Sunday Evenings
Good evening, Philippines - mabuhay!
The Roman Catholic faith, for it to catch on, must be experienced -
Christ must be experienced!
As I share this faith with many of my fellow Filipinos who are all of us, along with all others in this nation we call home, brothers and sisters of the Promise, it would be lacking of me if I do not exhort you, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, not only to keep our Christian faith but also to revel in it and prosper in its embrace.
From now on, I am reserving Sunday evenings to have a casual conversation with you regarding our Roman Catholic faith.
And I shall be doing this in the context of the peace of the times. We shall relate our faith to our own experience of Country.
If you have been following our conversation, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus the Lord, you will know what to expect.
The past has been terrible. Our world is devastated. Every one of our nations is broken. As a result, many hearts are left empty and desolate. There is as much loneliness out there in our world as there is darkness in our midst.
Our work here, under this season of heaven, is not to put and end to war or the spirit of War but to reverse the tide of this darkness and revive the strength of the human spirit.
The everlasting Peace is the prerogative of God alone.
Our labor as nations has always been to give shelter to the strength of human community and to prosper the peace of Man on earth as an extension of the governance of God's Providence in all visible creation.
This shall also be the work of our one Filipino nation.
It shall not be as the past: We will make the transition from age to age.
Therefore, I will not be encouraging in any of you, division in the one Filipino heart.
You yourselves should know by now - by weight of history and by strength of destiny - that this division, this War in the heart, is an abomination before God in the heart of any nation. What this sin in the heart of our nations produces upon our earth should be clear to us now.
Our Roman Catholic faith is integral to the peace of our Philippines. But like I said, a Catholic who does not experience his or her own faith and does not come alive to it is really, really missing out big time. Why?
Look around you. God is calling us all to Himself - if there is any time to encounter Jesus Christ in your life, it is now.
I tell you, show a sincere interest in matters of the faith and manifest an open heart and the Holy Spirit will surely fill your life with good things.
So this Sunday Evening, my beloved brothers and sisters, I bid us all to return to Holy Mass and to understand it with heart and faith.
Prayer is the first thing and the last thing. And the best prayer of all is Holy Mass.
- selah -
Remember, brothers and sisters, we are transitioning from age to age - from old to new - from Night to Day - from War to Peace - from forgetfulness to remembrance. Put this in mind when the darkness of the past shall tempt you with bitterness and despair about things regarding our Roman Catholic religion, our Christianity as a whole, all honorable religions especially Islam and Judaism, and our nations.
May the Peace of Jesus Christ which is beyond all understanding sustain our desire to make this Republic of ours more perfect.
Glory to God and peace to our one Filipino nation!
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Prayer requests -
Let us pray for the people along the East Coast of America - may Hurricane Irene be broken by the power of God through our good will as nations prevailing upon the earth and through our love for our fellow human beings in this world so full of loneliness and trouble.
Let us also pray thanks to the LORD in behalf of our own Country for seeing us through Typhoon Mina and ask His consolation and help for those who have been directly affected by its evil.
May this need in our nation help to temper all of God's instruments among us that we may be led to become a more loving and compassionate people.
Everybody have a great working week!
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Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.
Ita Missa Est
Common Ground