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Message of Dominus Est Editor-in-Chief Margaux Salcedo in celebration of the 45th Anniversary of Knights of Columbus St Lorenzo Ruiz Council 7344 Binondo Chinese Parish of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Grand Knight Mr. Henry Go, Chairman Edgard Cabangon, RAMONCITO A. OCAMPO Past Luzon South State Deputy Emeritus, and the council and distinguished Knights of Columbus St. Lorenzo Ruiz 7344 at Binondo Chinese Parish of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, good evening! Before anything else, happy 45th Anniversary! I will leave it up to you to determine if the Knights of Columbus St Lorenzo Ruiz Council is older or younger than me! Thank you for the honor of choosing me to share a message with you on this very special milestone of the Knights of Columbus. I am well aware that this is an all boys club, that you are “Catholic men who lead, serve, protect and defend” … and “share a desire to be better husbands, fathers, sons, neighbors and role models”. And so it is not lost on me that—being a woman—this is a rare privilege, indeed. My father, Ephraim Salcedo, who I think wanted me to be born a boy, would be very proud of me! Thankfully, faith, unity and service—the legacy that you seek to build as you state in today’s theme—are gender-blind. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, young or old, male or female—we can all benefit from and live a life of faith, unity and service. And this order is correct because it all begins with faith. Everything follows when we have faith. Faith, as you may know, must be the root of our existence. It is only when we are rooted in faith, that we can grow and blossom and bear fruits that are proof of God’s glory. It is only when we are anchored in faith that we can find inner strength and even inner peace amidst life’s most turbulent storms. And it is also only when we are rooted in faith that our service—even as lay persons—begins to have any meaning. In my own experience, I realized this when I was offered the role of Undersecretary of the Department of Budget and Management. I could not give an immediate yes. It certainly would be a dream job for me because I would be handling communications—which I really specialize in— and even better it would specifically be for advocacies that I feel passionately about: promoting transparency and accountability through the open government partnership; helping promote sustainability through through the Green, Green, Green program, a project to build parks and open spaces around the country; supporting inclusivity by reaching out to our kababayans in the farthest regions of the archipelago. But I was still hesitant to work full-time as Undersecretary. It took me almost a month to decide. What made me finally say yes was the homily of Fr. Rany Geraldino at the 6:00 p.m. mass in St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori during my discernment. He said, Christify wherever you are. If you are in the workplace, Christify. If you are in government, Christify. I took this NOT just as a reminder but as a marching order from Above. And so I pass on that message to you today as you seek to build a legacy of faith, unity and service: Christify wherever you are. This has been my guiding light in all my actions as a public servant. Even in the seemingly small things, such as making sure that you begin each meeting with a prayer. I have noticed that prayer is something that is brushed aside so often nowadays. People just get into a meeting head on, charging full speed ahead. Why don’t you take a minute to pause for a prayer and be blessed with the stardust of the heavens, so that your results are not just good but brilliant because you are guided not just by your own instincts but by the Holy Spirit, from above. The value of prayer cannot be underscored enough. We need to realize in humility that there are so many battles that are beyond us. At the same time, we need to also realize in humility the incredible graciousness that has been gifted to us. So it is important for all of us to reinforce the habit of prayer on those we can influence, as much as we can. We have received our faith as a gift; so in our own small way—such as teaching and reminding people to pray—let us pass it on. In fact, I know this is your advocacy, too. When I was reading up on the Knights of Columbus, I was inspired by the United in Charity project mentioned in your website wherein 3,000 prayer kits were sent by the Knights of Columbus to Ukranian soldiers. One would ordinarily send food or money for charity. But the Unity in Charity project of giving prayer kits was brilliant, because those soldiers who would receive these, in the middle of war, need prayers above all. And this not only reminds them to pray but reassures them that we are praying together—that while they may be alone on the ground, they are certainly not alone spiritually. We are together in prayer—or as the Knights of Columbus say, UNITED in prayer. This is a valuable offering. Msgr. Esteban ‘Bong’ Lo, whom some of you may know very well, in his reflection for the 7 Last Words Special of Dominus Est last Good Friday, emphasized this. He