By: Father Seán Coyle SSC

The 150th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes to St Bernadette Soubirous is 11 February. Pope Benedict hopes to visit Lourdes for the celebrations. 

I remember the smiling face of the young Italian man cheerfully helping to lower Tony into the baths in Lourdes during Easter Week 1991. Tony was very tall but partly disabled and brain-damaged from a car accident in Ireland. The Italian and his compatriots had come to the shrine of the Blessed Mother at their own expense to assist pilgrims, whether disabled or not. And the extraordinary thing about the baths is that you put your clothes back on without drying yourself and don’t feel uncomfortable. I was with a group from Ireland with serious disabilities. I shared a room with Tony, Tom, an older man who had had polio as a child, and Joe, a married man the same age as myself and the leader of our group.

Nature’s ice-breakers

I remember the Easter Vigil in 2001 in the huge underground basilica opened in February 1958 by then Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who became Pope John XXIII in October that year. I was chaplain to the small contingent of 12 representing the Philippines at the international Faith and Light
pilgrimage held every ten year. One of those who helped dramatize one of the Vigil readings was a young woman who had been left in a basurahan in Cebu after birth, Louella Vicente, known as ‘Lala’. She was born with Trisomy 21 (Down’s Syndrome) and raised by the Daughters of Charity in the Asilo in Cebu. They gave her the family name ‘Vicente’ after St Vincent de Paul and ‘Louella’ after St Louise de Marillac, a widow who co-founded the Daughters of Charity with St Vincent. As a young woman Lala went to live in the L’Arche community in Cainta, Rizal.

Lala is one of nature’s ‘icebreakers’ and is a ray of sunshine to all who meet her, though she can have moods too. I was struck by the awesome reality that this young woman from the Philippines who according to the ‘wisdom’ of many would have been better not being born, was helping proclaim the Word of God to thousands of people from all over the world, many of them like herself. I sometimes imagine that her mother was perhaps a student who panicked and left her new-born daughter in a place where someone would rescue her.

The least will be the greatest

Lourdes is a place where people like Lala and Tony are the ‘VIPs’. St Bernadette Soubirous was an illiterate 14-year-old girl when the Blessed Mother first appeared to her near the River Gave on 11 February 1858. For a while her family lived in what had been a jail. I remember when our Irish group visited there I shed tears remembering the awful poverty of many in Dublin, my native city, when I was a child, some living in a disused jail not far from where I grew up.

Statue of St Bernadette

I was in Lourdes twice in 2002 with groups of pilgrims from England, most of them Filipinos working there in order to help their families back home. We were graced to be able to take part in a Mass at the grotto where the Virgin Mary appeared on the feast itself. When I returned in June I celebrated Mass there in Tagalog, with the readings in Cebuano and Hiligaynon.

At all the shrines of the Blessed Mother where the Church has declared that she truly appeared, such as Lourdes and La Salette in France, Fatima in Portugal, Knock in Ireland, Beauraing and Banneux in Belgium, Guadalupe in Mexico, it was always to persons who were poor and ‘unimportant’ in their communities.

Oneness of the Church

There’s a great sense of freedom in Lourdes. There are no ‘requirements’ or things you must do, as there are in some pilgrimages, especially penitential ones. However, everyone attends the Blessed Sacrament procession in the afternoon, when the sick are blessed, and the candlelight Rosary procession at night, where each mystery is led in a different language, reflecting the main linguistic groups present. Pilgrims answer in their own language and there’s a great sense of the universality of the Church. The baths for women and for men are staffed by volunteers like the smiling Italian who helped Tony, giving up their vacation time and paying their own way to be of service to others. Pilgrims who go to Lourdes specifically to take care of the sick, many of them young adults, are known as ‘brancardiers’. Not a few pilgrims spend a night in prayer at the grotto.

Before I made my first pilgrimage to Lourdes, with my late father in August 1971, shortly before I came to the Philippines, I’d heard many lamenting the ‘commercialism’ there. The very large shrine area known as the Domain is a place of prayer. It also has a large park where groups can have picnics and where priests sometimes hear confessions, as we did during the Faith and Light pilgrimage. The so-called ‘commercialism’ consists of the hotels where the more than six million pilgrims who go to Lourdes every year stay, coffee-shops and souvenir stores. Many souvenirs are indeed ‘tacky’ but nobody is forced to buy them. And what pilgrim would want to go home without a pasalubong or two?

