We Filipinos are followers of Christ, his disciples. To trace his footsteps in our times means to utter his word to others, to love with his love, to live with his life; . . . To cease following him is to betray our very identity.(PCP II 34)

Catholics “must give expression to this newness of [Christian] life in their own society and culture and in a manner that is in keeping with the traditions of their own land.”  (AG, 21)

we  must be familiar with our culture, we must purify and guard it, develop it in accordance with present-day conditions. 

“we must take a closer look at how the values that we have from our Christian Faith can strengthen the good in our cultural values and correct what is excessive in them and supply for their deficiencies” (PCP II 22).

From whom do we naturally draw our self-identity? Where do we find the deepest meaning in our lives? How do we react to suffering? How do we commit ourselves to our ideals in life? What is our view of the world in all its depth and hidden reality?

 five predominant Filipino characteristics, together with five essential traits of Jesus Christ, both assumed within the typical “Filipino way” to Jesus.

Filipinos are family-oriented. 

This family-centeredness supplies a basic sense of belonging, stability and security. It is from our families that we Filipinos naturally draw our sense of self-identity.

 Jesus as both the Son of God (Anak ng Amang Diyos) and the Son of Man (Anak ng Tao) endears himself naturally to us family-oriented Filipinos. 

Filipinos are meal-oriented (salu-salo, kainan).

Serving our guests with the best we have is an inborn value to Filipinos, rich and poor alike. 

We love to celebrate any and all events with a special meal

 Eating together in table fellowship with the presence of the risen Christ (cf. 1 Cor 10:17), “Communion,” in other words, constitutes the core-witness of the early Church as a Eucharistic community.

 Filipinos are kundiman-oriented. The kundiman is a sad Filipino song about wounded love. Filipinos are naturally attracted to heroes sacrificing everything for love.

  Jesus, the Suffering Servant of the prophet Isaiah, is portrayed through our favorite Filipino images of Padre Hesus Nazareno, the Santo Entierro or the Sacred Heart. 

Jesus the Suffering Servant can thus reach out to us Filipinos as a healing and forgiving Savior who understands our weaknesses, our failures, our feelings of depression, fear and loneliness

Filipinos are bayani-oriented. A bayani is a hero. We Filipinos are natural hero-followers.

 For all our patience and tolerance, we will not accept ultimate failure and defeat. 

  Jesus as Christ the King (Cristo Rey) responds well to the bayani-oriented Filipino. As born social critics, organizers and martyrs, we Filipinos see Jesus Christ as the Conqueror of the world by his mission as prophet, king and priest (cf. PCP II 57-61).

Filipinos are spirit-oriented.

We have a deep-seated belief in the supernatural and in all kinds of spirits dwelling in individual persons, places and things. Even in today’s world of science and technology, Filipinos continue to invoke the spirits in various undertakings, especially in faith-healings and exorcisms

   Jesus the “miracle-worker” who promised to send his Spirit to his disciples to give them new life (cf. Jn 15:26; 16:7; 13-14), is thus very appealing to us Filipinos.

Family-centered Filipinos who can easily talk to God the Father through His only begotten Son-made-man, our Lord Jesus Christ. Our devotion to the Sto. Niño and the Mahal na Birhen reveals fundamental depths of our own self-identity.

Secondly, we find meaning in our lives and learn to face the hunger and poverty around us in encountering Jesus as Eucharist in our parish community. “Around the table of the Lord,” we Filipino Catholics are drawn by prayer to share our time, energy and very lives, for the service of our needy brethren and for the building-up of truly Christian communities of justice, love and healing.

  Third, as Filipino Catholics, because we have met Christ the Suffering Servant in his Passion, we can pray about sin and forgiveness, about justice and reconciliation, about the suffering and Passion of our own Filipino people today.

Fourth, we Catholic Filipinos, resilient as the bamboo (kawayan) and sturdy as the narra, commit ourselves to Christ, our hero-king, in deep gratitude for the gift of faith and for being Filipino. 

Lastly, our world vision as Catholic Filipinos is gradually transformed by Christ’s Spirit-in-the-world in our Church community

In the depths of the Filipino spirit is a longing for kaayusan, for order out of chaos, a longing for the life that the creative Spirit of Jesus gives as a gift, a gift which is likewise a challenge (cf. PCP II 257). 

  as baptized into discipleship of Jesus Christ, discover our identity as adopted children of our Father and as members of Christ’s Body, the Church, inspired by Mary our Mother;

  in the breaking of bread around the table of the Lord, find meaning in sharing ecclesial fellowship with one another and with Christ, their Priest and Eucharist;

  in meeting the Crucified Savior are sustained in the sufferings and hardships of life, and receive forgiveness for their sins through his Sacraments;

 commit ourselves to our Risen Lord and his mission through the gift of Faith, celebrated in great Hope in the Sacraments, and lived out in Love and service of their fellowmen;

  form our world-vision led by the Spirit of the Risen Christ, experienced in the Christian community, the Church, which sustains us in our pilgrimage of life-in-Christ; and

approach and live out this Christian life within the powerful inspiring presence of Mary, our Mother and Model.