said that sometimes people are almost ashamed to say that all they can offer are prayers. No, do not diminish the value nor the power of prayer. Because when you pray, you enter the communion of saints. You are no longer alone in your battle. You are united with Christ. Suddenly the Lord is with you. Unity is in fact an advocacy of Pope Francis today, with his initiative called the Synod on Synodality. I call it an initiative because it has never been done before. As some of you may know, the Synod is an assembly of bishops. The Holy Father—the Pope— is the president of the synod. There is also a secretary-general, whom we had the pleasure of welcoming to the Philippines last January, Cardinal Mario Grech. The current Synod on Synodality is the 16th Ordinary Synod of Bishops which started in 2021 and will conclude this 2024. Traditionally, only bishops gather for the synod. But this time, for the first time, instead of having only bishops, the Synod, which will conclude this October in Rome, has included lay persons, with delegates representing various sectors—from social workers, to the youth, to the media, including women, both religious and lay—emphasizing listening as part of the process of discernment and mission. (Maybe he was inspired by the motto of our very own Cardinal Jose Advincula, Audiam—listen!) The Pope has essentially been reminding everyone of what the Knights of Columbus call unity. That we journey together. Mary journeyed with Joseph as she carried Christ in her womb. Jesus journeyed with the apostles. And our Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Charles John Brown, when he speaks about the synod whether in his homilies or in his talks, repeatedly reminds us that as Catholics, we journey together not just with those who are with us physically, but we journey with those who have come before us, bringing to life the concept of the communion of saints. I believe that it is only when we apply this concept of journeying together, of synodality, of unity, i.e. this concept that we journey not just amongst ourselves but with the saints and even with Christ himself, that our unity finds purpose and direction and meaning. Otherwise your journey would be without Christ. Without Christ, even if you find yourself with others, while you might not be alone, you would still be lost—as many others are today. And that is why we—we who are blessed to be journeying with Christ—we need to step up not just as active Christians but as pro-active Christians into a life of service, as the Knights of Columbus do. I am very blessed to witness people who do this everyday. Our Catholic website Dominus Est, which received the St. Pope John Paul II Award from the Catholic Mass Media Awards last year, and Best Website as well from the CMMA for 3 years, is run completely by volunteers, on zero budget, fueled purely by the Holy Spirit, out of service for the Lord. We have a religion teacher as content manager, a social worker as a resident writer, a government employee as Instagram manager, a caregiver in the US as livestream director, and an Undersecretary as editor-in-chief. But at Dominus Est it doesn’t matter what you do, what matters is that we come together as a community of faith. The only qualification is for you to give your yes. And that in fact is the formula—as I learned from my spiritual mentor—in building a legacy: the key is not what you do, the key is to be. When you allow yourself to BE, the Holy Spirit works it out so you are correspondingly able to do. What does that mean, to be? It means, first of all, to give your yes, as we were reminded when we celebrated 500 Years of Christianity. Saying YES will allow you to be present, be willing, be filled. Then you become like Christ. That just like in the Road to Emmaus, when people see you - filled with the Holy Spirit - they would say, Dominus Est! It is the Lord! Now the Holy Spirit - as we remember this Pentecost Sunday - has the incredible mission of having to fill everyone up. Because it is when we are filled with the Holy Spirit that we become—in the brilliant words of the Holy Mass—co-heirs to Eternal Life. That is why we pray to the Lord in Mass for the Holy Spirit to come upon us like the dewfall. When this happens - when you are filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit - you will become ever so motivated to Christify wherever you are, in full service of your whole being to the Lord. This fire, I believe, is what ignites the Knights of Columbus. A knight is known for his shining armor. In fairy tales, it is the knight in shining armor who is usually heralded as the hero. But for the Knights of Columbus, it is not just the armor that shines. The Knights of Columbus shine from within. The Knights of Columbus shine because of the fire of the Holy Spirit that fills each of you. The Knights of Columbus shine because you are filed with the light of Christ, our hero. As long as you all have this light, we can be confident that you will continue to build a legacy of faith, unity and service in the next 45 years and beyond. May the light of Christ shine ever so brightly through the Knights of Columbus today and always. Happy Anniversary to the Knights of Columbus!

