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Homily of H.E. Most Rev. Charles John Brown D.D., Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines April 26, 2024 | Solemn Declaration of La Virgen Divina Pastora as a Minor Basilica and 60th Year Anniversary of the Canonical Coronation of La Virgen Divina Pastora National Shrine of La Virgen Divina Pastora, Three Kings Parish, Gapan City Your Eminence Jose Cardinal Advincula, Archbishop of Manila; Your Eminence, Orlando Cardinal Quevedo, Archbishop-Emeritus of Cotabato; Your Excellency, the Most Rev. Sofronio A. Bancud, S.S.S., Bishop of Cabanatuan; brother bishops and archbishops who have come from near and far; concelebrating priests here in very large numbers; religious women, consecrated men in religious life, lay faithful; all of us gathered here in this beautiful and splendid church, this shrine, to celebrate this morning, the solemn declaration as a Minor Basilica, and indeed a Reenactment of the Canonical Coronation of La Virgen Divina Pastora on this, the 60th Anniversary of that momentous event in the history of the Church, here the Diocese of Cabanatuan. For me as your apostolic nuncio, it gives me a lot of joy and happiness to be with you on this relatively warm, and even hot morning here in Gapan, here in the Province of Nueva Ecija, to be part of your joy, to celebrate this magnificent moment. When I came into the church this morning, soon to be elevated, now elevated indeed, as a minor basilica, I was impressed by the beauty of the church; and the splendid decorations that have been provided for this momentous occasion. I want to thank all of those who have done all the preparatory work for making this such a beautiful morning. History of the Gapan Church You have an illustrious history here in Gapan. As all of you know, your church was made a parish back in 1595. That's more than 400 years of Catholic life here in Gapan. Then in 1964, it was the year in which your beautiful image of Our Lady, La Virgen Divina Pastora received canonical coronation. Then in 1986, this parish was declared a national shrine here in the Philippines. I imagine after 1986, more people began to arrive here to pray to Our Lady, in front of her beautiful image, the Divina Pastora. Now, all of those celebrations in the past, kind of reach, a kind of culmination this morning in 2024. In this moment in which your shrine is elevated to the status of a minor basilica. The Role of the Minor Basilica So, what exactly is a minor basilica? What is that all about? A minor basilica is a very special and exceptional honor that's bestowed on certain churches around the world by the Holy Father, by the Supreme Pontiff, to indicate a special link, a special connection with the Pope. A particular link with the Church of Rome, and with the Supreme Pontiff. As all of you know, one of the benefits of becoming a minor basilica is that after the declaration, the faithful people who come here, who devoutly visit this basilica and pray here, they pray The Lord's Prayer, and make a profession of faith, they pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, they make a Sacrament of Confession and receive Holy Communion, they can be granted a plenary indulgence, which is a beautiful and wonderful remission of the temporal punishment for our sins. So, certainly all of these honors that have been bestowed on this church are intended to increase the pastoral, we can say, the pastoral functioning of the Church. So that this church, this basilica, becomes an image of La Divina Pastora. The Church itself becomes a shepherd, a pastor of souls; so that people come here, and pray, and receive these gifts of God's blessed grace. The Role of La Virgen Divina Pastora “Whoever does the will of my Heavenly Father is my brother and sister and mother.” Those are the words of our Lord in the gospel (Mt. 12:46-50) this morning. They are so completely true of La Virgen Divina Pastora, Our Lady. Because she is the one, who, more perfectly than any of us has done the will of the Father. She says to the Angel Gabriel, “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum”, “Let it be done to me according to thy Word” (Lk. 1:38). At that moment, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:14) in the womb of La Divina Pastora, Our Lady. She becomes the person through whom God becomes man. Through whom God approaches us, God becomes close to us in the form of the baby in her womb. The Symbols of the Bell and Umbrella The celebration of the elevation of your church, your shrine as a minor basilica begins with that very awesome and incredibly beautiful entrance of these symbols, which you see to my left from your perspective. The symbol of the bell, and the symbol of the umbrella. Let's pause for a moment to reflect on what do these symbols have to tell us this morning. The Tintinnabulum Let's look first at the bell. What is this bell? The campana or campanilla, we would call it. The bell indicates the presence of the Holy Father. Because in past centuries, when the Holy Father made pastoral visits to his churches in Rome, in a long procession of clerics, like today with archbishops, bishops, priests, deacons, religious, he’ll be processing through Rome to visit a church. Near the Pope, in the procession there be a bell, ringing. So that people who are waiting on the sides of the road would know that the Pope was approaching when they heard the bell ringing. So, the bell, the campana, or in Latin, the tintinnabulum indicates presence, the presence of the Pope. That is what is perfectly illustrated when the Church is elevated to the status of a minor basilica. The Pope's presence here, his canonical presence is here in a very special way. Hence the spiritual benefits that flow from that. Like the granting of an indulgence for those who pray here. So, this idea of presence is really important. A bell indicates presence. You know? It's not only an ancient idea. It's not only an idea from the distant past. Think about it. When you go to visit your friend's house, you come to the front door or the front gate, what do you do? You ring the bell. You ring a bell, a doorbell, to let them know that you are present, that you are here, that you are waiting for them. Bells indicate presence. In our Holy Mass this morning, after the consecration of the bread and wine, they become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus. We will hear at the time of the elevation of the elements, a bell rung at church. A bell indicates presence, the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist after the consecration. Your presence when you ring the doorbell of one of your friends, the Pope's presence here in this church, now having become a minor basilica. The bell indicates presence. We can think about presence also in terms of Our Lady. Here in this shrine, Our Lady has a special presence. That's what a shrine of Our Lady is all about. A special spiritual presence of Mary; a special and blessed, and indeed sometimes miraculous presence of Our Lady. That idea of presence should also be in our hearts. Because when we leave the church, we need to carry that presence of God with us, into the world. So that we become the presence of God in the world. So that we become like a small bell, ringing with the joy of the gospel; allowing people to see in the way that we live, the kind of ringing out of God's love for His people. Bells indicate presence. The Umbraculum Then we have this beautiful image of the umbrella, payong, I think in Tagalog, payong, the umbrella, the umbraculum in Latin, the Papal Umbrella. That was also part of the Papal Processions in Rome. The bell would proceed the Pope so that people knew he was coming; but because Rome in the summer is like the Philippines, the sun is beating down. People carried umbrellas, especially for important people. The umbraculum that you see here to my left, this umbraculum was the image of the umbrella, carried over the Pope to protect him from the elements, especially the sun, there in those hot days of Rome. So, the umbraculum indicates also in a certain sense, the presence of the Pope; but we can also say in a certain sense, it indicates the shadow of the Pope―the overpowering shadow of the Pope. In a certain sense, a basilica is a place where we are so close to the Pope, that we are under his umbrella, we can say. We're under his shadow. You know? In the Acts of the Apostles, when it talks about the early Christian community after the resurrection of our Lord, praying in Jerusalem. The 5th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles talks about how people in Jerusalem would bring the sick and the paralyzed into the streets, and put them on cots, on beds. It says this in the 5th chapter. Why would they do that? Because Saint Peter was passing by. This is in the Acts of the Apostles. The Acts of the Apostles tells us they put the sick near the streets, so that as Peter passed by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them (cf. Acts 5:15-16). So, this idea of the Church at the beginning in Jerusalem, sick people brought on the streets of Jerusalem, so that when Peter was going to the Temple, at least his shadow would fall upon some of them. His shadow, which is a sign of his presence, which was a healing presence. That shadow is what the umbraculum signifies―the shadow of the Pope, the protective, overpowering, and overshadowing presence of the Pope. This idea of this shadow as a protective power is so important for us. Especially those of us who live like you do in the Philippines, in places where the sun is strong. Think about Our Lady when she met the Angel Gabriel. How does the Angel convince her that she will be the Mother of God? [The Archangel Gabriel said,] “The Holy Spirit will come upon you”. Then what does the Angel say? “The power of the Most High will overshadow you”, (Lk. 1:35). “Over shadow you.” So, the shadow of God on Mary, protecting her, guarding her, preserving her so that she can be the one through whom Jesus comes into the world. This idea of the umbrella as the shadow, as a protecting power, the protecting power of the Pope, but in a broader sense, the protecting power of God. The Protective Umbrella of Mary You know, brothers and sisters? All of you as devotees of La Virgen Divina Pastora, all of you are kind of, we can say, under also the protective umbrella of Mary. We have the image of being underneath Mary's mantle or Mary's veil. We are like her children. A mother protects her children with her veil, with her mantle. A nursing mother, when she feeds her child oftentimes covers the child with her mantle. We as the children of Mary, as devotees of La Virgen Divina Pastora, we're like small children crowded around Mary, underneath her mantle, underneath, we can say, her umbrella of protection. How beautiful that is! How wonderful that is! Traditionally, the Veil of Mary was seen as an umbrella of protection. In the City of Constantinople, which is now called Istanbul, when the city was besieged, they had a relic there, which was the veil of Mary. They would bring the relic to protect the city that was dedicated to Mary, from any foreign invaders. That protective veil of Mary. To Be the Presence of God in the World So, all of these images, of presence, of protection, of overshadowing, they're all part of the liturgy, of the elevation of a shrine to the status of minor basilica. Let these images resound in our hearts today, so that, as I mentioned earlier, 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. We can be the shadow of God's love, fully, on the poor, the marginalized, those who have experienced discrimination. We can extend the shadow of God, to embrace all those people who are longing for the refreshment and the protection that comes from being close to God. That is what the liturgy tells us this morning. Conclusion You can see for me, as a representative of Pope Francis, who has bestowed this honor on your shrine, it makes me so happy to be here with you this morning, to share your joy. So, brothers and sisters, let's resolve to do that: to be the presence of God in the world. Like a silent bell ringing with His presence, let's extend His protection, His overpowering, and overshadowing protection on all those we meet, especially the poor, the weak, and the vulnerable. May God bless you on this 60th Anniversary of her coronation, which will soon be reenacted. I share your joy. Thank God for the gift of Our Lady. Viva La Virgen Divina Pastora! Transcribed by Joel V. Ocampo

