CBCP-ECY Letter to the Youth: Mission For and With the Youth

December 9, 2020

Dear Young People,

Joyful greetings to you in the name of all our Brother Bishops in the CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Youth!

The COVID19 pandemic caught all of us unprepared. We have witnessed unprecedented changes in almost all areas of our life. We had to face the reality of closed churches, having online masses. Many of you, young people, along with our seniors, had to stay at home. Your voices, laughter and noise are missed in our churches, parishes and campuses. The aspirations we have expressed in the 2019 Year of the Youth seemed to have stalled. Perhaps for some of you, the crisis marked the death of your dreams.

Hopefully not! For Christus vivit! Christ is alive! Pope Francis, in his letter, sharing the fruits of the Synod on Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment, reminds us of three great truths: “God loves us. Jesus saves us. He is alive.”

The past weeks and months of the pandemic have not been easy for all of us. New words added to our day-to-day vocabulary are proof of the adjustments we made. We now speak of “new normal”, WFH, lockdowns, social distancing, ECQ and MGCQ. Face masks and face shields have become part of our daily outfit. Besides shopping and banking, classes and other transactions have been moved online. Meetings and seminars are now held in digital conference rooms.

We are still adjusting, trying to figure out many things. The unexpected changes, restrictions and the uncertainty may have led you to boredom and sadness. Others, realizing the economic effects, might have fallen into self-pity and a sense of uselessness. As poverty worsens, there are those who succumb to despair and hopelessness, even tempted to end their lives. The new normal may also disturb our emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being. The difficulties, anxieties and fears brought by the pandemic can paralyze us. They can take away the idealism, excitement and joy of youth from us.

In the face of this situation, allow us to remind you, echoing the message of Pope Francis, of three lessons.

First: Death is not the end.

Remember, death is not the end. Suffering is not our ultimate destiny. Pope Francis says: “If you have lost your vitality, your dreams, your enthusiasm, your optimism and your generosity, Jesus stands before you as once he stood before the dead son of the widow, and with all the power of his resurrection he urges you: ‘Young man, I say to you, arise!’ ” (Pope’s Message for WYD2020).

Jesus declares: “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full” [Jn 10:10]. Our loss, failure, defeat and death are occasions to rise anew. For St. Paul, “to live is Christ, to die is gain.” [Phil 1:21]

Second: We can rise from death to life.

“Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him” [Rom 6:8]. Jesus is our life!

We can rise from death to life by rediscovering our need for silence and prayer. Mary was at prayer when she was visited by the angel. God spoke to Mary through the Angel Gabriel. And her response to the invitation was a prayer, her Fiat and Magnificat: “I am the servant of the Lord… My soul magnifies the Lord!” After such experience, the Scriptures report: “And Mary arose and went in haste ” [Lk 1:39]. The young Blessed Carlo Acutis loved moments of prayer. He would daily pass by the Church to offer flowers and prayers.

The curfew has shortened our days, allowing us to have more time for ourselves. We urge you, our dear young people, to find time for silence and prayer. Find time to listen and reflect on God’s Word.

In silence and prayer, you will recover your inner-directedness and peace. By nurturing interior silence, you shall hear God’s voice in your conscience. Your conscience is your moral and spiritual compass, which helps you navigate through the many dilemmas, confusing situations and difficult choices you encounter.

Resist falling into the cycle of blame, hate and despair. With Jesus, you can rise from your failures and defeat; you can recover from your sense of loss. Jesus saves you. Arise!

Third: We are being sent to be witnesses of new life in Christ.

Christ is alive! Look around, there are signs of hope. Many young people, in this difficult time, take responsibility. There are those who do their best to help their families. There are young people who seek ways to encourage and minister to fellow youth. There are young learners doing their best to cope with online learning.

Continue reading

Church People-Workers Solidarity Statement for 2020 International Human Rights Day!

