By Bishop Vicente M. Navarra, DD

Bishop Vicente M. Navarra, born in Mambusao, Capiz, became auxiliary bishop of Capiz in 1979. In 1988 he became first Bishop of Kabankalan and in 2001 fifth Bishop of Bacolod. This is a slightly edited version of the homily he gave on Pentecost Sunday, 2004, at a Mass for the Silver Jubilee of Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WME) in Bacolod.

Bishop Vicente M. Navarra, DD
Bishop of Bacolod

As we know, the first Pentecost was characterized by that extraordinary and external manifestation of the Holy Spirit, when this Divine Person of the Blessed Trinity descended in the form of tongues of fire and rested upon the heads of the Apostles gathered in prayer in the company of the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

It is said that when that Divine intervention happened nothing was ever the same again for the Apostles. From being fearful and timid, they became emboldened and courageous, determined and consistent in preaching Jesus and His Word, even to the shedding of their blood. And with their small group and their preaching the Church, the People of God, was born.

Twenty-five years ago, the Diocese of Bacolod witnessed a new Pentecost. It was the manifestation of the Spirit of God that made His presence and indwelling specifically felt by married couples who joined and experienced the live-in process of the first Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend in the Diocese.

Marriage Encounter logo

Couples experienced a renewal, first in their individual persons, but mostly in their relationship as couples and as parents. They discovered a new dimension in their roles as spouses and parents; and they got a new perspective about their role as apostolic couple, couples who have acquired through baptism and confirmation and by the grace of their sacrament of marriage, the responsibility and mission to evangelize and to minister to other couples around them.

‘Live the memory and catch the Spirit,’ is the theme of the celebration of your Silver Anniversary. This is a resounding echo of St Paul’s exhortation to Timothy: ‘… I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you…’ (2 Timothy 1:6)

I am happy and grateful for the testimonies you’ve been sharing. I pray that the Spirit of the Lord will continue to anoint those shared experiences, so that in turn a kind of urgency and momentum will be generated in you, the encountered couples, enabling you to render a steadfast, consistent, generous and joyful service to your own marriages and to all the other marriages around you.

For some time, in my former Archdiocese of Capiz, I was working with couples in another expression of marriage encounter apostolate and can never forget how one couple, Mr Nestor Diaz de Rivera and his wife, Dra Lucille Martilino Diaz de Rivera, greatly influenced my life and ministry as a bishop, especially on ‘The decision to love!’ They were from Manila but Doctora was the daughter of my Ninang when I was ordained bishop. We invited them several times to be couple-presenters in Marriage Encounter weekends in Capiz.

Lucille & Nestor

They were such a lovely, inspiring and edifying couple. Nestor was a CEO in a big business firm and Lucille a doctor of medicine. They had 11 children to raise and educate. And yet they really made time to get involved in ME weekends, as well as other apostolic works that ministered to couples and their families. But Lucille got sick of a rare disease that caused atrophy to that part of the brain that controls speech and movements of the body. It was indeed a big blow and everybody in the family suffered. She gradually lost her speech and, unable to move, had to be confined to bed, but hardly a word of complaint could be heard from her. What I admired most was the fidelity, the patience and the loving care of Nestor who practically stayed all the time beside her, spoon-feeding her and administering her many different medicines. What love and what devotion! And all because of the determined and courageous decision of the couple to be true and loyal and devoted to each other despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles and trials. Both have since passed away. May the Lord rest their souls in peace.

This couple was a special gift of the Spirit of God to me, as a person and bishop, and to my pastoral ministry. Many times you have heard that a bishop is espoused to his Diocese – to the people in his diocese. With the Spirit of the Lord only one thing keeps me going – my decision to love my Lord enthroned, not on a golden throne, but hanging on the Cross. Yes, my decision to love Him in my people uttering sometimes in a faltering way my Episcopal motto ‘ADSUM’ – ‘HERE I AM!’

Let me call your attention to one particular point which greatly involves you and our Diocese as we engage in the proximate preparation for the opening of our Second Diocesan Synod on October 4, Luke 5:4: ‘Launch out into the deep.’ This is used by John Paul II in his clarion call to implement the program of renewal for the Third Millennium. It is the same clarion call that we adapt to our Synod as we work for the renewal of our Church and the transformation of society.

Last year during the Fourth World Meeting of Families in Manila, one of the speakers shared his reflections on these words. According to him, this invitation/command of the Lord can mean three inter-penetrating movements for families.

One is movement towards a deeper interiority. Movement of communion with the Triune God, Who dwells in us, in the world of the Christian family: communion with the Divine Persons by listening to the Word of God, by family and individual prayer, by the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist. How serious are we in our prayer life? How do we encounter and commune with God, especially in the Mass, in the Communion we receive?

A second is movement towards fuller communion between your leaders among themselves, with each other, with your Bishop, with your pastors, a communion that is not only skin-deep, but at the gut level; a communion which disdains competition, and is ready engage in collaboration and wholesome dialogue with one another, and to obey ecclesiastical authority; communion that results in according love/charity primacy in thought and practice, and in the sharing of spiritual gifts and material possessions. How have you been along this line as encountered couples?

A third is movement towards a more dynamic mission with family members evangelizing each other, and families evangelizing other families with a new fervor. A broadening of the sense of mission so that it is a participation in the development of a family-friendly society. This participation will be realized through activities that are not only religious but cultural, economic and even political. What is being done by WME couples along this line?

I love to end this reflection with Psalm104:30 that prays: Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love! Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth!

Happy Pentecost and a blissful celebration to you all!