Homily of H.E. Most Rev. Charles John Brown D.D., Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Solemn Dedication of the Church and Altar of Our Lady of Piat Basilica April 19, 2024 | Basilica Minore of Our Lady of Piat, Municipality of Piat, Cagayan Your Excellency, the Most Rev. Ricardo L. Baccay, D.D., Archbishop of Tuguegarao; fellow bishops, brother bishops who have come from near and far this evening, priests from the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao and from other dioceses, religious women, consecrated persons in religious life, and all of you, the lay faithful here in the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao: For me, it gives me so much joy and happiness to be with you this evening for this momentous and historic occasion, the Solemn Dedication of your restored, renewed, and resplendent Basilica of Our Lady of Piat, here in Población, Piat in the Province of Cagayan, in the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao. Today is an historic day; and for me as the representative of Pope Francis, it gives me, as I said, great joy to be with you today, April 19th, 2024, as I said, the Solemn Dedication of this basilica, after its expansion, as we heard, its renovation, its refurbishment, its preparation to continue in history as a place in which people come to pray to the Mother of God. To pray to Our Lady: Mama Mary, who loves us so much. History of Our Lady of Piat As we know from the history, which is recounted beautifully in the stained-glass windows here in the Basilica of Our Lady of Piat. The image, beautiful miraculous image of the Mother of God arrived in Manila, in Intramuros, brought by the Dominican Friars in 1604. That's 420 years ago. Coming from Macau, this beautiful, miraculous image arrived there in Manila, and then after a period of time in Manila, she was brought here in 1620 by the Dominicans, here in Northern Luzon, here in the Cagayan Valley. That means that Our Lady of Piat is one of the oldest images of Our Lady in the entire Philippine archipelago. She's been here for more than 400 years. What we celebrate tonight is 400 years of miracles, 400 years of healings, 400 years of prayers that have been answered. Countless prayers that have been answered here at the feet of Our Lady. How many of your grandparents, great grandparents, came here to pray to Mary? Came here with perhaps fear and anguish in their hearts. They prayed to the Mother of God, and received consolation and joy from Our Lady. So, more than 400 years of miracles, of prayers answered, of intercession. Then in December of 1623, she came to this place, as we heard, this sanctuary, this beautiful spot; and she was canonically crowned back in 1954 by one of the nuncios who was here in Manila at the time: †Egidio Cardinal Vagnozzi, who came up here from Manila in June 20, 1954, and crowned Our Lady. That crowning, that coronation was commemorated by another nuncio in 2004. So, twenty years ago, Archbishop Antonio Franco, he was the nuncio here in the Philippines (1999-2006) before me, came here to honor Mary, to share your love for Our Lady, to honor her with the canonical coronation. A commemoration 50 years later of that coronation. Then it was Saint John Paul II, who decided in 1997 to make your shrine a minor basilica. That was celebrated here in 1999. A cardinal came from Rome, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship: †Antonio María Cardinal Javierre Ortas, S.D.B., and he was here for that Mass in 1999, in which the shrine became a minor basilica, as it is today. Like Little Flowers from Her Children So, we think of all of these honors, all of this recognition, all of this appreciation; and what is it? It's the little way in which we, as a Church, can say thank you to Mary. To show our appreciation to her for all the gifts that she has given us, all the care that she has shown us. All of these things: canonical coronations, elevation to minor basilica, declaration as a shrine, all of these are signs of our love for our Mother. From Our Lady’s perspective, when she looks at us, she sees us like little children who bring like a little flower to their mother. Every mother, when she receives a flower from her children, she always smiles, even if the flower is very, very humble. In fact, she probably smiles more if the flower is very humble. When a little child gives a gift to his or her mother, it prints joy to her mother's heart. So, all of these honors are in a way, in which we, as the children of Mary, say “Thank you, Mama Mary, for loving us, for caring for us, for hearing our prayers. We are your children, Mama Mary, and we give you all of these honors; but we know that in the eyes of God and in the perspective of eternity, these honors are small things, but the best that we can offer because we love you very much, Our Lady.” The Church, the House of God The liturgy for the dedication of the Church this evening is focused on the idea of the Church as a house. In fact, the opening words which you heard me pray, you heard me say, “Brothers and sisters, we solemnly dedicate this house. Let us humbly call upon the Lord, our God, to bless the water.” Then we blessed the walls of this church with holy water. The idea of a house―the Church is a house. That I see on your parish church, next door, written in Latin it says, “Domus Dei et Porta Caeli”. “Domus Dei” (House of God)―the church is a house. It's interesting to remember, brothers and sisters, that early Christians didn't build churches for about 200 to 300 years after Christianity began, we didn't build churches, we didn't have churches. There are a number of reasons for that. One was that it was a time of martyrdom and persecution. Catholics were persecuted for their faith. They were martyred for their faith. So, we couldn't have public worship for those first two or three hundred years. We worshiped in homes and houses, house-churches. So, from the beginning, the church is associated with the home. Of course, the Jews had the Temple in Jerusalem; but that Temple was destroyed in the year 70 C.E. by the Roman soldiers. They destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. Then Christianity begins, but without churches. One because we were persecuted, but also because Christians had the sense that the Lord was coming back soon, and what needed is there to build a church, a building to worship Him, if the Lord is returning this year or next year. That kind of urgency of the Lord's return was powerful in early Christians hearts. We need to rekindle that urgency for the Lord's return in our own time. We, the Temple of God For us as Christians, after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans, the new Temple really is the Body of Jesus. The Body of Jesus is the new Temple in which we all enter through the sacraments. Jesus says in the Gospels, and He is criticized, and actually persecuted for saying it. He says, “Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up” (cf. Jn. 2:19). They thought He was talking about the physical Temple in Jerusalem, but as the evangelist tells us, He was talking about His Body, that is the Temple of God. We, through baptism and at the Eucharist, we become the Temple of God because Jesus is dwelling in us. So, we are the Temple of God. We are the House of God. As we heard in our Second Reading this evening (Eph 2:19-22), we are no longer strangers and sojourners, we are fellow citizens with the saints. We are members of the household of God. We are the House of God because Jesus is in us; and He is the Temple of God. Jesus is in us because of our baptism, because of our Eucharist, because of the life of grace in us. So, the buildings that we now build, in order to pray in, like this beautiful shrine, Basilica of Our Lady of Piat. This shrine gets its name as a church. The word “church” comes from us, the people inside the building. We are the Church in the fundamental sense of the word. We are the Temple of God because Jesus is in us; and we call this building a church because inside this building the Church is worshiping, and we are that church. When preachers in the Middle Ages would dedicate a church, as we're doing this evening, they'll oftentimes tell the people, as I'm doing this evening, “Think about how beautiful this church is and how you want it to be clean? How you want it to be fragrant with the perfume of incense? How you want it be filled with light?”, as it will be in a moment, and wait for that moment. You want the church to be clean, lighted and fragrant as a building. That should be an image for us personally―that our own souls, our own persons are clean from sin, are filled with light from God's grace, are fragrant with God's love in our own lives. So, there's a parallelism between what we do tonight in this church, in this House of God, and the way we, as the Temples of God, ought to live: filled with light, filled with fragrance, filled with clean and beauty of God. Our Lady, the House of God So, in all of these things, we come back to Mary and we think about the Church as the House of God. We think about ourselves as the Temples of God, Jesus dwelling in us. There's no one in the history of the world who has received Jesus more intimately, more closely than Mama Mary, than Our Lady. In fact, when we pray to her, we call her a “house”. We pray the Litany of Loreto, we say to Mary, you are the “House of Gold”. You are the “Ark of the Covenant”. Why is she a house? Why is she made a symbol of a house? Because in Mary, Jesus dwells. In Mary's womb, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Brothers and sisters, the history of the world, the history of the cosmos, changed 2,000 years ago when a young girl, a teenage girl in Nazareth (Nazareth was not the capital. Nazareth is in the provinces of Israel.) When that girl said “yes” to the Angel Gabriel, everything changed. The Word became flesh, dwelt in her womb, dwelt among us. She became the House of God. She became an image of the Church. She became our Mother, because all of us through Baptism, are united with Christ and become her children. The way Jesus is her Son in an analogous way. Conclusion So, all of these themes tonight come together. The Church as the House of God, we as the Temple of God, Mary as the House in which God has dwelled. Mary, who loves us so much, who looks on us with love this evening. We, as I said earlier, like children tonight bringing flowers to our mother. We can be sure that Mary looks at us this evening, and in her loving eyes she smiles at us, because she loves us so much. So, dear brothers and sisters, as we continue this liturgy, let us ask for the grace to live interiorly what we see exteriorly in the church: to be filled with light, fragrance, and with purity, as we see in this beautiful church, this beautiful building that is dedicated this evening. For me as the representative of Pope Francis, gives me so much joy to be with you tonight, at this historic moment, the rededication, we can say, of this glorious basilica of Our Lady of Piat. May God bless you!

