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VOLUME 20, NUMBER 8, JANUARY 31, 2016

Mary, key to Eucharisticdevotion – Dolan By Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz

CEBU Ci ty, Jan . 30 ,2016 – To fall in love

w i t h J e s u s i n t h eEucharist, the faithfuln e e d t o g o b a c k t othe f i rs t Eucharis t ica d o r e r , M a r y, s a i dNew York ArchbishopT i m o t h y C a r d i n a lDolan, who gave theJan. 30 catechesis atthe 51st InternationalEucharistic Congress(IEC) in this city.

“You want to be closer to Jesus onthe cross at the Holy Sacri ce of theMass? Be closer to Mary, becauseshe’s right next to him,” said theformer president of the UnitedStates Conference of CatholicBishops.

The prelate, speaking on thetheme “The Eucharist and Mary”,gave an overview on how theBlessed Virgin animates theEucharist as “sacri ce, meal, andpresence”, sharing anecdotes onthe inseparability of Jesus andMary – from crib to cross.

What Mary’s ‘fat means According to Dolan, the Eucharist

is possible precisely because ofthe Virgin Mary’s “Yes” to divineaction.

“The first Incarnation happened wi th Mary ’s co oper at io n. Th eIncarnation goes on now as Jesus-is-with-us, Emmanuel, in theBlessed Eucharist… The RealPresence of Christ in the BlessedSacrament, as the Incarnation,the Word Made Flesh goes on,as it started with Mary’s fiat, when she p rovided Him a humannature,” he explained.

Dolan reveals Mary as the rstone to be privy to the immensityof God’s gift to mankind in theEucharist.

“She beheld the presence ofthe Incarnate Word, the SecondPerson of the Most Blessed Trinity,God the Son, the Eternal Wordto whom she had freely given ahuman nature… She gave birthto the Son of God in a little towncalled Bethlehem.

“There’s a hint of the Eucharistthat rst Christmas!”, he exclaimed.

According to Dolan, even Jesus’ birth place of Bethlehem, whichmeans “House of Bread”, offers

clues to his role to humanity.

‘Bread for the world’The Baby Jesus’ resting place, a

manger, means “feedbox”, because,as Dolan explained, “Jesus wasintended as bread for the world inthe Eucharist.”

“Who provided the human natureto the Son of God?”, asked Dolan,noting how Mary was witness to allof these foreshadowings and wouldcontinue to do so – all the way tothe Cross.

The Blessed Virgin’s role as ahastener of Eucharistic grace, isseen, said Dolan, from the “ rstmiracle for that newly-marriedcouple at Cana in Galilee, bychanging water into wine, at herrequest… to the Lord’s Supper when He miraculously chan ges bread into His Body and wine toHis Most Precious Blood.”

Some 15,000 delegates frommore than 70 countries aregathered in this city for the lastdays of the IEC.

5k kids

receive 1stCommunionin CebuCEBU City, Jan. 30, 2016 – The CebuCity Sports Complex was filled tocapacity Saturday as 5,000 Catholic boys and girls marked a milestone intheir spiritual lives by receiving theirFirst Communion.

“I’m happy and glad [to be in thisevent],” said eight-year old MarystNorña Donque of Cebu South, one ofthousands of little ladies dressed in white

for the special occasion, when asked howshe felt like as she was about to have what St. Thérèse of Lisieux called the

rst “kiss of love” with the Lord.“I’m glad that the First Communion

of my daughter is during the 51stInternational Eucharistic Congress(IEC),” commented Marsyt’s father,Marbien, an instructor at the HolyTrinity College.

‘Children’s Mass’“It took 79 years and it [IEC] went

back to the Philippines . Before it wasManila. This time, it’s Cebu. We’re proudCebuanos,” he added.

Meanwhile, Christopher Rago, thefather of third-grader John ChrismarRago, another communicant, of Brgy.

Pamutan, was thankful Cebu is hostingIEC, and that his son was nally havinghis First Communion.

“We are so happy we are able to comehere,” added the multi-cab driver.

Presiding over the “Children’s Mass” was no les s tha n Ceb u Archbis hopEmeritus Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal, whodue to his frail health had to be wheeledinto the venue.

In his opening remarks, the 84-yearold prelate recalled having been a boyof six when he himself rst accepted theBody and Blood of His Eucharistic Lordin a similar ceremony held at Luneta,Manila in 1937.

‘I felt very big’“I know very well the feeling of these

children here… I was one of thosechildren who received First Communionduring children’s day at Luneta. I wasamazed at the beauty of the priest andthe many people. I was even moreamazed at the Papal legate looking like aking with his long red robe. But above allas a young boy, I felt very big,” he sharedto the applause of the crowd.

The children went on to renew thepromises their godparents had recitedon their behalf on their baptismal day.

“Viva Jesus, Bread of Life ... VivaJesus, life-giving food … Viva Jesus,hope of our glory,” this new generationof Catholics said in chorus.

The well-attended religious eventcapped a series of activities lined up onDay 7 of the ongoing IEC.

Wit nes sin g the Fir st Com mun ion were IEC Eucharistic pilgrims from allover the world as well as delegates fromthe episcopal sees of Pasig, Novaliches,Ilagan, Talibon, Dumaguete, Calbayog,Naval, Pagadian, Malaybalay, Palo, andthe Military Ordinariate. (Raymond A.

Sebastián / CBCP News)

IN THIS ISSUE:

WE the disciples of the Lord JesusChrist, gathered to celebrate the 51stInternational Eucharistic Congress inCebu City, Philippines (January 24-312016), now relive the beautiful experienceof the two disciples of Emmaus.”

“We are convinced that the Holy Spirit sendsus forth in order to proclaim the story of Jesus.This Congress is like the gathering of the earlydisciples when they joyfully shared stories ofhow each of them encountered the Risen Lord inthe Scripture and in the Breaking of the Bread.

The Eucharist commits us to the poor. Tolove and come to their help. We are challenged

to reach out to the poor and help uplift themmaterially and spiritually as a concrete wayof living out the Eucharist.

The Eucharist compels us to act and givethem something to eat. The example of Jesus,particularly the meal stories, teaches us what

every Eucharist should be, breaking bread with the poor and marginalized.

The presence of our brothers and sisters who have less in life is a constant reminderthat the poor is the privileged place ofencounter with Jesus outside the Eucharist.

The Eucharist which is the sacrament of the bread of life lls our spirit and strengthens ourresolve as we take the tortuous path of dialogue with religions, cultures, youth and the poor.

We are empower ed by the Holy Spi ritfor mutual understanding, openness, andconversion of hearts and minds.

The Eucharist – the Real Presence of Jesus

– sustains our hearts and nourishes our soulsas we journey towards the convocation whereGod gathers us all in inclusive communion, ban ish ing dis tinctions that ali ena te andcelebrating the gift each one brings.

Energized and renewed by the Eucharist,

Christ’s missionary disciples are sent into the world to be broken bread for a broken world.

They move from Eucharistic celebration toEucharistic commitment. The Eucharist is not just a gift but also a task and mission that canchange the world.

Indeed, Eucharist enables us to e ectivelyrespond to the cry of the poor, the cry of theearth, and the cry of Jesus Christ.

Missionary dynamism springs from anencounter with Jesus through deep prayer because the lungs of evangelization is prayer.

We are a people on a mission; truly, IEC 2016 isa clarion call to mission for all of us. Our Eucharist

is the source and goal of the Church’s mission.May the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother

of the Incarnate Word and the EucharisticLord, accompany us, missionary disciples,in order to share Jesus Christ in us, our hopeof glory. Amen.

Statement of the 51 st International Eucharistic Congress

THE BODY OF CHRIST. A boy receives his First Communion from Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal during a Mass f or the 51st International E ucharistic Congress at the Cebu City Sports Centeron Jan. 30, 2016. Nearly eight decades ago , Vidal was also among the rst communicants when Manila hoste d the IEC in 1937, the rst in Asia. ROY LAGARDE

Jaro Archbishopcalls for ‘friendly

competition’of love, A3

Evangelizationthrough clothing, A2

Tantum Ergo: backto the heart of the

Eucharistic Hymn, A6

New York Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan gives the Jan. 30 catechesis on “The Eucharist andMary” at the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in Cebu City, Jan. 30, 2016. ANA PERCUHO

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Evangelization through clothingCEBU City, Jan. 29, 2016--In an age where skimpy skirts, see-throu ghtops seem almost de riguer, delegatesat the 51st International EucharisticCongress make a powerful case forirresistible, refreshing modesty,especially during the Holy Mass.

It was a sense of awe for Jesusin the Eucharist that led BernaManipon to start wearing a veilduring Holy Mass despite it beinga tradition associated with morematronly women in the Philippines.

“You prepare yourself for a date[with Jesus], so you veil yourself, you cover yourself because you’remeeting the Lord... You’re really[also] more focused,” said the 28- year old vo lunteer for the 51stInternational Eucharistic Congress(IEC) media accreditation team.

‘Too beautiful’ According to Manipon, who has

been veiling at Mass for several yearsnow, she believes her personal practiceof veiling is a testament to others.

“[I do it] actually not because I feelholy but because I’m focused on theMass and another thing, I also want

to encourage other people and bydoing it you, encourage others more.”

The nurse from the PhilippineGeneral Hospital in Manila said she was especially moved by the sight of young, veiled women in churches inParañaque as well as at the Padre PioShrine in Batangas.

“It’s too beautiful.. Imagine achurch where all the girls wear veils[during Mass],” added Manipon.

For Tancy Del n, a managementa c c o u n t i n g g r a d u a t e , a l s o volunteering at the IEC, dressing well for the holy Eucharist is morethan just a personal preference but someth ing tha t could haveecumenical consequences.

