Category: News

December 9, 2020

Dear Young People,

Joyful greetings to you in the name of all our Brother Bishops in the CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Youth!

The COVID19 pandemic caught all of us unprepared. We have witnessed unprecedented changes in almost all areas of our life. We had to face the reality of closed churches, having online masses. Many of you, young people, along with our seniors, had to stay at home. Your voices, laughter and noise are missed in our churches, parishes and campuses. The aspirations we have expressed in the 2019 Year of the Youth seemed to have stalled. Perhaps for some of you, the crisis marked the death of your dreams.

Hopefully not! For Christus vivit! Christ is alive! Pope Francis, in his letter, sharing the fruits of the Synod on Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment, reminds us of three great truths: “God loves us. Jesus saves us. He is alive.”

The past weeks and months of the pandemic have not been easy for all of us. New words added to our day-to-day vocabulary are proof of the adjustments we made. We now speak of “new normal”, WFH, lockdowns, social distancing, ECQ and MGCQ. Face masks and face shields have become part of our daily outfit. Besides shopping and banking, classes and other transactions have been moved online. Meetings and seminars are now held in digital conference rooms.

We are still adjusting, trying to figure out many things. The unexpected changes, restrictions and the uncertainty may have led you to boredom and sadness. Others, realizing the economic effects, might have fallen into self-pity and a sense of uselessness. As poverty worsens, there are those who succumb to despair and hopelessness, even tempted to end their lives. The new normal may also disturb our emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being. The difficulties, anxieties and fears brought by the pandemic can paralyze us. They can take away the idealism, excitement and joy of youth from us.

In the face of this situation, allow us to remind you, echoing the message of Pope Francis, of three lessons.

First: Death is not the end.

Remember, death is not the end. Suffering is not our ultimate destiny. Pope Francis says: “If you have lost your vitality, your dreams, your enthusiasm, your optimism and your generosity, Jesus stands before you as once he stood before the dead son of the widow, and with all the power of his resurrection he urges you: ‘Young man, I say to you, arise!’ ” (Pope’s Message for WYD2020).

Jesus declares: “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full” [Jn 10:10]. Our loss, failure, defeat and death are occasions to rise anew. For St. Paul, “to live is Christ, to die is gain.” [Phil 1:21]

Second: We can rise from death to life.

“Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him” [Rom 6:8]. Jesus is our life!

We can rise from death to life by rediscovering our need for silence and prayer. Mary was at prayer when she was visited by the angel. God spoke to Mary through the Angel Gabriel. And her response to the invitation was a prayer, her Fiat and Magnificat: “I am the servant of the Lord… My soul magnifies the Lord!” After such experience, the Scriptures report: “And Mary arose and went in haste ” [Lk 1:39]. The young Blessed Carlo Acutis loved moments of prayer. He would daily pass by the Church to offer flowers and prayers.

The curfew has shortened our days, allowing us to have more time for ourselves. We urge you, our dear young people, to find time for silence and prayer. Find time to listen and reflect on God’s Word.

In silence and prayer, you will recover your inner-directedness and peace. By nurturing interior silence, you shall hear God’s voice in your conscience. Your conscience is your moral and spiritual compass, which helps you navigate through the many dilemmas, confusing situations and difficult choices you encounter.

Resist falling into the cycle of blame, hate and despair. With Jesus, you can rise from your failures and defeat; you can recover from your sense of loss. Jesus saves you. Arise!

Third: We are being sent to be witnesses of new life in Christ.

Christ is alive! Look around, there are signs of hope. Many young people, in this difficult time, take responsibility. There are those who do their best to help their families. There are young people who seek ways to encourage and minister to fellow youth. There are young learners doing their best to cope with online learning.

Obispo Maximo’s Statement of Concern On another case of Red-Tagging against IFI Clergy

1. We are alarmed with the new case of vilification and red-tagging reaching to our office against another clergy of the Iglesia Fipina Independiente (IFI). We received the report yesterday that The Revd Arvin P. Mangrubang, our priest in the Diocese of Laoag, serving as the Rector of the Parish of Lipay which covers five churches and congregations all in Vintar, Ilocos Norte, is being maliciously and irresponsibly tagged and accused as “communist member and NPA recruiter” by the NTF-ELCAC and propagated by the military. Obviously the red-tagging has connection with the continuing efforts of the AFP, PNP, and NTF-ELCAC in the area, particularly around Surrong Valley, to malign and vilify legal people’s organizations and churches like the IFI.