Called to sow seeds of hope and to build peace Dear brothers and sisters! Each year, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations invites us to reflect on the precious gift of the Lord’s call to each of us, as members of his faithful pilgrim people, to participate in his loving plan and to embody the beauty of the Gospel in different states of life. Hearing that divine call, which is far from being an imposed duty – even in the name of a religious ideal – is the surest way for us to fulfil our deepest desire for happiness. Our life finds fulfilment when we discover who we are, what our gifts are, where we can make them bear fruit, and what path we can follow in order to become signs and instruments of love, generous acceptance, beauty and peace, wherever we find ourselves. This Day, then, is always a good occasion to recall with gratitude to the Lord the faithful, persevering and frequently hidden efforts of all those who have responded to a call that embraces their entire existence. I think of mothers and fathers who do not think first of themselves or follow fleeting fads of the moment, but shape their lives through relationships marked by love and graciousness, openness to the gift of life and commitment to their children and their growth in maturity. I think of all those who carry out their work in a spirit of cooperation with others, and those who strive in various ways to build a more just world, a more solidary economy, a more equitable social policy and a more humane society. In a word, of all those men and women of good will who devote their lives to working for the common good. I think too of all those consecrated men and women who offer their lives to the Lord in the silence of prayer and in apostolic activity, sometimes on the fringes of society, tirelessly and creatively exercising their charism by serving those around them. And I think of all those who have accepted God’s call to the ordained priesthood, devoting themselves to the preaching of the Gospel, breaking open their own lives, together with the bread of the Eucharist, for their brothers and sisters, sowing seeds of hope and revealing to all the beauty of God’s kingdom. To young people, and especially those who feel distant or uncertain about the Church, I want to say this: Let Jesus draw you to himself; bring him your important questions by reading the Gospels; let him challenge you by his presence, which always provokes in us a healthy crisis. More than anyone else, Jesus respects our freedom. He does not impose, but proposes. Make room for him and you will find the way to happiness by following him. And, should he ask it of you, by giving yourself completely to him. A people on the move The polyphony of diverse charisms and vocations that the Christian community recognizes and accompanies helps us to appreciate more fully what it means to be Christians. As God’s people in this world, guided by his Holy Spirit, and as living stones in the Body of Christ, we come to realize that we are members of a great family, children of the Father and brothers and sisters of one another. We are not self-enclosed islands but parts of a greater whole.  In this sense, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations has a synodal character: amid the variety of our charisms, we are called to listen to one another and to journey together in order to acknowledge them and to discern where the Spirit is leading us for the benefit of all. At this point in time, then, our common journey is bringing us to the Jubilee Year of 2025. Let us travel as pilgrims of hope towards the Holy Year, for by discovering our own vocation and its place amid the different gifts bestowed by the Spirit, we can become for our world messengers and witnesses of Jesus’ dream of a single human family, united in God’s love and in the bond of charity, cooperation and fraternity. This Day is dedicated in a particular way to imploring from the Father the gift of holy vocations for the building up of his Kingdom: “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest” (Lk 10:2). Prayer – as we all know – is more about listening to God than about talking to him. The Lord speaks to our heart, and he wants to find it open, sincere and generous.  His Word became flesh in Jesus Christ, who reveals to us the entire will of the Father. In this present year, devoted to prayer and preparation for the Jubilee, all of us are called to rediscover the inestimable blessing of our ability to enter into heartfelt dialogue with the Lord and thus become pilgrims of hope. For “prayer is the first strength of hope. You pray and hope grows, it moves forward. I would say that prayer opens the door to hope. Hope is there, but by my prayer I open the door” (Catechesis, 20 May 2020). Pilgrims of hope and builders of peace Yet what does it mean to be pilgrims? Those who go on pilgrimage seek above all to keep their eyes fixed on the goal, to keep it always in their mind and heart. To achieve that goal, however, they need to concentrate on every step, which means travelling light, getting rid of what weighs them down, carrying only the essentials and striving daily to set aside all weariness, fear, uncertainty and hesitation. Being a pilgrim means setting out each day, beginning ever anew, rediscovering the enthusiasm and strength needed to pursue the various stages of a journey that, however tiring and difficult, always opens before our eyes new horizons and previously unknown vistas. This is the ultimate meaning of our Christian pilgrimage: we set out on a journey to discover the love of God and at the same time to discover ourselves, thanks to an interior journey nourished by our relationships with others. We are pilgrims because we have been called: called to love God and to love one another. Our pilgrimage on this earth is far from a pointless journey or aimless wandering; on the contrary, each day, by responding to God’s call, we try to take every step needed to advance towards a new world where people can live in peace, justice and love. We are pilgrims of hope because we are pressing forward towards a better future, committed at every step to bringing it about. This is, in the end, the goal of every vocation: to become men and women of hope. As individuals and as communities, amid the variety of charisms and ministries, all of us are called to embody and communicate the Gospel message of hope in a world marked by epochal challenges. These include the baneful spectre of a third world war fought piecemeal; the flood of migrants fleeing their homelands in search of a better future; the burgeoning numbers of the poor; the threat of irreversibly compromising the health of our planet. To say nothing of all the difficulties we encounter each day, which at times risk plunging us into resignation or defeatism. In our day, then, it is decisive that we Christians cultivate a gaze full of hope and work fruitfully in response to the vocation we have received, in service to God’s kingdom of love, justice and peace. This hope – Saint Paul tells us – “does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5), since it is born of the Lord’s promise that he will remain always with us and include us in the work of redemption that he wants to accomplish in the heart of each individual and in the “heart” of all creation. This hope finds its propulsive force in Christ’s resurrection, which “contains a vital power which has permeated this world.  Where all seems to be dead, signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up. It is an irresistible force. Often it seems that God does not exist: all around us, we see persistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty. But it is also true that in the midst of darkness something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit” (Evangelii Gaudium, 276). Again, the Apostle Paul tells us that, “in hope we were saved” (Rom 8:24). The redemption accomplished in the paschal mystery is a source of hope, a sure and trustworthy hope, thanks to which we can face the challenges of the present. To be pilgrims of hope and builders of peace, then, means to base our lives on the rock of Christ’s resurrection, knowing that every effort made in the vocation that we have embraced and seek to live out, will never be in vain.  Failures and obstacles may arise along the way, but the seeds of goodness we sow are quietly growing and nothing can separate us from the final goal: our encounter with Christ and the joy of living for eternity in fraternal love. This ultimate calling is one that we must anticipate daily: even now our loving relationship with God and our brothers and sisters is beginning to bring about God’s dream of unity, peace and fraternity. May no one feel excluded from this calling! Each of us in our own small way, in our particular state of life, can, with the help of the Spirit, be a sower of seeds of hope and peace. The courage to commit In this light, I would say once more, as I did at World Youth Day in Lisbon: “Rise up!” Let us awaken from sleep, let us leave indifference behind, let us open the doors of the prison in which we so often enclose ourselves, so that each of us can discover his or her proper vocation in the Church and in the world, and become a pilgrim of hope and a builder of peace! Let us be passionate about life, and commit ourselves to caring lovingly for those around us, in every place where we live. Let me say it again: “Have the courage to commit!” Father Oreste Benzi, a tireless apostle of charity, ever on the side of the poor and the defenseless, used to say that no one is so poor as to have nothing to give, and no one is so rich as not to need something to receive. Let us rise up, then, and set out as pilgrims of hope, so that, as Mary was for Elizabeth, we too can be messengers of joy, sources of new life and artisans of fraternity and peace. Rome, Saint John Lateran, 21 April 2024, Fourth Sunday of Easter.

Homily of His Eminence Jose F. Cardinal Advincula, D.D., Archbishop of Manila April 14, 2024 | Third Sunday of Easter [C] | Commissioning of Parish Pastoral Leaders St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish, Barangay Magallanes, Makati City Rev. Msgr. Roberto C. Canlas, our parish priest, members of the Parish Pastoral Council, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ: Happy Easter po sa ating lahat! I gladly thank the Lord who gathered us today to celebrate the Eucharist. We particularly thank God for the grace of a new set of leaders in our Parish Pastoral Council. The good service of lay leaders in the Church is the Lord's own sign of fulfilling His promise to send “shepherds after his own heart” (cf. Jer. 3:15b). Maraming salamat po sa paglilingkod ninyo sa Simbahan. In the Gospel reading today (Lk 24:35-48), Luke narrates the appearance of the Risen Lord to His disciples. This passage reveals three important virtues for Christian leaders today: consoling, reconciling, and missioning. Consoling The first is consoling. When the Risen Lord appeared to His disciples, they were startled and terrified. They thought they were seeing a ghost; but in reality, they were not seeing a ghost. [Rather], they were seeing Jesus Himself, risen from the dead. Their fear is coming from the ghosts of their past failures, the ghosts of their past frustrations, the ghosts of their past hurts. All these projected into the Risen Lord. To all these ghosts, Jesus responds with a greeting that is familiar to the Jewish people: Shalom Aleichem (Peace be with you). It is as if Jesus is telling them, “Do not be afraid. It is I, Jesus. The Jesus you have known. The Jesus you will make known. The Jesus who has healed and forgiven you. The Jesus who will keep loving you. Do not be afraid. It is really I whom you see; and I offer you consolation and peace.” As Christians leaders, we can always expect that the people we serve will sometimes project their issues on us. They may misunderstand the good that we do. They may hurt us, abandon us, and even betray us. Even although we are simply serving them the best way we can. These are painful experiences; but whenever these difficulties occur, Christian leaders should choose to console their people rather than control them, condemn them, or combat them. Christian leaders should listen to their people with compassion, validate their concerns, and respond with effective love. Their leadership is an active continuation of the Lord's greeting, “Peace be with you.” To be a Christian leader is to console people. Reconciling The second is reconciling. After the Risen Lord has consoled His disciples, He asked for something to eat. This is quite different from John's narrative wherein the Risen Lord was the one preparing and offering food (cf. Jn. 21:1-14); but for Luke, it was Jesus asking for food. Jesus did this not only to confirm to them that He is fully incarnated, and He is not a ghost. Jesus asks His disciples for food to also make them understand that He trusted them. He is willing to eat whatever they may offer Him. His disciples have abandoned Him, betrayed Him, failed