by Ericson Hernandez photos and videos from Young Voices of the Philippines social media Philippines represent! In a week’s time, May 25 to 26, we shall be celebrating the first World’s Children Day in Rome, Italy and we are thrilled to know that a Filipino choir, the Young Voice of the Philippines shall be showcasing local talent during this 2-day event. The choir was launched in 2020 as one of the scholar choirs under the Treble Choir Association of the Philippines. Today, the Young Voices of the Philippines or simply YVP is composed of members who are carefully selected from different choirs in the country. The members are trained by the husband-and-wife team of Dr. Maria Theresa Vizocnde-Roldan (conductor) and Prof. Jude B. Roldan (artistic director). YVP is a non-profit organization that hopes to nurture young talents from different walks of life and unite them through music and song. They regularly sing at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral of the Diocese of Cubao and have been invited to various national and diplomatic events. Prior to the invitation to participate in World Children’s day in Rome, YVP joined the 2023 Golden Gate International Choral Festival in San Francisco and successfully won in the Youth Choir’s four competition categories: Historical, Folk, Gospel/Spiritual, and Contemporary. YVP has also made history as the first Filipino children’s choir to perform at the iconic Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium. The young choristers of the YVP will be joining around 70,000 children coming from more than 100 countries in Rome’s Olympic Stadium on May 25 during the opening program of World’s Children Day and up to the next morning at St. Peter’s Basilica for the mass. Before flying to Rome, YVP will have a send-off concert on May 20 at the Nativity of Our Lady Chapel of the The Immaculate Conception Cathedral of Cubao. They will also be having their international choral pilgrimage “Italy Tour 2024” singing in different churches in Rome as part of their trip to Italy. Let us pray for the success of their trip. Congratulations, YVP!! Check their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/YoungVoicesofthePhilippines for more updates on this Pinoy pride chorale group.

The Blessed Sacrament Vocation Club of the Sacramentinos is once again inviting young men who would like to join this year’s search-in program. To be held on June 14 -16, the search-in program hopes to gather participants interested in exploring the life of being a religious of the Congregation. The Blessed Sacrament Vocation Club (BSVC) is the official working arm of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament in the vocation apostolate. It was on July 16, 1978 when BSVC was formed under the newly ordained Filipino priest in the person of Fr. Nory P. Vasquez, SSS. It was conceived by gathering young men who have the desire to serve the Lord as priests and religious someday. Recalling its humble beginnings, this group started with twelve members (likened to the 12 Apostles) and had their meeting on the said date with their founder, together with some SSS religious. From this gathering, these young men eagerly faced the challenges of the club that brought them to spreading the news to their schoolmates, friends and families. Gradually, BSVC grew in terms of membership. The BSVC is the congregation’s vocation apostolate guiding young men who would come to the Sacramentinos in search of their own vocation. Today, it welcomes college students and young professionals who feel that they are being called to a life they have not yet fully discerned. During this period, the members of the BSVC continue to live their normal life including work and studies. Usually, they reside outside the Sacramentino communities and would just pay a visit for formation. For those who are interested, you may contact Fr. Victor Clemence Posadas, SSS, their National Vocation Director through their Facebook page Sacramentino Vocations SSS, their email address Sacramentinovocations@gmail.com or through 0960 2963553. Like St. Peter Julian Eymard, be an apostle of the Eucharist! Deepen and stay in love with Jesus in the Eucharist! Be a SACRAMENTINO!

