The Lifeline, The Safety Rope of Salvation

Homily of H.E., Most Rev. Charles John Brown, D.D., Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines

August 16, 2026 | First Episcopal Coronation Anniversary & Thanksgiving Mass

Nuestra Señora de Salvacion Parish - Sta. Mesa, Manila

“The woman came and did him homage, saying, ‘Lord, help me,’” (Matthew 15:25).

“Lord, help me.”

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

For me, as your apostolic nuncio, it's always a joy for me to be here in your beautiful Parish of Nuestra Señora de Salvacion here in Sta. Mesa, in Manila. This is my second visit, I think, to your wonderful parish. I’m very happy to be invited by your parish administrator, the Rev. Fr. Paul Henry Bocboc, OP, who invited me to be with you this morning for this parish Fiesta Mass in Honor of Nuestra Señora de Salvacion?

The Safety Rope of Salvation

Those words, “Help me, Lord.” Let's think about those words that the woman said to Jesus, and of course those words touched Jesus’s heart, and He granted her prayer, and He healed the daughter of the woman who asked for healing.

Then we look at your beautiful image of Nuestra Señora de Salvacion above the altar here. We see in the image that Baby Jesus is holding a rope, which Mary, Our Lady, also holds in her right hand; and below the rope is a person hanging on to the rope. So, the image gives the impression of Baby Jesus and Mary saving someone from their difficulties and their sufferings.

The Lifeline

I want you to think about this image of the rope. A rope. We have a word in English for a “safety rope”, which we call a “lifeline”. Maybe you've heard that word, a lifeline. A lifeline is a safety rope that's used to save someone from drowning or from falling. It's a rope that brings safety. We call it a lifeline, a rope that saves lives.

In America, there was a Baptist preacher, a Baptist minister, a Protestant, who was a very effective preacher of the gospel, he lived in the state of Massachusetts in the 1800s; and one day he saw a shipwreck off the coast of Massachusetts. He saw that the rescuers went to where the shipwreck had gone down, and the sailors and the people were in the water; and the rescuers were throwing a lifeline to these people drowning in the water. Usually, the lifeline was connected to a flotation device: a life ring or a life preserver.  The rescuers were throwing a lifeline to these people drowning in the water. This scene had a great impact on this Baptist minister.

When he got home, he began to think about that image of throwing a lifeline into the water to save someone who was drowning, who was sinking into the water. When he got home, he wrote a hymn, a Protestant hymn, and has the image, imagine a person stranded in the middle of a raging ocean, struggling to stay afloat; and just as their strength begins to fade and to fail, and they fear that they're going down into the water to die, a lifeline is thrown to them from a rescue boat, and grabbing hold of the lifeline, it saves them from certain death.

So, he wrote this hymn, which became popular among Protestant Christians in America, which is called “Throw Out the Lifeline”. It’s really the mission of the Church to “throw out the lifeline” so that people who are suffering, people who are in trouble, people who need salvation can grab a hold of the lifeline.

Throw out the lifeline across the dark wave;

There is a brother whom someone should save;

Somebody’s brother! Oh, who then will dare

To throw out the lifeline, his peril to share?

Then it goes on:

Throw out the lifeline! Throw out the lifeline!

Someone is drifting away;

Throw out the lifeline! Throw out the lifeline!

Someone is sinking today.

If you came to Mass last Sunday, you were here in Nuestra Señora de Salvacion, you heard the gospel. The Gospel last Sunday (Matthew 14:22-33) was about sinking into the ocean. Remember? It was Peter who gets out of the boat and comes towards Jesus, and then is sinking, and Jesus reaches out and saves him. We can imagine that the words of Peter last Sunday, “Lord, save me!” “Lord, help me,” the same words that the woman says to Jesus in the Gospel today (Matthew 15:21-28). That makes us understand that the work of the Church is to “throw out the lifelin”e and to save people.

That's what's so beautifully imaged in your wonderful statue of Nuestra Señora de Salvacion, because we see the rope, the lifeline. The rope is attached to Jesus. Jesus is the one who saves, but Mary is directing that lifeline into the hands of someone who’s drowning. So, Mary guides the lifeline that connects us to Jesus. Mary throws out the lifeline and tells us, “Hold on, hold on to the lifeline, so that Jesus can save you, so that Jesus can pull you into the lifeboat, the rescue boat.”

The Church as the Lifeboat

What is that rescue boat? That lifeboat. It's the Church. We have that image, don't we, of the “bark” (also spelled “barque”), which is an old word meaning a “boat”. The Bark of Saint Peter, the Boat of Saint Peter. To be pulled into the boat means to be saved. We have that image also in the Old Testament of Noah's Ark (Genesis 6:14ff), salvation in the boat. The boat is the Church, but we see how Jesus is the one who saves us, but Mary is the one who directs that lifeline to us, and tells us when we're suffering, when we're in desperation, when we're afraid, when we're persecuted or whatever, “Hold on to the lifeline. Hold on to the lifeline, which is Jesus, and Jesus will save you. Jesus will take care of you.”

Hold On to the Lifeline

So, all of those images are so beautifully represented in our mass this morning. Jesus is telling all the people, the people in the church, all of you, people outside the church, “Hold on to the lifeline.” Jesus is our Way, our Truth, and our Life” (Jn. 14:6), and Mary attaches us to Jesus, we can say.

Jesus came into the world through Mary, through this young woman in Nazareth, who said “yes” to angel Gabriel (Lk. 1:38), and the Word became flesh in her womb (Jn. 1:14); and Jesus came into the world to throw us the lifeline, so we can hang on. Sometimes, when life is difficult, when we're suffering, it's hard to hold on, to hang on; but Mary is a loving mother who whispers to you, “Hang on, hold on, and Jesus will save you.”

Conclusion and Exhortations

So, all of these ideas are in our hearts and minds this morning. For me, as your apostolic nuncio, I'm always happy to come here to Nuestra Señora de Salvacion. It's interesting, even the name of your parish, Our Lady of Salvation. So, “Our Lady ‘of’ Salvation”, it's not “Our Lady who is our salvation”. Our salvation is Baby Jesus. Our Lady of Salvation is the one who directs us to Jesus. She's the one who connects us to Jesus. Jesus who is our way, our truth, and our hope.

So, dear brothers and sisters, happy parish fiesta! I wish you all the best on the First Anniversary of the Episcopal Coronation of your beautiful image of Our Lady, which is so special and so wonderful. Let's pray that Our Lady will continue to throw out the lifeline to everyone who comes here to pray in front of her image, to receive the miracles, the blessings that Our Lady wants to grant you through Jesus, her Son. 

Finally, I ask you, as I always do, to pray for Pope Leo XIV, our Holy Father in Rome. Pray for him. Remember him in your prayers, our dear Holy Father.

So, God bless each and every one of you.

Happy parish fiesta. God bless you.

Transcribed by Joel V. Ocampo

Photos by Nuestra Señora de Salvacion Parish - Sta. Mesa, Manila.