Him, and hurt Him; but after all this, Jesus still trusted them. Jesus believed in the best of their hearts by asking them for food. Jesus is inviting them to reconciliation, to rekindle their friendship, and to rebuild their communion. Many leaders of this world often create parties and functions. They divide the people between their followers and their haters, between insiders and outsiders. This is not for us Christian leaders. As leaders who follow Christ, we are agents and models of reconciliation for our wounded and divided world. We bring our best selves to help communities trust each other again, hear each other again, love each other again, and serve each other again. When conflicts arise, we strive to foster truth, compassion and mutual care. When some people are lost or left out, we reach out to them and bring them into communion. We evoke the best from our people, believing and hoping in the presence of the Holy Spirit within them― guiding them and helping them. We build the community, by modeling to our people the grace of truthfulness, forgiveness, kindness, and joy. To be a Christian leader is to reconcile people. Missioning The third is missioning. Jesus delegated His apostles to become witnesses to the great mysteries of His passion, death, and resurrection. The Risen Lord missioned His disciples to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He invited the Apostles to participate in His mission. He did not keep the mission to Himself. Rather, He empowered the disciples to share in His mission. Many leaders of this world would want to keep their position to themselves, so that they can keep their power, perks, and privileges to themselves. Gusto nilang sila lang ang bida, sila lang ang magaling, at sila lang ang namumuno. This is not so for us Christian leaders. As leaders who follow Christ, we are agents of mission and missioning. As we fulfill our own mission, we also invite and inspire others to become missionaries. We do not keep our people in perpetual dependency or clinginess to us. Rather, we educate them, empower them, and evoke their Spirit-given charisms. To be a Christian leader is to mission people. Conclusion Dear brothers and sisters: let us learn leadership from Jesus, risen from the dead. As parents, elders, students, managers, mentors, let us embody the leadership virtues of the Risen Lord: consoling, reconciling, and missioning. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the Apostles, guide us and pray for us always. Amen. Transcribed by Joel V. Ocampo Photo by Margaux Salcedo

Homily of His Excellency Most Rev. Pablo Virgilio S. David, D.D. Bishop of Kalookan and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines April 14, 2024 | Third Sunday of Easter Massabielle Grotto, Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, France My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, good morning to all of you! Magandang umaga po sa lahat ng mga Pilipino na naririto. Bonjour à tous les Français qui sont ici. Buenos días a todos los Españoles Castellanos, quiénes están aquí! I am Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, Bishop of the Diocese of Kalookan. This is my very first time to preside at the Eucharistic Celebration, right here at the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. I am blessed to be presiding at this Eucharist in the company of our priests, deacons, and religious and lay people, who are on a pilgrimage in Marian shrines here in Europe. We started in Fatima, and then we move to Zaragoza (Virgen del Pilar), and then to Our Lady of Montserrat in Barcelona. This is our fourth stop: the Shrine of our Blessed Mother, the Virgin of Lourdes. Well, for my sharing for today. The title of my homily is “Where is Mary” in the Gospel that you heard. Where is Mama Mary in the story that you heard? Well, we read from Saint Luke (24:35-48), and I expect Luke to mention her because Luke is very Marian; but I'm disappointed that I don't hear her name. Well, according to the Gospel of John, Mary stood at the foot of the cross (cf. Jn. 19:25). Courageously, she stood at the foot of the cross until Jesus died. The beloved disciple John stood by Mary, whom he regarded, or started to regard as his very own mother from that day on, because Jesus said to him, “Behold your mother”, and to Mama Mary, “Behold your son” (Jn. 19:26-27). The other disciples we're not there at the cross, except Mary Magdalene and the other women who accompanied the body of Jesus all the way to the tomb (cf. Mk. 15:40-41, 47). There were no other male disciples. Only John and the women. I think the women are usually more courageous. When they buried Him, there was also not a single one of the male disciples who was there, except two influential admirers. They were not exactly disciples, [they were] admirers of Jesus, and maybe we can call them “closet disciples” ― Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, the Pharisee. The beloved disciple John himself was not there when Jesus was buried. Where was he? Well, I presuppose that John accompanied Mama Mary back to the place that served as their headquarters. That upper room that we call the cenacle where they had the Ultima Cena, the Last Supper. Saint Luke would make Mary appear again in the narrative, but fast forward to the Acts of the Apostles. He would tell us that Mama Mary stayed with them in that upper room until Pentecost (Acts 1:13ff). So, with regard to this story today of the apparition of Jesus to His disciples in the upper room, my question is, “Where was she when Jesus appeared in that cenacle?” Where was she? To answer the question, I found myself going back to my own experience with my own mother: +Bienvenida Sanchez Siongco. She was a mother of thirteen children: seven boys, six girls. So, I have six brothers and six sisters. I'm only number 10 from the eldest, but the favorite. When my brothers and sisters hear that, they always say, “That's according to you”. My mother had a very special way of expressing her affection to her thirteen children. Especially to me. The first thing she asked whenever I came home for a visit when I was still a seminarian was, in Tagalog, “Kumain ka na ba?” In English, “Have you eaten already?” In Spanish, “¿Has comido ya?” In French, “Est-ce que tu as déjà mangé?” “Have you eaten already?”, and always it was in plural. She would say, “Have you guys eaten already?” Because I often drop by our old house without notice. I would just drop by for lunch without notice, in the company of several hungry fellow seminarians; but she was always happy to receive us. She was always ready to serve as food. Even if she had nothing, but a few cans of sardines, or corned beef, which she would sauté and extend with a lot of chopped cabbages and potatoes; and of course, a lot of rice, because we're Filipinos. Well, today's Gospel doesn't tell us that Mama Mary was there. I think it was because Saint Luke wanted to portray the disciples honestly, but in a negative way. Like I said, unlike Mary and John, the other male disciples did not stand by Jesus at the foot of the cross. They were hiding. They all went in hiding, afraid that they were going to be arrested. They all went hiding. They even locked the doors in that cenacle, in that upper room. They must have been so terrified that they would not even believe either the women, nor the two disciples from Emmaus, who came back to the upper room to tell them that He was resurrected. They would not believe. That is why Saint Mark, in the longer ending of the same story, is telling the readers explicitly. This is in verse 14 of Mark 16, “He appeared to them, and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart.” In Tagalog, let’s say, napagalitan sila. They were all reprimanded. Because they had not believed the messengers: Mary Magdalene and the two disciples at Emmaus, who saw Him after He had been raised. Saint Luke doesn't want to include Mama Mary among the unbelievers. So, in the narrative, he reserved the presence of Mama Mary at Pentecost; but I stubbornly saying that I believe that Mama Mary was there in the upper room. Reading Between the Lines You know, someone once reacted to me when I said this in a Bible study session. She said, “Bishop Ambo,” (My name is Bishop Pablo, but in the Philippines, me llamo Ambo. They call me Ambo, like the ambo of the church). So, this woman said to me, “Bishop Ambo, how come you read too much in the gospel? I read them myself, but I don't find there some of the things that you're talking about. Are you inventing them?” My common reply is this, I'd say, “I'm sorry, but I was educated by the Jesuits of Manila, who taught me to read the Scriptures by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide my imagination; and to empower me to read between the lines.” But the Jesuits also warned me that I could only do that if I first took the lines very seriously. You know, reading the Bible is like a test of filling the blanks or connecting the dots. Because you read the story and there are many gaps in between. Storytellers are like that. They will not tell you all the details. They would leave to your imagination the task of putting together the story. That's why if you have no imagination, you cannot appreciate the Gospels very well. The rebuke or the reprimand that we read in Saint Mark is also there in Saint Luke; and Saint Luke says, well, when the risen Jesus appeared to them, they were terrified and they thought they were seeing a ghost. They didn't say, “Welcome Jesus!” No. no. no. Jesus had to say, “Calm down, calm down.” You know? “Why are you troubled?” (I would have been troubled myself. The doors were locked, the windows were locked, and suddenly He materialized in front of you. You would probably scream.) Yet Jesus said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do questions arise in your hearts?”, and He showed His hands. “Look at my hands, and look at my feet”, He said; “and check that it is I myself. Come touch me and see.” I don't think they came. I don't think they approached Him. He said, “But a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have”, and as He said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. Who would be most happy to recognize Jesus at that very moment, if not the Blessed Mother in the company of John? I think it was then that Jesus broke the ice. I imagine Jesus before the other disciples who are now reacting with joy. I imagine Jesus coming to His mother who is speechless and shocked herself, and Jesus coming to her, and giving her a kiss, and waiting for the usual question, “My son, are you hungry? Have you eaten already?” Est-ce que tu as mangé déjà ? ¿Has comido ya? I think it was really then that He broke the ice and made them all laugh. It is laughter that makes us relax. He made them laugh by asking Mama Mary, “Mama, do we have anything to eat? I'm starving”, and I imagine Mama Mary laughing and crying at the same time and embracing Him and saying excitedly, “Oh my son, my son, it's really you. You're alive. Hallelujah.” “Yes. Yes. Please come. I have food. I have food for you. For all of you hungry bums”, and they all laughed. Mama Mary comes out with baked fish and gives it to Jesus who takes it, and eats it hungrily right in front of them. Eating as Spiritual Bonding You know, I have always been amazed at the length of time that people in the Mediterranean countries take when they're eating their meals. Sorry, but I really just cannot imagine having lunch at 2:00 in the afternoon, or at 9:00 in the evening for dinner, and lasting until 11:00. Much of it is not eating. The eating has to be an occasion also for bonding, for friendship, for telling stories, for reflecting together for the meaning of life. That's why I beg of you, when you eat, please take away your cell phones. When you eat together, please turn off the television, and turn yourself on before your companions at the table. Talk. Don't just eat. Enjoy the moment. A moment of bonding, of friendship, of telling stories, of reflecting together on the meaning of life. In short, a moment for partaking, not just physical food, but partaking of spiritual food as well. Oh, my dear brothers and sisters, a lot of people in this world have full stomachs and empty souls; and it is pathetic. When people are satisfied only physically, but are starving spiritually. Table of the Word and the Table of the Eucharist Why do people go to the camino? They’re starving. Why would they just walk in silence? They are spiritual people. We're not physical beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a physical experience. We are more essentially spiritual. That's why we need to interact spiritually. Do you remember that line in the Bible that says “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4)? Look! What we're doing now? You're trying to catch my words. Why are you doing that? What did you come here for? Well, you're not listening to me. You're listening to God. Because when we stand in the ambo, it is God's word that must be heard. We do not stand here to make ourselves popular or noticed by you. We were only representatives. Whenever we celebrate Mass, the presider is Jesus. We are only representing. Not only me, but all of you. We celebrate the Mass together as the body of Christ. That is why we try to catch every word. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” We are gathered together, to break the word of God like bread. You know, I love the French baguette. You can hit a person with a baguette, you know, and he'll lose consciousness; but you know, when you cut the baguette, it's soft inside. When you dip it in hot cappuccino, even better. Well, we're breaking bread right at this moment; and that bread is God's word in the Scriptures, and God's Word made flesh in Jesus Christ. Did He not say “I am the Bread of life” (Jn. 6:48)? That is why the Liturgy of the Eucharist is always preceded by the Liturgy of the Word. From both the table of the Word and the table of the Eucharist, we are being fed by God. I am just an instrument right now. You know what? The ones who are best experts in bringing their children together around the common table, to break the bread and to tell our stories together are our mothers. Mama Mary. Our mothers, our first cooks, our nutritionists. The silent presence whose greatest joy in life is to nourish their loved ones. This is what the Blessed Mother has been to me as a Bishop. From the time that I was a little boy, I knew I had a physical mother and a spiritual mother. I hope it is the same for all of us priests of the Diocese of Kalookan. The unmentioned presence whom you have read between the lines with me now, who will constantly ask us at this moment, “My children, have you eaten already?” Est-ce que vous avez déjà mangé ? ¿Habéis comido ya? “Come, and break bread with my Son, and He will give you the bread of God's eternal Word that will truly satisfy your hunger, and make you grow into His own brothers and sisters. Into His own fellow sons and daughters of our One and Eternal God. Amen. Transcribed by Joel V. Ocampo

Homily of H.E. Most Rev. Charles John Brown D.D., Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Thanksgiving Mass on the Occasion of the 40th Sacerdotal Anniversary of H.E. Most Rev. Victor B. Bendico, D.D., Archbishop of Capiz April 11, 2024 | Immaculate Concepcion Metropolitan Cathedral, Roxas City, Capiz “The priesthood” as St. John Vianney taught so beautifully, “The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.” “The love of the heart of Jesus.” Your Eminence Jose Cardinal Advincula, Archbishop of Manila, brother bishops who have come from near and far, concelebrating priests here from the Archdiocese of Capiz (in big numbers and probably other diocese as well), deacons, religious sisters, religious brothers, lay faithful here of the Archdiocese of Capiz: For me as your apostolic nuncio, it gives me a lot of joy and happiness to be with you here this morning, on April 11th of 2024; to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ordination of your beloved Archbishop Victor Barnuevo Bendico, who today celebrates 40 years since the moment of his ordination as a priest, which took place here in the Archdiocese of Capiz, in his local parish. You may know that his excellency was baptized in this church, but he was ordained priest in 1984 by †Archbishop Antonio Floro Frondosa, in his parish church, in the week right before Palm Sunday in 1984. So, Archbishop Bendico, then Father Victor, was thrown into the Liturgy of Holy Week as a newly ordained priest. All of us know his very impressive curriculum vitae. He served as Spiritual Director at St. Pius X Seminary, Roxas City (1984-1988); parish parochial vicar in some parishes; parish priest of parishes; rectos, at one point, later on at Sta. Maria Mater et Regina Seminarium Maius, (Saint Mary, Mother and Queen, Major Seminary), here in the Archdiocese of Capiz; and then, parish priest, here in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception here in Roxas City, until in October of 2016, he was chosen as Bishop in Baguio; and received his episcopal consecration, the fullness of the priesthood in [January] of 2017. Then, little bit, less than one year ago, he returned to you here in Capiz. Pope Francis decided that the best thing for the Archdiocese of Capiz would be for your beloved Archbishop, then Bishop Bendico from Baguio, to return here as your Archbishop. So, we are here to thank God for the gift of his 40 years of priesthood. The predominant image of our liturgy this morning is, as we heard in the readings, as you can see in your programs if you have them, as you can also see in the holy cards that have been printed, and indeed in the chasubles that we are wearing―the symbolism of the liturgy this morning is the symbolism of the Good Shepherd. “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn. 10:11). Isn't that a beautiful image in the ordination of a priest? When he literally lays down, prostates in front of the altar? As we sing the Litany of the Saints, invoking the intercession of the Saints, to pray for this man, this deacon who will be ordained to the priesthood. To be ordained means to be ordained as a shepherd in the image of the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. That is an image that we can see even in the ordination of a priest. This concept of shepherd. The shepherd is the one, as we heard in the gospel this morning (John 10:11-18), is the one who defends the sheep, keeps the sheep from being scattered. He carries a staff to drive away the wolves and the wild animals, who would threaten the unity of the flock. The One Who Feeds The word shepherd in the original Greek is quite interesting. In English, of course, shepherd comes from the sheep. The shepherd is one who herds the sheep. He is a sheep herder. So, the shepherd, that word in English, is named for the sheep. In Greek, the word is “ποιμὴν” (poimēn), shepherd, which seems to come, apparently from the word for “grass”. For grass which the sheep need to feed on. So, we have the idea in the Greek of the shepherd as the one who feeds or leads the sheep to the place where they can be fed; and the basic foundational notion of the shepherd. This is even more clear in Latin: the “pastor bonus” right? The Good Shepherd, the pastor. Pastor comes from the Latin word or Latin verb “pascere”, to feed. The idea is feeding. “Feed my lambs,” “Nourish my sheep”. The pastor is principally, who is, one who feeds, one who nourishes. We have that word in English: “pasture”, which is a grassy area where the animals can find nourishment. Even the word in Italian “pasta” means “food”, comes from the same derivation as pastor. The one who leads the sheep to the place where they can be fed. We have one Shepherd, first and foremost, Jesus, our Lord and God, who is the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for us, the sheep, and who feeds, doesn't he? He feeds us. He feeds us with His body and His blood in the Eucharist. He feeds us with His word in Holy Scripture. “The Lord is my shepherd”, as we said and prayed in the Responsorial Psalm today. The Lord is the Chief Shepherd; but He has chosen in His providence, to ordain shepherds who will be after His heart, shepherds, human shepherds, priests, and bishops, whose principal function, we can say, is to feed the flock―to give the flock nourishment; to give the flock life. Feeding, food indicate life, the transmission of life. To Feed from Two Tables How does that happen in the life of a priest? How does he feed the flock? How does he imitate Jesus the Good Shepherd? It's interesting in the Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation that the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI wrote back in 2007: Sacramentum Caritatis (The Sacrament of Love, The Sacrament of Charity), about the Eucharist. The Pope wrote this, “There is an intrinsic bond between the word of God and the Eucharist. From listening to the word of God, faith is born or strengthened in the Eucharist the Word made flesh gives himself to us as our spiritual food.” Then Pope Benedict wrote “Thus, from the two tables of the word of God and the Body of Christ, the Church receives and gives to the faithful the bread of life” (SC #44). So, life is coming to us from two tables we can say. We are fed from two tables: the Table of the Word, and the Table of the Sacrament. The Table of the preaching, and the Table of the Eucharist. The idea of the Table of the Word, of course, principally this means preaching and explaining the Scriptures. What a task of a priest is to expound on the Scriptures, to teach people from the Scriptures; but we can think of that Table of the Word in a more extensive way in our lives as priests, my brother priests. Not only preaching the Word of God in Scripture, but all of God's revelation, all of what we call the Dei Verbum, which is not only the Dei Verbum written, but also the Dei Verbum of Tradition, and so forth, of doctrine. By teaching doctrines, by transmitting doctrine, we are feeding the people from the Table of the Word. We are nourishing God's flock. We are transmitting that life that comes into us from our contact with Christ. In a certain sense, we can say that doctrine, the Word of God in the most extensive way, revelation in some ways is the Via the Veritas and the Vita. Doctrine is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We want to absorb that truth and to put it into practice in our lives. That's what we as priests do by preaching, by teaching. It is one of the ways in which we give life to our people. It's one of the ways in which we lead our people to the sources of life, which is what a shepherd does in the most basic sense of the word. But of course, there's that second sense of leading to life from the Table of the Sacrament, which in a restricted way of course is the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Sacraments, the Body, the Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, which transfers, which communicates Christ’s life into our people. We are giving them the life of God through the Eucharist, and the other sacraments. So, these two ways of being a shepherd: ways of feeding through preaching and through sacrament, it's the central foundational aspect, an element of our lives as priests. That's what we celebrate when we celebrate 40 years, or any priestly anniversary for that matter. We celebrate a man who was chosen by God, a man whose life was changed on the moment of his ordination to the priesthood. In the traditional theology of the priesthood, we received that sacramental character, an ontological change. We become shepherds after the image of the Good Shepherd. We become other Christs for our people. We become images, we become icons of Christ; with our limitations, with our difficulties, with our occasional failures. Yes, we are images, of icons of Christ. Let us never forget that. Images of Him, the Good Shepherd who goes in search, especially of the lost sheep, to lead them to life, through the teaching of the Church, and the reception of the sacraments. This life that comes into us, that changes us, that gives us joy and happiness, and prepares us for heaven. The Word and the Sacrament. It's interesting brothers and sisters in Christ, some of our Christian brothers and sisters who are not Catholic, have the idea of the “sola”. Right? “Only”. “Sola scriptura”. Maybe you've heard that term. “Sola fide”.  “Sola scriptura” = “only scriptures”. “Sola fide” = “faith alone”. But we, for us Catholics is not really “sola” for us. It's always in Latin “et” which is “both”, “and”. There's always a question of “both” “and”. So, it's “Word and Sacraments”, it's “Scripture and Tradition”. We are sanctified by faith “and” good words. We honor marriage “and” the celibacy. We don't choose between the two. In fact, the original Greek word for heresy, hairesis means “to choose, to select, take one without balancing with the other”. So, faith and works, marriage and celibacy. Jesus is God and man. Our Lady (we are in her beautiful cathedral this morning) is a virgin and mother. Small Ways of Laying Down One’s Life So, in this sense we can think about the role of the priest, the man of the Word, man of the Sacrament. Why? Because as an image of the Good Shepherd, he is leading his people always to life. In order to do that effectively, the priest must lay down his own life in some way―lay down his own life in some way. We were all, as priests, have to make sacrifices in our priesthood. The small ways of laying down our life, when things don't go our way. When perhaps we receive a mission or an assignment that we didn't really want or desire, it will lay down our lives; but when we do that, we are doing exactly, we’re kind of putting into practice what we did symbolically in what then Deacon Victor Bendico, when he laid down in front of the altar, before he was ordained to the priesthood. We’re laying down our lives for our people. We are truly being images of Jesus the Good Shepherd. So, today we thank God for forty years, as the Ruby Jubilee, forty years of the priesthood of your beloved Archbishop Victor Bendico. We thank God for all the gifts that He has given to the Church in these forty years. In the name of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, who is representative, of course, I am in the Philippines. I want to congratulate and to thank his excellency for his generous and selfless service over these forty years. What a beautiful testament to have all of us here this morning on this anniversary, to thank God for the gift of His priesthood; and also, to reflect for those of you who are priests and bishops, to reflect on our own priesthood. To think about how we can better lay down our lives for our people, and we can lead them to the sources of life. That is our principal function as priests and as bishops. We do all of these things always under the watchful eyes of Our Lady, the beautiful, all-powerful Holy Mother of God, in whose cathedral we are praying this morning. We ask Our Lady, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, to intercede for our beloved Archbishop Victor Bendico, to protect him, to lead him to another forty years of priesthood, at least here on this earth; and then a priesthood and eternity in heaven. Ad multos annos! Congratulations, Your Excellency. Transcribed by Joel V. Ocampo Photos from Pamati - Archdiocese of Capiz Facebook page