by Fr. Kevin Joshua Cosme Today is Valentine’s Day, a day of love and courtship and maybe sadness or envy for single people everywhere. The saint the day is known for, Valentine, died in the 3rd century, during the Roman persecution of the Church. While there is a lack of reliable historical records about him, the Church still reveres him as a saint and martyr. How did this martyr’s memorial turn into a day for lovers? In Medieval times, there was a common belief in France and England that birds would come together on this saint’s feast day looking for their mate, and people apparently thought to follow suit. Today, couples come together on Valentine’s Day to spend a romantic afternoon or evening with each other, or at least hope to find that special other they can do this with. And speaking of this, we return to our original question: Masama bang humingi ng sign kay Lord para malaman kung siya na? First of all, it is not wrong to ask God for a sign for anything. It is not “tempting God” but asking Him to manifest His will to us, which is always the right disposition for us Christians. God Himself tells King Ahaz through the prophet Nathan to ask for a sign, which he refuses to do in a show of false piety. God gives him a sign anyway, that a virgin shall conceive and bear a son that will be called Emmanuel, meaning “God is with us”. The signs God gives always assure us of His closeness! Is that boy or girl the one for you? Ask for a sign from God! But be prepared for the answer, because it may not be what you expect. If that person leads you closer to God and makes you a better person overall; kung magaan yung loob mo sa kaniya, and you have peace in your heart - those are good signs that this is the one! On the other hand, if this person leads you away from God and encourages you to do bad things; kung feel mo na parang may mali pag kasama mo siya and you are not at peace, then that is a bad sign, and you should probably keep looking! Remember, like with Ahaz, the signs of God always point to His closeness to us. Whatever or whoever brings us closer to God is evidently from God. Whatever or whoever takes us away from God… well, you be the judge of that. So ask away! Be open to the Lord’s will. It is always for the best.

Artificial Intelligence and the Wisdom of the Heart: Towards a Fully Human Communication Dear brothers and sisters! The development of systems of artificial intelligence, to which I devoted my recent Message for the World Day of Peace, is radically affecting the world of information and communication, and through it, certain foundations of life in society. These changes affect everyone, not merely professionals in those fields. The rapid spread of astonishing innovations, whose workings and potential are beyond the ability of most of us to understand and appreciate, has proven both exciting and disorienting. This leads inevitably to deeper questions about the nature of human beings, our distinctiveness and the future of the species homo sapiens in the age of artificial intelligence. How can we remain fully human and guide this cultural transformation to serve a good purpose? Starting with the heart Before all else, we need to set aside catastrophic predictions and their numbing effects. A century ago, Romano Guardini reflected on technology and humanity. Guardini urged us not to reject “the new” in an attempt to “preserve a beautiful world condemned to disappear”. At the same time, he prophetically warned that “we are constantly in the process of becoming. We must enter into this process, each in his or her own way, with openness but also with sensitivity to everything that is destructive and inhumane therein”. And he concluded: “These are technical, scientific and political problems, but they cannot be resolved except by starting from our humanity. A new kind of human being must take shape, endowed with a deeper spirituality and new freedom and interiority”. [1] At this time in history, which risks becoming rich in technology and poor in humanity, our reflections must begin with the human heart. [2] Only by adopting a spiritual way of viewing reality, only by recovering a wisdom of the heart, can we confront and interpret the newness of our time and rediscover the path to a fully human communication. In the Bible, the heart is seen as the place of freedom and decision-making. It symbolizes integrity and unity, but it also engages our emotions, desires, dreams; it is, above all, the inward place of our encounter with God. Wisdom of the heart, then, is the virtue that enables us to integrate the whole and its parts, our decisions and their consequences, our nobility and our vulnerability, our past and our future, our individuality and our membership within a larger community. This wisdom of the heart lets itself be found by those who seek it and be seen by those who love it; it anticipates those who desire it and it goes in search of those who are worthy of it (cf. Wis 6:12-16). It accompanies those willing