Modesty matters“ M o d e s t y r e a l l y m a t t e r s ,

especially... [because] there arealso other religions, when they seeus not dressed properly, instead

of appreciating our Eucharist, theimpression is not good,” the NegrosOccidental native explained.

“When I see people who wearshorts to Mass, I feel o ended asa Catholic. I know that it’s not the

proper way [to dress]... when you’reon a date with the Lord,” she added.

For the 26-year old, modestyneed not be boring, especially withproducts like “statement shirts”from groups like Couples for Christ(CFC) Ablaze, an organizationcommitted to New Evangelization.

She said: “Even my friendsoutside the community [of CFC],they’ll really ask you, where did youget that? It attracts people. Theyappreciate how bold the statements[about faith] are.”

Only Jesus attracts the heart“It’s nice because it’s really decent,

but you can wear it in a cool manner. All kind s of people can wear it,”added Del n.

Ab laze, whi ch has sh ir ts andother apparel that communicateChrist through their designs, alsocreates publications, music as well

as organizes events and trainingsgeared towards New Evangelization.

At the end of the day, the entireperson should speak about Jesus –from head to foot.

“We dress well because we are

in front of God. We are in the

presence of God. Young peoplehave to [dress] well... [Doing this] would be a testimony in front of theothers,” said Bishop Ottavio Vitale,RCI, an Italian Rogationist Fathermissionary based serving in Albania.

According to the Bishop of Lezhë,

aside from the exterior witness ofdressing modestly what matters mostis a commitment to prayer because“only Jesus, only God attracts” thepeople to conversion. (Nirva’ana

Ella Delacruz / CBCP News)

Ablaze marketing executive Tricia Mae Barretto wears the ofcial 51st IEC congress shirt featuring theevent logo, Jan. 29, 2016. NIRVA DELACRUZ

Youth accept ‘holiness challenge’ MANDAUE City, Jan. 30, 2016--Youthdelegates to the 51st InternationalEucharistic Congress (IEC) gatheredfor a day full of song, faith sharing, andanswering the call to live holier, more“Eucharistic” lives as saints

Bishop Robert Barron, AuxiliaryBishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles

in the US, challenged the audiencecomposed of young people, mostly fromthe Philippines, to surrender to the willof God and pursue the path to holiness.

“To say your life is not about you isto say you’ve got a mission. There’sno rule, no exception, nobody in theBible is ever given an experience ofGod without at the same time beingsent on mission. I f you f ind theperson God wants you to be, you willset the world on fire,” stressed thecharismatic host of the hugely popular“Catholicism” documentary.

Only Jesus“As youth, we need to focus on our

faith and believe only in Jesus,” saidBenedict Canapi from the Diocese of

Butuan. He said he plans to answer thiscall by “doing some of the Spiritual andCorporal works of mercy.”

Chaira Magno from the Archdiocese of

Davao also shared her learning saying,“When you give more of yourself, itdoesn’t mean you lose – it means yougain more and through that you becomea saint in your own way.”

Meanwhile, Beegie Marine from theDiocese of Talibon, Aklan acknowledgesthe faithful’s need to accept their

sinfulness.“Before you become a saint, you gothrough puri cation, to be a saint you haveto know you are a sinner – a sinner tryingmy best to minimize sins. Pray always andattend Mass [because] it’s the highest formof prayer,” he said in Filipino.

Whi le ano the r you th from Luzon,Therese Ledesma, a delegate from theDiocese of Tarlac, believes the faithfulneed “to focus [their] energies towardsGod, nd God and make Him the centerof [their] lives.”

“It’s a matter of being humble, you canonly share mercy and compassion, if youaccept that you are weak and you are willingfor God to ll you.”

Relevant talk

The mayor of the city acknowledgedthe enthusiasm of the youth delegatesand expressed that this experience wasphenomenal.

“It shows to you the Christian faithof the Filipino. When you say youth,everything is there, they are so excitedand we too from the city government, we’re overwhelmed,” said Lapu-lapu CityMayor Paz Radaza.

Fr. Conegundo Garganta, the executivesecretary of the Episcopal Commission

on the Youth of the Catholic BishopsConference of the Philippines, considersthe talk appropriate and believes the callto sainthood is “very much possible.”He also hopes this message really addsto the many messages and invitationsencouraging young people to pursueholiness.

“[The talk was] very relevant since ourFilipino youth [hvave the] the biggestrepresentation in terms of population:the energy, dynamism, and creativitythey have, if properly directed as BishopBarron said, will bring a big change toour country in faith and how we liveour lives – politics, economy, socialresponsibilities.”

He promised, “to continue and becommitted [to] help and guide this young

people in nding this treasure and eld –the path of sainthood,” he said. (Chrixy Pagu iri gan wit h repor ts from Ronalyn Regino / CBCP News)

Sorsogon’s Poor Clares on IEC ‘Eucharistic mission’CEBU City, Jan. 30, 2016 –Two Poor Clares ventured outof their cloisters in Sorsogonto go on a mission at the 51stInternational EucharisticCongress (IEC): to turn overmonstrances from a generous American donor to Cebu’spoor parishes.

According to Sister MaryMagdalene Lagco, OSC, an Ame rican donor, who wassaddened upon learning thata lack of resources had beendepriving many poor parishesof the bene ts of Eucharisticexposition and adoration because these require havinga monstrance to protect Christin the Blessed Sacrament, hadsince committed to providemonstrances to poor parishesfor free.

This is where the PoorClares come in – as bridges between the said par ishesand the donor, who prefersanonymity.

Other IEC ‘purpose’L a g c o , 4 3 , a s s i s t a n t

superior of the Poor ClaresMonastery of Our Lady ofPeñafrancia, didn’t reallyplan to go to the 51st IEC,as contemplatives belong tothe cloister, not outside, butDivine Providence obviouslyhad other designs.

Sr. Mary Magdalene Lagco, OSC and Sr. Marie Elvie Magsucang, OSC attend the 51stInternational Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in Cebu City.ROMMEL LOPEZ

Support unexpectedlycame from donors, and hersuperior tapped her to attendthe Cebu gathering given herrole in the community asformator and in-charge ofliturgy. With her was SisterMarie Elvie Magsucang, OSC,a relative of Jesuit priest Fr.Jose Quilongquilong.

It also eventually occurredto Sister Mary Magdalenethat her order’s spiritualmother, St. Clare, is depictedas holding a monstrance.“The Lord real ly wantsus to be here,” she said inFilipino, noting that her other“purpose” of being at the IECis to act as the distributor of

the free montrances.The order endorsed 51

monstrances, symbolizing the51st edition of the IEC in thePhilippines, to Fr. CarmeloDiola, SSL, chairman ofthe IEC’s Committee onSolidarity and Communion.

Simple conversion story The donor, who would

rather remain unknown, hasa simple story of conversion.For 18 years, the donor, ahospital worker, fell awayfrom the faith, and didn’thave time to go to Mass.

“ T h e r e w a s n oextraordinary miracle, justan inspiration,” shared Sister

Mary Magdalene. The donor went to a chapel one day andprayed, and rediscovered adevotion to the Eucharist.The donor now shares thedevotion by giving awaypamphlets on the Eucharistto people.

An old woman mentionedto the donor the lack ofmonstrances in poor parishes,and since then, the donor hastaken up the need to make theEucharistic Lord known allover, especially to the poor,as her cause.

The monstrances departfrom the traditional designas they can be hanged,and the receptacle for theBlessed Sacrament can be de tached , Si st er MaryMagdalene explained. Thepractical design is also meantto prevent the theft of thesacred species, she added,lamenting that nowadays,there is lack of respect for theBlessed Sacrament.

T h e P o o r C l a r e smonastery in Sorsogonhas more monstrances fordistribution elsewhere inthe country. Interestedparishes may send an emailto poorclaresorsogon@gmail.com or call 09182902003.(Felipe Francisco / CBCP

News)

Papal legate to elderly: Smile more!CEBU City, Jan. 30, 2016— CardinalCharles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon in Myanmar, has a message forthe elderly: lighten up and smile more!

In a visit to a home for the agedmanaged by the Missionaries ofCharity, the congregation founded by soon- to-be canonized Teresa ofCalcutta, on Saturday, the cardinalurged the elderly to “say cheese” moreoften, smiling can change a lot.

Upon the entering the facility, the

papal legate to the 51st InternationalEucharistic Congress (IEC) wasgreeted with handshakes, smiles, and

owers.“I have received gifts and especially

your gifts of smiles. I encourage youto smile more often,” said the prelate.

“We have so many gifts which we can with share with each other— our smile.This is the gift that we receive and giveto each other,” he said.

The facility, located along Cardinal

Rosales Street, houses 66 wheelchair- bound elderly men and women.

In his short message, Bo also spokeabout the importance of missionary work and being charit able towardsthe needy.

“We can take the example of theMissionary of Sisters of Charity. Whatis their gift? Their whole life,” hesaid. “It’s a great example what thesesisters are doing.” (Roy Lagarde /CBCPNews)

Religious sister‘excited’ aboutsharing IEClearnings

CEBU City, Jan. 30, 2016 –Given the gems of wisdom shehas been reaping so far fromtalks at the 51st InternationalEucharistic Congress (IEC), areligious sister expressed joyshe has a lot more to share inher apostolate once the globalreligious gathering wraps up.

“It [IEC] deepens more myspirituality, my faith, in a way that I am reminded moreagain … [from the talks].The talks enrich more myknowledge of the Eucharist …The talks refreshed me again,”noted Sr. Marilyn Gabawanof the Missionary Sisters ofthe Catechism (SMC) in aninterview.