2. On October 29, 2020, The Revd Arvin P. Mangrubang, in response to an invitation, attended the Farmers’ Leaders Forum held in Brgy. Dagupan, Vintar, Ilocos Norte, and took part in the blessing of farm materials to be distributed by the Redemptorist Church to the local farmers. An otherwise solemn religious gathering was disturbed by the arrival of uniformed military soldiers in full battle gear who immediately barricaded the venue and started to take pictures on the activity and on the participants. On October 31, 2020, his spouse received a call enquiring if indeed The Revd Arvin P. Mangrubang attended in the said farmers’ activity.

3. He was surprised to know that on November 1, 2020, in a forum conducted by the NTF-ELCAC with the local PNP personnel in Vintar, Ilocos Norte, the pictures taken from the October 29, 2020 activity of the Farmers’ Leaders Forum were shown and described as a front activity for the CPA-NPA-NDFP. His pictures, together with that of other leaders, were highlighted with accompanying commentary that the activity was the start of the recruitment process to become NPA members since the leaders are members of the CPP. He was further alarmed because on November 30, 2020 a friend of his called up and advised him to be extra-careful because he is one among those who were placed under surveillance by military elements allegedly connected with the 21st IB and 50th IB of the Philippine Army for recruiting local farmers to join with NPA. This was bolstered by the information shared by a church member during the church council meeting on December 1, 2020 that The Revd Arvin P. Mangrubang was being talked about as NPA recruiter in Surrong Valley in a meeting of barangay captains of Vintar town. To validate about this information, he called up the barangay captain of Brgy. Lipay, Vintar the following day, December 2, 2020, to enquire if there were people looking for him and was told by the barangay captain that the military intelligence officers asked the barangay captain to beware of his presence and movements as recruiting the barangay constituents for NPA activities.

4. We view his case and the circumstances around it as of the same pattern with other red-tagging incidences against the IFI clergy. The state security officers, such as the AFP and PNP with the particular government agency NTF-ELCAC, tend to treat and misconstrue the ministry of our clergy around the country working along with legal people’s organizations of the workers, farmers, fisherfolks, urban poor and lumad communities as something subversive and fronting for the NPA-CPP-NDFP, like the ministry of The Revd Arvin P. Mangrubang who is only serving with the farmers, many are church members, being the dominant sector within his parochial jurisdiction in Vintar, Ilocos Norte. Due to the obsession of these state security officers to quash the insurgency movement according to its self-imposed timetable, they could only see red in everything and in everybody like the proverbial mad bull in the ring. These officers cannot anymore see that IFI clergy are only working out with their ministries to serve the Lord Jesus as mandated to them by their ordination and as pursued in the corporate mission of the IFI. The charism and heritage of the IFI – being a Church born out from the womb of the people’s revolution in 1896 for national independence, identity and integrity and for the reign of justice, peace and freedom in Filipino society as desired by the God of history – is to serve the Lord and his people. Since its formation in 1902 this has been the distinctive mark of the IFI’s mission and ministry and the spirit behind its prophetic witness, social advocacy, and pastoral care.

5. We protest the continuing practice of this dispensation, through the AFP, PNP and government agency like NTF-ELCAC, to accuse and red-tag the IFI and its clergy as fronting for and recruiting members to the CPP-NPA-NDFP. The truth of the matter is that the IFI is only exercising its own brand of mission and ministry compelled by faith-imperative and history-mandate, long before these so-called underground organizations came to being that the government, past and present, is trying hard to associate or identify the IFI with. The plain truth is that it is not the churches like the IFI which are being red-tagged as recruiters for the CPP-NPA-NDFP but the government itself with its anti-poor, anti-people, anti-Filipino and anti-policies; it is the AFP, PNP and government agencies themselves with their unrelenting abuse, corruption, negligence and indifference to people’s rights, public welfare, national well-being, and human dignity; it is the unjust structures, systemic violence and widening social disparity being perpetuated by those who wield power in our local and national governance.

November 25, 2020  
Catechesis on prayer – 16. The prayer of the nascent Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Good morning!

The Church’s first steps in the world were interspersed with prayer. The apostolic writings and the great narration of the Acts of the Apostles give us the image of an active Church, a Church on the move, yet which, gathered in prayer, finds the basis and impulse for missionary action. The image of the early Community of Jerusalem is the point of reference for every other Christian experience. Luke writes in the Book of Acts: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (2:42). The community persevered in prayer.

We find here four essential characteristics of ecclesial life: listening to the apostles’ teaching, first; second, the safeguarding of mutual communion; third, the breaking of the bread; and fourth, prayer. They remind us that the Church’s existence has meaning if it remains firmly united to Christ, that is, in community, in His Word, in the Eucharist and in prayer – the way we unite ourselves to Christ. Preaching and catechesis bear witness to the words and actions of the Teacher; the constant quest for fraternal communion shields us from selfishness and particularisms; the breaking of the bread fulfils the sacrament of Jesus’ presence among us. He will never be absent – particularly in the Eucharist, He is there. He lives and walks with us. And lastly, prayer, which is the space of dialogue with the Father, through Christ in the Holy Spirit.