to take advice (cf. Prov 13:10), those endowed with a docile and listening heart (cf. 1 Kg 3:9). A gift of the Holy Spirit, it enables us to look at things with God’s eyes, to see connections, situations, events and to uncover their real meaning. Without this kind of wisdom, life becomes bland, since it is precisely wisdom – whose Latin root sapere is related to the noun sapor – that gives “savour” to life. Opportunity and danger Such wisdom cannot be sought from machines. Although the term “artificial intelligence” has now supplanted the more correct term, “machine learning”, used in scientific literature, the very use of the word “intelligence” can prove misleading. No doubt, machines possess a limitlessly greater capacity than human beings for storing and correlating data, but human beings alone are capable of making sense of that data. It is not simply a matter of making machines appear more human, but of awakening humanity from the slumber induced by the illusion of omnipotence, based on the belief that we are completely autonomous and self-referential subjects, detached from all social bonds and forgetful of our status as creatures. Human beings have always realized that they are not self-sufficient and have sought to overcome their vulnerability by employing every means possible. From the earliest prehistoric artifacts, used as extensions of the arms, and then the media, used as an extension of the spoken word, we have now become capable of creating highly sophisticated machines that act as a support for thinking. Each of these instruments, however, can be abused by the primordial temptation to become like God without God (cf. Gen 3), that is, to want to grasp by our own effort what should instead be freely received as a gift from God, to be enjoyed in the company of others. Depending on the inclination of the heart, everything within our reach becomes either an opportunity or a threat. Our very bodies, created for communication and communion, can become a means of aggression. So too, every technical extension of our humanity can be a means of loving service or of hostile domination. Artificial intelligence systems can help to overcome ignorance and facilitate the exchange of information between different peoples and generations. For example, they can render accessible and understandable an enormous patrimony of written knowledge from past ages or enable communication between individuals who do not share a common language. Yet, at the same time, they can be a source of “cognitive pollution”, a distortion of reality by partially or completely false narratives, believed and broadcast as if they were true. We need but think of the long-standing problem of disinformation in the form of fake news, [3] which today can employ “deepfakes”, namely the creation and diffusion of images that appear perfectly plausible but false (I too have been an object of this), or of audio messages that use a person’s voice to say things which that person never said. The technology of simulation behind these programmes can be useful in certain specific fields, but it becomes perverse when it distorts our relationship with others and with reality. Starting with the first wave of artificial intelligence, that of social media, we have experienced its ambivalence: its possibilities but also its risks and associated pathologies. The second level of generative artificial intelligence unquestionably represents a qualitative leap. It is important therefore to understand, appreciate and regulate instruments that, in the wrong hands could lead to disturbing scenarios. Like every other product of human intelligence and skill, algorithms are not neutral. For this reason, there is a need to act preventively, by proposing models of ethical regulation, to forestall harmful, discriminatory and socially unjust effects of the use of systems of artificial intelligence and to combat their misuse for the purpose of reducing pluralism, polarizing public opinion or creating forms of groupthink. I once more appeal to the international community “to work together in order to adopt a binding international treaty that regulates the development and use of artificial intelligence in its many forms”. [4] At the same time, as in every human context, regulation is, of itself, not sufficient. Growth in humanity All of us are called to grow together, in humanity and as humanity. We are challenged to make a qualitative leap in order to become a complex, multiethnic, pluralistic, multireligious and multicultural society. We are called to reflect carefully on the theoretical development and the practical use of these new instruments of communication and knowledge. Their great possibilities for good are accompanied by the risk of turning everything into abstract calculations that reduce individuals to data, thinking to a mechanical process, experience to isolated cases, goodness to profit, and, above all, a denial of the uniqueness of each individual and his or her story. The