She said her congregationis involved in teachingcatechism, giving seminars

taking care of the elderlyand orphaned children as well as giving format ion tocatechists.

Based on her personalexperience, she lamentedm a n y C a t h o l i c s e v e nnow are not sufficientlyinformed about the roleof the sacraments in theirspiritual lives, particularly theEucharist.

Eucharistic education“Educating the people,

especial ly the poor, onimportance of the Sacraments[is needed]. Many people don’tunderstand the sacraments.Some thought they can buythe sacraments ... It’s not that.Sacraments [are a] deepening[of] one’s faith,” she added.

As “Bread of Life,” Gabawanpointed out that every bap tiz ed fai thf ul is cal ledupon to like live Christ.

“When we eat the Eucharist,

that is the Body and Blood ofChrist, it means that what Ieat is Christ, so I must live likeChrist. So all of us our modelof our life must be JesusChrist,” she explained.

Having been a religious forsome 23 years now, a portionof which she spent doingmission in Kenya, Africa,Gabawan stressed she has hada ful lling experience in her vocation.

Finding meaning in lifeBefore entering the convent,

she used to work at the ArmedForces of the Philippines(AFP) as a researcher.

However, she said she didnot nd meaning in what she was doing back then.

“I am happy now that Iam a sister. [Before enteringthe convent], I didn’t findsatisfaction that way I feelnow that I am sister,” she said.

As a consecra ted person,her daily routine includesattending Mass and spendingtime in the Blessed Sacrament.

Gabawan went on to inviteCatholic women to considerpursuing a religious vocation.

“For those young ladies whofeel God calls them kindlyresponds to God calling. It’s anice life to share and serve ourLord, Jesus Christ. If you feel you have the vocation to thereligious life, please answer your vocation to the religiouslife. And you will be happy toserve our Lord,” she added.

The 51st IEC is set toconclude on Sunday, Jan.31, 4:00 p.m. with the StatioOrbis Mass at the SouthProperties Road, Cebu City.(Raymond A. Sebastián

/ CBCP News)

51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) delegates share a laugh during thecatechesis given by Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Jan. 28, 2016. DOMINIC BARRIOS

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Jaro Archbishop calls for‘friendly competition’ of love

CEBU City, Jan. 30, 2016--Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo calledon delegates to the 51st InternationalEucharistic Congress (IEC) to engagein “friendly competition” not toupstage one another, but in showinglove and kindness for others.

Leading the morning prayer on theseventh day of the IEC, ArchbishopLagdameo re ected on what it is to be a “Eucharistic community”: thatis, to be disposed to practice “acts of

kindness and beauty, of mercy andreconciliation, of peace and justice,of generosity.”

“As Christians, we rely on oneanother. We depend on one another. We help one another. The variousparts of the body [rely] on oneanother. We suffer together. Werejoice together,” said Lagdameo,president of the Catholic Bishops’Conference of the Philippines from2005 to 2009.

“As we ful ll that mission, Jesusgives us the command to love oneanother, as He has loved us, and at

the same time He gives us the grace we need to carry out that command.”Lagdameo reminded the IEC

pilgrims that God has made availableto them individual gifts, talents,experiences, and perspectives.These gifts also include the widercommunity everyone belongs to,he said.

“As members of this Eucharisticcommunity, we are called not onlyto practice love and to honor oneanother but also to those outsidethe community,” he said. “Weshould engage ourselves in friendly

competition on showing love andkindness to our neighbors.” (Felipe Francisco / CBCP News)

Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo leads the morning prayer for the seventh day of the 51st IEC. MICHAEL DALOGDOG

‘Visita Iglesia’ reminder of Christian mission – priest

CEBU City, Jan. 30, 2016--A missionary delegate wa s re min de d of th eCatholic faithful’s missionduring his Visita Iglesiaexperience during theongoing 51st InternationalEucharisti Congress (IEC)in this city.

Fr. Thomas Gomez, aBangladeshi missionaryto Canada shared hisreflection on the VisitaIglesia, comparing the“way delegates walktoward the churchestaking different route”’to how God “sends us tomission in di erent ways.”

He also noted that thedelegates traveled ondi erent paths but alwaystowards one Church, justlike how the faithful havedifferent missions, allleading to the path towardsthe Kingdom of Heaven.

“All roads go to thechurch and all the roadsfrom the church sent usto the mission--we are walking to the church now just [like how] the Lordsends us to the missionin different ways,” heexplained in an interview with CBCP News.

Faith for allThe IEC Visita Iglesia

was an open-to-all activity wh er e even non- IECdelegates could join theo cial delegates.

“The Visi ta Iglesiaexperience was even morepowerful because it wasopen to all. It was all themore welcoming and thelocal parishioners weregleeful,” said MichaelLaxina, a participant.

“We had communalp r a y e r a n d i t f e l t

l i ke a ‘g loba l Vi s i t aIglesia’ because of theenternational delegates,”he added.

The participants werealso given a glimpse ofhow Filipinos practice theCatholic faith.

“Each country, eventhough the faith is [the]same, the practice isdi erent. Here, the peopleare more church-going,for some--even thoughthey are poor they arerich in heart--they wantto become richer and sothey go to the church,”explained Gomez.

Journeying with Jesus“Now, we are practicing

here all together, we are journeying with the Lord, Ithink now we are living thesame faith and the same way of faith,” he added.

Cebu is wonderful!” Fr.Gomez also noted.

Each group visited fourof the seven participatingchurches. The delegates were transported by IEC buses and dropped o atone point from where they walk edthe ir way to theother churches includedin the itinerary.

Seven of the churches vi si ted in th is wal ki ngpilgrimage were the: OurLady of the Sacred HeartParish in Escario, Asilode la Medalla Milagrosa,Our Mother of PerpetualHelp, Sacred Heart Parishin Jokosalem, the SantoRosario Parish, CebuMetropolitan Cathedral,and the Basilica Minoredel Santo Niño. (Chrixy

Pa gu ir ig an / CBCP News wi th Re port s from Berna Manipon)

IEC Visita Iglesia participants visit and pray at several churches in Cebu City.DOMINIC BARRIOS

‘Western world haslost ability to connect’

CEBU City, Jan. 29, 2016--Belgianconvert Marianne Servaas revealedhow the west has become less humanand has lost the zest for life, unlikeFilipinos who are known for theirpositive outlook despite hardships.

“We no longer trust life. Ourattitude is critical. We begin withtheories and ideas before lookingat life itself. We turn things upsidedown. We have lost the ability torelate,” Servaas said during thesixth and nal press conference ofthe 51st International EucharisticCongress (IEC).

‘Incredible sense of joy’Servaas said Filipinos are able

to bring hope to others throughtheir joy. “The Philippines has anincredible sense of joy rooting fromhumility. Even when things arehard, joy carries you through,” shesaid.

Servaas gave a powerful testimonyon the second day of the congress,revealing how the Eucharist helpedher heal emotionally and spiritually.She was abused by her father, anevangelical pastor, from age 4 untilshe reached 16-years old.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma,president of the 51st IEC, said,however, that it is possible thePhilippines might lapse into thesame culture. The challenge is topreserve the values already presentin the country, which Europeancountries can emulate, he said.

Other lay speakers in the congress were also present. Pastoral worker

Ma. Georgia Cogtas, a former streetchild, suggested the conversionof unused spaces in parishes into ve nu es fo r st ud y an d fe ed in gactivities for street children.

Room for the poor“Maybe the Church could make

room for the poor by providing aspace where the children can studyand have meals, or utilize resourcesto provide them with books,” Cogtassaid.

Thai author and entrepreneurMary Sarindhorn, who gave hertestimony on Jan. 30, told themedia how she found faith after being accused of a crime she didnot commit.

“During my suffering, I prayedto God day and night. He spoketo me that one day the truth willprevail. I nally was able to dig upthe evidence that will prove myinnocence. After that, I found Godto be my savior up to this day,”Sarindhorn said.

Capping the last press conferenceof IEC week, CBCP Episcopal SocialCommunciations and Social Mediachairman Bishop Mylo Hubert Ve rg ara sa id the co ng ress ha sachieved its goal of encouraging thefaithful to foster humility, to reachout to the poor and su ering, tp andhave a devout prayer life.

“The prayer of the Eucharistshould lead to action. We are to be the bread broken and shared toothers,” said Vergara. (CBCP News

/ Krystel Nicole A. Sevilla)

Fr. Timothy Radcliffe: Living in extraordinary hopeCEBU City, Jan. 26, 2016--In a worldof challenges and struggles, there aredi erent ways to express hope.

Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, O.P.’safternoon session on “The Christian Virtue of Hope” involved sharingmany of his personal testimonies andstories on extraordinary hope. Hesaid hope is found in “remaining”,telling a story of not running awayamid hard times and choosing totrust in God and abide in His word.

Despite crises“Remaining is a sign of hope, of

trust in the Lord who remains withus. Sometimes, it’s di cult to stay inthe Church, but we abide, becauseGod abides with us,” said the formerMaster-General of the Order ofPreachers, the 800-year old orderknown as the Dominicans.

When celebrating the Eucharist,the faithful gather in hope, pray,

and sing, he said. This also showsexpression of hope in Christ,especially in difficult times. “TheEucharist is our great sign of hope,the sacraments are signs – theyexpress hope that are beyond words,” explained Radcli e.

“It is in the darkest [times] thatGod comes to us in ways that we maynever have anticipated, so don’t beafraid of crisis,” he added.

Hope in the PhilippinesRadcliffe said he has come to

admire the Philippines’ resiliencein the face of being hit by so manydisasters and so many crises. “When Icame to the Philippines, I think I cameto learn about hope from you,” he said.

