Skip to main content

”And God Gave You Filipinos Infectious Joy!” – Pope Francis

Filipinos, if you read the full text of the homily of Pope Francis during the Mass at 10 AM, Sunday, 14 March 2021, at the Vatican for the 500th year of Christianity in the Philippines, exuberantly you will rejoice and be glad in it! 
(both images[1] from Rappler)

New to me, Pope Francis said:

If hearing the Gospel and practicing our faith don’t enlarge our hearts and make us grasp the immensity of God’s love – maybe because we prefer a glum, sorrowful, and self-absorbed religiosity – then this is a sign that we need to stop and listen once more to the preaching of the Good News.

Note what Pope Francis says: “Hearing the Gospel and practicing our faith.” Hearing Mass is not enough; Reading the Bible is not enough – Practicing our faith completes it!

God “gave” his Son. 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.

If you love with reservation, that is not love!

The more we love, the more we become capable of giving. That is also the key to understanding our life. It is wonderful to meet people who love one another and share their lives in love… It is not only what we can make or earn that matters; in the end, it is the love we are able to give.

“The more we love, the more we become capable of giving.” Practice makes perfect!

Dear brothers and sisters, five hundred years have passed since the Christian message first arrived in the Philippines. 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… It is part of your genes, a blessed “infectiousness” that I urge you to preserve. (Keep) bringing the faith, the good news you received 500 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 (has become) a testimony of faith.

500 years have passed since Christianity was brought to us Filipinos. What did we receive? “The Joy of the Gospel.” And we infect people all over the world with that joy!

On this very important anniversary for God’s holy people in the Philippines, I also want to urge you to persevere in the work of evangelization – not proselytism, which is something else. The Christian proclamation that you have received needs constantly to be brought to others.

Filipinos, evangelizing, let us persevere in the hard work, not harsh words!@517


[1]https://www.rappler.com/nation/full-text-pope-francis-homily-500th-year-christianity-philippines

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Historical PH 1st Holy Mass: Mazaua Or Limasawa? Fr Amalla Vs Maria Serena Diokno Vs Ambeth Ocampo – And The Priest Is Right!

We Filipinos celebrate 500 years of Christianity today Wednesday, 31 March 2021, Christianity brought to pagans by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailing the seas for Spain. The historical question is: Where was the first Holy Mass celebrated: “Limasawa” (in Leyte) or “Mazaua” (in Butuan)? Catholic priest Fr Joesilo C Amalla has just published the book (above), An Island They Called Mazaua, that argues the island of “Mazaua” in Butuan is the “true site of first Holy Mass in the Philippines [1] ”  and not “Limasawa” in Leyte (ANN, 07 January 2021, Manila Times ). The declaration and discussion are made by Butuan-based Fr Amalla in his 644-page book. Among other things, he writes: The truth is that the prevailing state- and church-affirmation and multiple reaffirmations of the island of Limasawa as the site of that first Holy Mass have no factual, historical and geographic (bases) whatsoever nor any shred of evidentiary support from cartographic studies, navigational info...
Post a Comment
Read more

The PhilRice Drum Seeder Looked Good In April 2018 – Where Is It Now?

Above, top image, the Antique ricefield looks very promising in yield. Here is the story as shared on Facebook by PhilRice (my translation in English): TINGNAN! Unang palayan sa Sta. Ana, Tibiao, Antique na natamnan ng 60kg binhi kada ektarya sa pamamagitan ng sabog-tanim. Look! First ricefield in Santa Ana, Tibiao, Antique that was planted with 60 kg seeds per hectare by way of broadcasting. Sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon, natunghayan ng mga magsasaka sa nasabing lugar na kayang-kaya ang 60kg kada ektarya gamit ang seed spreader machine (granular applicator) at certified seeds mula sa RCEF. For the first time ever, farmers in that area witnessed that 60 kg/ha is quite enough using a seed spreader machine (granular applicator) and certified seeds from RCEF. Makikita sa larawan na magaganda ang naging tubo at mabubulas ang mga itinanim na palay. What can be seen in the picture is beautiful growth of and robust rice plants. Ayon sa ulat, namangha ang mga magsasaka rito na kay...
Post a Comment
Read more

Davao De Oro Rubber Has Elasticity And Should Be Able To Bounce Back!

  The caption above says, “DA-PRDP turned over the Village Level Rubber Processing and Marketing Enterprise to SARPHIL CARP Beneficiaries Multipurpose Cooperative (SACARBECOM) in Monkayo, Davao De Oro last 11 March 2021.” Rubber being produced in the Philippines, a non-traditional commercial product. We are competing with Indonesia and Malaysia? From the story by Joy M Montecalvo , the caption needs explanation. Not the enterprise itself, the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) turned over a village-type rubber sheet facility that can process 192,000 liters of latex yearly. Miss Joy says, “The 124 members of SACARBEMCO will now be able to produce 55 to 60 MT of rubber sheet per annum and increase their income to at least 5 percent per year or a total of 30 percent in six years.” Hopefully, I say. (The SACARBEMCO is the SARPHIL CARP Beneficiaries Multi-purpose Cooperative based in Monkayo, Davao De Oro.) Miss Joy says in the headlin...
Post a Comment
Read more