n g a n Automatic Appeal

With all the foregoing discussion, it thus becomes clear—at least for the Philippine setting—that removing the automatic appeal may be a case of the proverbial barking up the wrong tree, because this will not hasten the process where it is really slow: at the di-ocesan or inter-diocesan tribunal level. What is worse, by making the 1st instance affirma-tive sentence of nullity executory, given the lack of personnel at that level, we might be opening the floodgates to a lot of defective sentences of nullity. In the past, the automatic appeal assured that justice was served—both as a pressure on the 1st instance tribunals to do their work well for fear of having their sentences reversed by the NAMT, and as a back-up mechanism for those instances of a miscarriage of justice due to the lack of trained personnel: at least the NAMT could detect the failure and apply the opportune remedy (by sending the case back to the 1st in-stance tribunal with the proper orientations). Now with the automatic appeal removed, the integrity of the process for the declaration of nullity would rest entirely on the diocesan and inter-diocesan tribunals.

With all the above, there is only one real solution to the problem of the slowness and difficulty of the process for the declaration of marriage nullity: to train more people to man the diocesan and inter-diocesan tribunals of 1st instance. Specifically:

More priests have to get a licentiate in Canon Law, to form the collegiate tribunals, or at least to head them in the case of tribunals with laypersons as judges.

More laypeople need to get a specific forma-tion in the matrimonial law and procedural law of the Church in order to form part of ecclesiastical tribunals. I am thinking of the many retired civil lawyers or even those who studied law but did not pass the BAR exams and are therefore not able to practice their profession. Rather than just be para-legals, perhaps they can be encouraged to work in ecclesiastical tribunals, with proper remunera-tion of course. With their juridic preparation, a short course on canon matrimonial law (e.g., 3 months) plus a period of apprenticeship as instructors or auditors for the instruction of matrimonial cases should suffice.

All these can be facilitated by the existing faculties of canon law (both in Manila and abroad) and the Canon Law Society of the Philippines.

Rome, Italy - January 1, 2016. Pope Francis opens the Holy Doors of Mercy at St. Mary Major Basilica after New Year’s Day Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God on January 1, 2016.

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B3CBCP Monitor January 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20 No. 5PASTORAL CONCERNS FEATURES

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE PHILIPPINES:A Brief Historical Overview (First of a Series)

History, B4

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these very negative attitudes were also transmitted to non-Muslim Filipinos.

SYSTEMATIC CHRISTIANIZA-TION. An organized program of evangelization of the Philippines was begun in 1565 by the Augustinians who accompanied Legazpi’s expedition. They were followed by Franciscans (1578), Jesuits (1581), Dominicans (1587), and Augustinian Recollects (1606) from both Spain and Mexico. Manila became a bishopric in 1579 and an archbishopric in 1595.

The Spanish system of the Patronato Real, or royal patronage of the Church in the Indies, facilitated the implemen-tation of an evangelization program. Under this arrangement, the Spanish crown gave financial support and pro-tection to the Church in the Philippines while exercising a large measure of control over its activities. Missionaries traveled to the Philippines in the king’s ships. While engaged in mission work,

they were entitled to a stipend drawn from either the colonial government directly or from the right to tribute in certain territories (encomiendas) into which the country was initially divided. The encomienda system was gradu-ally abandoned during the seventeenth century after widespread criticism of extortion and other abuses.

On the other hand, the appointment of missionaries to a parish or mission station was subject to the approval of the governor as vice-patron. In fact, it was Philip II himself who determined that each missionary group should have its own section of the country for evangelization purposes. Under this system the Church in turn exerted great influence on government policy. The early missionaries often sought to protect the natives from the abuses of the conquistadors and encomenderos; they had a vigorous leader in Fray Do-mingo de Salazar, OP, the first bishop of the Philippines. The synod that he summoned in 1582 clarified many dif-ficult problems regarding the conquest, settlement, and administration of the country in accordance with Christian ideals and principles of justice.

The Philippine Church of the six-teenth century certainly took sides, and it was not with the rich and powerful nor with their fellow Spaniards, but with those who were oppressed and victims of injustice. Church historian Schumacher notes: “Skeptics have often questioned the reality of the rapid con-version of sixteenth-century Filipinos. If one wishes the answer, it is to be found right here, that the Church as a whole took the side of the poor and the oppressed, whether the oppressors were Spaniards or Filipino principales.”

MISSION METHODS. The Span-ish missionaries in the Philippines employed a variety of approaches to evangelization. The scattered clan vil-lages were gathered together into larger communities (pueblos, cabeceras); often this implied radical lifestyle changes and hence could only be accomplished with difficulty and very gradually. Instruc-tion was given in native languages, as few Filipinos outside the Intramuros area of Manila were ever able to read, write, or speak Spanish with any proficiency. In most missions primary schools supplied the new Christian communi-ties with catechists and local officials. Religion was made to permeate society by substituting splendid liturgical and paraliturgical observances (fiestas, pro-

By James H. Kroeger, M.M.

THE Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines is a major actor in this Southeast Asian island nation as well as within the wider Asian and Univer-sal Church. The pastoral visit of Pope Francis in 2015 can serve as an oppor-tunity to review the history and current situation of the largest local Church in Asia. Statistics in 2015 show that the Philippine population has exceeded 100 million. The five major religious bodies and their percentage of the local popula-tion are: Roman Catholicism (82.9%), Protestantism (5.2%), Islam (4.6%), Iglesia Filipina Independiente (2.6%), and Iglesia ni Cristo (2.3%). The Phil-ippines is the world’s third largest local Church (after Brazil and Mexico). Of Asia’s 120+ million Catholics over 60% are Filipinos. These brief, yet signifi-cant, facts invite deeper exploration of the multi-faceted Philippine Church.

BACKGROUND. The Philippine archipelago is composed of 7,107 islands and islets, of which the largest are Luzon in the north and Mindanao in the south. In central Philippines there are several medium-sized is-lands known as the Visayan Islands. Stretching from the southwestern tip of Mindanao toward Borneo is a chain of small islands collectively known as the Sulu Archipelago. The population of southwestern Mindanao and Sulu is predominantly Muslim.

There is evidence of human settle-ments in the islands as early as 20,000 BC. The small black people, called Negritos by the Spaniards, were the first to arrive. Later they were driven into the mountainous interior when immigrants belonging to the brown-skinned Malay race reached the islands. Today one finds various hill tribes such as the Aetas and Ifugao of Luzon and the Mansakas, Mandayas, and Bukidnon of Mindanao; many of these peoples still practice their traditional religions. Malay Filipinos occupy the lowlands, constitute the majority of the population, and have become Christian. They form several distinct groups; the Visayan, Tagalog, Ilokano, and Bikolano are among the most numerous.

ARRIVAL OF SPANIARDS. In March 1521 Ferdinand Magellan ar-rived in search of spices and converts for Charles I (Emperor Charles V); it was his son Prince Philip, later King Philip II, whose name was bestowed on the islands by Villalobos in 1542. Lapulapu, a native chieftain of Cebu, resisted Magellan’s claim of Spanish sov-ereignty, and he was mortally wounded by Lapulapu’s spear thrust. In 1565 Miguel Lopez de Legazpi established the first permanent Spanish settlement in Cebu. In 1571 Legazpi moved his headquarters to Manila, making it the capital of the colony. By the end of the century, most of the lowlands were un-der Spanish rule, except for some south-ern islands which remained Muslim.

Islam had been introduced in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century. It gradually exercised a strong influence and helped develop a type of sophisti-cated political organization, semifeudal and predatory, in Mindanao and Sulu and initially in Manila. When the Span-iards encountered Muslims in the Phil-ippines their hostile attitudes based on Muslim-Christian encounters in Europe (the struggle for independence from Moorish rule in the Iberian Peninsula) colored their outlook and relations;

cessions, novenas) for the traditional rites and festivals; many pious associa-tions of prayer and charity were formed and promoted.

EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES. These tasks were almost exclusively the concern of the Church during the entire period of Spanish rule. Before the end of the sixteenth century, Manila had three hospitals, one for Spaniards, another for natives, and a third for the Chinese. The first two were conducted by Franciscans, the third by the Dominicans. Later (1611) the Hospitallers of Saint John of God came to make hospital work their special field of activity. In 1595 the Jesuits opened a grammar school for Spanish boys that later developed into the University of San Ignacio and had attached to it the residential college of San José, founded in 1601 and today the San José Seminary.

The year 1611 saw the beginnings

of the Dominican University of Santo Tomás, which continues today as a vibrant educational center. In 1640 the Dominicans also took charge of the College of San Juan de Letrán, started about a decade earlier by a zealous lay-man for the education of orphans. Vari-ous religious communities of women established themselves in Manila in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; frequently, they undertook the educa-tion of girls. Among these sisterhoods, that begun by Ignacia del Espírito Santo, a Chinese mestiza, in 1684 and today known as the Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM), deserves special mention as the first locally founded religious institute, specifically for in-digenous women.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT. The considerable funds required for the support of these schools, hospitals, and charitable works came from pious donations and legacies, called obras pías; they were often invested in the galleon trade or in large agricultural estates, the so-called friar lands. These opera-tions often tainted the Church as being involved with commercialism. At the same time, the friar lands were leased to tenant cultivators for development and administration, an arrangement that led to frequent conflicts of interest and

a deepening resentment of the Church as landlord. This background must be borne in mind for a balanced under-standing of the anticlerical reaction that developed in the latter nineteenth century among a people deeply and sincerely Catholic.

NATIVE CLERGY. Catholicism had taken permanent root in the Phil-ippines as the religion of the people by the eighteenth century, if not earlier. However, it had one serious weakness: the retarded development of the na-tive clergy. The unsatisfactory results of early experiments in Latin America had made the Spanish missionaries in the Philippines extremely cautious in admitting native candidates to the priesthood. Apparently, only in the late seventeenth century were native Filipinos ordained. A proposal of Gian-battista Sidotti, a member of Cardinal Charles de Tournon’s entourage, to erect a regional seminary in Manila for the whole of East Asia was sharply rejected by the crown (1712).

Bishops became increasingly eager for a diocesan clergy completely under their jurisdiction when conflicts over parish appointments continued—conflicts between the bishops and the religious orders on the one hand, and the bish-ops and the government on the other. Since very few secular priests came to the Philippines from Spain, this meant ordaining large numbers of native men. Archbishop Sancho de Santa Justa y Rufina of Manila (1767-1787) threat-ened to take away their parishes from the religious who refused to submit to episcopal visitation; he also ordained natives even when they lacked the necessary aptitude and training. The results proved disastrous, confirming the prevailing opinion that natives, even if admitted to the priesthood, were in-capable of assuming its full responsibili-ties. Some improvement in formation and an increase in vocations occurred after the arrival of the Vincentians (1862), who took charge of diocesan seminaries. Even so, the departure of a large proportion of Spanish clergy after the transfer of sovereignty from Spain to the United States (1898) left over 700

parishes vacant.

RELIGIOUS CLERGY. The privi-leges of the Patronato Real conferred by the Holy See on the Spanish crown were a mixed blessing; they promoted constructive collaboration between the Church and the colonial government, but it also led to friction. The focus of difficulty was the religious parish priest and the extent to which he was subject to episcopal visitation and control. The conflict gave rise to series of crises that began as early as the administration of Bishop Salazar (1581-1594). In 1744 the Holy See ruled that religious parish priests were subject to the jurisdiction of the ordinary in all matters pertaining to their parish duties (in officio officiando) and to their religious superiors in their personal conduct.

With the advent of the revolutionary era in Europe and the loss of Spain’s American colonies, the terms of the problem in the Philippines changed. It became widely believed in official circles that the presence of the religious in the parishes was a political necessity, not so much because they were religious as be-cause they were Spaniards and could be relied upon to keep the population loy-al. This seems to have been one factor behind the thinking related to the royal

decree of 1862 transferring the Min-danao missions from the Augustinian Recollects to the newly returned Jesuits (they had been expelled in 1768) and giving the former an equivalent num-ber of parishes in Manila and Cavite, which were consequently taken away from the native clergy. The result was mounting disaffection among the native priests thus deprived or threatened with removal. Naturally, the Filipino priests assailed the government policy; among their active leaders and spokesmen were Fathers Gómez, Burgos, and Zamora, who were executed by the government for alleged complicity in a mutiny of native garrison troops in Cavite (1872).