Even in mundane things, peopleconvey hope. Fr. Radcli e pointedout that doing good deeds, learningand teaching, thinking, and being likechildren are expressions of hope.

“God gave us minds, He gaveus reason so we could try andunderstand. If we believe in God, we would understand [that] in the end,everything makes sense,” he said.

Potentials of peaceTeaching the young is one of the

greatest signs of hope, he also said.Children, he said, “represent thepotentials of peace that we can’thope to imagine.”

“Hope means doing the good thingtoday, regardless of tomorrow. In somany things we do in our daily lives, we hope and we entrust everythingto God, even through our simplestacts and deeds,” he added.

“God is the protagonist of this truthso we trust in God – we leave thingsin His hand because we trust that he brings about his Kingdom in his own way,” stressed Radcli e. (Chrixy Paguirigan / CBCP News)

Belgian convert Marianne Servaas. DOMINIC BARRIOS

Korean media impressedby Pinoy faith

CEBU City, Jan. 30, 2016--A SouthKorean journalist covering the 51stInternational Eucharistic Congress(IEC) shared her impression of the

faith of Filipinos, noting the honorand passion they show in beingCatholics.

“[Filipino] Catholics are proudand passionate. They surprised me,and I was very pleased,” declaredCristina Eunyoung Kim, who works for the Cathol ic Bis hops’Conference of Korea (CBCK), in arecent interview.

Contrasting Catholics in the two Asian nations, she pointed out themajor di erence lies in how theyexpress their faith.

Fear of persecutionKim went on to explain that

while they may be just as devoted,Catholics who comprise a minorityin the peninsula tend to be inhibitedand not as showy about their religion.

Ac co rd in g to he r, th is mu st be ul tima te ly due to hi stor icalcircumstances.

Two hundred years back, shenoted Korean Catholics often had tolive out their faith in hiding for fear

of persecution, something many ofthe present generation of faithfulhave carried over.

“In Korea, many Catholics hide

their faith. Korea is a multi-religioncountry and they don’t want con ict between othe r reli gion s. I guessthe silent faith of Koreans iscaused by persecutions from twocenturies ago. The persecutionsmade Catholics hide themselves,”she added.

As a rst-timer in the Philippines,she said she had to study muchabout the host country.

‘Great nation’“I found the Philippines is a very

great nation,” she said.Korea was the colony of Japan.

But Filipinos didn’t lose their pridein spite of the colony era of Spainfor a long time. Your history deeplymoved me,” she added.

The 37-year old from Seoul hadalso previously covered the 50th IECin Dublin, Ireland in 2012.

Kim said Catholics in South Koreanmake up approximately 10 percent ofthe total population. (Raymond A.

Sebastián / CBCP News)

Korean IEC delegates attend a Mass during the Parish Encounter. MICHAEL DALOGDOG

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A4 CBCP Monitor January 31, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 8OPINION

What I learnedfrom the IEC

I L L U S T R A T I O N B Y B R O . T A G O Y J A K O S A L E M

, O A R

EDITORIAL

Fr. Eutiquio ‘Euly’ Belizar, Jr. SThD

By the Roadside

Fr. Roy Cimagala

Candidly Speaking

The 51 st IEC legacy andchallenge: bring the Eucharist

to the world today

Let us be backyard missionariesTHERE is something nostalgic about a huge hall lled withempty chairs. Just hours ago, this hall—the IEC Pavilion—wasreverberating with the sounds of faith and joy. Now it is empty but for us who must record for posterity everything that took

place within its walls this past week.For seven consecutive days this hall was lled to over owing with people in jubilation over the almost palpable presenceof God in this 51st International Eucharistic Congress. We were “high” from savoring the company of the EucharisticLord. Emptying ourselves of mundane concerns for one whole week, we made ourselves available to Him and to oneanother. Feeling our best, we were ready to receive Jesus inthe Eucharist and in our neighbor everyday. The daily Liturgy

lled the air with grace and blessing, so much so that each dayfelt like a Sunday.

Eucharist, Eucharist, Eucharist. We feasted upon thenourishing lectures centering on the Eucharist. We made newfriends, refreshed old friendships, and renewed our friendship with Jesus. We exchanged views in the spirit of brotherlylove. We were touched by mystery. Like children we laughed, we wept, we sang, we prayed, we took sel es. With renewedzeal we exchanged stories over our “laptop lunch”. We alsoshopped.

But what do we bring home from this place besides thesouvenirs we had bought to remember this experience by?Many of us are expected to echo our learning when we returnto our parishes or communities. What would be our mostprecious lesson to pass on? Besides regaling others withaccounts of exciting times and showing o our innumerablesel es—what do we do?

We bring home the Christ in us—“…the mystery hidden fromages and from generations past… but now made manifest to Hissaints… it is Christ in you, the hope for glory” (Col. 1:26-27).”

That is the challenge of this Congress. When we leave thisplace and return to the world and nd ourselves outnumbered by in dels and lukewarm Catholics , how are we going toproclaim the reality that is the Holy Eucharist?

To non-believers, the Eucharist does not make sense; it is just a bland biscuit. No doctrine, no ponti cating, will convincethem otherwise. Not all of us can be preachers, and even thosetrained to be preachers may not always become e ective assuch. But when our lives and our persons preach the Gospel without using words, people are moved because it is the powerof Christ they behold, and that power is irresistible.

The Catechesis in the 51st International Eucharistic Congressoften stressed the power of the Eucharist to heal a broken world, citing the threats to humanity bought about by greed,indi erence, hunger for power and dominance, et al. Healinga broken world can begin in our own homes or primary circleof in uence, making peace with those closest to us, forgivingand asking forgiveness of our family members, our confreres,other members of our community. Eucharist is mission, and bythe grace and mercy of God we can be backyard missionaries.Nothing is too small in the eyes of God when done with utmostself-giving.

Back in our rooms, before our altars, we will o er ourselvesto the Eucharist, and await His Word in the silence of ourhearts.

MonitorPROTAGONIST OF TRUTH, PROMOTER OF PEACE

CBCP

Pedro QuitorioEditor-in-Chief

Nirva’ana DelacruzAssociate Editor

Roy LagardeNews Editor

Kris BayosFeatures Editor

This special issue of the CBCP Monitor is published dailyfor the 51st International Eucharistic Congress by AreopagusCommunications, Inc. with editorial and business offices atGround 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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Sammy Navaja, Michael DalogdogPhotographers, IEC Special Issue

EVERY good thing on earth comes to anend. Only Jesus Christ in the Eucharistdoes not. As the 51st IEC draws to aclose, I have asked myself two questionsthat, I feel, need to be answered by usdelegates and by every Christian whoadores, worships, and serves the Lordin and through the Eucharist. The rstis: What is the world of today like? Thesecond follows from the rst: What doesthe Eucharist brings it and thus impelsus to be and to do? I will try to answeras a fellow believer who wishes to share,in a Eucharistic manner, with brothersand sisters some shafts of the light thatcame my way.

1. We live a world threatened byclimate change and environmentaldegradation. In response, the Eucharistconstantly reminds us of our duty to carefor the earth which, in the words of PopeFrancis, is “our common home”. TheEucharist is a rm reminder that the God we worship in the Eucharist is the “Godof all creation” through whose goodness we receive the bread and wine that later become the Body and Blood of the Lord who gives himself through them for our

salvation. This salvation wrought for us by Christ Jesus and celebrated whenever we break bread and drink the cup of theEucharist pertains not only to us but alsoto creation itself. The Apostle Paul hasthis to say in this regard: “For creationitself shall also be delivered from theservitude of corruption and brought intothe liberty of the glory of the sons of God”(Rom 8:21). To quote the rst CatholicUS President: “God’s work on earth musttruly be our own.” Nowhere is this moretruly and clearly applied than in the workof bringing the fruits of salvation to our“common home” itself.

2. We live in a world threatened by oldand new forms of hatred, extremism andfundamentalism at the root of terrorism.In response, the Eucharist is the perpetualsacrament and testament of God’s lovefor us, e ectively reconciling us withhimself and with one another. This gift ofreconciliation urges and obliges us to bepeacemakers and builders of solidarity,never responding to hatred with hatred but with the love of Christ that we make visible by initiating and calling fellowhuman beings to dialogue, mutual

understanding, prudence, and sobriety. After all, the Jesus we encounter in thesacrament is the Risen One whose word“Shalom (all the blessings of peace andgoodness)!” (Jn 20:19, 21, 26) is also ourcommand.

3. We live with a digitally induced world and other forms of isolation andindividualism, an unhappy fruit of theadvances in science and technology.In response, the Eucharist is God’soasis of joy found and encounteredin community. The Real (not digital)Presence of the Lord constantly impelsus to seek “real” company of “real”people who, in the Word made esh whohas therefore shared our very nature with all its weaknesses, are our “real” brothers and sisters. It is in them andthrough them that we not only nd themeaning of the Eucharistic bread brokenand shared but also the real nourishmentfor our hunger for love and freedom.

4. We live in a world ever more deeply wounded by secularization. In the wordsof St. John Paul II in his apostolic letterMane Nobiscum Domine (“Remain

Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS

And That’s The Truth

YOU think that as a priest I already knoweverything about the Eucharist? Theanswer is a big, at No. Even if I mustconfess that I know quite a bit about it,and already have an extensive experiencerelated to this most sublime sacrament,I realize that what the Catechism saysabout the “inexhaustible richness” of theEucharist cannot be any truer.

I found myself feeling like one with azero-knowledge everytime I attended asession during the Congress. I was likea desert experiencing for the rst timethe refreshing blessing of a downpour.

I had the clear impression that theHoly Eucharist would engage me ina lifelong process of getting to know,appreciate, and live it better and bettereveryday. During the Congress, I wasaware of many new insights comingin, like seeds just sown. Hopefullyin time, these would grow and bearmuch fruit.