The Church People – Workers Solidarity (CWS) joins the international community in celebrating International Human Rights Day. We stand in solidarity with human rights defenders as we commemorate this day when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR sets out a broad range of fundamental rights and freedoms to which all of us are entitled. It guarantees the rights of every individual everywhere, without distinction based on nationality, place of residence, gender, national or ethnic origin, religion, language, or any other status. The Declaration is ever more relevant today as Filipinos face relentless and increasing attacks on their fundamental rights by State forces.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already devastated the economic life of millions of Filipinos with recent data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showing an 8.7% unemployment rate in October—or around 3.8 million people jobless. Reports of hunger incidence also reached a record-high in September as Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported 30.7% or an estimated 7.6 million families reported involuntary hunger amid the pandemic. President Duterte’s militarist approach to the pandemic only worsened the human rights situation in the country as thousands of ordinary Filipinos were arrested due to alleged quarantine violations.

The Philippines, under the present administration has become a dangerous country especially for human rights defenders. Attacks against human rights advocates continue. Zara Alvarez, a CWS volunteer and a long-time human rights defender in Negros was killed on August 17, 2020. She was previously red-tagged as terrorist by State forces in 2018. The Commission on Human Rights pointed out that human rights defenders live a “grim reality” in the Philippines as they face systemic and widespread attacks for their work. In 2018, the United Nations listed the Philippines as one of 38 countries where governments subject human rights defenders and activists to “an alarming and shameful level of harsh reprisals and intimidation.”

CWS express strong concern over the recent waves of “red-tagging” among church people and labor leaders. Red-tagging vilifies individuals and organizations as enemies of the State, communists, and terrorists. We firmly believe that red tagging along with the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 will only intensify attacks and widespread repression against activists, lawyers, human rights and environmental defenders, indigenous peoples, workers, farmers, and peace advocates. Last December 4, labor leader and transport union organizer Jose Bernardino was arrested at Sitio Maisac, Mexico town, Pampanga on charges of rebellion. Red tagging is essentially against freedom of speech because it is aimed at stopping speech, expression, beliefs, and association it does not agree with. These “acts of intolerance, discrimination, and violence”, as Pope Francis pointed out in his 2018 Human Rights Day message are nourished by “reductive anthropological visions… that does not hesitate to exploit, discard, and even kill man.” Pope Francis reiterated his call to give special attention to “more vulnerable members of our communities” whose “dignity is ignored, despised or trampled on and their most basic rights ignored or violated.”

As we welcome the coming of the Messiah through the Season of Advent, may we be reminded that praying and loving is what it means to be watchful. As the Pope reminded us during his Advent homily: “when the Church worships God and serves our neighbor, it does not live in the night. However weak and weary, she journeys towards the Lord.” May we continue to defend the defenseless and be the voice of the voiceless. May the Savior’s light “rouse us from our slumber and mediocrity; awaken us from the darkness of indifference and awaken in us the desire to pray and the need to love.” In these times of darkness where evil and tyranny persist and rampant human rights violations escalate, may we become beacons of hope and love by upholding and defending the fundamental rights of those who are most vulnerable. May we continue to show courage in the midst of persecution as we link arms with the broad masses in building a more just and humane society.

Stop Red Tagging!
Scrap Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020!
Activism in not a crime!
Defend human rights!

Signed:

Co-Chairperson, Church People – Workers Solidarity


Lakbayan para sa Buhay, Pamilya at Birheng Maria

Update on Lakbayan Para sa Buhay, Pamilya at Birheng Maria
Route of Lakbayan (motorcade Dec. 8, 2020 Tuesday):
(Start of motorcade) Manila Cathedral- Gen. Luna St. – Manila City Hall – Jones Bridge – right to Escolta – Sta. Cruz Church – left to Rizal Ave. – right to Recto Ave. – left to Legarda – straight to Magsaysay Blvd. – straight to Aurora blvd. – right to Gilmore st. – left to N. Domingo St. – right to Hemady St. – left to 5th st. – Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church – left to 4th st. – right to Balete Drive – left to Lantana – right to Boston – Immaculate Conception Cathedral Cubao – left to Lantana – left to Boston – left to Aurora Blvd. – passing through Cubao – left to A. Bonifacio St. Maŕikina – right to JP Rizal st. – Our Lady of the Abandoned Marikina (end of motorcade).