Homily of H.E. Most Rev. Charles John Brown D.D., Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines March 31, 2024 | Easter Sunday the Resurrection of the Lord St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish, Barangay Magallanes, Makati City My dear brothers and sisters in Christ: Today is Easter Sunday. I wish you a joyful and wonderful celebration of the resurrection of the Lord. For me as your apostolic nuncio, it is a great joy and happiness for me to celebrate this most magnificent day, the culmination of the liturgical year of the Church, with all of you here in Saint Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish Church in Magallanes Village, with your beloved parish priest, Msgr. Bobby Canlas. He invited me to join you for this Mass this morning, to share together the Easter Joy―the joy that comes into our hearts because of Christ, risen from the dead. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches us that the resurrection was a true historical event. In fact, number 639 of the Catechism says the following, “The mystery of Christ's resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness.” That's from the Catechism of the Catholic Church; and we heard those witnesses this morning, in the Gospel of Saint John. John who wrote the gospel that we heard this morning (Jn 20:1-9). John who is a witness, an eyewitness of the resurrection of the Lord. John, who describes how “Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning while it was still dark” (Jn. 20:1). She saw the stone removed from the tomb. Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter, the first Pope, and to St. John (but he has the modesty not to name himself) the “other disciple whom Jesus loved”. That's how Saint John, who writes this gospel, refers to himself. Mary Magdalene told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him” (Jn. 20:2). So, this is the first appearance, the first news, the first manifestation of the resurrection of our Lord, given by Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene – Apostolorum Apostola Isn't it appropriate that it's Mary Magdalene who was faithful to Jesus at the foot of the Cross―that small band of disciples who were there on Golgotha on Good Friday: Saint John, the Beloved Disciple who writes this gospel, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary. It's Mary Magdalene who was chosen by God to be the first witness of the resurrection, and she runs to the first Pope, the first Holy Father: Saint Peter, and gives the news. That's why the Church considers Mary Magdalene the “Apostle of the Apostles” because an apostle is someone who brings the news. Mary Magdalene, a woman out of whom the Lord had cast seven demons (Mk. 16:9). Mary Magdalene, this woman who has been converted by the love of Jesus, becomes the first announcer, the first evangelist, the first apostle in a certain sense―bringing the news to the other apostles, who had been too frightened, to scared, to be at the foot of the cross on Good Friday, who are hiding out of fear, except for Saint John. Mary Magdalene, she is, in some ways, an image, an example of all the holy women in the history of the Catholic Church, who have kept the faith, who have passed the faith on to others, to their children, their grandchildren. Mary Magdalene is a symbol of that function in the Church―of women who keep the faith, women who were faithful to the cross of Christ, women who, in their own way, preach the gospel. Expressed in the Words of The Creed The Gospel tells us that they came into the tomb, they saw and they believed. Peter and John saw and believed. We have been given that faith. We believe in what happened that day more than 2,000 years ago. Our faith is expressed in the words of The Creed. (Which we omit today, because today we will renew our baptismal promises. We will not actually say the words of The Creed. We will renew our promises and I will sprinkle you with holy water after we've done that.) The words of the Apostle’s Creed summarize what we celebrate in these days. “He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.” Those phrases in The Creed contain our faith: He was born of the Virgin Mary at Christmas; He suffered under Pontius Pilate, the night of Holy Thursday, after the Last Supper. The suffering of our Lord under Pontius Pilate, that we commemorate here in the Philippines in our beautiful tradition of the Visita Iglesia. He was crucified, died and was buried―Good Friday. He descended into hell―that's the mystery of Holy Saturday. The mystery that we, in a silent way, celebrated yesterday: the descent of the Lord into Hell. On Holy Saturday, the Lord descends into the underworld, the netherworld, the abode of the dead; and He rescues those who have been born before the coming of Christ: Adam and Eve, and the Old Testament prophets who were waiting in this kind of limbo, this kind of quasi-hell, waiting for the coming of the Messiah. They have those amazing Eastern Orthodox icons of the Lord going into hell and rescuing Adam and Eve, pulling them up by their hands―Adam and Eve with joy in their faces, seeing the Lord on Holy Saturday, coming into the netherworld to bring them into heavenly glory. What the old English term, the “Harrowing of Hell”, the moment in which Christ descends into hell. Then on the third day, today, He rose from the dead. Descent and Ascent So, we see this trajectory in these days of “descent” and “ascent”. Descending into hell, into the netherworld to rescue Adam and Eve and the Old Testament prophets, and then rising on the third day today, Easter Sunday. This trajectory, this dynamic of descent and ascent, of going down and coming up, falling and rising. This is central to our Christian faith, this descent and ascent. Because we all have our own descents, and our own falls, our own failures. Whether they're financial defeats, health defeats, or relationship failures, family defeats, business failures. We all experience that descent, that going down into the netherworld, into a kind of abode of the dead. Even Jesus fell three times on the way of the cross on Good Friday; but each of those three times, He got up and kept walking towards the cross. We as Catholics participate in Jesus's death, and rising; in His descent and ascent, and the innumerable, the countless descents and ascents of our lives, the innumerable defeats and victories of our lives, the failures and the successes of our lives, the falling and the getting up again our lives. That's what our lives are in this world, and it's all gathered into the action of Christ in these days. All of our failures, all of our falling, all of our descending, so that we can rise with Him always, again and again. In every Holy Mass in a few minutes, I will say to you, “Lift up your hearts”. In Latin, “Sursum corda”, “Lift up your hearts”. In the Second Reading from Saint Paul's Letter to the Colossians (3:1-4) this morning, we hear this idea of “lifting up”, “look up”, “go up”. “Brothers and sisters”, he says “If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, for Christ is at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.” What is God telling us on this Easter Sunday? He's telling us that He has turned, transformed the greatest evil into the greatest good. The Cross of Christ that you have in your church, here on the back wall. The cross is the most horrible thing that ever happened in the history of the world. Yet, He has transformed it into the greatest blessing in the history of the world. God has turned the greatest evil into the greatest good, and the Saints of the Church recognized that; and they saw that in our lives, in all the small failures that we experience: disappointments, the difficult times, we participate in that going down, that descent, only so that we can rise again through and in the power of Jesus. To Rise Stronger, To Rise with Power There was a 14th Century English Mystic, a woman named Julian of Norwich. If you go to the city of Norwich, you can see where in the 14th Century, this woman was a holy woman, was a kind of a hermit, and enclosed woman, an anchoress as they would say. She had in the 14th Century, amazing visions of Jesus on the Cross, and the passion of the Lord, and His resurrection. She talked about this idea of falling, of defeat, of failure, and then rising, which is part of our lives. She said that 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. Julian of Norwich has the most famous line, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” The famous lines quoted actually by T.S. Eliot, the American poet, “All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well,” because “through Him, with him, and in Him”, all our defeats, all our falls, all our failures can turn into victories. 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. So, what does all this mean? 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. He is with you because He has done it in the most amazing and cosmic way possible: in His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Conclusion So, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, for me as the Apostolic Nuncio, in the Name of Pope Francis, I greet all of you and I wish you a most happy, wonderful Easter season. The joy of the season overflows for an entire week: the Octave of Easter. For the Church isn't even content with a week. We do a week of weeks. What do I mean? We have seven weeks now until the Feast of Pentecost. The Easter Season, the priest wears white vestments now. A week of weeks: 7x7, eternity, joy multiplied. Perfection multiplied by perfection, 7x7, a week of weeks. So, our joy knows no bounds. Happy Easter! God bless you. Don't forget to pray for Pope Francis. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ: Today is Easter Sunday. I wish you a joyful and wonderful celebration of the resurrection of the Lord. For me as your apostolic nuncio, it is a great joy and happiness for me to celebrate this most magnificent day, the culmination of the liturgical year of the Church, with all of you here in Saint Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish Church in Magallanes Village, with your beloved parish priest, Msgr. Bobby Canlas. He invited me to join you for this Mass this morning, to share together the Easter Joy―the joy that comes into our hearts because of Christ, risen from the dead. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches us that the resurrection was a true historical event. In fact, number 639 of the Catechism says the following, “The mystery of Christ's resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness.” That's from the Catechism of the Catholic Church; and we heard those witnesses this morning, in the Gospel of Saint John. John who wrote the gospel that we heard this morning (Jn 20:1-9). John who is a witness, an eyewitness of the resurrection of the Lord. John, who describes how “Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning while it was still dark” (Jn. 20:1). She saw the stone removed from the tomb. Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter, the first Pope, and to St. John (but he has the modesty not to name himself) the “other disciple whom Jesus loved”. That's how Saint John, who writes this gospel, refers to himself. Mary Magdalene told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him” (Jn. 20:2). So, this is the first appearance, the first news, the first manifestation of the resurrection of our Lord, given by Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene – Apostolorum Apostola Isn't it appropriate that it's Mary Magdalene who was faithful to Jesus at the foot of the Cross―that small band of disciples who were there on Golgotha on Good Friday: Saint John, the Beloved Disciple who writes this gospel, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary. It's Mary Magdalene who was chosen by God to be the first witness of the resurrection, and she runs to the first Pope, the first Holy Father: Saint Peter, and gives the news. That's why the Church considers Mary Magdalene the “Apostle of the Apostles” because an apostle is someone who brings the news. Mary Magdalene, a woman out of whom the Lord had cast seven demons (Mk. 16:9). Mary Magdalene, this woman who has been converted by the love of Jesus, becomes the first announcer, the first evangelist, the first apostle in a certain sense―bringing the news to the other apostles, who had been too frightened, to scared, to be at the foot of the cross on Good Friday, who are hiding out of fear, except for Saint John. Mary Magdalene, she is, in some ways, an image, an example of all the holy women in the history of the Catholic Church, who have kept the faith, who have passed the faith on to others, to their children, their grandchildren. Mary Magdalene is a symbol of that function in the Church―of women who keep the faith, women who were faithful to the cross of Christ, women who, in their own way, preach the gospel. Expressed in the Words of The Creed The Gospel tells us that they came into the tomb, they saw and they believed. Peter and John saw and believed. We have been given that faith. We believe in what happened that day more than 2,000 years ago. Our faith is expressed in the words of The Creed. (Which we omit today, because today we will renew our baptismal promises. We will not actually say the words of The Creed. We will renew our promises and I will sprinkle you with holy water after we've done that.) The words of the Apostle’s Creed summarize what we celebrate in these days. “He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.” Those phrases in The Creed contain our faith: He was born of the Virgin Mary at Christmas; He suffered under Pontius Pilate, the night of Holy Thursday, after the Last Supper. The suffering of our Lord under Pontius Pilate, that we commemorate here in the Philippines in our beautiful tradition of the Visita Iglesia. He was crucified, died and was buried―Good Friday. He descended into hell―that's the mystery of Holy Saturday. The mystery that we, in a silent way, celebrated yesterday: the descent of the Lord into Hell. On Holy Saturday, the Lord descends into the underworld, the netherworld, the abode of the dead; and He rescues those who have been born before the coming of Christ: Adam and Eve, and the Old Testament prophets who were waiting in this kind of limbo, this kind of quasi-hell, waiting for the coming of the Messiah. They have those amazing Eastern Orthodox icons of the Lord going into hell and rescuing Adam and Eve, pulling them up by their hands―Adam and Eve with joy in their faces, seeing the Lord on Holy Saturday, coming into the netherworld to bring them into heavenly glory. What the old English term, the “Harrowing of Hell”, the moment in which Christ descends into hell. Then on the third day, today, He rose from the dead. Descent and Ascent So, we see this trajectory in these days of “descent” and “ascent”. Descending into hell, into the netherworld to rescue Adam and Eve and the Old Testament prophets, and then rising on the third day today, Easter Sunday. This trajectory, this dynamic of descent and ascent, of going down and coming up, falling and rising. This is central to our Christian faith, this descent and ascent. Because we all have our own descents, and our own falls, our own failures. Whether they're financial defeats, health defeats, or relationship failures, family defeats, business failures. We all experience that descent, that going down into the netherworld, into a kind of abode of the dead. Even Jesus fell three times on the way of the cross on Good Friday; but each of those three times, He got up and kept walking towards the cross. We as Catholics participate in Jesus's death, and rising; in His descent and ascent, and the innumerable, the countless descents and ascents of our lives, the innumerable defeats and victories of our lives, the failures and the successes of our lives, the falling and the getting up again our lives. That's what our lives are in this world, and it's all gathered into the action of Christ in these days. All of our failures, all of our falling, all of our descending, so that we can rise with Him always, again and again. In every Holy Mass in a few minutes, I will say to you, “Lift up your hearts”. In Latin, “Sursum corda”, “Lift up your hearts”. In the Second Reading from Saint Paul's Letter to the Colossians (3:1-4) this morning, we hear this idea of “lifting up”, “look up”, “go up”. “Brothers and sisters”, he says “If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, for Christ is at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.” What is God telling us on this Easter Sunday? He's telling us that He has turned, transformed the greatest evil into the greatest good. The Cross of Christ that you have in your church, here on the back wall. The cross is the most horrible thing that ever happened in the history of the world. Yet, He has transformed it into the greatest blessing in the history of the world. God has turned the greatest evil into the greatest good, and the Saints of the Church recognized that; and they saw that in our lives, in all the small failures that we experience: disappointments, the difficult times, we participate in that going down, that descent, only so that we can rise again through and in the power of Jesus. To Rise Stronger, To Rise with Power There was a 14th Century English Mystic, a woman named Julian of Norwich. If you go to the city of Norwich, you can see where in the 14th Century, this woman was a holy woman, was a kind of a hermit, and enclosed woman, an anchoress as they would say. She had in the 14th Century, amazing visions of Jesus on the Cross, and the passion of the Lord, and His resurrection. She talked about this idea of falling, of defeat, of failure, and then rising, which is part of our lives. She said that 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. Julian of Norwich has the most famous line, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” The famous lines quoted actually by T.S. Eliot, the American poet, “All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well,” because “through Him, with him, and in Him”, all our defeats, all our falls, all our failures can turn into victories. 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. So, what does all this mean? 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. He is with you because He has done it in the most amazing and cosmic way possible: in His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Conclusion So, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, for me as the Apostolic Nuncio, in the Name of Pope Francis, I greet all of you and I wish you a most happy, wonderful Easter season. The joy of the season overflows for an entire week: the Octave of Easter. For the Church isn't even content with a week. We do a week of weeks. What do I mean? We have seven weeks now until the Feast of Pentecost. The Easter Season, the priest wears white vestments now. A week of weeks: 7x7, eternity, joy multiplied. Perfection multiplied by perfection, 7x7, a week of weeks. So, our joy knows no bounds. Happy Easter! God bless you. Don't forget to pray for Pope Francis. Transcribed by Joel V. Ocampo

Speech of H.E. Most Rev. Charles John Brown D.D., Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Episcopal Ordination of Most Rev. Napoleon B. Sipalay, O.P., D.D., Bishop-elect of the Diocese of Alaminos March 18, 2024 | Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Manaoag For me, as the Apostolic Nuncio here in the Philippines, it is a source of great joy, great appreciation to be with all of you here this morning, at the feet of Our Lady in this renowned Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Manaoag, for the Episcopal Ordination of His Excellency the Most Rev. Napoleon B. Sipalay, O.P., Bishop-elect until tomorrow of Alaminos. It's wonderful to be here with Jose Cardinal Advincula, Archbishop of Manila, who gave a beautiful homily; and of course, your own dear Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas as the principal consecrator, and our host here in this beautiful minor basilica this morning. photo from University of Sto. Thomas Filipino Dominican Bishops Bishop June Sipalay is a Dominican and we see that reflected very much in this church, this basilica which has been administered by the Dominican Fathers from time immemorial. We see the Dominican formation in his wonderful preaching, his eloquence; as a man of the word, as an Order of Preachers (OP). The Dominicans began to produce bishops for the Church not long after the death of the founder, Saint Dominic, who died in 1221. Within a little more than ten years, the sons of Dominic were becoming bishops in the Church, serving the Church by being preachers—preachers of the faith—as bishops. Here in the Philippines, the first Dominican Bishop was the first Bishop of Manila, Bishop Domingo Salazar, O.P., who came to Manila and was Bishop from 1579. After him, there's been a series of Dominican bishops here in the Philippines. And in recent years among Filipinos—because many of the bishops who were Dominicans in the Philippines were of Spanish origin. We've had now at least two Filipino Dominican bishops: the late Archbishop-Emeritus Leonardo Z. Legaspi of (the Archdiocese of) Caceres; and the late Auxiliary Bishop Jose P. Salazar of Lipa. And now we have your beloved Most Rev. Napoleon Sipalay as the Bishop-Elect of Alaminos. What a joy! What a tradition! I don't want to let this moment pass without—in the name of Pope Francis and the Dicastery for Bishops—saying a word of thanks, appreciation, and recognition to His Excellency, the Most Rev. Fidelis B. Layog, who has administered the Diocese of Alaminos in this period of sede vacante. Thank you, dear Bishop Layog for everything that you've done during these years. It's most appreciated by all of us. God's Mercy and Yours As the Cardinal (Advincula) and also, as Archbishop Villegas mentioned, the motto chosen by Bishop Sipalay is very beautiful: “Misericordiam Dei Et Vestram” (God’s Mercy and Yours). “God’s Mercy and Yours”. As you heard, those words are the response of a young Dominican when he's making his vows, his profession as a Dominican. God's mercy and yours. We see two elements there, which have been reflected upon this morning: “God's mercy”, the vertical dimension, God our Almighty Father; and “Your mercy”, the horizontal dimension―you, the baptized people of God. So, the vertical and the horizontal dimension that are so beautifully expressed in that phrase “Misericordiam Dei Et Vestram” When we think about the responses (think for a moment and you've got these beautifully printed programs), the final response of then-Father Sipalay before he was ordained to be a Bishop this morning. He was asked [with] these words—these were the last things he heard—before he gave his final response, “Do you resolve to pray without ceasing to almighty God for His holy people, and to carry out the office of High Priest without reproach?” It's the last question, the last question the a priest hears before he is elevated to the episcopate. And how did Father Sipalay respond to it? “I do, with the help of God.” His final words as a presbyter, before becoming an episkopós (as we heard). This idea of “prayer without ceasing” has to be fundamental for the bishop. It's what he promised as a condition of his ordination. He promises to pray. To pray to God for the people. We see that beautiful double dimension in that final question, final inquiry: God and people. As we see in his episcopal motto, the vertical and the horizontal. Those vertical and horizontal dimensions are not disassociated one from the other. They come together, don't they, brothers and sisters? The vertical and the horizontal, on the cross of Jesus Christ. The horizontal beam and the vertical beam coming together in the sacrifice of Christ, the man of prayer, the man who offers himself to the Father. So, all of these themes of God and people, of verticality and horizontality come together this morning, on these days in which we prepare to celebrate the most holy moment of the Church's Liturgical Year: Settiman Santa, Holy Week―next week—which will culminate in the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All of these things come together today and fill our hearts with great joy. We do all of these things under the watchful eyes of Our Lady—Our Lady of the Rosary— Mary, the one by whose “yes” the world, indeed the cosmos, was changed. Words of Gratitude It leads me to say once again to now, Bishop Sipalay, thank you for your “yes” to the Holy Father, Pope Francis, when he asked you to take on this new pastoral world, to be an episkopós, to pray unceasingly—without ceasing to God—for the people of God. So, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, thank you for this wonderful and beautifully prepared liturgy this morning. I greet, of course, all my brother bishops, many concelebrating priests, especially those who are Dominicans, and those from Alaminos. You've been waiting a long time. That moment has almost arrived. It will arrive in some 24 hours when your new bishop is installed. Thank you to the religious women, especially the wonderful Dominican sisters mentioned by Bishop Sipalay. Thank you to the other sisters, religious brothers. And most of all thank you to the people, the people of Pangasinan who have come here in such great numbers to celebrate, to rejoice, to thank God for the gift of a new bishop. In the name of Pope Francis, God bless you. Transcribed by Joel V. Ocampo