concreteness of reality dissolves in a flurry of statistical data. The digital revolution can bring us greater freedom, but not if it imprisons us in models that nowadays are called “echo chambers”. In such cases, rather than increasing a pluralism of information, we risk finding ourselves adrift in a mire of confusion, prey to the interests of the market or of the powers that be. It is unacceptable that the use of artificial intelligence should lead to groupthink, to a gathering of unverified data, to a collective editorial dereliction of duty. The representation of reality in “big data”, however useful for the operation of machines, ultimately entails a substantial loss of the truth of things, hindering interpersonal communication and threatening our very humanity. Information cannot be separated from living relationships. These involve the body and immersion in the real world; they involve correlating not only data but also human experiences; they require sensitivity to faces and facial expressions, compassion and sharing. Here I think of the reporting of wars and the “parallel war” being waged through campaigns of disinformation. I think too of all those reporters who have been injured or killed in the line of duty in order to enable us to see what they themselves had seen. For only by such direct contact with the suffering of children, women and men, can we come to appreciate the absurdity of wars. The use of artificial intelligence can make a positive contribution to the communications sector, provided it does not eliminate the role of journalism on the ground but serves to support it. Provided too that it values the professionalism of communication, making every communicator more aware of his or her responsibilities, and enables all people to be, as they should, discerning participants in the work of communication. Questions for today and for the future In this regard, a number of questions naturally arise. How do we safeguard professionalism and the dignity of workers in the fields of information and communication, together with that of users throughout the world? How do we ensure the interoperability of platforms? How do we enable businesses that develop digital platforms to accept their responsibilities with regard to content and advertising in the same way as editors of traditional communications media? How do we make more transparent the criteria guiding the operation of algorithms for indexing and de-indexing, and for search engines that are capable of celebrating or canceling persons and opinions, histories and cultures? How do we guarantee the transparency of information processing? How do we identify the paternity of writings and the traceability of sources concealed behind the shield of anonymity? How do we make it clear whether an image or video is portraying an event or simulating it? How do we prevent sources from being reduced to one alone, thus fostering a single approach, developed on the basis of an algorithm? How instead do we promote an environment suitable for preserving pluralism and portraying the complexity of reality? How can we make sustainable a technology so powerful, costly and energy-consuming? And how can we make it accessible also to developing countries? The answers we give to these and other questions will determine if artificial intelligence will end up creating new castes based on access to information and thus giving rise to new forms of exploitation and inequality. Or, if it will lead to greater equality by promoting correct information and a greater awareness of the epochal change that we are experiencing by making it possible to acknowledge the many needs of individuals and of peoples within a well-structured and pluralistic network of information. If, on the one hand, we can glimpse the spectre of a new form of slavery, on the other, we can also envision a means of greater freedom; either the possibility that a select few can condition the thought of others, or that all people can participate in the development of thought. The answer we give to these questions is not pre-determined; it depends on us. It is up to us to decide whether we will become fodder for algorithms or will nourish our hearts with that freedom without which we cannot grow in wisdom. Such wisdom matures by using time wisely and embracing our vulnerabilities. It grows in the covenant between generations, between those who remember the past and who look ahead to the future. Only together can we increase our capacity for discernment and vigilance and for seeing things in the light of their fulfilment. Lest our humanity lose its bearings, let us seek the wisdom that was present before all things (cf. Sir 1:4): it will help us also to put systems of artificial intelligence at the service of a fully human communication. Rome, Saint John Lateran, 24 January 2024 [1] Letters from Lake Como. [2] The 2024 Message for the World Day of Social Communications takes up the preceding Messages devoted to encountering persons where and how they are (2021), to hearing with the ear of the heart (2022) and speaking to the heart (2023). [3] Cf. “The Truth Will Make You Free” (Jn 8:32). Fake News and Journalism for Peace, Message for the 2018 World Day of Social Communications. [4] Message for the 57th World Day of Peace, 1 January 2024, 8. *photo from BBC