The Empowerment of Women

Shay Cullen
4 December 2020

The empowerment of women and girls is a most urgent need in today’s world where discrimination, violence and exploitation of women and girls, especially in the developing world, is tearing the heart out of society and family life causing human suffering, exclusion, sickness and death.

Education is the key to empowering women and girls and building equality in society by defeating the superior and dominant attitude of many men. Some wrongly believe they are entitled to treat women as inferior and unworthy of leadership roles in society, business and family.

At every level of social status, rich, middle class, poor, besides formal education, there has to be additional human rights training for boys and girls from the earliest age in human dignity and equality. Women have to be empowered economically by having skilled training and small business opportunities and thus take control over their lives. The economic power of women is essential for changing the inequality and the injustice in societies where women are treated unfairly and regulated to some lower status than males. Money talks and in community-based Grameen-loaning schemes, it is the women who are mostly given the loans. They are considered stronger, more reliable to pay back and wiser in using the loans and more caring of the needs of the children. Having money empowers the women and gives them status and respect in the community and in their families.

The education of boys and men in values to respect girls and women is vital. They must be taught that their own value and dignity as a human being and role in family and society is rooted in the respect for the dignity of females. The powerful machismo male, self-image that looks on females as objects of sexual gratification has to be replaced with one of respect, self-discipline and equal partnership, gender equality and complementary roles.

Without empowered, self-reliant and resilient women there is a greater danger of violence against women and children. The 2017 National Demographic and Health Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority says that one in every four Filipino women and children age 15-49 has experienced physical, emotional or sexual violence by their abusers or husband or partner. Female victims of child sexual abuse left untreated leaves the child traumatized, to grow up in fear of rape and sexual abuse. They can get help and fight back but some may be rendered fearful and submissive to the violence of the abusive male in later life. That is why intervention, protection, healing and empowerment therapy is so important. The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women says it is “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public and private life. Gender-based violence is any violence inflicted on women because of their sex.”

Domestic violence against women is predominantly linked to failed intimate relationships. In many cases, these are shallow and short-lived, most are based on sexual encounters and most are loveless relationships. The woman is treated, not as a loving friend and equal partner and respected mother of the children, but as an object of sexual gratification and a servant housekeeper and cook. The dominated woman is dependent on the man as the provider for her and the children. Many beaten women endure physical abuse because of fear and dependency.

The children in a family are greatly affected by the violent rages of the man against their mother. They, too, can grow up with the notion that violence is a normal part of relationships and be violent themselves. Children can suffer violent sexual assault by the mother’s partner. Sometimes the overpowered mother will allow the man to do it as a way to sexually satisfy him and calm his violent behavior against her. About 80 percent or 32 million children suffer from violence. Seven million of these children are between the ages of 10 to 18 and are sexually abused every year.Twenty percent or 1.4 million are under six years old.

Domestic violence is physical and sometimes psychological. Arguments and verbal abuse break out constantly, leading to a broken home and child abuse. One of many examples is the family of five-year old Vangie and eight-year old Maria (not real names). Their parents had severe disagreements and violence occurred. Their mother left the children with their paternal grandmother and the father. She found another partner. After only a few months, the two small girls were set upon by the biological father and he constantly sexually abused them and raped them both. They were rescued by the Preda Foundation senior staff and social worker and are recovering in the Preda home. He will stand trial. The children will testify.

Human trafficking is another form of violence against women. Young women and minors are “captured” by false promises, lured to fake employment and end up in brothels as sex slaves to powerful men. Many endure physical and psychological violence and “rough sex.” They are victims of “debt bondage” threatened by pimps and traffickers to pay their debts to them or they will be jailed.