The deaths of these Filipino priests gave a powerful impetus to the emer-gence of Filipino nationalism by sen-sitizing Filipinos to injustices by the Spanish colonial government. The movement began as an initiative for colonial reforms led by Dr. José Rizal (1862-1896); after Rizal’s arrest and execution for treason, it developed into a separatist movement. The ensuing revolution (1896-1898), which was markedly anti-friar, though usually not anticlerical or anti-Catholic, was cut short by the intervention of the United States, which demanded cession of the Philippines at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War.

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. The change of sovereignty ended the Patronato system. The United States’ policy of Church-State separa-tion was extended to the Philippines, but interpreted in a manner much less favorable to the Church. Thus, a system of nonsectarian public education was established that failed to take into ac-count that the overwhelming majority of Filipinos were Catholics. In addi-tion, there was the strong influence of hundreds of American public-school teachers, most of whom were Protes-tants. They were popularly known as the Thomasites; a group of 540 arrived in 1901 aboard the U.S.S. Thomas and many others followed. The professed neutralism in religious matters of the state university, founded in 1911, was copied by other privately founded non-sectarian universities, resulting in the

undermining of religious belief among the educated class.

SCHISM. One consequence of the revolutionary upheaval was the forma-tion by Gregorio Aglipay, a Filipino secular priest, of a schismatic church along nationalist lines, the Philippine Independent Church or Iglesia Filipina Independiente (1902). Initially it drew a considerable following; however, it soon broke up into factions, some of which rapidly deserted Catholicism in doctrine as well as in discipline. The Supreme Court (1906-1907) also restored to the Catholic Church much of the property that had been taken over by the Aglipay-ans. The largest Trinitarian faction was received into full communion by the Protestant Episcopal Church (United States), established in the Philippines since the beginning of the century.

PROTESTANT MISSIONS. Prot-estant denominations sent mission personnel to the Philippines almost as soon as the transfer of sovereignty was effected. In 1901 Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, and United Breth-ren groups, along with societies such as the Christian Missionary Alliance, the YMCA, and the American Bible Society, formed an Evangelical Union

B4 CBCP MonitorJanuary 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20 No. 5PASTORAL CONCERNS STATEMENTS

Eucharistic Miracles and God’s Unrelenting MercyBy Robert Z. Cortes

IT may be an embarrassing thing to admit for some of us--espe-cially those of us who consider ourselves “believers”--that from time to time, we ask ourselves, “Is Jesus really present in the Holy Eucharist?” Perhaps the thought--not even a serious doubt--would pass for just a fleeting mo-ment; yet it does come, and not just once.

This was per-haps the very same challenge that a German priest on his way to Rome had, as he was cel-ebrating Mass in the church of St. Christina in Bol-sena, Italy. He was pious, we are told, but his faith was not irreproach-able. Joan Carroll Cruz, author of a classic book on Eucharistic mira-cles, tells us that in what would seem a result of his lack of faith, the priest “had barely spoken the words of Con-secration when blood started to s eep f rom the consecrated Host and trickle over his hand onto the altar and the corporal.”

We are told that Pope Urban IV, who was in nearby Orvieto at the time, after having confirmed the veracity of the miracle, had the Host and the corporal brought to the Cathedral with the pomp and dignity that

the relics deserved. The blood-stained corporal is still in that Cathedral now, for all to see, enshrined in a breathtakingly beautiful chapel whose walls are painted from top to bottom with scenes from the striking events of those extraordinary days.

It was with genuine awe that my friends and I beheld it when

we had the good fortune of going there in pi lgrim-age last year. To get that close to what can only be described as God’s con-de s c en s i on to the hard-heartedness of man makes o n e t r u l y thankful that, despite our s i n f u l n e s s , God contin-ues to have mercy on us and reaches out to us. But it was also an occasion to realize more profoundly, especially af-ter the initial thrill and ex-citement of the encounter had left, that my faith in the Holy Eu-charist cannot be based on a

sanguinary spectacle, no matter how remarkable.

That statement may sound a wee bit ungrateful for that wonderful experience--indeed, for all Eucharistic miracles in history. But that realization is in keeping with a Eucharistic hymn

composed to honor that very miracle in Bolsena-Orvieto: St. Thomas Aquinas’s masterpiece, “Adoro Te, devote” (I Adore You, devoutly). In the second stanza, the saint affirms: “Sight, touch, taste are all deceived in their judgment of you, but hearing suffices firmly to believe. I be-lieve all that the Son of God has

spoken; there is nothing truer than this Word of Truth.”

In other words, the real mo-tive of our faith in the Eucharist is simply that Christ Himself said it: “This is my Body… This is my Blood.” Since it was the Catholic Church that handed down to us these very words of

Christ, another – albeit implicit – way of expressing the motive of our faith in the Eucharist is this: because the Church has told us so. There is no contradic-tion; after all, the Church is the Body of Christ, and Christ is the Church’s Head.

To say all that is not to trivi-alize Eucharistic miracles, but

rather to put them in the proper perspective: they can and do in-spire faith. In fact, these miracles are of as much value to those who don’t believe as to those who do already believe. For those who don’t believe, an encounter with a Eucharistic miracle--arresting as it always is--may be a first

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step to genuine faith in the Real Presence.

And to believers, Eucharistic miracles often serve as a wake-up call from the slumber or stupor in which we find ourselves, ac-customed as we are to seeing the Host on the altars day in, day out. Because of the natural weakness of our senses we may

not realize it that externally we act like non-believers. We forget to greet or visit Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, we fiddle with our gadgets at Mass, and we do our genuflections so care-lessly – if we even do them at all. Or even if we don’t act as badly, perhaps the effort we exert to

giving Our Lord in the Eucharist the honor and love He deserves is nowhere in proportion to the gifts He has endowed us to serve that purpose.

The good news is that not even our lack of faith stops God from wanting to give it to us. If anything, it only makes Him more generous: the miracle of

Bolsena-Orvieto is a testament to that. This is not to encour-age presumption. Rather, it is to affirm that regardless of the level of our faith, now is a good time to ask for an increase in this faith as a fitting response to God’s unrelenting goodness and mercy.

To get that close to what can only be described as God’s

condescension to the hard-

heartedness of man makes one truly thankful that, despite

our sinfulness, God continues to have mercy

on us and reaches out

to us.

Holy Doors, B2 History, B3

each time they cross the thresh-old of their cell signify for them their passage through the Holy Door, because the mercy of God is able to transform hearts, and is also able to transform bars into an experience of freedom.

“I have asked the Church in this Jubilee Year to rediscover the richness encompassed by the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The experience of mercy, indeed, becomes visible in the witness of concrete signs as Jesus himself taught us. Each time that one of the faithful personally performs one or more of these actions, he or she shall surely obtain the Jubilee Indulgence. Hence the com-mitment to live by mercy so as to obtain the grace of complete and exhaustive forgiveness by the power of the love of the Father who excludes no one. The Jubilee Indulgence is thus full, the fruit of the very event which is to be celebrated and experienced with faith, hope and charity.

“Furthermore, the Jubilee Indulgence can also be obtained for the deceased. We are bound to them by the witness of faith and charity that they have left us. Thus, as we remember them in the Eucharistic celebration, thus we can, in the great mystery of the Communion of Saints, pray for them, that the merci-ful Face of the Father free them of every remnant of fault and strongly embrace them in the unending beatitude.”

The Pope also granted wide-spread faculties to priests to remove the excommunication related to abortion, and granted faculties to the priests associated with the Society of St. Pius X so that their absolutions would be valid and the faithful who con-fess with them can obtain the jubilee indulgence. He added another concession:

“The Roman Ritual states that Diocesan Bishops, and others equated to them in law, have the faculty to impart, according to the prescribed formula, the Papal Blessing with a plenary indulgence three times a year on solemn feasts of their own choice, using the rite specifically prepared for that occasion.

“Pope Francis, on the occa-sion of the Jubilee of Mercy, has granted that all the bishops

of the world may impart the Papal Blessing with a plenary indulgence on two additional occasions, namely: at the con-clusion of the Opening Cel-ebration of the Holy Year in the local Churches on December 13 and, the second, at the end of the Closing Celebration of the Jubilee in the local Churches on November 13, 2016.”

Regarding the concession of indulgences the current norms state:

“A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day. In order to obtain it, the faithful must, in addition to being in the state of grace: have the interior disposi-tion of complete detachment from sin, even venial sin; have sacramentally confessed their sins; receive the Holy Eucharist (it is certainly better to receive it while participating in Holy Mass, but for the indulgence only Holy Communion is re-quired); pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff.

“It is appropriate, but not necessary, that the sacramental Confession and especially Holy Communion and the prayer for the Pope’s intentions take place on the same day that the indul-genced work is performed; but it is sufficient that these sacred rites and prayers be carried out within several days (about 20) before or after the indulgenced act. Prayer for the Pope’s inten-tions is left to the choice of the faithful, but an ‘Our Father’ and a ‘Hail Mary’ are suggested. One sacramental Confession suffices for several plenary indulgences, but a separate Holy Commu-nion and a separate prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions are required for each plenary indulgence.”

As well as these, the web page of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization has some specific indications for this jubilee:

“Once they have crossed through the Holy Door or Door of Mercy, or have fulfilled one of the other conditions under which Pope Francis has granted the Jubilee Indulgence (for example, for the sick, for the imprisoned, or for anyone who carries out in person a work of mercy), in addition to the usual conditions which require a heart well-disposed for the

grace to bring its desired fruits, the faithful should stop in prayer to fulfill the final actions asked for: the profession of faith, and prayer for the Holy Father and his intentions. The latter should be at least an ‘Our Father’ — the prayer in which Jesus himself taught us to turn as children to the Father — but it could pos-sibly be more. In particular, tak-ing into consideration the spirit of this Holy Year, it is suggested that pilgrims recite the lovely prayer of Pope Francis for the Jubilee, and that they conclude the time of prayer with an invo-cation to the merciful Lord Jesus (for example, ‘Merciful Jesus, I trust in You’).”

The aforementioned prayer of Pope Francis is as follows:

“Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father, and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.

Show us your face and we will be saved.

Your loving gaze freed Zac-chaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money; the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking hap-piness only in created things; made Peter weep after his betrayal, and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.

Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman:

‘If you knew the gift of God!’You are the visible face of the

invisible Father, of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:

let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified.

You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness in order that they may feel com-passion for those in ignorance and error: let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.

Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing, so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord, and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed, and restore sight to the blind.

We ask this through the interces-sion of Mary, Mother of Mercy, you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.

Amen.”

to coordinate their activities. A denomination of local origin with an evangelical orientation, the Iglesia ni Cristo, was founded in 1914.

CHURCH RESPONSE. The normal life of the Catholic Church suffered disastrously during the years following 1898; in several respects it would be decades before a condition ap-proximating “normalcy” would again be reached. From 1898 to 1900 there were almost no resident bishops; diocesan priests remained in very short supply and some had defected to the Aglipayans; seminaries were closed in 1898 and did not re-open until 1904. From 1898 to 1903 the total number of friars decreased over 75% from 1,013 to 246. In a word, the Church was in chaos.

The true beginnings of the reorganization of the Church began with the persistent efforts of Monsignor Guidi through his negotiations with the American government and the Filipino clergy. Leo XIII, in his apostolic letter Quae mari sinico (1902) re-organized the hierarchy, created four new dioceses, and strongly recommended to the Philippine hierarchy the formation of a native clergy. The first official Provincial Council of Manila was convened in 1907 with the goals of reviving the faith of the Filipinos, restoring the local Church, and inspiring in the clergy a spirit of apostolic zeal.

Meanwhile, the severe short-age of priests and religious was met in part by new, non-Spanish missionary congregations of women and men from Europe, Australia, and America. For example, male missionary so-cieties that responded to the pressing needs in the 1905-1941 period are: Irish Redemptorists (1905), Mill Hill Missionaries (1906), Scheut-CICM (1907), Sacred Heart Missionaries and Divine Word Society (1908), La-Salle Brothers (1911), Oblates of Saint Joseph (1915), Maryknoll Missioners (1926), Columban Missioners (1929), Society of Saint Paul (1935), Quebec-PME Society (1937), and Oblates-OMI (1939). Many dedicated female religious came as mission-aries to the Philippines, often

working in partnership with the societies just mentioned.