It started right at the opening Masscelebrated by no less than the PapalLegate, the Burmese Cardinal MaungBo. He set the tone for the weeklongevent. It was about having a greatersensitivity to the social dimension of theEucharist, something that many peoplefail to realize

That was the theme or the spirit that was consistently built up in every talk,session, or workshop. To be sure, it wasa theme that had as its proper roots inthe deep realization that the Eucharistis the most central part of a Christian’slife, and its celebration has to be as bestas possible humanly, liturgically,

culturally speaking, etc.In other words, the social dimension

should be the organic outgrowth of ourfaith in the centrality of the Eucharist inour life and its most solemn celebration. As the Papal Legate put it, the celebrationhas to turn into a commitment.

The Eucharistic celebration should not just be an hour-long ceremony. It has to be an abiding, lifelong celebration. Thecelebration should not be understoodsolely as something purely liturgical,done in some church, sanctuary or holyplace.

We ne ed to unde rs tand that theEucharistic celebration has to extend toall parts of the day and to all aspects ofour life, whether spiritual or material,sacred, or mundane. In other words,there’s nothing in our life that cannot andshould not be related to the Eucharist.

The whole day, our whole lifeshould be some kind of a Mass that,of course, should be rooted on itsliturgical celebration. But the liturgicalcelebration would somehow be nulli ed,its tremendous e ects practically wasted,if we fail to take advantage of its powerto purify and transform us individually

Candidly Speaking / A7

By the Roadside / A7

A fresh pair of eyes

AL LO W me to te ll yo u astory about an extraordinarycommunion that gave me afresh pair of eyes. Althoughthis took place during theEucharist, it did not happeninside a church, but in amodest office to celebrate

the company’s foundationanniversary. The Gospelthat day was Luke 9:11-17,about the multiplication ofthe loaves and sh, and thestory I’m about to tell is aboutdivision, the division of theHosts at Mass.

As wi th al l Mas ses tha tare celebrated outside of achurch, the priest was carefulnot to consecrate too manypieces of host lest he end uphaving to consume the excess.In spite of his care, however,

the priest miscalculated thenumber of communicantsso that towards the end ofCommunion, he was splittingthe Sacred Hosts in order tomake them last.

Wh en my tu rn ca me , Ireceived what must have been

one/sixteenth of a regularhost. I am not exaggerating.It was smaller than a mung bean. Chipped o hosts werenothing new to me, but it was the rst time I received afraction of a host—and such ateeny-weeny bit at that!

But glancing at the “little white thing” in the palm ofmy hand I instead “saw”something else, a small bodyof the crucified Christ withneither arms nor legs. And with that ashed a question

from nowhere: “Would youstill love me in my brokenstate?” I ignored it as I gentlypicked up the Host with mytongue, afraid I might drop itif I used my ngers.

Back in my seat , thequestion came back: “Would

you still love me in my brokenstate?” And my answer came:“Of course, Lord, I’d love youeven more.”

I didn’t dwell on thatexperience, instead dismissedit as a distraction duringCommunion. But monthslater, I would notice that I woul d be more “p resent ”to the Host at Communion. Whether I was given a wholehost or a quarter of the biggerhost the priest himself tookdidn’t matter—I knew it

was not just a “holy wafer” I was taking—it was the LordHimself giving Himself to me.

Much later, while awaitingmy turn in a long Communionqueue at our parish church,the image of the armlessand legless Cruci ed Christ

in my hand came back tomind—and along with it, anew pair of eyes. I “saw” theBody of Christ in each andevery person in line to receiveHim—broken, pleading to beloved. It’s as though I saw the wounds they were hiding, andit lled me with compassion.Not all the people in the queue were easy to like, and one lady was even considered “weird”in the parish, but in thatmarvelous way that defies

And That’s the Truth / A7

The Eucharist and the “Glory of God”

THE acclamation of the Eucharistic assembly after theconsecration aptly concludes the manifestation of theeschatological orientation that is signi ed by the participationin the table of the Lord: we proclaim the death and resurrectionof Christ “until he comes again”. The Eucharist is tension towardthe goal, foretaste of the fullness of joy promised by Christ. Ina certain sense, it is anticipation of the nal Kingdom, “pledgeof future glory”. In the trustful waiting that “the blessed hope isaccomplished and our Savior Jesus Christ may come.”

The Eucharist which is at the same time seed and goal ofthe mission manifests the experience of the glory of God thathas at its center the Paschal Mystery of Christ, his passion anddeath, his glorious resurrection. It is on the cross that the trueglory of God is revealed to us because there the Father showsin his Son his merciful face and his love up to the point of deathfor the salvation of his creatures and creation. Thus “Christ in you, hope of glory” is revealed to us as no other than the wholesaving plan of God realized in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus.From Sunday to Sunday, gathered in the name of the Lord, wecelebrate the glory of God in every Eucharist. That Jesus who was cruci ed we now encounter-- risen, living, raised beforethe world who cruci ed him. Now death is made joyful by loveand our resurrection is manifested in the e orts to love as Jesusloved. “Gloria Dei vivens homo; vita autem hominis visio Dei.The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man is the vision of God.”

-- Excerpt s from the theo log ica l and past ora lre ection in preparation for the 51st International

Eucharistic Congress

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A5CBCP Monitor January 31, 2016 Vol. 20, No. 8

The Eucharist:‘So ancient yet so new’

Love, prayer, and

Our Blessed Mother

Fr. Francis Ongkingco

Whatever

Veronica and Rafael Dy-Liacco

Simple GiftsFr. Jose Ernil Almayo, OAR

Just Inspired

IT all started long time ago in a far, faraway place called Jerusalem when theJesus’ last meal with his core groupcalled apostles took place. That mealcame to be known as “Last Supper”(though, like the term “Trinity”, it doesnot exist in the New Testament).

“Do this in memory of me,” Jesussaid. His apostles faithfully complied. Wherever they went, they propagatedthe breaking of bread. That life-changingevent, re-presented in what we call HolyEucharist, would continue to nourishthe people of God in diverse situations,embolden new generations of Gospelambassadors, and, yes, eucharistify theface of the earth…

The gargantuan impact of the Eucharistswells beyond description “that even the world itself would not contain the booksthat should be written” to loan St. John’s words (Jn 21:24) in another context.

For instance, when Bishop DominickKimengich of Lodwar, Kenya took lunch with us in our conv ent, I thought it was simply a matter of simple sharing.He talked about his diocese, thepresence of our Augustinian Recollectcontemplative nuns there, his need formore missionaries, et cetera. Whenasked about the rst time he heard aboutthe Philippines, he said, “Long timeago!” He also made a special mention ofJaime Cardinal Sin during the latter’sattendance at the 43rd IEC convened inNairobi on August 11-18, 1985.

“I was still a seminarian, then,” he

recalled. “And everybody swarmedaround him because he had a lot ofinteresting stories to tell.”

As I tried to listen intently to this 55- year old prelate, my mind was stuck onhis mention of Cardinal Sin and the year1985. Then, something di erent dawnedon me like a blitzkrieg. If it was the IEC1985, I said to myself, then, it must have been the “Euchar istic nutrien ts” thatforti ed the brave cardinal six monthslater, on February 1986, to un inchinglycall for what is now labeled as the PeoplePower Revolution.

I know there is no way to confirmmy hypothesis. But the significantrelationship is inevitable.

Hopefully, this Eucharistic impactcontinues to amaze us, as Pope John PaulII wished in his Ecclesia de Eucharistian.6. Pope Benedict XVI also wished thesame: “The wonder we experience at the

gift of God has made to us in Christ givesnew impulse to our lives and commits usto becoming witnesses of his love” (SC 85).

In this vein, I cannot help but rewindour Church history to 1937 when, forthe rst time, the IEC was held in Asia,speci cally here in the Philippines. The5-day congress unfolded from Feb. 3-7 ofthat year. The o cial hymn, in Spanish, was titled “Gloria a Jesus”, which was acollaboration of Fr. Domingo Carceller,OAR (music) and Emeterio BarcelonBarcelo, a Carmelite third order member(lyrics). And it amazes us to hear thatthe then 5-year old Manila Archbishop

emeritus Gaudencio Rosales and then8-year old Ricardo Cardinal Vidalcould still refer to that historic eventparticipated in by 1.5 million souls.

The impact is, no doubt, indelible.For that’s the natural dynamics ofone’s encounter with the Lord in theEucharist. There is always that elementof “remembering” just as it was at itsorigin. So ancient yet so new, if I wereto use St. Augustine’s phrase.

On a more personal note, I foundsomething compelling, a sort of blessingin disguise, in the tandem of BishopReynaldo Evangelista of Cavite and theRecoletos choir who led the morningprayers on the sixth day of IEC 2016.Probably, I was the only one who tooknotice of it. I don’t think the organizersknew this connection. That on this year,2016, the Recoletos is celebrating its400th anniversary of evangelization

in this diocese. And that tandem was a“thanksgiving Mass” (well, every Massis an act of thanksgiving) for those fourcenturies of breaking bread and sharingthe faith with the people of Cavite.

In this IEC 2016, I know the impact ofthe Eucharist will exceed the number ofparticipants. For truly, the ripples havealready reached millions—nearly 40million from organic tweets alone, and thatincludes those who know and/or follow theproceedings from all over the world.

May the Eucharist send, not justripples, but waves of change in ourpersonal lives and communities.

Mass in a Tricycle

A FRIEN D and I went toBinondo looking for cheapsportswear. I haven’t beento this part of town for thelongest time. I was lookingforward to once again ridingthe rusty, rickety, tin canpedal-powered t r icycleslittering every street cornerlike famished flies thatskillfully darted betweenalleys, cars, and pedestrians.