That is the case of some of the 18 young girls, four of them minors, that were lured and pressured to join a party where they were to be sexually sold to foreign sex tourists in a hotel in Baloy Beach, Olongapo City, last November 2020. But the plan leaked, and they were all rescued by the National Bureau of Investigation and city social workers and Preda Foundation social workers. The minors are recovering at the Preda home. The adult women are being helped by the government social workers.

There has to be a major change in the culture of male abuse and violence against women and an end to the political tolerance that allows it. The rule of law must prevail, respect for the well-being of every woman and child has to be upheld and we are challenged to stand with them for their rights and dignity.

View New Life at Preda: Resilience and Hope at https://youtu.be/G0fFNmHSYic

www.preda.org

IFI Obispo Maximo’s Statement of Concern

One Faith, One Nation, One Voice

Obispo Maximo’s Statement of Concern On another case of Red-Tagging against IFI Clergy

1. We are alarmed with the new case of vilification and red-tagging reaching to our office against another clergy of the Iglesia Fipina Independiente (IFI). We received the report yesterday that The Revd Arvin P. Mangrubang, our priest in the Diocese of Laoag, serving as the Rector of the Parish of Lipay which covers five churches and congregations all in Vintar, Ilocos Norte, is being maliciously and irresponsibly tagged and accused as “communist member and NPA recruiter” by the NTF-ELCAC and propagated by the military. Obviously the red-tagging has connection with the continuing efforts of the AFP, PNP, and NTF-ELCAC in the area, particularly around Surrong Valley, to malign and vilify legal people’s organizations and churches like the IFI.

2. On October 29, 2020, The Revd Arvin P. Mangrubang, in response to an invitation, attended the Farmers’ Leaders Forum held in Brgy. Dagupan, Vintar, Ilocos Norte, and took part in the blessing of farm materials to be distributed by the Redemptorist Church to the local farmers. An otherwise solemn religious gathering was disturbed by the arrival of uniformed military soldiers in full battle gear who immediately barricaded the venue and started to take pictures on the activity and on the participants. On October 31, 2020, his spouse received a call enquiring if indeed The Revd Arvin P. Mangrubang attended in the said farmers’ activity.

3. He was surprised to know that on November 1, 2020, in a forum conducted by the NTF-ELCAC with the local PNP personnel in Vintar, Ilocos Norte, the pictures taken from the October 29, 2020 activity of the Farmers’ Leaders Forum were shown and described as a front activity for the CPA-NPA-NDFP. His pictures, together with that of other leaders, were highlighted with accompanying commentary that the activity was the start of the recruitment process to become NPA members since the leaders are members of the CPP. He was further alarmed because on November 30, 2020 a friend of his called up and advised him to be extra-careful because he is one among those who were placed under surveillance by military elements allegedly connected with the 21st IB and 50th IB of the Philippine Army for recruiting local farmers to join with NPA. This was bolstered by the information shared by a church member during the church council meeting on December 1, 2020 that The Revd Arvin P. Mangrubang was being talked about as NPA recruiter in Surrong Valley in a meeting of barangay captains of Vintar town. To validate about this information, he called up the barangay captain of Brgy. Lipay, Vintar the following day, December 2, 2020, to enquire if there were people looking for him and was told by the barangay captain that the military intelligence officers asked the barangay captain to beware of his presence and movements as recruiting the barangay constituents for NPA activities.

4. We view his case and the circumstances around it as of the same pattern with other red-tagging incidences against the IFI clergy. The state security officers, such as the AFP and PNP with the particular government agency NTF-ELCAC, tend to treat and misconstrue the ministry of our clergy around the country working along with legal people’s organizations of the workers, farmers, fisherfolks, urban poor and lumad communities as something subversive and fronting for the NPA-CPP-NDFP, like the ministry of The Revd Arvin P. Mangrubang who is only serving with the farmers, many are church members, being the dominant sector within his parochial jurisdiction in Vintar, Ilocos Norte. Due to the obsession of these state security officers to quash the insurgency movement according to its self-imposed timetable, they could only see red in everything and in everybody like the proverbial mad bull in the ring. These officers cannot anymore see that IFI clergy are only working out with their ministries to serve the Lord Jesus as mandated to them by their ordination and as pursued in the corporate mission of the IFI. The charism and heritage of the IFI – being a Church born out from the womb of the people’s revolution in 1896 for national independence, identity and integrity and for the reign of justice, peace and freedom in Filipino society as desired by the God of history – is to serve the Lord and his people. Since its formation in 1902 this has been the distinctive mark of the IFI’s mission and ministry and the spirit behind its prophetic witness, social advocacy, and pastoral care.