Tell me who you are

On the Feast of the Annunciation, 25 March 1858, Mary finally revealed who she was to Bernadette, who asked her four times, ‘Would you be so kind as to tell me who you are?’ Mary answered, ‘Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou’, the local French dialect for ‘I am the Immaculate Conception’. Only four years earlier Blessed Pope Pius IX had proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, something that the peasant-girl Bernadette was probably unaware of. The last apparition was on the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 16 July.

For me, Lourdes is above all a place where the poor, the sick and the ‘unimportant’, persons like Tony, Lala, Filipino nurses working far from home in England and St Bernadette herself, know that they are important, and loved by our Blessed Mother and our Heavenly Father.

Photos by Fr Tim Finigan at http://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.com

RELATED WEBSITES

The 150th anniversary of the first apparition of Mary to Bernadette will be observed on 11 February.www.lourdes2008.com is the official website for the jubilee celebrations and www.lourdes-france.org that of the Sanctuary. The main website of Faith and Light International is www.foietlumiere.org while www.larche.org is that of L’Arche International. All of these have English versions.

Sister Clare Garcillano SPC

On Saturday, 19 May, I arrived in Dili, East Timor, with so much anxiety. I had finally arrived in my new mission, after waiting for three months. Thinking of what awaited me in this war-torn area and not knowing the main languages made me a little worried. However, I felt some confidence coming to this former colony of Portugal knowing Portuguese. Truly, I did not feel lost at Dili Airport upon arrival. The people there spoke Portuguese, if not that fluently, at least well enough to carry on a conversation. Later I discovered that only those Timorese educated during the colonization by Portugal, which ended in 1975, spoke Portuguese. It is used in government offices and in the business sector and is one of two official languages, the other being Tetum, the national language. Most people can speak Bahasa Indonesia, the result of 27 years of Indonesian occupation. A few speak English, especially UN personnel and the staff of NGOs, many of whom are from Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines.

Present state of affairs

Until now the political situation is still unstable. At the invitation of Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenez Belo SDB, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in l996, the Sisters of St Paul of Chartres came here in 1993 to open a hospital in Suai, Covalina. There was relative peace that time under the Indonesian Government, in spite of the unrest of some Timorese desiring independence. In 1999 a referendum was held and the people voted for independence from Indonesia. This resulted in war and violence. The UN Peacekeeping Force and the Australian soldiers came to help and administered the country under Sérgio Vieira de Melo, a Brazilian diplomat, who was UN Administrator from 25 October 1999 till independence on 20 May 2002.

There was violent resistance from the Indonesian Military, joined by some Timorese ‘Militias’. Many Timorese citizens, including priests and men and women religious, were killed. Churches, offices and houses were burned. Our SPC sisters took refuge in West Timor, part of Indonesia, and then went to Darwin, Australia, but returned to Dili two months later. When more UN forces came the violence stopped and the people celebrated officially their independence from Indonesia.

In April 2006 a rift broke out between the members of the Armed Forces of East Timor, those from the west and those from the east, allegedly because of discrimination. This caused great tension among the people. Once again there was burning of houses, business centers and offices, and harassment by youth street gangs. Between 1999 and 2006 these cruel acts against humanity resulted in thousands of internally displaced persons who lived in tents in Dili, in the compounds of churches, convents of religious, seminaries and in city parks.

Violence erupted again among groups of youths, who were, it was said, manipulated by or connected with certain political parties. These were very visible during the election of a new president and of new members of the parliament. After the proclamation of the new Prime Minister, violence caused by discontented parties broke out, like the burning of houses, offices, charitable institutions, kindergarten schools, stoning of cars, the beating of persons believed to be supporters of the new government, the burning of tires in the streets, and so on. Thanks to the UN Peacekeeping Forces and Australian soldiers, who until now are trying to maintain peace and order in the country. [Editor’s note: from 20 May 2002 until 20 May 2005 the foreign soldiers were part of the UN Mission of Support to East Timor (UNMISET) and since then of the Multinational Force in East Timor (MNF).] Again there is relative calm in the city, but only God knows how long it will last. It is my hope that the new government that took over on 8 August will be given a chance to bring the country to peace and progress.

