Inspired by the Nuncio

by Joel V. Ocampo

On June 18, 2021, I was tasked for the first time to transcribe the message of Archbishop Brown during Cardinal Advincula’s installation as the new Archbishop of Manila. Then on January 2, 2023, during the welcome ceremonies of the 5th Philippine Visit of the Pilgrim Relics of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, I was tasked to regularly transcribe his homilies. Since then, I was able to transcribe at least fifty of his homilies. While doing the task, I learned a lot from his homilies.

I met him in person for the first time in April 2024. I can’t quite figure it out to meet in person the representative of the Pope. He asked me what I was doing in Manila. When he found out I was looking for a job, he assured me of his prayers. After some time, he sent me a letter, assuring me once again of his prayers. When he visited the parish where I belong in Angeles City, Pampanga, I was very eager to see him again. In him, I experienced the loving care and presence of the Good Shepherd, who continue to do His mission of showing God’s mercy through His bishops and priest.

Memorable Points from Homilies

Speaking “in persona Christi” (in the person of Christ), and having celebrated various Eucharistic Celebrations in different parts of the Philippines, some of Archbishop Brown’s points from his homilies that have made a great impact on me are the following:

• “If we're faithful followers, faithful children of Mary, we will feel the power of her intercession. If we are devoted to the Rosary, we will experience her intercession.”

• “When we pray, we always need to pray under the watchful eyes of Our Lady. Allow Mary to be your Mother and your Queen. Allow her to bless you. Allow her to shower the blessings of God, to intercede for you, to give you the blessings of God in your life.”

• “God has come to dwell in us also. Through the Holy Eucharist, we receive the Body, the Blood, the Soul, the Divinity of Christ. Christ makes His home in us by Holy Communion.”

• “If we try to find happiness, apart from the Lord, just by fulfilling our own desires, what we want, we will be deceived by the evil one, by the devil; and we'll find ourselves tricked and deceived in misery and sadness.”

• “If you don't have faith, to see Jesus in the Eucharist, you will not see the extraordinary gift of the Eucharist.”

• “The Eucharist is a form of life that Jesus gives us that will take our bodies even and help us to go through natural death into eternal life. The power of the Eucharist will make our bodies live again.”

• “With the Body of Christ, the Eucharist, we become strong, we are nourished. We are fed by the Good Shepherd.”

• “If we want to see the extraordinary, we have to have faith. We only sometimes see the ordinary, if we don't have eyes of faith.”

• “Saint Joseph is our example, our model of a father who protects, cares for, and provides for his family, who is faithful to his family, and also as a worker.”

• “When we leave the church, we need to carry the presence of God with us, into the world. So that we become the presence of God in the world.”

• “We can be the presence of God in the world. We could also, in our own way, exercise the protection of God on those who are weak.”

• “Brothers and sisters, let's resolve to be the presence of God in the world.”

• “God is like a mother who allows us to fall. At times, a mother will allow a child to stumble. Why? So that the child can rise up stronger.”

• “God allows all of those defeats, failures in our lives, only so that we can rise stronger, so that we can rise with power.”

• “When we look at our lives, when we look back, we see how God has worked even in our failures, as sometimes our failures have been turned out to be the sources of our greatest victories, of our greatest joys.”

• “Trust in the Lord. Have confidence in the Lord in your life. He is with you at every moment: in your falling, in your rising, in your descending, in your getting up again.”

• “All of us as Christians need to put prayer in the first place. We need to be men and women of prayer.”

• “We need to trust Jesus and that trust grows when we pray. When we pray, trust grows in our hearts. We learn to seek the one thing that's necessary in this world. That's to know and to love Jesus.”

• “When we pray, we always need to pray under the watchful eyes of Our Lady. She is the master of prayer, the teacher of prayer.”

• “Praying the rosary is such a beautiful way of allowing that childlike trust and confidence in the Lord to grow in our hearts to pray the rosary.”

• “Find time for the rosary. Find time for Mary. Allow Mary to be your Mother and your Queen. Allow her to bless you. Allow her to shower the blessings of God, to intercede for you, to give you the blessings of God in your life.”

• “Allow God's grace, God's blessings to overflow in your life by living your faith to the full. We do all of these things under the watchful eyes of Our Lady.”

• “Let's ask Our Lady to show us the way; the way who is Jesus. The way of love, the way of reconciliation, the way of Joy.”

• “Anyone of us who was baptized, and has the gift of faith, has been chosen by God for a mission in this world.”

• “Let us, in our own families, be sources of unity, of love, of truth, of forgiveness. Let us, let all of us, be people who speak the truth, who love the truth.”

• “The Rosary is a powerful prayer. It’s so important for us to pray the rosary.”

• “If we pray the rosary, we draw close to Mary, and Mary directs us to God. The Rosary is a powerful prayer.”

• “By praying the Holy Rosary, Mary will direct so many blessings to you, and give you so much joy and happiness. By praying the rosary, by meditating on the mysteries of the life of Jesus, God's wisdom is coming through Mary into us.”

• “The eyes of God are directed to those who are humble, those who are small, those who are on the peripheries of our world.”

• “God's plans are greater than our plans; and that if we entrust ourselves to God, always conscious of the truth of who we are, God will work miracles in our lives.”

• “We need to be children of Mary. We need to be devotees of our blessed and beautiful Ina. We need to resist the pride of the devil, the ugliness of the devil, the death dealing of the devil, and stay close to Mary.”

• “Brothers and sisters, let us always choose Our Lady. Let us choose always to be devotees of Our Lady. Let us be under her mantle, fighting against the influence of the devil in our world today.”

• “Any sin, any temptation looks like something good. Looks like something attractive. If it wasn't attractive to us in some ways, it wouldn't be a temptation. So, sin always involves a deceiving. That is why the devil is called the father of lies.”

• “The beautiful image of the Sto. Entierro reminds us as Catholics that we are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ who loves us so much, that He gave everything for us by dying on the cross.”

As he celebrates his 5th year as the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, may God continue to shower Archbishop Charles John Brown with His riches blessing that he may continue to be an instrument of God’s healing, caring, and understanding, love and mercy. AMDG!