By the mid-1920s, the situ-ation was taking a turn for the better; some significant factors in the survival and resurgence of the Church were: the revital-ization of Catholic education, growth of Filipino diocesan and religious vocations, a more edu-cated laity, Church involvement in social questions and the labor movement, and the involvement of Catholics in national life. The celebration of the XXXIII Inter-national Eucharistic Congress in Manila (1937) focused the attention of the Christian world on the Philippines and deeply inspired thousands of Filipino Catholics.

SECOND WORLD WAR. Japanese forces invaded in De-cember 1941. Allied forces un-der General MacArthur returned in 1944, but severe fighting continued until the Japanese sur-render in August 1945. Manuel Roxas became president of the second independent Republic of the Philippines on July 4, 1946. The war inflicted heavy damage; 257 priests and religious lost their lives, and losses in ecclesiastical property and equip-ment were estimated at 250 mil-lion pesos (U.S.$ 125 million). Priests, brothers, sisters, and dedicated Catholic women and men exhibited great faith and heroism during the war; many suffered imprisonment.

O RG A N I Z AT I O N O F PHILIPPINE BISHOPS. The origins of what is known today as the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) can be traced back to February 1945 when Apostolic Delegate William Piani, even as the war was still raging, ap-pointed John Hurley, SJ to take charge of relief work and created the Catholic Welfare Organiza-tion (CWO). As the very name indicates, the primary purpose of the CWO was to assist in alleviating the immediate suffer-ing and destruction brought on by the war. On July 17, 1945 all the bishops met in Manila for their first meeting after the Japanese Occupation; they re-quested that the CWO become the official organization of the Hierarchy of the Philippines. In subsequent years, the CWO

continued to be largely engaged in relief services and the rehabil-itation of Church institutions; it also became the vehicle through which the interests and values of the Church were protected and furthered.

The 1945-1965 period in the life of the local Church in the Philippines is characterized by: quite rapid recovery from the ravages of war, greatly ex-panded school system at upper levels, involvement of Catholics (laity, sisters, clergy) in social action, and growing Filipiniza-tion of Church structures and administration. The First Plenary Council of the Philippines (1953) focused on the “preservation, enrichment, and propagation of Catholic life” and offered Church resources “to renew the social order.” The Church became involved in Catholic Action programs with farmers (FFF) and workers (FFW). Guidance from the hierarchy continued; from 1945-1965 the CWO is-sued 39 joint pastoral letters and statements on a variety of subjects relevant to Church and civil society. The Philippine bishops sponsored a Marian Congress in Manila (1954) and inaugurated the Pontificio Collegio-Seminario Filippino in Rome (1961). The period saw renewal programs introduced; the Christian Fam-ily Movement (CFM) came to the Philippines in the 1950s; the Cursillos de Cristianidad introduced in 1963 (and the evangelization seminars for vari-ous Church sectorial groups they inspired) ignited a renewed fervor of lay involvement in the Church.

1965: A PIVOTAL YEAR. In mid-year, the nation observed a six-day renewal-celebration of the quadricentennial of evangeli-zation in the Philippines (1565-1965). The bishops established the Mission Society of the Phil-ippines, signifying Filipinos’ commitment to spread the gift of faith they had received to other lands. Two more events would prove to shape significantly the experience and mission of this local Church. The first was the election of Ferdinand Marcos as president of the Philippines; the second was the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council on December 8, 1965. (To be continued)

B5CBCP Monitor January 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20 No. 5PASTORAL CONCERNS STATEMENTS

Mary, B7

1. MARY, the image of a Church which evangelizes because she is evan-gelized

In the Bull of Indiction of the Ex-traordinary Jubilee of Mercy, I asked that “the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year be lived more intensely as a privileged moment to celebrate and experience God’s mercy” (Misericordiae Vultus, 17). By calling for an attentive listening to the word of God and encouraging the initiative “24 Hours for the Lord”, I sought to stress the primacy of prayer-ful listening to God’s word, especially his prophetic word. The mercy of God is a proclamation made to the world, a proclamation which each Christian is called to experience at first hand. For this reason, during the season of Lent I will send out Missionaries of Mercy as a concrete sign to everyone of God’s closeness and forgiveness.

After receiving the Good News told to her by the Archangel Gabriel, Mary, in her Magnificat, prophetically sings of the mercy whereby God chose her. The Virgin of Nazareth, betrothed to Joseph, thus becomes the perfect icon of the Church which evangelizes, for she was, and continues to be, evangelized by the Holy Spirit, who made her virginal womb fruitful. In the prophetic tradi-tion, mercy is strictly related – even on the etymological level – to the maternal womb (rahamim) and to a generous, faithful and compassionate goodness (hesed) shown within marriage and family relationships.

2. God’s covenant with humanity: a history of mercy

The mystery of divine mercy is re-vealed in the history of the covenant between God and his people Israel. God shows himself ever rich in mercy, ever ready to treat his people with deep tenderness and compassion, especially at those tragic moments when infidel-ity ruptures the bond of the covenant, which then needs to be ratified more firmly in justice and truth. Here is a true love story, in which God plays the role of the betrayed father and husband, while Israel plays the unfaithful child and bride. These domestic images--as in the case of Hosea (cf. Hos 1-2)--show to what extent God wishes to bind himself to his people.

This love story culminates in the in-carnation of God’s Son. In Christ, the Father pours forth his boundless mercy even to making him “mercy incarnate” (Misericordiae Vultus, 8). As a man, Je-sus of Nazareth is a true son of Israel; he embodies that perfect hearing required of every Jew by the Shema, which today

too is the heart of God’s covenant with Israel: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Dt 6:4-5). As the Son of God, he is the Bridegroom who does every-thing to win over the love of his bride, to whom he is bound by an unconditional love which becomes visible in the eternal wedding feast.

This is the very heart of the apostolic kerygma, in which divine mercy holds a central and fundamental place. It is “the beauty of the saving love of God

made manifest in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead” (Evangelii Gaudium, 36), that first proclamation which “we must hear again and again in different ways, the one which we must announce one way or another throughout the process of catechesis, at every level and moment” (ibid., 164). Mercy “expresses God’s way of reaching out to the sinner, offering him a new chance to look at himself, convert, and believe” (Misericordiae Vultus, 21), thus restoring his relationship with him. In Jesus crucified, God shows his desire to draw near to sinners, however far they may have strayed from him. In this way he hopes to soften the hardened heart of his Bride.

3. The works of mercyGod’s mercy transforms human

hearts; it enables us, through the ex-perience of a faithful love, to become merciful in turn. In an ever new miracle, divine mercy shines forth in our lives, inspiring each of us to love our neigh-bor and to devote ourselves to what the Church’s tradition calls the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. These works remind us that faith finds expression in concrete everyday actions meant to help our neighbors in body and spirit: by feeding, visiting, comforting and in-structing them. On such things will we

be judged. For this reason, I expressed my hope that “the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy; this will be a way to re-awaken our conscience, too often grown dull in the face of poverty, and to enter more deeply into the heart of the Gospel where the poor have a special experience of God’s mercy” (ibid., 15). For in the poor, the flesh of Christ “becomes visible in the flesh of the tortured, the crushed, the scourged, the malnourished, and the exiled… to be acknowledged, touched, and cared for by us” (ibid.). It is the unprecedented and scandalous mystery of the extension in time of the suffering of the Innocent Lamb, the burning bush of gratuitous love. Before this love, we

‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’ (Mt 9:13)The works of mercy on the road of the Jubilee

Entrusting oneself to the merciful Jesus like Mary: ‘Do whatever he tells you’ (Jn 2:5)

Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for Lent 2016

Message of his Holiness Pope Francis for the 24th World Day of the Sick 2016

can, like Moses, take off our sandals (cf.Ex 3:5), especially when the poor are our brothers or sisters in Christ who are suffering for their faith.

In the light of this love, which is strong as death (cf. Song 8:6), the real poor are revealed as those who refuse to see themselves as such. They consider themselves rich, but they are actually the poorest of the poor. This is because they are slaves to sin, which leads them to use wealth and power not for the service of God and others, but to stifle within their hearts the profound sense that they too are only poor beggars. The

greater their power and wealth, the more this blindness and deception can grow. It can even reach the point of being blind to Lazarus begging at their doorstep (cf. Lk 16:20-21). Lazarus, the poor man, is a figure of Christ, who through the poor pleads for our conversion. As such, he represents the possibility of conversion which God offers us and which we may well fail to see. Such blindness is often accompanied by the proud illusion of our own omnipotence, which reflects in a sinister way the diabolical “you will be like God” (Gen 3:5) which is the root of all sin. This illusion can likewise take social and political forms, as shown by the totalitarian systems of the twentieth century, and, in our own day, by the

ideologies of monopolizing thought and technoscience, which would make God irrelevant and reduce man to raw mate-rial to be exploited. This illusion can also be seen in the sinful structures linked to a model of false development based on the idolatry of money, which leads to lack of concern for the fate of the poor on the part of wealthier individuals and societies; they close their doors, refusing even to see the poor.

For all of us, then, the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year is a favorable time to overcome our existential alienation by listening to God’s word and by practicing the works of mercy. In the corporal works of mercy we touch the flesh of Christ in our brothers and sisters who need to be fed, clothed, sheltered, visited; in the spiritual works of mercy – counsel, instruction, forgiveness, admonishment and prayer – we touch more directly our own sinfulness. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy must never be separated. By touching the flesh of the crucified Jesus in the suf-fering, sinners can receive the gift of real-izing that they too are poor and in need. By taking this path, the “proud”, the “powerful” and the “wealthy” spoken of in the Magnificat can also be embraced and undeservedly loved by the crucified Lord who died and rose for them. This love alone is the answer to that yearning for infinite happiness and love that we think we can satisfy with the idols of knowledge, power and riches. Yet the danger always remains that by a constant refusal to open the doors of their hearts to Christ who knocks on them in the poor, the proud, rich and powerful will end up condemning themselves and plunging into the eternal abyss of soli-tude which is Hell. The pointed words of Abraham apply to them and to all of us: “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (Lk 16:29). Such attentive listening will best prepare us to celebrate the final victory over sin and death of the Bridegroom, now risen, who desires to purify his Betrothed in expectation of his coming.

Let us not waste this season of Lent, so favourable a time for conversion! We ask this through the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, who, encountering the greatness of God’s mercy freely bestowed upon her, was the first to acknowledge her lowliness (cf. Lk 1:48) and to call herself the Lord’s humble servant (cf. Lk 1:38).

From the Vatican, 4 October 2015Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

FRANCIS

CNA

DEAR Brothers and Sisters,The twenty-fourth World Day

of the Sick offers me an oppor-tunity to draw particularly close to you, dear friends who are ill, and to those who care for you.

This year, since the Day of the Sick will be solemnly celebrated in the Holy Land, I wish to propose a meditation on the Gospel account of the wed-ding feast of Cana (Jn 2: 1-11), where Jesus performed his first miracle through the interven-tion of his Mother. The theme chosen - Entrusting Oneself to the Merciful Jesus like Mary: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5) is quite fitting in light of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. The main Eucharistic celebration of the Day will take place on 11 February 2016, the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, in Nazareth itself, where “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1:14). In Nazareth, Jesus began his salvific mission, applying to himself the words of the Prophet Isaiah, as we are told by the Evangelist Luke: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim lib-erty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the op-pressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Lk4:18-19).

Illness, above all grave illness,

always places human existence in crisis and brings with it questions that dig deep. Our first response may at times be one of rebellion: Why has this happened to me? We can feel desperate, thinking that all is lost, that things no longer have meaning…

In these situations, faith in God is on the one hand tested, yet at the same time can reveal all of its positive resources. Not because faith makes illness, pain, or the questions which they raise, disappear, but be-cause it offers a key by which we can discover the deepest mean-ing of what we are experiencing; a key that helps us to see how illness can be the way to draw nearer to Jesus who walks at our side, weighed down by the Cross. And this key is given to us by Mary, our Mother, who has known this way at first hand.