Homily of H.E. Most Rev. Charles John Brown D.D., Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines May 1, 2024 | Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker St. Joseph the Worker Parish - Cloverleaf, Balintawak “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:54-55). My dear brothers and sisters in Christ: For me as your Apostolic Nuncio, it gives me a lot of happiness and joy to be with you here in your beautiful Parish of Saint Joseph the Worker, for indeed, my second visit to this wonderful parish here in the Diocese of Cubao, here in Quezon City. I am very, very grateful to your parish priest, the Rev. Fr. Michell Joe B. Zerrudo, more affectionately known as “Father JoJo”, who has invited me to be with you this morning to celebrate your 65th, 65th Parish Fiesta. That's a real reason for joy. I will be 65 years old this year. So, my lifespan and your lifespan in the parish is more or less the same amount of time―65 years, here in this beautiful place dedicated to Saint Joseph the Worker. The Popes and Saint Joseph We know how the Popes love Saint Joseph very much. It was back in 1870, that was a long time ago, that Pope Pius IX, who was now Blessed Pius IX, declared St. Joseph as the Patron of the Universal Church, the Patron of the entire Church, in the entire world. Then, it was in 1955 that Pope Pius XII established the feast that we're celebrating today, the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. Because as all of you know, Saint Joseph has his ordinary feast day on March 19th, Feast of Saint Joseph (Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary); but Pope Pius XII added a second feast day for Saint Joseph, on this day, May 1st, beginning in 1955. Why May 1st? Because May 1st is a day dedicated to working people. Dedicated to work. Here in the Philippines, it's sometimes called Labor Day―a day in which we think of work, and we think of Saint Joseph as the worker. Then our current Pope, the Holy Father Pope Francis, back in 2013 showed his love for Saint Joseph, by decreeing and deciding that in every single Mass in the Eucharistic Prayer (which is the prayer that the priest prays that consecrates the body and blood of Jesus for us), in that Eucharistic Prayer, we would always mention Saint Joseph. So, in every single Mass now, since 2013, in the entire Church, we hear the name of Saint Joseph. So, you can see that the popes have loved Saint Joseph very, very much. Powerful Intercessor Saint Joseph is a powerful intercessor for us in heaven. Saint Joseph is so close to Mary and Jesus in heaven. That he powerfully intercedes for us. That means when we pray to Saint Joseph, we can be sure that our prayers are being presented to God by Saint Joseph. He intercedes for us. This is what is so wonderful about Saint Joseph. He prays for us. He is our patron, in heaven. St. Teresa of Avila and St. Joseph There was a saint in Spain back in the 16th century, in the 1500s, the famous Saint Teresa of Avila, also known as Saint Teresa of Jesus in the town of Avila in Spain. She was a Carmelite nun who wanted to live the Carmelite life as a nun in a more radical way. She felt that the nuns that she was living with in her own life had grown very mediocre. So, she left the convent, the monastery where she was in Avila, and she went and started a new monastery in the same town of Avila. She dedicated her new monastery to San Jose, which in English is Saint Joseph. It's really from Saint Teresa of Avila in the 16th century that our modern devotion, appreciation, and recognition of Saint Joseph comes. Because before Saint Teresa of Avila in the 16th century, St. Joseph was known, but he wasn't loved so much in our Catholic Church. He really became known after the 16th century in a very, very special way because of Saint Teresa of Avila. She dedicated her new convent to San Jose, and there she lived the Carmelite life as a cloistered Carmelite nun in a very radical and very inspiring way. That meant that the girls in Avila came to join her. They wanted to be nuns with her in this beautiful, little, poor convent dedicated to Saint Joseph. So, Saint Joseph, first of all, is our intercessor. So remember, all of you who are members of the parish of Saint Joseph the Worker, pray to Saint Joseph. Remember to ask him to intercede for you. You can be sure that your prayers will be heard by God. The Example of Saint Joseph Saint Joseph is not only an intercessor for us in heaven―praying for us, he's also an example for us. He's an example, first of all to husbands and fathers. Because that's the role that Saint Joseph had. What is the role of a husband and father? It's to be