It was a Sunday to rejoice, indeed.
For the Filipino Catholics, this year’s Fourth Sunday of Lent, traditionally called Laetare Sunday (laetare means “rejoice”), took on a manifold meaning. The day allowed not only a glimpse of hope and joy for the coming Easter but also the opportunity for Filipinos all over the world to be one with His Holiness Pope Francis in celebrating the 500th year of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines. The Vicar of Christ celebrated Holy Mass on March 14 at St. Peter’s Basilica to anticipate the occasion. Laetare Sunday became a day of thanksgiving, of remembering, and of looking forward.
A blessed “infectiousness”
Addressing the Filipinos, the Pope said in his homily, “You received the joy of the Gospel: the good news that God so loved us that he gave his Son for us. And this joy is evident in your people. We see it in your eyes, on your faces, in your songs and in your prayers. In the joy with which you bring your faith to other lands.”
The Philippines has the third largest Catholic population, around 86% of its 108 million citizens. Among them are the millions of Filipino migrants scattered across the globe, bringing with them their practices in the faith. In Italy alone, over 165,000 Filipinos work and live with their families.
“I have often said that here in Rome Filipino women are ‘smugglers’ of faith!” Pope Francis, in rose vestments that mark Laetare Sunday, continued, facing the congregation of mostly lay Filipinos, some wearing barong Tagalog and Filipiniana. “Because wherever they go to work, they sow the faith. It is part of your genes, a blessed ‘infectiousness’ that I urge you to preserve. Keeping bringing the faith, the good news you received five hundred years ago, to others. I want to thank you, then, for the joy you bring to the whole world and to our Christian communities. I think, as I mentioned, of the many beautiful experiences in families here in Rome – but also throughout the world – where your discreet and hardworking presence became a testimony of faith. In the footsteps of Mary and Joseph, for God loves to bring the joy of faith through humble, hidden, courageous and persevering service.”
Gifted to give
The Christian faith came to the Philippines in 1521 through the Spanish expedition led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. The first Mass and first baptism were believed to have been celebrated on March 31, 1521 on the island of Limasawa in southern Leyte. Celebrations for the fifth centenary of the evangelization of the Philippines will formally inaugurate in most dioceses in the country on April 4, Easter Sunday, with the theme “Gifted to Give.”
It is this giving and loving that formed the core of Pope Francis’ homily on Laetare Sunday. “Precisely because He loves us so much, God gives Himself; He offers us His life. Those who love always go out of themselves. Don’t forget this: those who love go out of themselves. Love always offers itself, gives itself, expends itself. That is the power of love: it shatters the shell of our selfishness, breaks out of our carefully constructed security zones, tears down walls and overcomes fears, so as to give freely of itself. That is what loves does: it gives itself.”
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, who delivered his thanksgiving message to the Pope near the end of the Mass, also thanked the bearers of the gift of the Christian faith these 500 years: “the pioneering missionaries, the religious congregations, the clergy, the grandmothers and grandfathers, the mothers and fathers, the teachers, the catechists, the parishes, the schools, the hospitals, the orphanages, the farmers, the laborers, the artists, and the poor whose wealth is Jesus.”
“The coming of the Christian faith to our land is God’s gift,” Cardinal Tagle pronounced. “That the Christian faith was received by the majority of our people and given by them a Filipino character is God’s gift.”
“The gift must continue being a gift. It must be shared. If it is kept for oneself, it ceases to be a gift,” the former Archbishop of Manila said.
A call to mission
Bishop Broderick Pabillo, apostolic administrator of Manila, said that this gift carries with it a mission.
“Yes, we have been chosen and truly gifted with the faith. This carries a great responsibility,” Bishop Pabillo wrote in an editorial in the CBCP News. “We gratefully accept the gift, we develop it, and now it is our turn to pass it on to the others. By ‘others’, I mean to the coming generations of Filipinos and also to the other peoples in Asia and in the world. Jesus has come for the salvation of all peoples. Since we received the Good News, we have to share this Good News to others, especially to our neighbors here in Asia. Hence, the celebration is also a call to mission.”
Pope Francis encouraged the Filipino faithful not to lose heart in this regard. At the end of his homily on March 14, the Bishop of Rome said, “I know that this is the pastoral program of your Church: a missionary commitment that involves everyone and reaches everyone. Never be discouraged as you walk this path. Never be afraid to proclaim the Gospel, to serve and to love.”
He expounded early on how the Gospel message is not an idea but Jesus Himself, whom God has given the world so that, through Jesus, the world might be accompanied, loved, and have life.
“In Jesus, [God] went in search of us when we were lost. In Jesus, He came to raise us up when we fell. In Jesus, He wept with us and healed our wounds. In Jesus, He blessed our life forever…. In Jesus, God spoke the definitive word about our life: you are not lost, you are loved. Loved forever.”
The full text of Pope Francis’ homily on March 14 may be read here, and the full text of Cardinal Tagle’s message to Pope Francis after the Mass for the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines here.
References:
CBCP News. (2021, March 14). Full text: Pope Francis’ homily during mass for the 500th anniversary of the evangelization of the Philippines. https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/full-text-pope-francis-homily-during-mass-for-the-500th-anniversary-of-the-evangelization-of-the-philippines/
CBCP News. (2021, March 14). Full text: Cardinal Tagle’s message to Pope Francis after mass for PH 500 years of Christianity. https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/full-text-cardinal-tagles-message-to-pope-francis-after-mass-for-ph-500-years-of-christianity/
Mares, C. (2021, March 14). Pope Francis celebrates 500 years of ‘the joy of the Gospel’ in the Philippines. CBCP News. Republished from Catholic News Agency. https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/pope-francis-celebrates-500-years-of-the-joy-of-the-gospel-in-the-philippines/
Pabillo, B. (n.d.). 500 years of Christianity. CBCP News. https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/500-years-of-christianity/
Banner photo by Designecologist on Unsplash.
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