Everything in the Church that grows outside of these “coordinates” lacks a foundation. To discern a situation, we need to ask ourselves about these four coordinates: how in this situation these four coordinates are present – the preaching, the constant search for fraternal communion, charity, the breaking of the bread (that is, the Eucharistic life), and prayer. Any situation needs to be evaluated in the light of these four coordinates. Whatever is not part of these coordinates lacks ecclesiality, it is not ecclesial. It is God who creates the Church, not the clamour of works. The Church is not a market; the Church is not a group of businesspeople who go forward with a new business. The Church is the work of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent to us to gather us together. The Church is precisely the work of the Spirit in the Christian community, in the life of the community, in the Eucharist, in prayer… always. And everything that grows outside of these coordinates lacks a foundation, is like a house built upon sand (see Mt 7:24-27). It is God who creates the Church, not the clamour of works. It is Jesus’ word that fills our efforts with meaning. It is in humility that we build the future of the world. At times, I feel tremendous sadness when I see a community that has good will, but takes the wrong road because it thinks that the Church is built up in meetings, as if it were a political party. “But, the majority, the minority, what do they think about this, that and the other… And this is like a Synod, the synodal path that we must take…” I ask myself: “But where is the Holy Spirit there? Where is prayer? Where is communitarian love? Where is the Eucharist?” Without these four coordinates, the Church becomes a human society, a political party – majority, minority – changes are made as if it were a company, according to majority or minority… But the Holy Spirit is not there. And the presence of the Holy Spirit is precisely guaranteed by these four coordinates. To evaluate whether a situation is ecclesial or not ecclesial, let us ask ourselves about these four coordinates: life in community, prayer, the Eucharist…how is life developing along these four coordinates. If this is lacking, the Holy Spirit is lacking, and if the Holy Spirit is lacking, we are a beautiful organization, humanitarian, doing good things, good, good…even an ecclesial party, let’s put it that way. But it is not the Church. It is for this reason that the Church does not grow with these things: it does not grow through proselytism, as any other company, it grows by attraction. And who provokes attraction? The Holy Spirit. Let us never forget Benedict XVI’s words: “The Church does not grow through proselytizing, she grows by attraction”. If the Holy Spirit is lacking, who is the one who attracts [people] to Jesus, the Church is not there. There might be a beautiful friendship club, good, with good intentions, but not the Church, not synodality.

In reading the Acts of the Apostles we then discover what a powerful driving force of evangelization the prayer gatherings can be, where those who participate actually experience Jesus’ presence and are touched by the Spirit. The members of the first community – although this always applies, even to us today – sensed that the narrative of the encounter with Jesus did not stop at the moment of the Ascension, but continued in their life. In recounting what the Lord said and did – listening to the Word – in praying to enter into communion with Him, everything became alive. Prayer infuses light and warmth: the gift of the Spirit endowed them with fervour.

For this reason, the Catechism contains a very substantial expression. It says this: “The Holy Spirit… keeps the memory of Christ alive in his Church at prayer, also leads her toward the fullness of truth, to the whole truth, and inspires new formulations expressing the unfathomable mystery of Christ at work in his Church’s life, sacraments, and mission” (n. 2625). This is the Spirit’s work in the Church: making us remember Jesus. And Jesus Himself said it: He will teach you and remind you. The mission is to remember Jesus, but not as a mnemonic exercise. Christians, walking on the paths of mission, remember Jesus while they make Him present once more; and from Him, from His Spirit, they receive the “push” to go, to proclaim, to serve. In prayer, Christians immerse themselves in the mystery of God, that mystery who loves each person, that God who desires that the Gospel to be preached to every one. God is God for everyone, and in Jesus every wall of separation has definitively crumbled: as Saint Paul says, He is our peace, that is, “He who has made us both one” (Eph 2:14). Jesus created unity, unity.

In this way the life of the early Church had the rhythm of a continuous succession of celebrations, convocations, times of both communitarian and personal prayer. And it is the Spirit who granted strength to the preachers who set out on the journey, and who, for love of Jesus, sailed the seas, faced dangers, subjected themselves to humiliation.

God gives love, God asks for love. This is the mystical root of the believer’s entire life. In prayer, the first Christians – and us as well, who come many centuries afterwards – we all live the same experience. The Spirit inspires everything. And every Christian who is not afraid to devote time to prayer can make his or her own the words of the Apostle Paul, who says this: “the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). Prayer makes you aware of this. Only in the silence of adoration do we experience the whole truth of these words. And we must recapture this sense of adoration. To adore, to adore God, to adore Jesus, to adore the Spirit. The Father, the Son and the Spirit: to adore. In silence. The prayer of adoration is that prayer that makes us recognize God as the beginning and the end of all of History. And this prayers is the living flame of the Spirit that gives strength to witness and to mission. Thank you.