At the wedding feast of Cana, Mary is the thoughtful woman who sees a serious problem for the spouses: the wine, the sym-bol of the joy of the feast, has run out. Mary recognizes the difficulty, in some way makes it her own, and acts swiftly and discreetly. She does not simply look on, much less spend time in finding fault, but rather, she turns to Jesus and presents him with the concrete problem: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3). And when Jesus tells her that it

is not yet the time for him to reveal himself (cf. v. 4), she says to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you” (v. 5). Jesus then performs the miracle, turning water into wine, a wine that im-mediately appears to be the best of the whole celebration. What teaching can we draw from this mystery of the wedding feast of Cana for the World Day of the Sick?

The wedding feast of Cana is an image of the Church: at the

centre there is Jesus who in his mercy performs a sign; around him are the disciples, the first fruits of the new community; and beside Jesus and the dis-ciples is Mary, the provident and prayerful Mother. Mary partakes of the joy of ordinary people and helps it to increase; she intercedes with her Son on behalf of the spouses and all the invited guests. Nor does Jesus refuse the request of his Mother. How much hope there

is in that event for all of us! We have a Mother with benevolent and watchful eyes, like her Son; a heart that is maternal and full of mercy, like him; hands that want to help, like the hands of Jesus who broke bread for those who were hungry, touched the sick and healed them. All this fills us with trust and opens our hearts to the grace and mercy of Christ. Mary’s intercession makes us experience the con-solation for which the apostle

Paul blesses God: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all en-couragement, who encourages us in our affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God. For as Christ’s suffer-ings overflow to us, so through Christ does our encouragement also overflow” (2 Cor 1:3-5).

Mary is the “comforted” Moth-er who comforts her children.

At Cana the distinctive fea-tures of Jesus and his mission are clearly seen: he comes to the help of those in difficulty and need. Indeed, in the course of his messianic ministry he would heal many people of illnesses, infirmities and evil spirits, give sight to the blind, make the lame walk, restore health and dignity to lepers, raise the dead, and proclaim the good news to the poor (cf. Lk7:21-22). Mary’s request at the wedding feast, suggested by the Holy Spirit to her maternal heart, clearly shows not only Jesus’ messianic power but also his mercy.

In Mary’s concern we see re-flected the tenderness of God. This same tenderness is present in the lives of all those per-sons who attend the sick and understand their needs, even the most imperceptible ones, because they look upon them with eyes full of love. How many times has a mother at the bedside of her sick child, or a child caring for an elderly par-ent, or a grandchild concerned for a grandparent, placed his or her prayer in the hands of Our Lady! For our loved ones who suffer because of illness we ask first for their health. Jesus himself showed the presence of the Kingdom of God specifi-cally through his healings: “Go and tell John what you hear

and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them” (Mt 11:4-5). But love animated by faith makes us ask for them something greater than physical health: we ask for peace, a seren-ity in life that comes from the heart and is God’s gift, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, a gift which the Father never denies to those who ask him for it with trust.

In the scene of Cana, in ad-dition to Jesus and his Mother, there are the “servants”, whom she tells: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn2:5). Naturally, the miracle takes place as the work of Christ; however, he wants to employ human assistance in performing this miracle. He could have made the wine appear directly in the jars. But he wants to rely upon human cooperation, and so he asks the servants to fill them with water. How wonderful and pleasing to God it is to be servants of oth-ers! This more than anything else makes us like Jesus, who “did not come to be served but to serve” (Mk 10:45). These unnamed people in the Gospel teach us a great deal. Not only do they obey, but they obey generously: they fill the jars to the brim (cf. Jn 2:7). They trust the Mother and carry out immediately and well what

At the wedding feast of Cana, Mary is the thoughtful woman who sees a serious problem

for the spouses: the wine, the symbol of the joy of the feast,

has run out.

B6 CBCP MonitorJanuary 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20 No. 5

genuine concern for the salvation of those who have gone astray. They proclaim that God does not want the death of sinners but their

conversion and salvation. (See Ez 18:23 and 33:11) A prophet shares in God’s concern for them and gives his/her best to make God’s

By Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB

PROPHETS are a strange breed of people. Often a torment to themselves and others, they are the “critical conscience” of God’s people and of all mankind. En-dowed with a unique knowledge of God’s will and plan, they evalu-ate events and actions against the background of such knowledge, and then speak out. They shout even when others prefer to keep silent. True prophets are not after popularity but after faithfulness to their mission.

It is their strong faith in God and in the worth of their mission that keeps them going, in spite of everything. Even when others give up, they persevere. Even when many seem not to understand their message or question the opportuneness of raising thorny issues or taking a certain stance, the authentic prophets continue their mission undeterred.

Their loyalty makes them peo-ple of courage and hope. They continue to hope and dare even though the situations and misbe-havior they denounce appear to be humanly “hopeless.” Genuine prophets are always able to see beyond present crises and dark clouds. They perceive and out-line the prospect of better days, provided the evildoers repent and return to the Lord. They believe in God’s justice and proclaim it, but they also exhort all to trust in His mercy.

Although they may have to say unpleasant things about certain individuals or groups or nations, the prophets do so not out of ha-tred or bitterness but only out of

REFLECTIONS SOCIAL CONCERNS

Bishop Pat AloBo Sanchez

ENCOUNTERSSOULFOOD

When the harrowing

things that had been written in

the books of the prophets

about the Messiah came to pass, Jesus did not balk. He stood at

his post, even when his whole body shivered and drops of perspiration

turned to blood.

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C), Lk 4:21-30January 31, 2016

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C), Lk 5:1-11; February 7, 2016

Strong and faithful to the end

Lent: an opportunity to set

our priorities rightAsh Wednesday (C)

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18Beginning of the Lenten

Season; February 10, 2016

By Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB

THERE is in each of us a potential “actor” who can transform our lives into a show of vanity and hypoc-risy. Though in different degrees, we all experience the desire for praise and approval from as many people as possible...

If this yearning is not checked on time, soon it may turn into an insatiable craving, which will reduce us to a situation of moral slavery. For a time, we may still like to believe that we are “free” and can do all that we like. The sad reality, though, is that we have become “compulsive exhibitionists” who act to please the eyes and arouse ap-plauses, but suffer painful frustration if people do not seem to notice our “good deeds,” our “generosity,” our “achievements”... All this shows that we no longer enjoy that internal freedom which is the fruit of authenticity, sincerity, consistency...

“Good deeds,” acts of religious piety, and ritual penance are not free from the risk of hypocrisy and os-tentation. Actually, they constitute an even more subtle danger, for these actions are good in themselves. As such, they are supposed to be done in order to please God and not in order to elicit the applause of the people. God does not want that we make a show of our good deeds,

saving “strategy” succeed. It is this concern for the salva-

tion of sinners that brought the very Son of God to come to earth on mission. Even before his earthly birth, God’s Son knew that he would be misunderstood, ma-ligned, slandered, accused falsely, and eventually put to death by crucifixion. But in spite of all those “deterrents,” he went on imple-menting the Father’s plan with a brave heart. He endured the rejec-tion mounted by his own people at Nazareth without retaliating. He simply passed through their midst, leaving them unharmed to reflect on the gravity of the crime they had committed.

And when the harrowing things that had been written in the books of the prophets about the Messiah came to pass, Jesus did not balk. He stood at his post, even when his whole body shivered and drops of perspiration turned to blood. In the midst of that torment, Jesus was also deserted by his disciples and betrayed by the one he trusted most. But he did not back off. He did not rebel. Rather, he sought his refuge in prayer not to try “to twist God’s arm,” but to receive from Him the strength he needed to remain faithful to the end. In his anguish, he did ask his Father that--if possible--he might be spared the coming tortures, as any of us who is not a masochist would have done. But his conclusion was: “Your will, not mine, be done!” And so it happened.

Jesus paid the hefty price of his obedience unto death with unflinching heart. He thereby left us a wonderful example of how we should accomplish our mission with generous faithfulness.

By Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB

IT must have been quite a shocking expe-rience for seasoned fishermen like Simon (Peter) and his associates to haul in that

extraordinary catch of fish. They had been toiling the whole night but in vain. Then, when the sun was already high, at a time when no fisherman would have hoped to get even small fry, that big catch had come which left everybody astonished! And this just because

Called to be God’s partnersthat wandering preacher from Nazareth had invited Simon to lower the nets at such an unlikely hour.

There was something unusual in that young preacher--some extraordinary, or even divine power. Simon was the first to sense it.

And at the same time, he experienced what all honest souls feel in the presence of the super-natural: a deep awareness of one’s sinfulness and unworthiness. Hence the plea: “Leave me, Lord. I am a sinful man!” (Lk 5:8).

Almost eight centuries earlier, Isaiah had

experienced the same feeling during the theophany he witnessed in the Temple (Is 6:5). Utter terror grips an honest person at the prospect of what an all-holy Being can do to a sinful creature.

But Jesus doesn’t enjoy terrifying people. He immediately reassured the poor Simon who was trembling at his feet. And he did more than that. The miracle he had just performed was only a beginning. It was a symbol of something far greater that would keep hap-pening until the end of time. That miraculous catch of fish was a prophecy: Simon and his partners and their successors would share in Christ’s mission of “catching men” (see Lk 5:10), i.e. rescuing them from the deadly power of the forces of evil symbolized by the sea.

That miracle, then, was not just Jesus’ way of expressing his gratitude to Simon for allow-ing him to preach from his boat. (See Lk 5:13.) It was part of a well thought-out plan: the plan to bring God’s salvation to mankind through the cooperation of frail and sinful creatures like Simon Peter and his associates; people like the Pope and the Bishops; people like you and me.

The miraculous “catch,” i.e., the salvation of men, goes on throughout the world, cen-tury after century, in spite of the inadequacy of the fishermen. It goes on because it is the work of God’s power; the work of God’s love and trust. In spite of His omnipotence and holiness, He does not disdain to avail Himself of our cooperation, no matter how feeble and inadequate it may occasionally be.

We are all in the saving boat of the Church. We all share in the salvation wrought by Christ. But we also share in the mission of helping Jesus to save others, for, thanks to him, we, too, have become “life-savers,” under the guidance of Simon Peter, the master of the fleet of God’s rescue team.

No fear of GodGOD surely wants us to fearlessly trust in Him and face the challenges of a fast secularizing world, challenges meant to strengthen our faith as lived by taught by the Son of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and all the heroic saints who followed in the divine footsteps.

I recall the psychologist I had read about many years ago, Dr. Alexander Can-non, M.C., Ph.D., D.P.M., who wrote in his book ‘Powers That Be’ that “the lion takes its fierceness from your fear: walk up to him and he will run from you; run away from him and he will run after you.” I compare this to life’s trials that give us strength if we turn away from fear and face them bravely, as the same book suggests: ‘face a situation fearlessly and there is no situation to be faced.’

Even prayer beckons the person who turns to God on his knees to surrender

Lent, B7

Soulfood, B7

Encounters, B7

How to climb your mountainsI’M not the athletic type.

One excuse: I’m an only son. It so happened that my five sisters were—for some reason—all women.

My Dad? He wasn’t also athletic. Oh yes, when I was a kid, he used to ask me to jog with him. But his entire jogging route was inside his garage. He jogged around his parked car.

But one day, I did something abso-lutely nuts. I went to the mountains of Sagada and went rock climbing.

For those who haven’t tried it, let me give you a very technical definition

of rock climbing: It’s when you climb a rock. I know my definition is a bit difficult to understand. (I sometimes amaze myself with my brilliance.)

Seriously, my definition of rock climbing is being insane enough to suspend yourself 100 feet above the air with your fingernails hanging onto tiny cracks and indentions on the rock that ants can’t even crawl on—And you won-der why you even paid to do this lunacy.

But when I was up there, I felt no fear. None whatsoever. I wish I could be religious and say, “Because of Jesus.”

But actually, I felt no fear because I had this thick rope tied around my torso. I knew that whatever happened, that rope would keep me safe.

Don’t Stay Where You Are

Friend, God wants you to go higher.He wants you to keep on growing, to

be wiser, to be more loving, to be better, and to be even more blessed.