Our rst stop was BinondoChurch to greet our Lordand say a Rosary before the

La Japonesa. My companionexplained this was the imageof our Lady before which St.Lorenzo Ruiz, the rst Filipinosaint, entrusted his missionarytrip that was rewarded withmartyrdom in Japan.

After this visit, we hailedone of the tricycles to shuttleus to one of the many colossal wholesale stores. It was hardto squeeze into the vehicle. Ihad to literally exhale all theair in my lungs and stomachto miraculously fit insidethe Jurassic iron rib cageof a dinosaur we could callTricyclosaurus.

Being squeezed inside a

prehistoric sardine can didn’treally give one a good viewof the outside. The most wecould see were deformedre ections on the doors of thehigher vans and buses. Everynow and then a squid of a jeep would manage to over takeand squirt us with a jet ofpolluted black smoke ink.

“Do you realize that this isHeaven here on earth?” Mycompanion suddenly said outof the blue.

“Huh?” I didn’t qui teunderstand where he wascoming since I was stillchoking from the smoke.

“Look at all these stickers,”he pointed at the rattlingpanel before us.

Perhaps I was too absorbed with trying to get a view ofthe outside that I wasn’t tooattentive with the inside.

Indeed, my companion’sdescription was so precise:it was Heaven here on earth!

The rust-pocked panel was cove red with relig iousst ickers . There was ourLord, another of His SacredHeart, our Lady of Lourdes,Fatima, Miraculous Medal,and then St. Joseph, St. Pioof Pietrelcina, and angels ofall sorts of colors and sizes.

My companion whisked outhis smartphone and snappeda photo of the celestialkaleidoscope before our eyes.

***This episode reminded me

of a more sublime experience

that eventually led to theconversion of a famousProtestant minister to theCatholic Faith: Scott Hahn.He shared how he one day,out of a healthy curiosity tounderstand early ChristianLiturgy, sneaked into aCatholic chapel in Milwaukee. As th e Ma ss pr og re ss ed

he could not help but beraptured by a “new and yetold” discovery.

He writes, “In less than aminute, the phrase Lamb ofGod had rung out four times.From long years of studyingthe Bible, I immediately knew where I was. I was in the Bookof Revelation, where Jesusis called the Lamb no lessthan twenty-eight times intwenty-two chapters. I wasat the marriage feast thatJohn describes at the end

of that very last book of theBible. I was before the throneof heaven, where Jesus ishailed forever as the Lamb. I wasn’t ready for this, though— I was at Mass! (The Lamb’sSupper)”

Reading on the ear lyChristian writers, he learnedthat the connection betweenRevelation and the Mass wasalready common knowledgefor the Fathers. He says:

“[The Fathers] consideredthe Book of Revelation thekey to the liturgy, and theliturgy the key to the Book ofRevelation. (…) I had beentrying to make sense of the

Book of Revelation as somekind of encoded messageabout the end of the world.(…) Now, after two weeksof daily Mass attendance, Ifound myself wanting to standup during the liturgy andsay, ‘Hey, everybody. Let meshow you where you are in the Apocalypse! Turn to chapter

four, verse eight. You’re inheaven right now.’ (Ibid.)”

The miniature Heaventhat my companion and Icontemplated inside thetricycle is also present inthe Mass. But this time,not as mere stickers, but asreal celestial figures whoparticipate in every singleMass that is celebrated hereon earth.

We read in the Constitutionon the Sacred Li turgy,Sacrosanctum concilium the

following words:“In the earthly liturgy weshare in a foretaste of thatheavenly liturgy which iscelebrated in the Holy City ofJerusalem toward which we journ ey as pilg rims , whereChrist is sitting at the righthand of God, Minister ofthe sanctuary and of thetrue tabernacle. With all the warriors of the heavenly army we sing a hymn of glory to theLord; venerating the memoryof the saints, we hope forsome part and fellowship withthem.”

Scott Hahn amusingly butprofoundly re ects on these

very words of the Council byconcluding: “That’s heaven.No, it’s the Mass. No, it’s theBook of Revelation. Wait aminute: it’s all of the above.(Ibid.)”

May all these help us torealize and value the fact thatevery Mass is already “heavenhere on earth!”

Get Thee to a Seminary

WITH more than a million turning outfor events on the nal days of the 51stInternational Eucharistic Congress, it isa good time for young men to considera vocation. Just look at all the Catholicsdevoted to the Eucharistic Christ who will need a priest in the years to cometo feed them with the Bread of Life. Godmust surely be calling many of the men who went on the Eucharistic procession.

So, let’s get down to basics about whata vocation entails.

You’re a young man, nishing collegeor making your way in the working world, op en to ma rr iage bu t ri gh tnow unattached. Unlike many of yourmillennial peers, you are spiritual andreligious. You love the Catholic Churchand the sacraments, nd meaning in theMass and Scripture. What is the bestpath you can take as you plan for a lifeof hard work and ful llment?

Get thee to a seminary.Forget what the world says; listen to

the deepest part of your heart and choose whom you will serve this day. If thereis even the faintest “still small voice”prompting you to consider it, then go!

Get thee to a seminary.Understand, young Catholic man, that

I am not saying you need to decide thismoment that you’re called to be a priest.That may come later, or not at all. What you need to say now is that you havea heart to serve, are willing to sufferand inquire, as you discover what greatmystery of manhood God has plantedin your soul. God has created you, asstrong and weak, as zealous and timid,as gifted and groping as you are. If youcan o er him all that, and work with himto nd the better thing he can make of you, then go.

Get thee to a seminary.Perhaps you’ve thought about it. You

wonder if God is calling and how youcan possibly know. You’re downrightscared to ask if you can be happy as a full- blooded, lady-loving celibate man. But if you have a hint that for you there may bea higher love, and if your heart is liftedas the priest elevates the host, then go.

Get thee to a seminary. Who am I to say? What do I know?

Well, I did it. I spent more than three years in the New York seminary system.

Though I am now married with twochildren, I still say my time in “sem” was worth every minute of every day,even some very di cult days. I learnedthings that I would never have learnedelsewhere – Thomism, metaphysics,the form and matter of the sacraments,Church history, the inside of a sacristy –and was formed into a better man than Iever would have become otherwise. AfterI left seminary and got married, one ofmy professors spoke the truth: “I hope your wife appreciates that you’re a much better man now than when you startedhere.” I replied, “Yes, I don’t think she would have paid any attention to the pre-seminary guy.” Now I’m not saying that afew years of priestly training will set youup for the woman of your dreams after you leave, but you never know – so go.

Get thee to a seminary.The real point is that a daily dose

of seminary will wake you from yourspiritual and secular slumbers; get you thinking about the ultimate truthregarding mankind and the world atlarge; rip up your insides and build you

OUR journey back to God, together as a married couple, began most clearly after what my husband now refers to as hisconversion. It happened at the point in his academic career when he seemed to be moving away from faith and belief at thehighest speed. Always intense about his academics, he had goneto Alaska to observe the aurora borealis, as part of his researchfor the Ph.D., on the topic of ancient sky reading. Americangeophysicists had suggested, decades ago, that the vision ofGod contained in the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 1, was actuallythe prophet’s experience of an aurora over the Babylonian wilderness. My husband’s research uncovered more publishedevidence, from Russian geophysicists, for the plausibility ofthis hypothesis. All he needed now, my husband believed, wasactually to see an aurora that conformed in some way to theimagery in the Biblical text, as nothing that he saw of the aurorain videos uploaded on the internet seemed quite to do so.

The funding for his trip was not easy for him to obtain, and fora while he believed he might never make it.During this time ofuncertainty he sometimes seemed in despair of accomplishinghis work. Once, in passing, he asked me to pray for him. Soduring this period, including all the time that my husband wasactually in Alaska, unbeknown to him I began praying the rosaryfor him, asking Our Blessed Mother to let him nd what he waslooking for. My husband himself said that even if he made it to Alaska, he knew that his chances of seeing what he needed tosee were exceedingly small. He needed a solar event (“the sunexploding”, as he put it), but the explosion must be pointed in thedirection of planet Earth. He needed clear skies. And he neededto be there in the right place at the right time when the actualaurora appeared. Yet despite these odds, and the di culty of

nding funding, something inside of him was driving him to go. When fu nd ing opened up , my husban d gr abbed it .

Immediately he planned his trip down to the last detail ofdate, location, gear, and equipment that he believed wouldmaximize his chances within the budget allotted to him. Thenhe was o . What he did not know at that time was that he was

ying into an already month-long cloud cover over Fairbanks, Alaska, his chosen place of observation. Nor did he know thatdespite the approaching date of the spring equinox, Alaska was experiencing its worst winter ever recorded. The rstsolar explosion occurred as his plane left Manila for Oahu,Hawaii. The second solar explosion occurred when his planeleft Oahu for Fairbanks. When he landed, the cloud cover overFairbanks lifted. On his second night in Fairbanks, he was waiting for the expected aurora. Ignoring the posted warningsabout Alaskan wildlife and about going out alone, he trekked with his equipment to an open eld a kilometer and half fromhis lodge, at 10 in the evening.