Contrasting ways

As I immerse myself in the culture of East Timor, I cannot but compare the vivacity of the people of Sr Clare with a Timorese boy Brazil, where I worked before, with the tired and sad faces of the persons I meet in the streets of Dili and in some other parts of East Timor. I cannot forget the warm respect that I received from the Lagopratenses in Brazil, in contrast to the ‘reserved respect’ of the people I meet and work with here. But, I admire the enthusiasm of the East Timorese children to learn new things and to meet persons who are for them foreigners. In one of the meetings with the children – not exactly a catechism class – that I organized recently, I taught the children to embrace the ‘madre’, religious sister, after their ‘mano po’, a custom the Timorese share with Filipinos. And they liked it! Embracing is a common practice of greeting in Brazil, while in the Philippines, the common greeting is a handshake and the ‘mano po’.

The ‘mano po’ is very common in East Timor, especially towards the priest and religious. Even elderly men and women practice it towards younger persons of authority, priests, religious men and the ‘madres’ when they meet us in the streets, in the church, in the market, anywhere. The form they use is kissing the hand, not putting it to the forehead. The practice is also common within the family, something that is, sadly, diminishing in the Philippines, especially in the big cities.

The East Timorese people hold close to their hearts their traditions and customs, while even in the interior of Brazil, modernity has made in-roads in society through TV and other forms of the media.

In the Church in Brazil, the participation of the laity, working hand in hand with the clergy and religious, is way ahead. In East Timor, the laity are still priest-oriented and look up to religious men and women . . . ‘Amo said so . . . Let us wait for Amo . . . Amo told us to do this!’

Timorese also practice the 'Mano Po'

Work in the Timorese vineyard

At the request of the Bishop of Dili, SPC Sisters help in the Diocesan Curia: in the secretariat, in the Financial Office and in the Commission on Education. Our response is in line with the prayer that we recite everyday for the coming SPC G e n e r a l Chapter. . . ‘Send us your Holy Spirit that we may recognize the new paths you want us to take . . . make us attentive to the needs of our brothers and sisters and go in haste to help them’. Thus, we work with our brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Dili using our professional training and expertise towards better organization and competency. Aside from our congregational outreach work to the people, we request the prayers of all that peace may reign in this country and for the Timorese to be able to accept their new identity as citizens of East Timor! GOD BLESS EAST TIMOR

You may email Sister Clare at
irmaclara2000@yahoo.com or write
her at St Paul of Chartres Convent,
Kuluhun Kraik, PO Box 79, Dili, East
Timor (via DARWIN, AUSTRALIA)

Sister Katharina Toshiko LSJ

The author,wearing glasses in the above photo, a member of the
Little Sisters of Jesus, is from Japan and has been in Afghanistan
for many years. There are around 1,300 Little Sisters from 67
nationalities living in about 70 countries around the world, including the
Philippines. ‘In keeping with the inspiration of our foundation we
maintain a large number of communities among Muslim peoples in various
countries around the world and daily pray for all the people of Islam’.

‘Even if one isn’t able to do a great deal, it is worth while becoming a part of the scenery: one is so approachable and so “very small”’. (Blessed Charles
de Foucauld, 1907).

Here in Kabul the Fraternity of the Little Sisters of Jesus has been present for more than 50 years. One of the Sisters who started this Fraternity is still living here. During this time the government has changed many times – we’ve had a monarchy, Communism, extreme Islamism and now moderate Islamism. Due to the changes of government our life has been disturbed. We were obliged to move to other areas and even to escape to another town. During the war years we continued to work as nurses, as we had always done.
Two of us work in government hospitals as staff nurses. The work of a nurse is not very highly regarded here. Links of friendship with colleagues from the time we began to work still remain. We often have beautiful relationships with their families too. If you are friends, people here say ‘we share bread and salt’.