Let me ask you: What’s your moun-tain? What do you need to conquer in your life? What dream does God want

B7CBCP Monitor January 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20 No. 5REFLECTIONS SOCIAL CONCERNS

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AFTER Alay Kapwa’s 40th year celebra-tion last year, and its culmination with Year of the Poor in October, CBCP-NASSA is ready again to launch its Alay Kapwa (AK) National Lenten Campaign this year, as Ash Wednesday approaches on Feb. 10.

This year, 2016, is a significant year for NASSA as it marks its golden an-niversary with the theme: “The Gains and Pains in the Past – our Strength and Commitment in Journeying with God’s Poor.” As AK 2016 adopts this theme, after launching NASSA 50’s nine-month celebration with the bishops in January, it will celebrate with the Social Action Network (SAN) of the 86 arch/dioceses at the AK national launching

in the 3 regions as follows:

LUZON24-26 Feb. 2016 (Wed – Fri), hosted by the Archdiocese of Lipa, Batangas VISAYAS17-19 Feb. 2016 (Wed – Fri), hosted by Diocese of Maasin, Southern Leyte MINDANAO23-24 Feb. 2016 (Tues - Wed) hosted by Diocese of Malaybalay, Bukidnon

The program at the AK Launching

will include the Regional Meeting of the Diocesan Social Action Centers (DSACs); Basic Orientation Seminar

on Social Action Work (BOSSAW); Alay Kapwa program orientation; a Eucharistic celebration, and other spe-cial activities prepared by the hosting arch/dioceses.

The Alay Kapwa Lenten Campaign will include AK boxes for collection of Lenten sacrifices, facilitator modules for reflection on Catholic social teachings during Lent, and promotion through posters and calendars per diocese. These materials will also be distributed among Catholic schools in Metro Ma-nila. While NASSA as the National Secretariat will provide materials at the national level, each arch/diocese are independent in how they will promote and enhance the evangelization-action

program during the Lenten season among their vicariates and parishes.

Donation collected/remitted to NASSA (after dioceses have set aside 20% of the collection for their diocesan disaster response, and 48% for its so-cial action programs) will be pooled in NASSA’s “solidarity fund” for disaster response in dioceses in need, and for social action advocacy work at the na-tional level to prevent disasters or their impact on the communities.

The Social Action Network is also asked to mark the dates of 19-23 Sept. for the 38th National Social Action General Assembly (NASAGA) to be hosted by the Archdiocese of Palo in Leyte, where the culmination of NAS-SA’s 50th Anniversary will also be held. This date has been agreed by the repre-sentatives of the 15 Sub-region at the SAN ExeCom meeting last December.

Details of the Alay Kapwa Launch-ing activities at the 3 regions, may be

directed to the Social Action Direc-tors of the 3 hosting dioceses (Lipa, Maasin, and Malaybalay), while other general queries about the Alay Kapwa program, AK remittances, details of the NASSA 50 celebration and NASAGA can be directed to Sweet Cruz-Racho, Program Coordinator for Alay Kapwa National Program of CBCP-NASSA ([email protected]).

25 January 2016

Advocacy, Research and Communication UnitCBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action-Justice and Peace

CBCP-NASSA/ Caritas Philippines470 General Luna St., Intramuros, ManilaTel: +63 (2) 5274147Fax: +63 (2) 527 4144web site: nassa.org.ph

Schedules for Alay Kapwa National Launching 2016 at the 3 Regions

they are asked to do, without complaining, without second thoughts.

On this World Day of the Sick let us ask Jesus in his mercy, through the intercession of Mary, his Mother and ours, to grant to all of us this same readiness to be serve those in need, and, in particular, our infirm brothers and sisters. At times this service can be tir-ing and burdensome, yet we are certain that the Lord will surely turn our human efforts into something divine. We too can be hands, arms and hearts which help God to perform his miracles, so often hidden. We too, whether healthy or sick, can offer up our toil and sufferings like the water which filled the jars at the wedding

Mary, B5

Lent, B6

Encounters, B6

Soulfood, B6

feast of Cana and was turned into the finest wine. By quietly helping those who suffer, as in illness itself, we take our daily cross upon our shoulders and follow the Master (cf. Lk 9:23). Even though the experience of suffering will always remain a mystery, Jesus helps us to reveal its meaning.

If we can learn to obey the words of Mary, who says: “Do whatever he tells you”, Jesus will always change the water of our lives into precious wine. Thus this World Day of the Sick, solemnly celebrated in the Holy Land, will help fulfil the hope which I expressed in the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy: ‘I trust that this Jubilee year celebrating the mercy of

and religious observances.Many of the Pharisees in

the time of Jesus had become victims of such temptations. Much of their religious prac-tices were just an empty show. Jesus ca l led those people “frauds” and “whitewashed tombs.” (See Mt 23:27.)

At the very beginning of his ministry, he warned his dis-ciples not to commit a similar error. (See Mt 6:2.5.16.) His warning is ever-valid and ap-plies to us, too. Jesus wants all his disciples to be honest and sincere, single-minded, and eager to please God, rather than crave for the praises of people.

Lent is, for us, a unique oppo r tun i t y t o mount a campaign against any form of self-exaltation or praise-

totally to the divine will and entrust the events to His loving providence. Power that seemingly was lost is restored by the overwhelming faith strategy, so to say. Like a staircase we climb, one step after the other, there’s a solution to every problem prodded by our faith in God. Be-cause faith is a sign of bravery, while despair is like falling into the hands of Satan. “All things are possible to one who believes” (Mk. 9:22).

May this new year solidify our maturity, based on trust in God which makes a person fearlessly face problems in life, while growing in the selfless love of Jesus. Matu-rity vis-à-vis our faith and love will earnestly guide us to let go of our fears and focus on perfecting a love-union with the Creator. “There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives away fear” (1 Jn. 4:18).

you to reach?If your life isn’t exciting, it may

because you’ve not been climbing mountains.

Hear this: It will be your fears that will keep you from reaching the summit.

But God is your rope. No matter what happens, He’ll hold you tight. Even if you slip or make mistakes in climbing the mountain, He’ll never let go. He’ll keep you safe in His hands.

But if you think I was excited rock climbing, it was nothing compared to my excitement watching my 9-year old son climb…

Your Mountains Make You Grow

Believe me, it was incredible just see-ing my son go up!

When he was already some 50 feet up

on a rocky ledge, all by himself, I heard my wife pray to all the saints in Heaven. Including those I never knew existed. She said, “Please pray for my son, St. Fulgentius, St. Hegesippus, St. Ischy-rion, St. Paphnutius, St. Radegundes, St. Wenceslas…”

What was so frustrating was that I couldn’t be up there beside my son. He had to climb all by himself. I couldn’t pull him, push him, hold him, or carry him.

But even if I could have done all that, I wouldn’t have done it. Or I would have stolen from my son the opportunity to grow.

So when he finally rappelled down to the ground wearing a million dollar smile on his face, I realized he didn’t only conquer the rocky cliff. He con-

quered his fears—which was the biggest mountain of all.

I now realize that God will not re-move your mountains. You need them. Because He is using the mountain to make you grow. God will give you all the inspiration and wisdom and power to overcome your mountains, but he’ll let you do it “seemingly” alone. But He’ll cheer you. He’ll guide you. He’ll bless you.

In your climb, remember that your God is watching you. With pride.

I got deeper insights when my son asked me for money two days ago…

God Has Piled Up Your BlessingsOn The Kitchen CounterOne day, my son Bene was going to

an internet marketing workshop. Before

leaving, he asked, “Daddy, can you give me Php 20? There are only pay toilets there.”

When I turned to him to say “Sure”, I saw him already stuffing a P50 bill in his wallet. I left a pile of money on the kitchen counter—and he helped himself to it! Man, I loved it.

I share you this little incident because of three key insights:

First, God has left all that you need on the kitchen counter.

The universe is God’s kitchen counter. He has loaded it to the brim with every blessing and miracle that you need in life to reach your dreams. If you only realize what’s available to you, you’d be totally overwhelmed. If you need love, it’s there. If you need wisdom, it’s there. If you need money, it’s there.

Second, ask for more than what you need.

Didn’t you notice? My son asked for Php 20 but got P50.

I asked him why. He said, “My cousin Nicole is attending the workshop. She goes to the toilet too.” Isn’t he wise? If you’re wise, you should also ask for more blessings because you want to be gener-ous. Life isn’t about you. Life is about loving others. So ask Big!

Third, be confident when you ask.Even before my son heard my “sure”,

he already got my money from the kitchen counter. My son already as-sumed that I would meet his needs because he was confident in my love for him. And I believe God would love it too when we’re confident in His love for us.

God will foster an encounter with [Judaism and Islam] and with other noble religious traditions; may it open us to even more fervent dialogue so that we might know and understand one another bet-ter; may it eliminate every form of closed-mindedness and disrespect, and drive out every form of violence and discrimi-nation’ (Misericordiae Vultus, 23). Every hospital and nursing home can be a visible sign and setting in which to promote the culture of encounter and peace, where the experience of illness and suffering, along with professional and fraternal assistance, helps to overcome every limitation and division.

For this we are set an example by the two Religious Sisters

who were canonized last May: Saint Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas and Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified Baouardy, both daughters of the Holy Land. The first was a witness to meek-ness and unity, who bore clear witness to the importance of be-ing responsible for one another other, living in service to one another. The second, a humble and illiterate woman, was docile to the Holy Spirit and became an instrument of encounter with the Muslim world.

To all those who assist the sick and the suffering I express my confident hope that they will draw inspiration from Mary, the Mother of Mercy. “May the sweetness of her countenance watch over us in this Holy Year, so that all of us

may rediscover the joy of God’s tenderness” (ibid., 24), allow it to dwell in our hearts and express it in our actions! Let us entrust to the Virgin Mary our trials and tribulations, together with our joys and consolations. Let us beg her to turn her eyes of mercy towards us, especially in times of pain, and make us worthy of beholding, today and always, the merciful face of her Son Jesus!

With this prayer for all of you, I send my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 15 September 2015Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

FRANCIS

seeking. Through his exam-ple, Jesus himself teaches us how to achieve the splendid result of seeking only God’s g lor y in al l we do. It i s a matter of living in His presence every minute of our life and doing our duty with the clear intention of pleasing Him – a matter of not jus t “doing good” bu t o f “b e c oming good ,” rather than just appearing to be such. It is a matter of setting our priorities right a n d a c t i n g a c c o rd i n g l y. Then will the Lenten season begin in the right way and the Lord will show us his merciful countenance. (See the complete text of “Miseri-cordia Vultus” [The Face of Mercy] on pp. 269-270 of this volume.)

B8 CBCP Monitor

Bladimer UsiLolo Kiko

ENTERTAINMENT

Brothers MatiasBuhay San Miguel

THE CROSSA Supplement Publication of KCFAPI and the Order of the Knights of Columbus

CBCP Monitor Vol. 20, No. 2 January 25 - February 7, 2016

THE 51st INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS (IEC) opened last Sunday, January 24, 2016 at the IEC Pavilion, Pope John Paul Avenue, Mabolo, Cebu City, Philippines with the theme: Christ in You, our Hope of Glory and will continue until Sunday, January 31, 2016. Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, in his talk at the Holy See Press Office in Rome last October 2015, encouraged all to pray that the Congress should “bear fruit along the lines of the following objectives: a) to promote an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of t h e C a t h o l i c C h u r c h ; b) to help and improve our understanding and celebration of the liturgy; and c) to draw attention to the social dimension of the Eucharist.” As with the previous Congresses, representat ives of the different Churches and myriad of pilgrims from all over the world are attending.

For his part, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, in one of his previous homilies, focused on one thing that needs to be seriously addressed – “the difficulty of translating the social dimension of the Eucharist into praxis”. Cardinal Tagle called this “practical atheism” which is very prevalent among many Filipino churchgoers.

To help address this c o n c e r n , A r c h b i s h o p Palma announced the creation of a committee on social concerns among the many committees of the 51st IEC to “make the poor believe that we who benefit from the Eucharist should manifest this in our concerns, especially for the less privileged” more appropriately in the context of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.

