God continues to “speak” to us!

AS CHRIST LIVES
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.

God continues to “speak” to us!

Right after a funeral mass last Saturday, our sacristan informed me that there was a request for blessing of another dead. In stark contrast to the previous celebration that was well-prepared and well-attended, I met a young, grieving father – alone – who accompanied the dead which was placed only inside a small recycled carton box. Before performing the rite of blessing, I tried to engage the father in a dialogue so I could connect with him, allowing him to express his pain and sadness and to name what truly happened. In between his sobs, I learned that inside the box was a fetus of a four-month twin which was just discovered to have been already dead for a week inside his wife’s womb. The wife was still in the hospital and I felt a deep pain seeing him leave alone after the blessing to bring his dead to their grave without a community to accompany and support him in his grief and pain. My pain was due more to the absence of a caring community than to his loss.

Right there and then I felt “spoken” to by God for on that day we began our novena masses in preparation for our parish fiesta with the theme, “Gamay nga Kristianong Katilingban: Alagyan padulong sa Bug-os nga Paghiliusa” and God seemed to be showing me through that experience how life could be different, particularly for that father, if he belongs to a Christian community or if in our parish there is a presence of a community of believers sensitive and ready to respond to a situation of need such as this. It further affirmed the vision and direction we have set for our parish. It also raises a lot of other disturbing questions: Was pre-natal care available to the mother? How could such death of the twin be prevented? Why is he alone to bury their dead? How many more are in this or even worse situation? I am not sure if he is a regular church-goer but I was so touched that in his grief he still found it important to have his dead blessed in Church. Such moment of deep loss can also be a moment of grace, an opportune time to realize one’s need for God and the importance of a living and loving community.

I hope that our entire parish activities in preparation for and in celebration of our Patronal Feast in honor of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria help develop and strengthen the culture of BEC, a lifestyle of communal living based on the life of the Trinity, similar to the early Christian Community in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. Acts 4:32-35), faithful to our vision of a renewed Church in the Philippines. For in the words of Msgr. Jose Marie Amado S. Delgado: “…..as the Parish integrates the Culture of BECs (which, by the way, does not come along at all easy) she is renewed in her fundamental life as a Church. BEC thus is not a “foreign element” or an “appendix” but is a birthright in the Church.” I pray that we are able to LISTEN more to the many ways God is communicating to us so we are able to RESPOND and COMMIT better to God’s loving plan for us. MALIPAYON NGA FIESTA SA ATON TANAN!