It was so cold, he recounted, that he could hear the ice crystalson his eye lashes click every time he blinked. And when he would come in from a night’s observation, the inner lining inhis nose would thaw, crack, and he’d get a nosebleed. But moreseriously, the lithium battery in his electronic camera wouldfreeze after thirty minutes and stop working. At the onset of themost spectacular moments of the aurora that hit that second

night, when inserting his last functioning battery, he accidentlydropped it in the snow and immediately it froze. In the endthat was for the best, he said later, because otherwise he wouldhave spent time fumbling with his equipment, focused only onobtaining recordings. Instead, he was forced to stand back andsimply watch the sky. Afterwards, he would hear Fairbanksresidents saying about that night’s aurora: “I’ve lived here all mylife, but I’ve never seen anything like it.” In the words of otherresidents: “It was an incredible explosion of activity; I didn’tknow which direction to look”, “the sky exploded”, “the lights were really mobile, pin-wheeling and swirling across the sky”.

From the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 1. Ezekiel the prophetrecounts what he saw: “In the thirtieth year, in the fourthmonth, on the fth day of the month, as I was among theexiles by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God... As I looked, a stormy wind came out of thenorth: a great cloud with brightness around it and re ashingforth continually, and in the middle of the re, somethinglike gleaming amber. In the middle of it was something like

four living creatures… In the middle of the living creaturesthere was something that looked like burning coals of re,like torches moving to and fro among the living creatures;the re was bright, and lightning issued from the re. Theliving creatures darted to and fro, like a ash of lightning. AsI looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel… one for each ofthe four of them…Their construction being something like a wheel within a wheel… When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them; and when the living creatures rosefrom the earth, the wheels rose. Wherever the spirit would go,they went, and the wheels rose along with them; for the spiritof the living creatures was in the wheels.… Like the bow in acloud on a rainy day, such was the appearance of the splendorall around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the gloryof the LORD. When I saw it, I fell on my face….”

When my husband came back home from Alaska, he was veryquiet. He seemed lost in a void, alone in some interior sub-arctic wilderness of his own. Sometimes I’d nd him lookingat the NASA satellite photo of the sun of March 13, 2012, thetime of the second solar explosion, the explosion that gave birth to the amazing aurora that he had witnessed. “At rst,I thought someone on the internet had Photoshopped it”, he would say, referring to the photo. “But it’s real.” As reportedon the internet at that time: “A large and very oddly-shapedcoronal hole has appeared on recent images of the Sun takenfrom various American space-based observatories…. The holeis distinctly triangular in shape and is pointed at the Earth”.

He lost taste for his research. He no longer seemed to desirehis Ph.D. He seemed to lose interest in everything. Inside heseemed to be su ering. It turned out he was searching still, butnot for data nor for concepts, not even theological concepts (he was already well familiar with those). Now, he was searchingfor Someone. He found an extra rosary among the things onmy shelf, made of wooden beads and a wooden cruci x, heldtogether by twine. He would lie beside me in bed at night as Iprayed, insisting that I say all the prayers out loud. As I prayedhe would hold the wooden rosary in his hands and pass the beads between his ngers. At the start, he would often fallasleep this way. Then one day he said that he should take thelead. He would say the Creed and the Our Fathers, he wouldannounce each mystery, he would say the Glory Bes and theO My Jesuses, and he would say the Hail Holy Queen and theLet Us Pray. After some months of our praying this way, hethen said that we should preface our Rosary with petitions toOur Blessed Mother, and that before each mystery we shouldask her for graces, because she is “full of grace”.

Brian Caul eld

Half-a-world Away

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Tantum Ergo: back to theheart of the Eucharistic Hymn

By Fr. Jose Ernil Almayo, OAR

MAJORITY of Filipino Catholicsare quite familiar with O salutaris H o s t i a a n d Ta n t u m e r g o Sacramentum, two of the famousEucharistic hymns that echo in ourchurches and cathedrals wheneverthe Blessed Sacrament is exposed.But only a few of them know thatthey were composed by St. Thomas Aquinas upon the special request ofPope Urban IV in preparation forthe universal Church’s celebration ofthe feast of the Corpus (et Sanguis)Christi in 1264.

And how many are also awarethat these two are treated as distinctfrom the complete text of hymns of

which they are a part? O salutaris Hostia is actually the last two versesof Verbum supernum prodiensand Tantum ergo Sacramentum of Pange, lingua, gloriosi.

Thanks to Aquinas’ deep faith andtheological wisdom, the Church isaided in singing and celebrating the Real Presence of the Body and Bloodof Christ in the Eucharist. The songs’melodies elevate the soul to an ine ablealtitude of contemplation; their lyrics— when properly understood—stoke the

re of love in an over owing praiseand gratitude.

As an example of going back to theheart of a Eucharistic hymn, let us nowtake a look at the one with the incipitTantum ergo , singling out two lines

at a time and inserting an attempt atmaking our own literal translation…

Tantum ergo Sacramentum /Veneremur cernui

On bended knees, let us, therefore,venerate so great a sacrament.

Consistent with our belief inthe Real Presence, we accord duereverence or respect—expressedin a general sense by the act ofveneration —by kneeling down(“cernui”) in front of the BlessedSacrament either exposed on thealtar, or reposed in the tabernacle,or in procession. In this personalencounter, our reverential attitudemust already be that of worshipping

which is made to God alone. In fact,the Italian rendition of the hymntranslates “veneremur” as “adoriamo”

Remembering the hunger By Diana Uichanco

EVERY week, on the Lord’s day, aEucharistic minister pays my familya visit to enable my mother to receiveHoly Communion despite her temporaryinability to go out and attend Holy Mass inchurch. My mother had been hospitalizedin 2015 for a heart ailment, and thoughdeclared well enough to be dischargedafter a couple of weeks, her doctor was

emphatic about limiting physical exertionand avoiding all sources of stress. This warranted signi cant adjustments on herlifestyle, including doing away with trips tothe nearby church – on Sundays and anyday for that matter. As any Catholic faithfulknows, being deprived of the Eucharist allof a sudden is akin to going on a hungerstrike when one has been accustomed totaking three squares a day. One simply becomes weaker in the spiritual sense whenthe soul isn’t nourished by the Lord in theEucharist. Hence, my mother’s receptionof Holy Communion was soon worked outafter making arrangements with the parishin our community.

The weekly visits by the Eucharisticminister have been going on for fourmonths now, and while one may fall intomomentarily taking them for granted,the implication of those few minutes thatBrother Gil – the Eucharistic minister --spends with us is not lost to me. They may be brief – not more than 10 or 15 minutes eachtime – but who is timing when one realizes Who really enters the gate, is carried up thefew steps toward the front door and waitspatiently to be received into a soul ready forsuch an important Guest?

One Sunday, as Brother Gil walked intothe living room and cheerfully greeted mymother, I felt somewhat overwhelmed. “Ishould’ve done some dusting… straightenedthe throw pillows, smoothened theupholstery…” I quietly lamented, chidingmyself for forgetting the details of preparingfor the arrival of a Special Guest. In thatmoment, I had been mulling over the factthat instead of my mother and I making thee ort to approach Jesus in His house, it wasGod coming to us and entering our home.Those moments were immensely humbling,and at the same time also very reassuring--reassuring of God’s love for us to the point of being willing to approach us in those times we are unable to go to Him. Who would not

want to cultivate and continually nourisha relationship with such a Person, whenHe obviously knows how to love? And who wouldn’t want to be friends with Someonelike that? At this thought I am reminded ofa point that I always nd encouraging; it’sfrom the book Jesus as Friend: Meditations by Salvatore Canals:

“You and I know by experience how muchgood a good friendship can do someone:it helps him behave better, it brings him

closer to God, it keeps him away from evil. And if a good friendship links us not just toa good man but to a saint, the good e ectsof that kind of life are multiplied: contactand conversation with a holy person willleave us with something of his holiness:cum sanctis, sanctus eris! If you mix withsaints, you will be a saint yourself.

Well then: think what can happen if you become close friends of Jesus Christ in theEucharist: think of the deep impression thatcan make on your soul. You will have Jesusas a Friend, Jesus will be your Friend. He –perfect God and perfect Man – who was bornand worked and wept; who has stayed in theEucharist; who su ered and died for us!”

On Sunday, my mother and I will attendSunday Mass in church again for the rsttime in many months. Her health hasimproved significantly; she has ditchedthe wheelchair for some time now andis comfortable walking slowly--and overshort distances--with the aid of her cane.This Sunday instead of the Lord “makingthe trip” to our home, we will be goingto His house, taking part in the Liturgy, worshipping with the commun ity, andapproaching the altar to receive Him inthe Holy Eucharist. For a long time, it wasHe approaching us, and from time to time we, sadly, took this act of love for granted.Fortunately, such instances are temporary;apparently, hunger for the Lord eventuallyoverpowers everything else. Perhaps onemerely needs to experience being deprived ofthat which truly feeds the soul and quenchesour thirst, to keep on seeking it. As the MostRev. Robert Barron, DD, said during theInternational Eucharistic Congress in CebuCity, “We have to remember what is like tostarve for the Bread of Life.”

Memories of starvation of this sortare things I would gladly hold on to. Forremembering the hunger seems to be whatdrives us to keep seeking the Lord in theEucharist with fervor.

to the Father (“obedient unto death,death on the cross” [Phil. 2:8]), andaccomplished the mission entrustedto Him in whom the Father is well-pleased (Matt. 3:17): “It is nished”(John 19:30). In human terms, it’s likemaking high ves to both father andchild for a collaborative job perfectlydone.

Salus, honor, virtus quoque / Sit

et benedictio Let there be salvation, honor, also

power, and blessing

These fou r a t t r i bu te s a redoxologically ascribed to God, theSummum Bonum. Whether theserefer to God as He is in Himself

and/or God in relation to us, wecan read between the lines: it stillHis love that wells up toward usas, for instance, our “salvation”and/or “blessing”. It is love as Heis in Himself (as a community ofthree divine persons) and as He isin relation to us (as our Creator,Redeemer, Sanctifier, refuge,strength, etc.). That means theseattributes are various expressions ofthe same love of God, or of the samelove who is God.