TURNOVER. THE Knights of Columbus Visayas Jurisdiction has turned over the 200 blankets and tarpaulins to the Membership and Program Provincial Coordinator (MPPC) of Northern Samar and to Bro. Oskar Monje last January 16, 2016 for distribution to the victims of Typhoon Nona – a calamity assistance from the Knights of Columbus Visayas Jurisdiction led by State Deputy, Anthony Nazario. (VizNews)

Poster-Making Contest. The Knights of Columbus Pasay City Council 4267 in coordination with the Sta. Clara De Montefalco parish had an on-the-spot poster and slogan-making contest participated by junior and senior high school students from different schools in Pasay. The activity themed “Protection of Life, Fight Abortion” was held last January 16, 2016 at the 4th floor of St. Matthew Hall, Sta. Clara, Pasay City. (KC News)

A Christmas Carol. THE Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Seminarians from Daet had their Annual Christmas Carolling at the home office of the Knights of Columbus Fraternal Association of the Philippines, Inc. (KCFAPI) last December 21, 2015.

Death Claim Benefits. IN PHOTO are the beneficiaries of the late Bro. Antonio C. Mencias of Las Pinas City. Receiving the check in the amount of more than P1.1 M is Sis. Marcela A. Mencias (lady in white blouse) together with her daughters. The check was handed over by KCFAPI Chairman Arsenio Isidro G. Yap and witnessed by (from left) KCFAPI VP Gari M. San Sebastian, KCFAPI EVP Ma. Theresa G. Curia, daughters of Bro. Mencias, KCFAPI Independent Trustee Atty. Rogelio V. Garcia, KCFAPI Trustee Pascual C. Carbero and KCFAPI Treasurer Raoul A. Villanueva.

KC, KCFAPI support 51st IEC

In strong support for the 51st Internat ional Eucharistic Congress, the Order of the Knights of Columbus in partnership with the Knights of Columbus Fraternal Association of the Philippines, Inc. (KCFAPI) registered a total of 104 Official Delegates who are participating in the present Congress.

The KCFAPI likewise sponsored six of the total 51 banners representing the 51 countries that have hosted the International Eucharistic Congress since 1881 up to this year’s Cebu edition.

T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l Eucharistic Congress was last held in Dublin, Ireland

in 2012 with the theme: The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one another. That Congress coincided with the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of the Second Vatican Council and that was where Pope Benedict XVI announced via satellite from the Vatican that the next congress (51st) would be held in Cebu, the Philippines in 2016. This is actually the second time that the International Eucharistic Congress has come to the Philippines. The 30th I.E.C. was held in the Archdiocese of Manila in February 1937. That was an extraordinary event for the entire Far East then. Pope Pius XI, for that Congress, chose the

theme on the relationship between the Eucharist and the missionary activity of the Church.

For the ongoing 51st International Eucharistic Congress, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) earlier confirmed that Pope Francis will not attend the event in order to afford him more time to visit other countries given that it was only last year, 2015, when the Pope was able to visit the Philippines. The Pope is being represented here by the first Cardinal of Myanmar Cardinal Charles Bo as his appointed Papal Legate.

Twenty Cardinals, 50

Bishops from other countries and 131 Filipino Bishops who recently attended the Catholic Bishops Conference Plenary Assembly also held in Cebu have now joined the I.E.C. As early as October 2 0 1 5 , 8 , 3 4 5 p i l g r i m s representing 57 nations had already registered aside from 5,000 volunteers and 600 host families who have welcomed the pilgrims.

At the First International Eucharistic Congress held at Lille, France in June 21, 1881, the original idea for the Congress was merely local and it was met with few adherents. However over the years, each succeeding Eucharistic Congress has grown with ever-increasing

importance and has served as a gathering of clergy, religious, and laity all bearing witness to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Through the years, the Eucharistic Congresses have brought together people from different countries and have typically involved large open-air Masses, adoration of the Eucharist (Blessed Sacrament), and other devotional ceremonies held over several days. Congresses may both refer to National (varies by country) and International Eucharistic Congresses.

Representing the KCFAPI Group of Companies in the International Eucharistic Congress are the following: KCFAPI Vice Chairman Hilario G. Davide, Jr., Supreme Director Alonso L. Tan, KCFAPI President Jose C. Reyes, Jr., KCFAPI T r e a s u r e r R a o u l A . Villanueva, KCFAPI Trustee Reynaldo C. Trinidad, KCFAPI Trustee Anthony P. Nazario, KCFAPI EVP Ma. Theresa G. Curia, KRDC Director Vicente V. Ortega, K C F C V i c e C h a i r m a n Rene V. Sarmiento, MACE Director Danilo A. Sanchez, KCFAPI VP Rowena M. Diapolit, Atty. Neil Jerome J. Rapatan and Executive Secretary Annie M. Nicolas.

As advance preparations f o r t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l Eucharistic Congress, a three-day IEC Theological Symposium was held from January 20 – 22, 2016. Each day of the Symposium kicked off with two Plenary sessions in the morning and these were followed by seven (7) concurrent sessions on different selected topics. T h e d a i l y s y m p o s i u m regularly started and ended with the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. (Robert T. Cruz)

Members of Knights of Columbus Council (#) pass through the main entrance of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) Pavilion on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. ROY LAGARDE

C2 The CrossJanuary 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20 No. 2

THE INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS will be held in the Philippines for the second time since its inception in 1881 in France. The first one was the 33rd Congress held in Manila from February 3-7, 1937. It was attended by more than one and a half million people coming from different parts of the world. The procession alone was participated in by more than half a million people.

This Sunday January 24, 2016 up to the end of the month January 31, the 51st International Congress will be held in the Philippines for the second time and will be hosted by the Archdiocese of Cebu. The 50th Congress was last held more than three years ago in Dublin, Ireland from June 10-17, 2012.

Just exactly what is a Eucharistic Congress? Briefly, it’s a gathering of Catholics, primarily members of the clergy and the religious congregations together with the faithful or lay people. The main focus of the event is to bear witness to our Lord Jesus Christ’s presence in the Eucharist.

It is our belief that during the consecration in the Celebration of the Mass, the bread and wine is transformed into the body and blood of Christ. This belief is substantiated with the words of Jesus Christ Himself when He said in the Last Suffer, “This is my body…this is my blood.”

The first Eucharistic Congress originated in Lille, France and was approve by Pope Leo XIII. It was first organized by Bishop Louis Gaston Adrien de Segur of France. Sadly, Bishop de Segur died on June 9, 1881, twelve days before the start of the first Eucharistic Congress on June 21, 1881.

This year’s International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu will be participated in by tens of thousands members of the clergy and the religious orders and at least a million lay people. Members of the Knights of Columbus (K of C) coming from all over the Philippines and possibly from the United States and Canada as well, will actively participate in the different programs of the event.

The Knights of Columbus Fraternal Association of the Philippines, Inc. (KCFAPI) sponsored the registration fee of a hundred members of the K of C in the Philippines. It also sponsored six banners out of fifty one bearing the country’s flag where the congress was held in the past. KCFAPI also donated P50,000.00 to the procession committee wherein about 300 honor guards in full regalia is expected to participate in.

Individually and collectively, the contribution of the Knights of Columbus in the Philippines together with KCFAPI and all its subsidiaries is quite substantial living up to its claim as a strong partner of the Church in all its activities.

May this worthy undertaking further strengthen the belief of the faithful of our Lord’s presence in the Holy the Eucharist. And may the participants be an instrument to evangelize to those who no longer believe in our faith and Christ presence in the Eucharist. Vivat Jesus!

Arsenio Isidro G. Yap

Chairman’s Message

President’s Message

Ma. Theresa G. Curia

Justice Jose C. Reyes, Jr.

The Eucharist: A place and event for gathering and transformations

Curia Settings

Michael P. Cabra

Hope and Glory

My Brother’s Keeper

The Importance of the Holy Eucharist

T H E H o l y E u c h a r i s t , m o r e c o m m o n l y k n o w n a s H o l y Communion, is both a sacrament and a sacrifice. It is one of the seven sacraments that we should receive as often as we can. Through it, we gain graces from God that will make us grow in faith and worthy of all His blessings He so generously gives us. The Holy Eucharist is also a sacrifice because Jesus himself is the sacrificial lamb offered during the Holy Mass. When the priest lifts up the white host and then the chalice with wine during Consecration, they are actually transformed into the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ; thus we believe that God is truly present in the altar.

We, Christians, believe that we have a soul, and if we live a holy life here on earth we can join God our Creator in heaven when we die. By living a Christ-centered life and by receiving the sacraments, we are actually feeding our soul. Let us not forget then to take care of our soul so that we can overcome death and gain eternal life. Our soul needs nourishment to grow, mature, and become holy.

Let us recall our first Communion when we were all white in our dress and even our shoes. We were so prepared to receive Christ then. As we grew up and became adults, we prepared less and less, and for some, even stopped going to Holy Mass. We became more concerned about our physical well-being and appearance, and very little time was spent to take care of our soul. After receiving the sacraments of baptism and confirmation, many became Sunday Catholics who attend mass, hardly participating in the celebration. Some receive Holy Communion regularly but without the benefit of the sacrament of penance, more commonly called Confession.

Let us then go back to where we started and remember the preparations we used to do. Remember that we are meeting God, and not just anybody, everytime we go to mass. Let us not be late, instead let us come before the start of the mass to settle down and focus on God, our King and Savior. Let us actively participate and be one with the community in offering the mass. Let us come prepared to receive Holy Communion. Not wanting to receive Christ in Holy Communion is like going to a banquet and refusing to partake of the food the host has prepared for us. Before we go, receive with a grateful heart, the final blessing from the priest at the end of the mass.

No less than Bishop Soc Villegas, the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, is enjoining each one of us “to not limit ourselves to Sunday mass but also to go to mass daily, to pray the rosary daily with our family at home, and to go to confession once a month.” In addition, it would be good to visit the Blessed Sacrament as often as we can, and to read the Bible daily. Our soul, just like our body, needs daily nourishment to be able to live our Christian faith to the fullest. A grace-filled year to everyone!

ON January 16 , 2016, the 51st International Congress will be held in Cebu. The first Congress was held in France in 1881 and it was in 1937 during the 33rd Eucharistic Congress that Manila became the host with the helping hand of our very own Servant of God, Rev. Fr. George J. Willmann. There has been no sequence as to the number of years before another International Eucharistic Congress is held since 1881. Some were held a year, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, 8 years, or even 14 years after the other. The event is held in different parts of the world and engages the whole Church to reflect on the importance and relevance of encountering Jesus in the Eucharistic celebration. The whole Church is also challenged to deepen their devotion and commitment to the Greatest Sacrament and all that it stands for.

The core of the teaching of the Church on the Eucharist is this: The Eucharist is the font and summit of the Church Life. Whenever we gather around the Eucharist, we become the Body of Christ for our time. The Risen Lord becomes alive in the heart of the world. No wonder that from the Eucharist, we draw all the graces we need to be able to exist gracefully as we encounter Jesus and the community. Similarly, all our daily activities, all the collective efforts of the world towards justice, unity and love are geared towards making us a whole body worthy of being able to celebrate the Eucharist. All our accomplishments attain meaning and fullness only when they are directed towards the Lord at the Eucharist. The Eucharist then becomes a place of gathering and transformations.

At our celebration of the Eucharist, the crowds which gather around One Common Table become a Family, a Body. Individuals who did not know each other and who come together in

our churches are united in prayer and praise, in memory and thanksgiving, in intercessions and promises. Anonymity is transformed into Community. Indifference metamorphose into Intimate Sharing in one Word, and one Bread.

Several transformations are promised to happen in our midst at the Eucharist. One transformation happens when the unleavened bread becomes The Bread of Life for the world. A greater transformation happens among the people who come to celebrate. People who came as strangers are called to be brothers and sisters, in the Family of God. Indeed, we become more and more a Church as we gather from different places and backgrounds, Sunday after Sunday. People who come with their own problems and agenda, with their own hurts and fears are invited to partake of the banquet of the Lord’s Word and Flesh and be gathered as One Body. Enmity and indifference are made to reconcile as they are exposed to the proclamation and prayer for mercy and forgiveness. The sick, the confused, the sinners, the dysfunctional, and the broken hearted are brought to healing. But they must encounter the Lord who heals.