5. We protest the continuing practice of this dispensation, through the AFP, PNP and government agency like NTF-ELCAC, to accuse and red-tag the IFI and its clergy as fronting for and recruiting members to the CPP-NPA-NDFP. The truth of the matter is that the IFI is only exercising its own brand of mission and ministry compelled by faith-imperative and history-mandate, long before these so-called underground organizations came to being that the government, past and present, is trying hard to associate or identify the IFI with. The plain truth is that it is not the churches like the IFI which are being red-tagged as recruiters for the CPP-NPA-NDFP but the government itself with its anti-poor, anti-people, anti-Filipino and anti-policies; it is the AFP, PNP and government agencies themselves with their unrelenting abuse, corruption, negligence and indifference to people’s rights, public welfare, national well-being, and human dignity; it is the unjust structures, systemic violence and widening social disparity being perpetuated by those who wield power in our local and national governance.

Continue reading

Launching of the Year of Missio Ad Gentes

CBCP Episcopal Commission on Mission
https://fb.watch/23DoiC2vZf/

CBCP Pastoral Letter for the
2021 Year of Missio Ad Gentes

Becoming Jesus’ Missionary Disciples

Dearly Beloved People of God,

The Philippine Church rejoices as it enters a national celebration of the 500 Years of Christianity in our treasured homeland.  Five centuries ago we received the marvelous gift of the Christian faith; our hearts overflow with joy and gratitude.  Why of all the nations and peoples in Asia was the Philippines chosen by God to be among the first to receive this precious gift?  The clear answer is simply this: God’s magnanimous, overflowing love.

We recall what God told his people Israel regarding his choice: “It was not because you are the largest of all nations that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, for you are really the smallest of all nations.  It was because the Lord loved you and because of his fidelity…” (Dt 7:7-8).  Only God’s freely given love can illuminate the choice of the Filipino people to receive this valuable gift of faith!

The Christian faith arrived and prospered in our land through the dedication and heroic sacrifices of thousands of men and women missionaries from various parts of the world.  They treasured the gift of faith they had received and desired to share this gift with others.  As the theme chosen by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for this fifth centennial notes: all Christians are “gifted to give.”  This “giftedness” motivated generous missionaries over the centuries; it must also enflame the hearts of all of us today to engage in mission here at home and in other countries (missio ad gentes).  Indeed, this is part of Jesus’ mission mandate to his disciples: “What you have received as a gift, give as a gift” (Mt 10:8).  We pray for a missionary renewal of our Church—both at home (ad intra) and beyond our borders (ad extra) during our celebration of the 500 years—and into the future!

Missionary Transformation. Our beloved Pope Francis, who visited us in 2015, is committed to the missionary renewal of the entire Church; we can take inspiration from his document Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel).  He asserts that we need an “evangelizing Church that comes out of herself,” not a Church that is “self-referential” and “lives within herself, of herself, for herself” (cf. EG 20-24).  Francis says: “I dream of a ‘missionary option,’ that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation….  All renewal in the Church must have mission as its goal if it is not to fall prey to a kind of ecclesial introversion” (EG 27).  We seek to renew our mission enthusiasm here at home as well as missio ad gentes, mission to other nations and peoples.