By Roy Lagarde
November 24, 2020
Tuguegarao City

A Catholic official has called for collective efforts to address flooding in Cagayan province, rooting for dialogue to resolve the issues.

Archbishop Ricardo Baccay of Tuguegarao said there may be several factors that bring severe flood and suffering to the province “but these call for action”.

“Something should be done and the approach that we are going to use is dialogue,” Baccay said.

“Maybe there are so many factors that brought this massive flooding but we are willing to sit down and see how we can solve this together,” he said.

The Church has always opened its doors for dialogue, but that is not enough, the archbishop said, adding: “It has to show intentions in actions”.

“We can’t allow flooding to happen over and over again and not do anything about it,” Baccay said.

Several parts of Luzon were devastated when Typhoon Ulysses (Vamco) struck the country from Nov. 11 to 12.

The typhoon affected 3.67 million people, displacing over 277,000 and killing at least 73.

Although the flooding has subsided, many in the affected areas continue to struggle, with more than 67,000 homes destroyed or severely damaged.

Focusing on Blessed Mother During General Audience, Says ‘How Beautiful It Would Be If We Too Could Be a Bit Like Our Mother!’

November 18, 2020 Deborah Castellano Lubov

A model for our prayer, at simple and at the most difficult of times? The Blessed Virgin Mary.

Pope Francis gave this reminder during his Nov. 18 General Audience today, privately streamed from his Apostolic Library, again without public due to the resurgence of COVID19 in the country.

The Holy Father continued his series of catechesis on prayer, this week looking at Our Lady.

The Pope reflected on Mary praying when the Archangel Gabriel came to bring his message to her in Nazareth.

“Her small yet immense “Here I am”, which makes all of creation jump for joy at that moment,” he said, “was preceded throughout salvation history by many other “Here I ams”, by many trusting obediences, by many who were open to God’s will.”

Openness, and God Always Responds….

He noted there is no better way to pray than to place oneself in an attitude of openness.

With this heart open to God, the Pontiff noted, one says: ‘Lord, what You want, when You want, and how You want.’ That is, with a heart open to God’s will. And God always responds.”

Our Mother Mary, the Holy Father reminded, keeps everything and brings it to her dialogue with God.

“Someone has compared Mary’s heart to a pearl of incomparable splendour, formed and smoothed by patient acceptance of God’s will through the mysteries of Jesus meditated on in prayer.”

How beautiful it would be…

“How beautiful it would be,” Pope Francis said, “if we too could be a bit like our Mother! With a heart open to God’s Word, with a silent heart, with an obedient heart, with a heart that knows how to receive God’s Word and that allows itself to grow with the seed of good for the Church.”

Here is the Vatican-provided text of the Holy Father’s address:

***

Catechesis on prayer – 15. The Virgin Mary, prayerful woman

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

On our course of catechesis on prayer, today we meet the Virgin Mary as the prayerful woman. The Madonna prayed. When the world still knew nothing of her, when she was a simple girl engaged to a man of the house of David, Mary prayed. We can imagine the young girl of Nazareth wrapped in silence, in continual dialogue with God who would soon entrust her with a mission. She is already full of grace and immaculate from the moment she was conceived; but she knows nothing yet of her surprising and extraordinary vocation and the stormy sea she will have to cross. One thing is certain: Mary belongs to a great host of the humble of heart whom the official historians never include in their books, but with whom God prepared the coming of His Son.

Mary did not autonomously conduct her life: she waits for God to take the reins of her path and guide her where He wants. She is docile, and with her availability she prepares the grand events in which God takes part in the world. The Catechism recalls her constant and caring presence in the benevolent design of the Father throughout the course of Jesus’s life (see CCC, 2617-2618).

Mary was praying when the Archangel Gabriel came to bring his message to her in Nazareth. Her small yet immense “Here I am”, which makes all of creation jump for joy at that moment, was preceded throughout salvation history by many other “Here I ams”, by many trusting obediences, by many who were open to God’s will. There is no better way to pray than to place oneself in an attitude of openness, of a heart open to God: “Lord, what You want, when You want, and how You want”. That is, with a heart open to God’s will. And God always responds. How many believers live their prayer like this! Those who are the most humble of heart pray like this: with essential humility, let’s put it that way; with simple humility: “Lord, what You want, when You want, and how You want”. They pray like this and do not get upset when problems fill their days, but they go about facing reality and knowing that in humble love, in love offered in each situation, we become instruments of God’s grace. “Lord, what You want, when You want, and how You want”. A simple prayer, but one in which we place ourselves in the Lord’s hands so that He might guide us. All of us can pray like this, almost without words.