But for such to happen and for us to experience, we need to make ready the materials for transformation. First we have to be there to be present physically and psychologically, and we must be emotionally and spiritually hungry. The least we can do is to be conscious that we are present before the Lord, even if we do not feel anything or even if we feel bad. Even if we are not able to master ourselves, at least we must be willing to expose ourselves to the rays of the Energy of God present in the Community and in the Collective memory of what we are celebrating.

One way to prepare ourselves is to

have the habit of going to church a few minutes before the mass starts. If we are there early, we have a chance to enter slowly and peacefully into the power of the Encounter. We have a chance to come to a point of quiet and rest before the Assembly starts singing and praying. When we are relaxed, we can focus more on what will happen next and we can absorb more the Energy of the community. This preparation time is also very good to gather our thoughts, our mind, and heart and whatever we like to lift up to God. This is a good time to collect our week’s experiences, our personal and family highs and lows, and be able to say “I’m sorry” and “Thank you”. So, even before the Eucharist begins, our personal offering to the Lord is ready. In this way we are ready to connect our personal lives to the life of the community and the life of the Risen Lord.

Week after week and depending on the season and feast, the mood of the community changes. Depending on the theme of the mass, or of the year, or of the season, or of the readings, different truths about God and our realities are communicated to us. Many times we can almost experience a particular emotion or receive a particular promise based on the reading. Perhaps, we also feel the grace we are asking for or the grace that is being proclaimed as becoming real in our hearts and in our guts.

A case in point is the topic of God’s Mercy, which we will surely meet often during the year, being the Jubilee Year of Mercy. At the Eucharist it is really possible to encounter the Mercy of the Lord. Right as soon as the mass starts, we are invited to experience Mercy and Forgiveness as we proclaim: Lord, have mercy, Christ have mercy. Before Communion we pray again: Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the

THE theme of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress is “Christ in you, our hope and glory.”

It is derived from the Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians, Chapter 1 verse 27. Its immediate context is from verses 24 to 29.

The theme was chosen in order to express the nature of the Eucharist as mystery and mission. For the Philippines and in Asia, the Eucharist is a mystery to be revealed, lived, and proclaimed. In the context of the New Evangelization and within the nine-year preparation for the 500th anniversary of the coming of the Christian faith to the Philippines in 1521, the theme points to the Eucharist as the mystery or sacrament of the presence of Christ Jesus and of His saving mystery in

the Church — People of God and Body of Christ.

“Christ in you” indicates the presence of Jesus Christ in the Church which is also Church for the Gentiles, and of the Gentiles. Thus, the Church itself is present as a mission, the church is itself missionary-mandate and event.

In line with this theme, an insured KC member is also the hope and glory of his family.

First is ‘Hope’, because in case any of the threats to the continuity of income transpired to a KC member, members of the family will not suffer financially or at least lessen their financial loss. Threats to the continuity of income include premature death, disability, and old age. Insurance benefits may be given in form of death claim, disability assistance,

or retirement support. Then ‘Glory ’ , because

i n s u r a n c e b e n e f i t m a y continue to provide not only for the basic needs but also for the achievement of dreams especially that of the member’s children. Statistics show that most financially successful people came from families with life insurance protection.

This same thought is the integral part of the program of the Knights of Columbus Order since the dawn of its founding in 1882. Fr. Michael McGivney once HOPED that his Knights will bring GLORY to their family. With this we can say that one is not a full-pledged member of the Order if he doesn’t have a benefit certificate.

Having a benefit certificate is not only for the rich or can-

afford members of the Order. It is the mission of every KC member. Right after the first degree exemplification you are privileged to be part of the Fraternal Accidental Death Benefit (FADB) for free. Remember to fill-out the FADB form. Once you become a member of the Order, you and your immediate family members can enrol to the KC Family Protect Series for a lifetime insurance protection, KC Elite Pro for retirement support, and One-Time-Contribution plans for short term goals like a dream house, a dream car, or a dream business.

As we join and celebrate the 51st International Congress let us be reminded that like Christ, let us be the hope and glory of our family and the generations after us.

OLD movies and TV shows showcase a woman’s traditional role as a home-maker. A typical scenario in films is that the woman cooks dinner as her husband comes home from work with his briefcase in hand then she delightedly greets him and asks him how his day was. In these reels of classic cinema, it specifies gender roles for men and women wherein the men are the strong breadwinners of the family and women lovingly take care of the children and household duties. Nowadays, women are regularly performing duties that were traditionally assigned to males. They also have the amazing ability to still be able to perform and constantly maintain her duties at home. I tell you, I do not know where and how they find the time and energy to juggle and balance their careers and take care of the family.

Last January 16, 2016, The Diocesan Councils of Alaminos, Lingayen-Dagupan and Urdaneta in coordination with KCFAPI Central Luzon Conquerors of Nueva Ecija, Aurora and Pangasinan held the event “An Affair to Remember recognizing women’s roles as Knights of Columbus Leaders’ Partners in Generating Membership and Strengthening of the Order”. The affair was held at the City De Luxe Restaurant and Bakeshop in Dagupan City Pangasinan.

This event is the brainchild of Bro. Manuel Naldoza, Area Manager of Central Luzon Conquerors, to honor the supportive and understanding wives of Knights of Columbus members. The first ever “An Affair to Remember” was held in Harvest Hotel in Cabanatuan City last June 20, 2015.

Around 200 guests were present

for the event attended by 79 couples consisting of KC members and their loving wives. Among the esteemed special guests invited were KCFAPI Chairman, Bro. Arsenio Isidro G. Yap; Knights of Columbus Membership and Program Consultant for Philippines and Guam, Bro. Vince Pacis; North Luzon Deputy and KCFAPI President, Court of Appeals Justice Jose C. Reyes Jr. and KCFAPI Executive Vice President, Sis Ma. Theresa G. Curia.

The program started with an opening prayer followed by the National Anthem, hosted by Bro. Manuel L. Naldoza and the Regional Diocesan Coordinator of Nueva Ecija, Aurora, and Pangasinan, Bro. Gil Dindo Berino.

Bro. Naldoza then introduced Bro. Armando Abalos, the Chairman of the Diocesan Councils of District Deputies

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C3The Cross January 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20 No. 2

By SK Carl A. Anderson

The Gentle WarriorBy James B. Reuter, SJ

Part II of Chapter Two of “The Gentle Warrior” series

CHAPTER TWO--------.---------The Knights of Columbus

Our Service to YouthS T R E N G T H E N I N G COLLABORATION with parishes will allow K of C councils to better serve young people

During the November midyear State Deputies meeting, I announced our new Orderwide initiative, Building the Domestic Church While Strengthening Our Parish. My remarks were reprinted in last month’s Columbia and are available on kofc.org.

At the heart of this new program is a commitment to strengthen the Catholic identity of our families by integrating our activities more fully into the sacramental and social life of our parishes. In this way, we will not only help families, but also further the mission of the new evangelization and revitalize parish life.

The Knights of Columbus has always been an organization dedicated to the family and to helping our brother Knights be better husbands and fathers. Our new initiative is refocusing on this core mission.

A major aspect of the family as “domestic church” is our

responsibility to transmit the practice of the faith to our children and grandchildren.

In November, I said that our youth need a stronger relationship with their parish and that parishes need more effective youth ministry programs. The Knights of Columbus is providentially positioned today to further both of these goals.

A s p a r t o f t h e B u i l d i n g the Domest ic Church Whi le S t r e n g t h e n i n g O u r P a r i s h initiative, grand knights should meet with pastors to discuss how their councils can support parish-based youth ministry activities. This can incorporate Knights of Columbus youth programs such as the Free Throw Championship and the Soccer Challenge. Youth Activity chairmen should act as liaisons with the parish youth ministry teams to determine how councils can appropriately support parish youth activities.

To promote better integration into parish life, the Board of Directors has concluded that the Knights of Columbus will no longer be the chartered organization for Boy Scout troops. This does not mean that

the Order has abandoned Catholic Scouting. Rather, we intend closer alignment of our youth activities with the goals of each parish.

To the extent that pastors wish to provide Catholic Scouting in their parish, councils are strongly encouraged to continue volunteer and financial support for Scout troops, under the guidance of their pastors. This change is meant to strengthen the relationship between the parish and the troop. Our goal? To provide for a more robust and sustainable Catholic Scouting experience.

Where a counci l present ly sponsors a Scout troop, the grand knight should meet with the pastor to discern whether Catholic Scouting fits into the parish’s youth ministry. If so, the grand knight should coordinate with troop leadership and the local Scouting council to designate the parish as the chartered organization for the troop. Once this change has been made, the council should continue to provide volunteer and financial support.

If a council has an active Squires circle, the grand knight and Squires counselor should meet with the

pastor to discuss how Squires activities may be better integrated into the parish’s youth ministry. Active Squires circles may continue serving boys according to current practice, reporting to the council and recruiting new members. The Supreme Council will continue to provide support materials to these circles. However, councils are encouraged not to form new circles, and inactive circles should be disbanded.

Our new approach to youth evangelization is one important part of our Building the Domestic Church While Strengthening Our Parish initiative. Over time, this initiative will develop a multifaceted approach in support of parish life that will make the Knights of Columbus the strong right arm of our parish church. This will also set a firm foundation for the future growth of strong parish-based councils.

Vivat Jesus!

Deputies of Alaminos, Lingayen-Dagupan and Urdaneta who gave an inspiring message in his opening remarks. He thanked the guests for attending and proceeded with his speech where he described a woman, or wife as someone who is married to a man. She is there to give endless support and be always there when he and the family needs her.

Bro. Abalos also stated that “A woman uses the example and inspiration of Jesus Christ to place the needs of her husband above her own, in providing for his physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. In doing so, she glorifies God in modeling the relationship between Christ and the Church.” He addressed the dear ladies to “prepare themselves to be surprised, excited, and be inspired”, then welcomed everyone to the Bangus City of Dagupan.

A couple of audio-visual presentation were exhibited then after the speech. The first one was about the order of Knights of Columbus wherein members of the order talked about the true essence of the organization by showcasing activities such as outreach programs, annual family days, and gift-giving which highlights that the Knights of Columbus is more than just a Brotherhood of men, for it is for the whole family as well. Then,

the second presentation was Bro. Manuel “Wel” L. Naldoza’s ‘2014 Area Manager of the Year’ speech. He thanked KC and KCFAPI officers, staffs, and FCs for their continuous support. Bro. Wel even shared his secrets to success such as: the unified 1st degree exemplification for the area; members of his project level up team where in each and every member has their own contribution; the annual values formation and the KC officer’s orientation; the annual CLC Area Family Day; the Grand Knights and District Deputies partnership; and lastly the support of his loving wife, the late Sis. Purificacion “Puring” S. Naldoza.

Prior to the aforementioned presentation, District Deputy of U03, Bro. Jose Bernabe Romero, acknowledged the Bro. Knights and their respective ladies as well as the guests present at the event. This was then followed with the Membership report by Bro. Gil Dindo Berino wherein Bro. Jose C. Reyes Jr. and Bro. Arsenio Isidro G. Yap awarded tokens to the representatives of Council 12528, Council 4710, Council 15309, and District U03 for exceeding their membership recruitment quota last December.

Then, Sis. Charmaine Joy N. Humarang, the daughter of Bro. Wel

and Sis. Puring Naldoza, recounted how Sis. Puring supported Bro. Wel. To most families, Sundays are their bonding day. To their family, Sundays are KC-themed day. Sis Puring was always present during KC Activities where she was in charge of entertaining guests and her fellow sis. wives. Due to her endless support, Bro. Wel developed the idea of involving the role of wives in the Knights of Columbus.

Another audio visual presentation was shown displaying pictures of the sister wives during their younger years and some wedding photos of the brother knights and sister wives which was meticulously prepared by Bro. Nestor Berber. The sudden rush of nostalgia was applauded, and cheered by the audience. To everyone’s surprise, we were treated to a live serenade by Tessie Lagman-Balboa, Cora Bautista-Garcia and Cynthia Garcia to top off the presentation.