Pope Francis continues: “Missionary outreach is paradigmatic for all the Church’s activity….  We need to move ‘from a pastoral ministry of mere conservation to a decidedly missionary pastoral ministry’” (EG 15).  “I want to emphasize that what I am trying to express here has programmatic significance and important consequences….  Throughout the world, let us be ‘permanently in a state of mission’” (EG 25).  We must seek to “put all things in a missionary key” (EG 34).  We recall the challenge of Pope John Paul II during his 1981 visit to our Church: “I wish to tell you of my special desire: that the Filipinos will become the foremost missionaries of the Church in Asia.”  This is a clear invitation to engage in missio ad gentes!

Pope Francis’ insights about Church missionary renewal come from his deep personal relationship with Christ.  He writes: “I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ….  I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day” (EG 3).  A pivotal insight of Pope Francis is that “we are all missionary disciples” (EG 119); through baptism, “all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples” (EG 120).  All Christians are “agents of evangelization.”  Missionary evangelization “calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized….  Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are ‘disciples’ and ‘missionaries,’ but rather that we are always ‘missionary disciples’” (EG 120).

Joy: A Convincing Sign.  For Pope Francis, salvation history is a “great stream of joy” (EG 5) which we must also enter.  Let the joy of faith be revived, because God’s mercies never end (cf. EG 6).  Unfortunately, “there are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter” (EG 6).  “An evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral” (EG 10).  We must not become “querulous and disillusioned pessimists, ‘sourpusses’” (EG 85).  “May the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received the joy of Christ (EG 10; cf. EN 75).  We all must not “end up stifling the joy of mission” (EG 79), both here at home and in other lands!

Mercy: Today’s Pathway in Mission.  Pope Francis continually insists that mercy is the very essence of God.  In his Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy) Francis expresses it this way: mercy is God’s identity card.  He says: “We need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy.  It is a wellspring of joy, serenity, and peace…. Mercy [is] the bridge that connects God and man” (MV 2).  Francis quotes Saint Thomas Aquinas, who asserts that “mercy is the greatest of all virtues; … all the others revolve around it … it is proper to God to have mercy” (EG 37).  “Mercy is the very foundation of the Church’s life.  All of her pastoral activity should be caught up in the tenderness she makes present to believers; nothing in her preaching and in her witness to the world can be lacking in mercy.  The Church’s very credibility is seen in how she shows merciful and compassionate love” (MV 10).

Continue reading

CBCP Pastoral Letter for the 2021 Year of Missio Ad Gentes

Becoming Jesus’ Missionary Disciples

Dearly Beloved People of God,

The Philippine Church rejoices as it enters a national celebration of the 500 Years of Christianity in our treasured homeland.  Five centuries ago we received the marvelous gift of the Christian faith; our hearts overflow with joy and gratitude.  Why of all the nations and peoples in Asia was the Philippines chosen by God to be among the first to receive this precious gift?  The clear answer is simply this: God’s magnanimous, overflowing love.

We recall what God told his people Israel regarding his choice: “It was not because you are the largest of all nations that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, for you are really the smallest of all nations.  It was because the Lord loved you and because of his fidelity…” (Dt 7:7-8).  Only God’s freely given love can illuminate the choice of the Filipino people to receive this valuable gift of faith!

The Christian faith arrived and prospered in our land through the dedication and heroic sacrifices of thousands of men and women missionaries from various parts of the world.  They treasured the gift of faith they had received and desired to share this gift with others.  As the theme chosen by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for this fifth centennial notes: all Christians are “gifted to give.”  This “giftedness” motivated generous missionaries over the centuries; it must also enflame the hearts of all of us today to engage in mission here at home and in other countries (missio ad gentes).  Indeed, this is part of Jesus’ mission mandate to his disciples: “What you have received as a gift, give as a gift” (Mt 10:8).  We pray for a missionary renewal of our Church—both at home (ad intra) and beyond our borders (ad extra) during our celebration of the 500 years—and into the future!

