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  • GOMBURZA: An insider’s view

    GOMBURZA: An insider’s view

    CBCPNews,

    “Salamat po sa JesCom sa pagsusugal sa akin (Thank you to JesCom for taking a risk on me).” That was the opening line of Cedric Juan as he accepted the “Best Actor” award at the Metro Manila FilmFest’s Gabi ng Parangal. Jesuit schools here and abroad had been complaining that for their orientation sessions for freshmen students, they were still showing an old biopic of Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits and patron of all our schools, which was in Spanish and in black-and-white. He would rather produce the formulaic ones (e.g., rom-com, horror) which have actually dumbed down the masses, like the so-called “bomba” films of the 70s which Marcos used to distract the populace from his abuses.

  • Not to abolish, but to fulfil

    Not to abolish, but to fulfil

    CBCPNews,

    Reading Matthew 5:17-20, it dawned on me that Jesus’s words “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfil” represent a pivotal moment in salvation history. But try asking the average churchgoer (your pew-mate at Mass, for instance) to name the most important events in the life of Jesus and chances are “Christmas” will be the most popular reply, followed by “Christmas and Holy Week”. While spectacular celebrations and commemorations mark Christmas and Holy Week in our society, I believe a deeper understanding of Matthew 5:17-20, can greatly enrich the faithful’s appreciation of Jesus’s mission, inspire us to live out His teachings in daily life, and gently bring back love in a world on the brink of self-destruction.

  • A ‘Laudato Si’ afternoon with sea turtles

    A ‘Laudato Si’ afternoon with sea turtles

    CBCPNews,

    Pepe Quitorio, after declaring a brief respite from its regular monthly meeting at the scenic mini-forest called Hiyas ng Kalikasan, nestled right in the heart of San Narciso, Zambales, trooped to PAWICARE to listen to lectures about sea turtles (“pawikans) and to witness the release of ninety (90) newly-born hatchlings. Sea turtles are reptiles, a clan of vertebrate animals that have survived for more than 200 million years and have been alive longer than mammals, birds, crocodiles, snakes, and lizards. By dictates of nature, mother sea turtles after traveling in so many parts of the world’s oceans, return to their birthplace to lay their eggs and marine scientists call this process “natal homing” or “natal philopatry.”I call this “natal homing” one of God’s miracles.

  • Synodality: A radical invitation

    Synodality: A radical invitation

    CBCPNews,

    (Gaudium et Spes #20) Pope Francis further says, and this has been repeatedly quoted: “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.” (Gaudium Evangelii #27) This is to avoid a kind of ‘ecclesial introversion’ The invitation is just not simply reform, but rather, a journey to conversion. Alvin Toffler once said, and this can be related to our Synodal efforts: “The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Back in the 1990’s, during the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, it was already said: “The pilgrim, however, is not only an individual, but rather an entire people. By reason of our pilgrimage to the kingdom of God, we need to change our own hearts and the social, economic, political and cultural systems that have promoted massive poverty and inequity.” (PCP II #273) Synodality invites us to revisit our aspirations as a Church in the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines.

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