After which, Sis. Ma. Theresa “Tes” G. Curia gave her message on the role of women in the Knights of Columbus. She praised the audio-visual presentation about the Knights of Columbus for it truly captured what Knights of Columbus is all about and really enjoyed the audio visual presentation of the pictures as well and stated that it

is a thing of beauty to remind the couples of how much they love each other. Sis. Tes helps out the Knights of Columbus by doing her utmost best in her job as the Executive Vice President of the Knights of Columbus Fraternal Association of the Philippines, Inc. She then asked the question as to why our Church is called “Mother Church”. The Church is considered to be a mother to its members because it is the Bride of Christ” as stated in Ephesians 5:21-33. She then gave the audience the assignment of discovering why our planet is called “mother earth”. She also cited that women should be in full support of men as stated in Genesis 2:18 “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’” She presented a table that showed that women lived longer, were more religious, and more honest than men. She showed the logo of the Knights of Columbus and the meaning behind each color. She presented another slide that showed that 82% of our country’s population is Catholic but only 37% of them attend the church. And only 0.46% of Catholic men are members of the Knights of Columbus. Sis Tes closed her presentation with the quote “All good men and women must take

responsibility to create legacies that will take the next generation to a level we could only imagine,” and asked everyone to make memories in exchange of gifts. Matthew 6:20-21 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

A plaque of recognition was awarded by Bro. Arman Abalos to Sis. Tes together with her Husband, Bro. Harry Curia.

The final speaker for the event was Bro. Jose C. Reyes, Jr. He thanked the wives of the KC members for understanding their husbands’ roles in the Knights of Columbus and stated that Bro. Knights honor their wives through our insurance program. KCFAPI was formed to show our wives that we love them, by leaving a legacy long after we’re gone. He hoped that the wives would continue to support the Knights of Columbus. And as finale for his speech, Justice Reyes sang a few lines of the classic song “An affair to remember.

The program ended with the Bro. Knights giving roses, chocolates, and perfumes to their lovely wives and danced with each other. (Erwin John B. Mallari)

IT was with the Alumni Association that George first met the Knights. Many of the Alumni belonged to Council 1000, of the Knights of Columbus — the only Council in the Philippines. Many of the fathers of the boys he taught in class belonged to the Knights. And then George remembered a conversation he had, seven years ago, in 1915, when he was about to leave his job in the Bank, in Brooklyn. He was already accepted in the Society of Jesus. He was saying goodbye to his old friends.

“I went to say goodbye to a few old friends. One gentleman was a Knight of Saint Gregory, and a wealthy man. He was like an uncle, rather than a friend. I went to his business house to say goodbye. He said: ‘wait a minute, George. When you come back as a priest, try to be a chaplain of the Knights of Columbus. The Knights of Columbus in Brooklyn are doing a lot of good, but they would do more good if they had a chaplain who was active.’ I said: ‘I will try to do that.’”

When he met the Knights in Manila, in 1922, he could not possibly be a chaplain, because he was not yet ordained. He was a Jesuit Scholastic in regency, still in training for the priesthood. He would not be ordained until six years later, in June of 1928.

George felt very close to this group of men — not only because they were good

men, and reminded him of the good Catholic men he had met on Wall Street — most of the active leaders of the Knights were from Ateneo families! Many of their sons would later enter the Society of Jesus! The first Filipino Grand Knight, elected in 1918, was Gabriel la O, a young lawyer, who took office at the age of thirty-two.

Thirty-one Irish-American military men established the Knights of Columbus in the Philippines in 1905. As the faith came to the Philippines with Magellan, in 1521, together with conquest, so did the Knights come to the Philippines, with the American occupation?

But by 1918 the Americans were moving out, and the Filipinos were taking over. The men whom George met at their meetings were all closely associated with the Atone: Angel Ansaldo, Gregorio Araneta, Jose Maria Delgado, Antonio Escoda, Felicisimo Feria, Juan Guerrero, Julian la O, Maximo Paterno, Claro Recto, Gregorio Singian, Jaime de Veyra, Jose P. Bengzon, Emeterio Barcelon.

The Grand Knight during his first year at the Ateneo, 1922 to 1923, was Angel Ansaldo. The Grand Knight during his second year, 1923 to 1924, was Felicisimo Feria. The Grand Knight in his last year of regency at the Ateneo, 1924 to 1925, was Jaime de Veyra.

When he met these men, at their meetings,

George was impressed by their seriousness. They were thoughtful, and deeply interested in the Knights. They wanted the organization to grow, in numbers, and in strength. They talked about their trips to the province, to establish new centers: San Pablo, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Laoag and Vigan. They talked about an amazing priest in the north, Isaias Edralin, who was organizing the Knights in Vigan, and in Baguio. That was the first time that George heard the name of this man — Edralin. He was a secular priest, campaigning for the Knights of Columbus, in the North of Luzon. In 1933, Father Edralin applied for entrance into the Society of Jesus, and was accepted. He and George became good friends, when George came back to the Philippines as a priest. (To be continued on the next issue.)

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world, have mercy on us and grant us peace. If we close our eyes during the singing of these songs we can almost see the hand of God stretched out to us and offering us God’s mercy and forgiveness, God’s healing and compassion. And if we are attentive, i t i s v e r y p o s s i b l e that God’s Mercy will spring again through a word or phrase from the readings, from the psalm, from the homily, or from the prayers of the faithful, especially if we find ourselves needful of God’s mercy.

The Eucharist is so rich, so vast, and so deep that we can never exhaust the different f a c e t s a n d a r e a s where we can discover different experiences. That is why we go to ce lebrate i t Sunday after Sunday, without fail. Added to this is the fact that we also change from day to day, even from hour to hour, from being positive to negat ive or even in between. We need to expose ourselves to the riches and secrets of the Eucharist. Many times we just need to be there; to detach ourselves from the problems of

the week, of the family, and work and even from the fluctuating attacks of our psychological clocks. When we kneel before the mass, let us leave behind all the worries and tensions which weigh on our shoulders. Just kneel naked before the Lord. Just kneel and rest in the Lord and surrender o u r s e l v e s t o t h e Presence of the Energy that moves the world. When we are weak, we become strong. When we feel nada, God comes and takes us into his loving arms. And the Eucharist can begin.

[ T h e a u t h o r , S i s . Ma. Theresa G. Curia is the Executive Vice P r e s i d e n t o f t h e Knights of Columbus Fraternal Association of the Philippines, Inc. (KCFAPI). With the approval of its Board of Trustees, KCFAPI has paid the Registration of 80 delegates to this Year’s IEC, donated P50,000.00 cash for the process ion and sponsored 6 banners for the procession to r e p r e s e n t t h e S i x M a j o r i t y - o w n e d o r W h o l l y - o w n e d c o m p a n i e s o f t h e KCFAPI]

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C4 The CrossJanuary 25 - February 7, 2016 Vol. 20 No. 2

Contact No. (02) 527-22-23 loc. 215 and 252

• KOMPASS Credit and Financing Corporation is the latest addition to the family of the KNIGHTS of COLUMBUS FRATERNAL ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES, INC. (KCFAPI)• KOMPASS will GUIDE you in having your own car and a house and lot which you can call your home.• KOMPASS is also open to the general public.

New Board of Director of Mace Insurance Agency, Inc.: Bro. Teodulo C. Sandoval, REE, ChBA

AS an active servant of Roman Catholic Church activities, a year before Bro. Sandoval began his service as a KC member in 1999 he was a member of the Extraordinary Minister of the Holy Communion (EMHC) in 1998. As he continues his service, Bro. Ted became the Grand Knight of Council No. 13548 in 2007 and was bestowed with a Star Council Award for CY 2007-2008. At the same time, he was the Diocesan President of the Lay Minister of the Word, Diocese of Antipolo until 2012. In the same diocese, he was also a resource speaker in Bible Study since 1999. Bro. Ted was also the President of the Parish Pastoral Council of St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish from 2008-2010. In St. Francis Xavier Assembly ACN 3169, he was the Chartered

Faithful Navigator for CY 2009-2011. Currently, he is the Luzon State Spiritual Formator since 2009. On that same year, he was a finalist in the Top Outstanding Knights of Columbus Awards (TOKCA). For CY 2011-2013, Bro. Ted was the State Culture of Life Director of the Luzon Jurisdiction. After which, he was cited as the Outstanding District Deputy and was bequeathed with Star District Award for CY 2013-2014. Since 2013, he was a District Deputy of the Luzon South Jurisdiction up to present. And for CY 2015-2016, he is the State Ways & Means Chairman for the same jurisdiction.

Engr. Teodulo C. Sandoval graduated Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering at Mapua Institute of Technology in March

of 1978 and passed the Electrical Engineering Board Examination in September of 1979. He has completed the Chartered Business Administrators in August of 2010 at the AIM Conference Center. Bro. Ted has been in the Telecommunication Industry for 37 years. His first job was as an Engineering Assistant at the Plant Engineering Department of PLDT where he started last August of 1978. Then he joined the Saudi Telecom in July of 1982 as Assistant Chief in the Transmission Engineering Department. Bro. Sandoval became the Sales Director of AT&T in 1992 where he received an AT&T Outstanding Sales Award, a Country Manager of Raychem in 1996 & Marconi Country Manager in 1999 and presently the President of EXi Telecom since 2002,

a company dealing with installation of cell sites. He was the President of MIT Electrical Engineering Alumni Association (MITEEAA) 2011– 2012, and was also a Member of IIEE and National Association of Mapua Alumni (NAMA) Board of Director last 2011 – 2014 and currently the Treasurer. In 2012, he was the Outstanding National Association of Mapua Alumni Affiliate President and was also bestowed with Outstanding Mapua Organization (as President of MITEEAA).

Bro. Sandoval was born in Alitagtag, Batangas on December 23, 1955. He is married to Sis. Zenaida Bautista Sandoval and they are blessed with 4 children. Their eldest is Jerome who is a Manager at Thompson Company, next is

their eldest daughter Katherine who is connected with Smart Communications. The third child is Paul who is with Toyota and the youngest is Marigrace, a graduating student of Communication Arts with De La Salle University.

KC, KCFAPI send 104 official delegates to IECMORE than one hundred official delegates of the Knights of Columbus in the Philippines were attending the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in Cebu from January 24 to 31 sponsored by its insurance arm, the Knights of Columbus Fraternal Association of the Philippines, Inc. (KCFAPI).

Aside from delegates, KCFAPI has sponsored banners, while selected Fourth Degree Color Corp Members from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao Jurisdictions will be joining the procession on the 6th day. The Visayas Jurisdiction is coordinating the participation of around 300 to 500 Honor Guards nationwide to serve during the grand procession on January 29 after the mass.

Meanwhile, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle described the upcoming 51st International Eucharistic Congress as “Bigger than the World Cup, bigger than the Olympics.”

Tagle, a former Columbian Squire and a scholar of the Knights of Columbus will speak on the 5th day, January 28 with the topic, “The Eucharist and the Dialogue with Cultures.”

The Eucharistic Congress is an international gathering of people aimed at promoting an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church.

Daily Bible Reading and MassSOME officials of KCFAPI urged the other

faithful to read the Bible daily and to go to church more often.

“It would be good to visit the Blessed Sacrament as often as we can, and to read the Bible daily. Our soul, just like our body, needs daily nourishment to be able to live our Christian faith to the fullest. A grace-filled year to everyone,” said Justice Jose Reyes, KCFAPI President and Luzon Nort

“One way to prepare ourselves is to have the habit of going to Church a few minutes before the mass starts,” said KCFAPI Executive Vice President, Ma. Theresa G. Curia. She added being early may give us the moment to reflect and so our personal offering to the Lord will be ready. “In this way we are ready to connect our personal lives to the life of the community and the life of the Risen Lord.” (Yen Ocampo)

There will be two Walk for Life events this 2016. The first one will be held on March 12, 2016 in Manila to

be sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Luzon South Jurisdiction. The second one will be held on March 19,

2016 in Malolos, Bulacan to be sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Luzon North Jurisdiction.

A N N O U N C E M E N T

Luzon AMs Meeting. THE first area managers meeting for the year 2016 was held last January 7 at the KCFAPI board room attended by KCFAPI officials –Chairman, Arsenio Isidro G. Yap; President, Justice Jose C. Reyes, Jr; Executive Vice President, Ma. Theresa G. Curia; and Vice President for FBG, Gari M. San Sebastian. The activity aims to discuss the performance of their area last 2015 and the plans and programs of the Fraternal Benefits Group this year.