Missionary Transformation. Our beloved Pope Francis, who visited us in 2015, is committed to the missionary renewal of the entire Church; we can take inspiration from his document Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel).  He asserts that we need an “evangelizing Church that comes out of herself,” not a Church that is “self-referential” and “lives within herself, of herself, for herself” (cf. EG 20-24).  Francis says: “I dream of a ‘missionary option,’ that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation….  All renewal in the Church must have mission as its goal if it is not to fall prey to a kind of ecclesial introversion” (EG 27).  We seek to renew our mission enthusiasm here at home as well as missio ad gentes, mission to other nations and peoples.

Pope Francis continues: “Missionary outreach is paradigmatic for all the Church’s activity….  We need to move ‘from a pastoral ministry of mere conservation to a decidedly missionary pastoral ministry’” (EG 15).  “I want to emphasize that what I am trying to express here has programmatic significance and important consequences….  Throughout the world, let us be ‘permanently in a state of mission’” (EG 25).  We must seek to “put all things in a missionary key” (EG 34).  We recall the challenge of Pope John Paul II during his 1981 visit to our Church: “I wish to tell you of my special desire: that the Filipinos will become the foremost missionaries of the Church in Asia.”  This is a clear invitation to engage in missio ad gentes!

Pope Francis’ insights about Church missionary renewal come from his deep personal relationship with Christ.  He writes: “I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ….  I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day” (EG 3).  A pivotal insight of Pope Francis is that “we are all missionary disciples” (EG 119); through baptism, “all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples” (EG 120).  All Christians are “agents of evangelization.”  Missionary evangelization “calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized….  Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are ‘disciples’ and ‘missionaries,’ but rather that we are always ‘missionary disciples’” (EG 120).

Joy: A Convincing Sign.  For Pope Francis, salvation history is a “great stream of joy” (EG 5) which we must also enter.  Let the joy of faith be revived, because God’s mercies never end (cf. EG 6).  Unfortunately, “there are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter” (EG 6).  “An evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral” (EG 10).  We must not become “querulous and disillusioned pessimists, ‘sourpusses’” (EG 85).  “May the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received the joy of Christ (EG 10; cf. EN 75).  We all must not “end up stifling the joy of mission” (EG 79), both here at home and in other lands!

Mercy: Today’s Pathway in Mission.  Pope Francis continually insists that mercy is the very essence of God.  In his Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy) Francis expresses it this way: mercy is God’s identity card.  He says: “We need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy.  It is a wellspring of joy, serenity, and peace…. Mercy [is] the bridge that connects God and man” (MV 2).  Francis quotes Saint Thomas Aquinas, who asserts that “mercy is the greatest of all virtues; … all the others revolve around it … it is proper to God to have mercy” (EG 37).  “Mercy is the very foundation of the Church’s life.  All of her pastoral activity should be caught up in the tenderness she makes present to believers; nothing in her preaching and in her witness to the world can be lacking in mercy.  The Church’s very credibility is seen in how she shows merciful and compassionate love” (MV 10).

“The Church is commissioned to announce the mercy of God, the beating heart of the Gospel, which in its own way must penetrate the heart and mind of every person….  As the Church is charged with the task of the new evangelization, the theme of mercy needs to be proposed again and again with new enthusiasm and renewed pastoral action….  In our parishes, communities, associations and movements, in a word, wherever there are Christians, everyone should find an oasis of mercy” (MV 12).

Conclusion. Pope Francis’ profound thoughts on missionary renewal, joy, and mercy provide a solid compass to guide us as individuals and communities during our 500-years celebration and in the year 2021 which is dedicated to missio ad gentes (mission to all peoples).  With Pope Francis we ask two graces of the Lord: “Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of missionary vigor” (EG 109).  “Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of missionary enthusiasm” (EG 80).  We remain constant in prayer, asking our two canonized “foreign” missionary saints, Lorenzo Ruiz and Pedro Calungsod, to intercede for us so that our loving God will always abundantly bless our Church in the Philippines and all her many missionary endeavors!

For the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines,

29 November 2020
First Sunday of Advent