Homily of His Eminence Jose F. Cardinal Advincula, D.D., Archbishop of Manila Episcopal Ordination of Most Rev. Napoleon B. Sipalay, O.P., D.D., Bishop-elect of the Diocese of Alaminos March 18, 2024 | Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Manaoag Your Excellency, the Most Rev. Charles John Brown, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines; Your Excellency, the Most Rev. Socrates B. Villegas, Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan; Venerable brothers in the Episcopate; Your Excellency, the Most Rev. Napoleon B. Sipalay, Jr. O.P., our beloved ōrdinandus today, and Bishop-elect of Alaminos; Very Rev. Fr. Filemon I. dela Cruz, Jr., O.P., Prior of the Philippine Province of the Order of Preachers; my dear brother priests; my esteemed brothers in the Dominican family; deacons, persons in consecrated life; beloved brothers and sisters in Christ: With joy and enthusiasm, we thank the Lord who gathered us today, to celebrate the gift of faith and ministry in the Church. We particularly thank the Lord for the gift of a new bishop to minister to His people. Bishop Jun, maraming salamat na nandito ka ngayon para maging obispo. Salamat sa pagtanggap mo ng biyaya at misyon ng paglilingkod bilang obispo. The original Greek word for bishop is ἐπίσκοπος (episkopós). It comes from two Greek words: “epi” and “skopos”. From this etymology, we can derive two spiritual virtues of a bishop: “seeking with love”, and “looking above”. Seeking with Love The first is seeking with love. The Greek word σκοπος (skopós) is sometimes translated as “onlooker” or “the one who sees or looks”. However, it means much more than this. It is a form of the Greek verb σκεπτομαι (skeptomai) which does not only mean “to look'' or “to see”, but to “look carefully and see intently”. Ang isang skopós ay hindi lang tumitingin, hindi lang nagmamasid. He is not contented with mere glances or quick peaks, but desires to look more clearly, and see more closely. Tumitingin nang maigi, maingat, at mainam.  He does not jump to hasty conclusions, or make rush decisions based on shallow data, petty knowledge, or selfish biases. Rather, he exerts effort and spends time on resources, to search more, find more, learn more, reveal more, and love more. The bishop therefore, is one who seeks with love. Bishop Jun chose the episcopal motto, “Misericordiam Dei Et Vestram” which means, “God’s Mercy and Yours.” This line was actually Bishop Jun’s response on the day that he professed his religious vows as a Dominican. It was his response to the question, “Quid quæritis?” (What do you see?). By choosing this motto, Bishop Jun is telling us that as a bishop he will be a seeker, he will be a skopós. He will intently and eagerly seek God's mercy for him, and for His people. He will contemplate the merciful face of God in his own heart. He will see and gaze at God's presence within him, firmly guiding him, and gently encouraging him. He will constantly seek people to come to God's mercy. Like the Good Shepherd in the Gospel today (John 10:11-16), he will use his voice and offer his life in order to watch vigilantly over the flock, seek those who lost their way, look out for those who got left behind, and find those who left out of frustration and despair. Like the anointed one in today's First Reading (Isaiah 61:1-3), he will seek out the poor, the captive, and those who mourn, in order to bring them glad tidings of hope, freedom, and consolation. Bishop Jun will be a bishop who seeks with love. photo from University of Sto. Thomas Looking Above The second is “looking above”. The Greek word ἐπί (epi) means “upon” or “above”. Combined with σκοπος (skopós) it is often translated as “overseer” or “supervisor”, giving the impression that the bishop is a disengaged boss or bad cop, who frantically look out for people's mistakes, and threatens them with penalties, and controls their behavior. However, episkopós may also mean “the one looking above” or “the one with a lofty vision”. Ang isang episkopós ay hindi lamang tumitingin; kung‘di tumitingala. He looks above. In the Second Reading (2 Tim. 1:6-14) that we heard today, the Apostle Paul reminds the Bishop Timothy, not to look down but to look up. Not to cower in fear, or hide in shame, because the Gospel he bears is not something to be ashamed of, or something to make us afraid. Rather, a bishop must always look up and above. Because he is witnessing to the gospel which gives confidence and courage. By constantly contemplating and seeking God's mercy, Bishop Jun will always look up to God, whose fidelity and compassion never fails. That way, he can see above the ever-fleeting matters of this world. Because he looks through the great mysteries of God's eternal vision of love, he can see God's love, which is always greater than sin, failure, or hardship. Looking up to God, he will also see God looking up to him. Ang Diyos na Tumitingala Ang Diyos ay parang butiki kung tumingin sa atin. Ang butiki sa kisame, habang tumitingin sa lupa, ay nakatingala. Mula sa ibabaw, mula sa langit, nakatingala ang Diyos sa atin. Bishop Jun, tinitingala ka ng Diyos. Bilib Siya sa iyo. Mabuti ang pagtingin Niya sa iyo. Hindi dahil magaling ka, kung ‘di dahil mahal ka ng Diyos. Kaya tumingala ka lang lagi sa Diyos, at tingalain mo ang bayan ng Diyos na ipinagkatiwala Niya sa iyo. The Episkopós As an episkopós, as the one who looks above, Bishop Jun will look up to his clergy, and to his whole flock, with a lofty vision of them; seeing and appreciating the greatness of their faith; valuing their gifts, and cherishing their unique stories. Bishop Jun will journey with his people, with high esteem for the presence of God in them. Bishop Jun will be a bishop who looks above. My dear Bishop Jun, seeking with love, and seeing above―these are two virtues that God's beloved people ask of their bishops today. Amid the wait, multitude, and complexity of the various responsibilities of a bishop, we pray that you may always be episkopós. That you will always seek with love, and look above. You dear brothers and sisters: please pray for Bishop Jun, and for all of us, your pastors, that we may truly be “ἐπίσκοποι” (episcopoi) ― servants of God who seek with love, and look above. May the lovely Virgin of Manaoag, who calls us to draw near her son, guide us and pray for us. Amen. Transcribed by Joel V. Ocampo

by Marc Shane Riparip and Clyde Ericson Nolasco photos from Diocesan Shrine and Parish of San Isidro Labrador In celebration of the 402nd Anniversary of the canonization of St. Isidore the Laborer or San Isidro Labrador, a grand Isidorian Procession was held on March 12, 2024 in Bulacan.  The Grand Procession was initiated by the Diocesan Shrine and Parish of San Isidro Pulilan, Bulacan. All shrines in the country dedicated to this humble and holy farmer were welcomed to join. Parishes in the Diocese of Malolos joined and communities coming from Talavera (Nueva Ecija), Biñan (Laguna), Cuenca (Batangas), Muzon (San Jose del Monte, Bulacan), Bulihan (Malolos, Bulacan), at Partida (Santa Maria, Bulacan) also participated. A Eucharistic celebration presided by Rev. Fr. Reynante U. Tolentino, Rector of the International Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage in Antipolo was held. This was concelebrated by priests from different San Isidro shrines and parishes. San Isidro Labrador is the patron of laborers and farmers. The event was held to celebrate and promote the holiness of the Spanish farmer San Isidro.

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) has been granted an exception by His Holiness Pope Francis in the restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass decreed by the Pope in February 2022. photo from Vatican Media Pope Francis himself invited the FSSP to a meeting last February 29 in response to their request. The private meeting with His Holiness included Father Andrzej Komorowski, Superior General of the FSSP; Fr. Benoît Paul-Joseph, Superior of the District of France; and Fr. Vincent Ribeton, Rector of St. Peter’s Seminary in Wigratzbad. The meeting discussed the liturgical specificity of the Fraternity of St. Peter, which was established on July 18, 1988, as a society of apostolic life of pontifical right by the Holy See, a canonical status that was granted by Pope John Paul II. It was founded by 12 priests and 20 seminarians who were formerly part of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a canonically irregular traditionalist priestly society established by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970. At the heart of the FSSP’s charism is the celebration of the Mass and the sacraments according to the extraordinary form of the Roman rite, also known as the Tridentine Mass, Traditional Latin Mass, or “Usus Antiquior.” In a statement following the meeting, the FSSP said, "The pope was very understanding and invited the Fraternity of St. Peter to continue to build up ecclesial communion ever more fully through its own proper charism.” The statement added, "“In the course of the audience, the pope made it clear that institutes such as the Fraternity of St. Peter are not affected by the general provisions of the motu proprio "Traditionis Custodes," since the use of the ancient liturgical books was at the origin of their existence and is provided for in their constitutions.” Source: Catholic News Agency

by Joel V. Ocampo At 7:00 in the evening today, February 29, 2024, the Vatican announced the appointment of Rev. Fr. Luisito Audal Occiano, a clergy of the Archdiocese of Caceres as the new Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Virac, Province of Catanduanes, and a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Caceres. The announcement was made, following the acceptance of the Holy Father Pope Francis of the resignation from the pastoral governance of the current bishop of the Diocese of Virac, His Excellency Most Rev. Manolo A. De Los Santos, D.D., who is now 76 of age, and served the said diocese since 1994. Bishop-elect Louie Occiano was born on June 21, 1971 on the Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga. He studied secondary education at the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary, Naga City; Philosophy and Theology at the Holy Rosary Major Seminary in Naga City. He received his Ordination to the Sacred Order of Presbyters on November 10, 1996, a day after the ordination to priesthood of Most Rev. Rex Andrew C. Alarcon, the New Archbishop of Caceres. After his ordination, Bishop-elect Occiano continued his studies in Religious Formation and Catechesis at the Ateneo de Manila University, obtaining a Master of Arts from the Ateneo de Naga University in Naga City. According to the document released by the Vatican, Bishop-elect Occiano served in the following ministries: Parochial Vicar, St. John the Evangelist Metropolitan Cathedral, Naga City (1996); Deputy Secretary, Jubilee Executive Committee (1999); Secretary to the Archbishop; Member, Commission on Social Communications (2002); Director, Catechetical Ministry Parish Vicar, St. Francis of Assisi, Naga City (2003); Vice-Rector, Minor Basilica Our Lady of Peñafrancia, Naga City, Director, Caceres Commission on Communications; President, Tricentennial Celebration and Media Committee (2008); Member, Catechetical Ministry Council (2011); Parish Priest, St. Bartholomew Apostle, Baao, Camarines Sur (2015-2021); Rector and Parish Priest, Archdiocesan Sanctuary of Saint Joseph (2021-present) Professor, Holy Rosary Seminary (Naga City). photos from Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Joseph In one of his homilies during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bishop-elect Occiano said, “They say ‘Save the best for last’. Allow me to change that into ‘Save the worst to Christ.’ Because sometimes, we think that we can handle everything. We think that we are extraordinary already because of our talents, intelligence, and wisdom. We think we can handle every storm of life; but there are things that we have to consider and accept that we cannot do everything with our own hands, and save the worst to Christ. Because it is only Christ who can overcome everything. Even things that we cannot handle, that we cannot overcome.”