Procedenti ab utroque / Comparsit laudatio.

To the One proceeding from both,be equal praise.

The three divine persons are nowcomplete here, with the mention ofthe “One proceeding” (“Procedenti”),referring to the Holy Spirit whoenjoys perfect equality with theFather and the Son. Since thisthird divine person proceeds from both (ab utroque), this, then, is inharmony with the Latin Rite’s (our) belief on “Filioque” (i.e., that theHoly Spirit proceeds from the Fatherand the Son ) which is in contrast tothe “per Filium” formula (i.e., theprocession of the Holy Spirit fromthe Father is through the Son ). But where there is divergence, we showrespect. Where there is exclusion, wereach out. After all, we are brothersand sister in communion with the

same God in front of the BlessedSacrament.

Thai convert nds ‘healing in forgiveness’ CEBU City, Jan. 30, 2016 –Catholic convert SarindhornMativachranon of Thailand onSaturday inspired delegatesof the 51st InternationalEucharistic Congress (IEC)in Cebu with her story offorgiveness and healing in theface of false accusations.

“God is hope. God is love,God is truth. The fact thatconverts like myself standing

here today as a humble witnessis a proof that love knows no boun dar ies , but reac hes allcorners of the world,” shedeclared.

B e f o r e t h i n g s t o o k adownturn, Mativachranondescribed herself as being “ontop of the world.” As one ofher country’s most admiredexecutives, she had everythinga person could dream of:money, properties, in uence.

Embezzlement caseIt all changed after she was

wro nfu lly imp lic ate d in anembezzlement case involvingmillions.

Making matters worse wasthe fact that she was framed by a for mer co lle ague andemployees, and became a“non-person”. She was hurt.

“ I w a s a f o r g o t t e n woman, broken spi rit ual ly,physically, and financially,”she recalled.

For years, Mativachranonled the life of a fugitive, havingno means to be able to bailherself out once caught.

While in hiding, she saw thelife she used to live.

The unknown God At this time, she could onlynd solace in praying to the

god she knew—she was not yet a Chris tian—aski ng him why he l et he r su er terriblethings despite her innocence.

A ccord ing to her , shepleaded to have the courage toforgive the people who wishedher harm.

(“we adore”), and “adoration”—as weknow—is directed only to the Lord. Inthe Blessed Sacrament, we recognizethe Second Person of the Trinity,Jesus Christ, who is 100% divine and100% human.

Et antiquum documentum / Novocedat ritui

And let the old document give way

to the new rite

Both the “documentum” andthe “ritus” reflect the two partsof the Sacred Scriptures: the OldTestament and the New Testament.The former, the Book of Promise, yie lds to the lat ter, the Book ofFulfillment. Everything that thelaw and the prophets spoke aboutis now ful lled in Jesus Christ. Asone commentator puts it: the preciseterms have been replaced by thelaws of the Beatitudes and Jesus’ twogreat commandments. “You shalllove the Lord your God with all yourheart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and “You shalllove your neighbour as yourself”

(Matthew 22:37b, 39). Praes tet fides supplementum /

Sensuum defectui Let faith surpass the supplement

for the de ciency of the senses.

The usual translation for theselines is: “The faith provides asupplement for the failure of thesenses.” It expresses the powerof faith working in us despite theinability of the eyes, for example,

to see the mystery of God’s realpresence in the consecrated host.Let us offer an alternative,

following a hint from the literalmeaning of “praestare” (“to stand before”) and the dictum “perstareet praestare” (“to persevere andto excel”). In this sense, we canfind three layers of knowledge:at the bottom is one gained bythe senses (“sensus”), the other by reason (implied by the use of“supplementum”), and the one byfaith (“ des”). Admittedly, the sensescannot explain, for instance, how the bread and wine are transform ed(read: transubstantiated) into the body and blood of Christ, or thatJesus, “the son of a carpenter,”

is the Word-made-flesh. Thisconstitutes the ontological limit orde ciency—rather than the defect—

of the senses. Reason may be ableto explain many of our beliefs, asin employing philosophical terms“substance” and “accidents” tohelp shed light on the mysteriousevent of transubstantiation. Yet itis not enough. It takes the humilityof reason, then, to acknowledgethat beyond its frontiers belongsthe realm of faith. Although faith

surpasses the power of reason, letalone that of the senses, both sensesand reason aid our faith.

Genitori genitoque / Laus et jubilatio,

To the Begetter and to the Begotten, Be praise and rejoicing

We start the Trinitarian doxologyin this verse by paying homage, inthese rst two lines, to the Begetter(Genitori) who is the Father, and tothe Begotten (Genito) who is the Son.In front of the Blessed Sacrament, weare also enkindled to give praise and jubilation to them, whose in nite loveand unfathomable mercy meritedthe salvation of mankind: “For God

so loved the world that He gave Hisonly begotten Son…” (John 3:16). And this Son, Jesus, was obedient

Catholic convert Sarindhorn Mativachranon.JOHANN MANGUSSAD

“Dear God, I want to forgiveon my own. Please make meable to do so,” she said.

“Then a miracle happened,I was touched and salvaged byGod’s love. I was able to forgiveall who wronged me because ofGod’s grace,” she added.

It was Christmas day of

1989.She remembered hearingthe voice of a Person tellingher not to give up because inthe end, truth will prevail.

VindicatedFacing her court case, she

realized her lawyers weren’treally doing much to help hergain justice, and took up hercase only for the money they were expecting to get.

In what seemed like anepiphany, Mativachranonremarked, “I have God. Whydid I need any lawyer?”

In 1994, she was vindicated, walking out of court for the lasttime as an innocent person.

But her suffering didn’tend there: Her husband laterleft her and their childrensoon after the Thai economycollapsed. She felt self-pity, but learned again to forgiv eand move on.

Beautiful not perfectShe told herself, “I must

be able to acc ept what hadhappened to me. So whatthat I was a single mother?So what if society shunnedme? I still have ten fingers,a perfect body, and a soundmind, didn’t I? I couldn’t go

back an d re live or ch angemy past, but I could live thepresent, and share my future.”

On June 2, 1996 at theUrsu l ine chape l i n New Y o r k , M a t i v a c h r a n o nf o r m a l l y e n t e r e d t h eCatholic Church.

S i n c e t h e n , s h e h a srefocused her energy onserving God and others byfounding a hotline underthe Catholic Association ofThailand.

“I was so busy serving Godthat I forgot about myselfand my wounds. I found thepain no longer there. I wascompletely healed. Insteadof scars, my heart was lled with the love of God, of mychildren, and of others,” shesaid.

“Life is not perfect, but beau ti fu l, ” Mativa chrano na d d e d . ( R a y m o n d A .

Sebastián / CBCP News)

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and socially, spiritually andmaterially, etc.

Wi th the Euchar is t, weare already given everything by our Creator, Savior, andSancti er to be what we oughtto be, again individually andsocially, spiritually, andmaterially, etc.

We ne ed to dr aw th e

endless implications of thatreality about the Eucharist.For example, how shouldthe Eucharist a ect our lifeof prayer, of sacrifice, ofcontinuing formation? Whatshould it do with regard toour family life, our work, our busi ness , and poli tics , ourculture?

How should it shape anddevelop our relations withothers? Does it lead us toinvolve ourselves increasinglyin the big issues of the world,or does it only restrict usto certain issues withoutrelating them to the other burning issues of the day, likeclimate change, technologicalchallenges, terrorism andthe ever present problemsof poverty, inequality, andinjustice, terrorism, etc.?

The IEC has given me aricher appreciation of theintricacies of evangelizing the

secular world today. I believeI saw glimpses of the nuancesof the art of proclaimingthe Gospel while engagingin a continuing dialogue with all kind s of peop le indifferent human situationsand predicaments.

The IEC somehow hasgiven me a deeper impulse

to be most discerning of thedifferent spirits behind allkinds of developments in ourlife. There are true spirits anddeceptive ones, the spirit ofGod that is always shown with humility, and the spiritof devil that tries to seduce us with giving us appearances oftruth and goodness packaged beautifully with sound bytes,hype, and other worldly allureand charm.

The latter spirit seems to begetting rampant nowadays as agood number of spiritual leaderstoday have the tremendouscapacity to mesmerize people with their speaking skills andother talents, while their actuallife is a mess.

Just the same, the IEChas clearly convinced methat while sin may abound,God’s grace abounds muchmore. There’s always hope,my friend!

Candidly Speaking / A4

With us, Lord’) our wor ldculture is “characterizedas it is by a forgetfulnessof God and a vain pursuitof human self-sufficiency”(MND 26). In response,the Sacrament of Christ’sBody and Blood propelsus to live by what St. JohnPaul II calls “the Eucharisticplan” which he himselfexplains thus: “Incarnatingthe Eucharistic ‘plan’ indaily life, wherever peoplelive and work—in families,schools, the workplace, inall of life’s settings—means be ar in g wi tn es s th at th ehuman reality cannot be jus tifi ed without refe renc eto the Creator: ‘Without theCreator the creature would

disappear’ [GS 36]. This…in no way detracts fromthe legitimate autonomy ofearthly realities, but groundsthat autonomy more firmly by setting it within its properlimits” (MND 26). The reasonis simple. When we bond withGod through Communion inthe Eucharist, that naturallyhas the consequence ofmaking him an integral andindispensable part of ourdaily life. That is to say, oursense of his presence andour constantly recognizinghow everything we are andhave comes from him cannot but fil l us with a sen se ofgratitude, which is at theheart of the Eucharist as ourthanksgiving par excellence.

5. We live in a world thatstill persecutes Christians as well as fellow sincere believersin moral-spiritual