Ready to plan for your 2021? We invite you to join the Bible Fest!

Dear Bible Ambassadors,

This we declare with you: we survived 2020, we will thrive in 2021!

As we begin another year, we have high expectations, we make plans, we are hopeful, and we anticipate good things to happen. We are so looking forward to better days ahead!

Would you like to know how you can be confident as you plan for your life, your ministry, your work, your family, and even for your relationships this 2021? Join the Bible Fest 2021 (Jan. 23, 24, and 25, 2021) and reap a slew of blessings!

 The Bible Fest is a collective endeavor of Christian churches and organizations in the country. It is the highlight event in the celebration of the National Bible Month with emphasis on the theme, “God’s Word Restores”. The Philippines is the only country in the world that holds a month-long celebration of the Word of God.

Let us fill our hearts with hope instead of fear! We intend to imbue the social media platforms with the truth from God’s Word. Join our online sessions via Zoom and FB Live! Learn and be inspired in the testimonies and sharing of God’s people about the healing power of God’s Word (Jan. 23), on the uniting power of God’s Word (Jan. 24), and on the transforming power of God’s Word (Jan. 25).  Let us crown the year with God’s promises that He will restore our health, our souls, our fortunes, our society and our nation with immeasurable blessings!

Participate! Register now!  (Registration link: http://bit.ly/BibleFest) 

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. – 1 Peter 5:10 ESV

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Our childlike trust in God’s providence

PIT SEñOR. Devotees young and old raise images of the young Jesus to be blessed with holy water, shortly after an early morning eucharistic celebration in honor of the Feast day of Senor Santo Niño at the Sto. Niño parish church in Moriones,Tondo, Manila. EY ACASIO

By: Fr. Tito Caluag
Philippine Daily Inquirer | January 20, 2019

Today we celebrate the oldest devotion in the Philippines, the Feast of the Santo Niño. With the Cross of Magellan, the Santo Niño is one of the first icons of the Philippine Catho-lic Church.

Interestingly, two feasts close to the Filipino’s heart and soul come close to each other at the start of the year— the Feasts of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo and the Santo Niño na-tionwide. The processions for both are well- attended, running into the millions of devotees.

The Black Nazarene shows one side of the Filipino Catholic devotion, millions joining the procession as a panata — no English word comes close: commitment, pledge, vow, devo-tion? — for favors or miracles given or sought through the Black Nazarene.

It is the element of the psyche of a people who, when the chips are down, draw strength from their faith in a God who will not abandon them because He suffered for them. It is a concrete manifestation of faith in Christ “who loved us and gave Himself up for us.” (Gala-tians 2:20)

Another element in the devotion to the Santo Niño is a childlike trust in God’s providence, often described as a “bahala na ang Diyos” attitude (God will provide).

Reflection points

There are two reflection points to integrate the two elements of our faith. One is the Gos-pel for today’s feast, the Finding in the Temple. Two is from Thomas à Kempis’ 15th-century classic, “The Imitation of Christ”: “Man proposes, God disposes.”

The latter gives a synthesis point of these two elements. In the devotion to the Black Nazarene, we propose to God, and in the devotion to the Santo Niño, we allow God to dis-pose of us, with childlike confidence.

Man proposes — we see it in the devotion of the millions of namamanata during the Black Nazarene of Quiapo procession. Beyond the supplication for a miracle, the panata is an ex-pression of putting trust in a God one believes will take care of us.

The proposal is in the total surrender and offering of self in faith, the pananalampataya. Then, and only then, can one acknowledge that God disposes — the freedom of living life knowing God is in charge, though a loving providential presence.

Childlike devotion

The grace is the childlike devotion to God that He “may dispose of us totally according to his will.” The childlike devotion is expressed in the revelry of the Ati-Atihan and the Sinulog in southern Philippines, where people dancing in the streets pay tribute to the Child Jesus.

God disposes — this comes to a deeper synthesis in the reflection on the Finding in the Temple. Here the Child Jesus is catching a glimpse of who He is and what His mission will be.

In the Child Jesus will be fulfilled the coming of the Kingdom. He is Emmanuel, God-with-us.

Sangguniang Laiko Statement Against Charter Change

HEAR THE CRY OF THE PEOPLE

The Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas stands in opposition to the current moves in both houses of Congress to change the constitution.

Clearly, this is not the opportune time to deal with Cha-cha! We are in the midst of a pandemic with millions of our countrymen suffering from lack of food, shelter, job, education and a decent and comprehensive health care system. This is our priority! The whole exercise posed by the resolutions advocating for charter change is a sheer waste of our precious time, energy, effort and money! With the 2022 elections just about a year and a half away, who will not suspect other underlying political motivations?

We cry out in a loud and categorical manner that we oppose these moves! We urge our countrymen to be Vigilant, Pray, Discern and Speak Out!

We call on our lawmakers: address the needs of the people now. They need your attention.

Hear the cry of the people!

For the LAIKO Board of Directors,

18 January 2021

“UPHOLD THE ACCORD”

Kalipunan ng Kristiyanong Kabataan sa Pilipinas (KKKP) statement on the unilateral termination on the UP-DND Accord

The Kalipunan ng Kristiyanong Kabataan sa Pilipinas (KKKP) stands in solidarity with the University of the Philippines system in resisting the Department of National Defense’s unilateral termination of the long-standing UP-DND Accord.

Until this termination, the agreement prohibited police and military forces from entering 17 UP campuses without prior notice to the school administration. This gesture has served to memorialize the violence UP and its students were subjected to by state forces during the dark days of Marcos’ martial law. Activists, school officials and the general student body, among other groups, exerted efforts to forge this agreement in 1989.

Schools are said to be marketplaces of ideas. Filipino colleges and universities aim to foster critical and free thinking, and have generally encouraged academic freedom. Schools like UP hone a sense of nationalism, excellence, and service in large part because they have been deemed as safe spaces to discuss and debate ideas.

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