a guardian to protect his family, to take care of his family. Saint Joseph took care of the Holy Family. Saint Joseph took care of Mary, and the Santo Niño, the baby Jesus. Saint Joseph found a place for Mary to give birth to Jesus in Bethlehem, when there was no room for them in the inn (Lk. 2:1-7), no room for them in the hotels. Saint Joseph brought Mary into a cave or a stable and took care of her as she gave birth to Jesus. So, we see Saint Joseph protecting Mary, caring for Jesus. That for us, those of you who are fathers, is a great image of your responsibility to your family: to be faithful fathers to your family, to protect your wife and your children, to take care of them. Saint Joseph also took care of baby Jesus and Mary, by rescuing them when Herod, the evil king, wanted to kill Jesus and all the babies in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16-18). Remember the flight into Egypt? How Joseph takes Mary, and flees with Mary and the baby Jesus into Egypt, to protect Mary, to protect Jesus (Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23). So, Joseph is a protector. Fathers of families, that's your job: protect your family. Maybe not from physical threats, although maybe that's sometimes necessary, but also from moral threats, from bad influences, from bad ideas, from bad things that can come into young people's minds, and kind of degrade them and destroy them. You as fathers need to be like Saint Joseph, protecting your family, caring for your family, caring for your wife and your children. St. Joseph, an Example of Work Saint Joseph is also, and this is the title of your wonderful parish here in the Diocese of Cubao; St. Joseph is also an example of work. As we heard in the Gospel this morning (Matthew 13:54-58), Jesus is referred to as “the carpenter’s son”. Beautiful. Jesus, God-made-man, Jesus, our Lord and Savior, was not born in an aristocratic or rich family in the capital. He was born in a working family. Not in the capital, but in the provinces. Nazareth is not the center. Jerusalem is the center. Nazareth is in the provinces. Joseph wasn't a big politician. He wasn't a king. He wasn't a priest. He wasn't a powerful man. He was a working man. So, God came into the world in the person of Jesus through a working family. Family in which the father worked with his hands. He was a carpenter. That for us is a very important message. In God's eyes, the people who are most important are not the same as in the world's eyes. In the world's eyes, the rich and the powerful, those are the important people. Not in God's eyes. We see that in the choice of Saint Joseph. God chose Saint Joseph, He chose Mary, He chose people in the provinces, and through them He came into the world to save us. This is an important meditation for us. For you, men and women who work, we need to imitate St. Joseph and his dedication to work. He was a good worker; we can be sure of that. He was a faithful worker. He worked with his hands. He was a carpenter. Maybe some of you here in the parish, work with your hands. Maybe you’re a mechanic, working on motorcycles, or working on jeepneys, or something like that. Working with your hands is a noble undertaking, a noble endeavour. God's own foster father, St. Joseph worked with his hands. So, we realize that God’s ways of looking at the world are different from our own. Things that the people of the world think are important, maybe God doesn’t think as so important. People of the world think that they are unimportant, maybe God thinks they are very important. It all depends on our faith. If we have faith, then we are doing the will of God and God's gaze is upon us. Summary and Conclusion So, first of all, let's pray to Saint Joseph. Let's remember that he is a powerful intercessor in heaven as Saint Teresa of Avila, whom I mentioned earlier in my reflection. Saint Teresa of Avila said that whatever she ever asked St. Joseph to obtain for her in heaven, she always got what she asked for when she came to Saint Joseph. Those words “Ite Ad Joseph” (Go to Joseph), ask him. Let him be your intercessor. Then secondly, let's remember that Joseph is our example. He's our model of a father who protects, cares for, and provides for his family, who is faithful to his family, and also as a worker. He worked with his hands. He saw the nobility of work. He honored work, and we need to follow those examples. So, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this year, 65th Parish Fiesta, it gives me a lot of happiness and joy as Pope Francis' representative here in the Philippines, to be with you once again. I wish you a very wonderful parish. Father JoJo told me you’re having three days of celebrations here. Some kind of a triduum of celebration for your Parish Fiesta this year, your 65th. I wish you all the best. Remember to love Saint Joseph. Ite Ad Joseph. Go to Saint Joseph. May God bless you! Transcribed by Joel V. Ocampo

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