Above all, after 23 years of war and the sharing of suffering and joy with our friends and colleagues, friendships have become very strong. It is also a fact that the Afghan people have a very deep faith, which helps us to deepen our own faith. Our friends are still poor. However, one thing has changed for the better in recent years: the children can now go to school, even children from very poor families who make a living by begging.

At our Fraternity we have visitors nearly every day, either to ask for something, to share some news or to talk about their health problems. Often we have a good time together. This requires an effort on our part, especially when people come one after the other when we are just home from work. We don’t actually do ‘anything important’ for our visitors. We only share the joys and sufferings of ordinary life . . . It is, as Blessed Charles said, ‘worth while becoming a part of the scenery’. Our neighbors are all Muslim. They know that our life is consecrated to God and they have confidence in us. As our foundress, Little Sister Magdeleine, said clearly, ‘We are little sisters of no importance at all’. We have been able stay in Afghanistan under different regimes, and moreover in a country that is completely Muslim. We’re not an NGO, nor a health organization. We are living among the Afghan people, trying to be ‘so approachable and so “very small”’, as Blessed Charles said.

So we put our hope in God and abandon ourselves to Him. Without Him, we couldn’t live here and we also wouldn’t have a reason to live any more. Our friends and our colleagues at work know that we are Christians and nuns. But people who do not know us often ask why we don’t convert to Islam and why we’re not married in order to have children. Yet, as Afghans are open-minded, they accept us as we are. It must be said that we and the Afghan people believe that God is one, unique and merciful. Because of this, we are very close to one another. We have confidence in and respect for one another. None of these are ‘great things’ but they are what the Lord asks of us in this country. They constitute what Little Sister Magdaleine said: ‘true friendship, freely given . . .’

RELATED WEBSITES

www.rc.net/org/littlesisters with links to many sites related to Blessed Charles de Foucauld. www.jesuscaritas.info/lsj/lsj0.shtm will also bring to you pages about the Little Sisters of Jesus while www.gratefulness.org/giftpeople/SisterMagdeleine.htm is a brief biography of Little Sister Magdeleine of Jesus (1898-1989), foundress of the congregation, by Robert Ellsberg, taken from his book All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses From Our Time.

Father James H. Kroeger MM

James H. Kroeger MM is Professor of Systematic Theology, Missiology, and Islamics at the Loyola School of Theology in Manila. Currently, he is President of the Philippine Association of Catholic Missiologists (PACM), Secretary-Convenor of the Asian Missionary Societies Forum (AMSAL), and consultant to the Asian Bishops’ (FABC) Office of Evangelization. His most recent books are: The Future of the Asian Churches (2002), Becoming Local Church (2003) and Once Upon a Time in Asia: Stories of Harmony and Peace (2006, Manila: Claretian Publications).

Seven years have passed; plentiful fruits have been harvested – some foreseen, others quite unexpected. Indeed, the celebration by the Local Church in the Philippines of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 has produced numerous, perduring benefits. All sectors of the Philippine Church have been graced; the renewing action of the vivifying Spirit has produced ‘seven years of plenty’.

A glimpse back at the year 2000 shows that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) chose to make mission and evangelization central to the entire Jubilee Year experience: they conducted a three-day workshop on Mission and Ecclesia in Asia for the CBCP itself; they issued the inspiring document ‘Missions’ and the Church in the Philippines: A Pastoral Letter on the Church’s Mission in the New Millennium; they sponsored the large National Mission Congress in Cebu which they viewed as the ‘fitting culminating activity’ of the Jubilee Year celebrations and the ‘first step as a Local Church into the Third Millennium’.

Birth of PACM

In this context of the National Mission Congress and a genuine ‘mission awakening’, several missiologists serving the Philippine Church, encouraged by Bishop Vicente C. Manuel SVD, Chairman of the CBCP Commission on Missions, began to explore the feasibility and advantages of forming a professional missiological organization. The purpose of such a group would be to foster and animate the Philippine Church being a ‘Church-in-Mission’ (cf. Second Plenary Council of the Philippines: PCP-II, Nos. 102-115).

Dreams and hopes became concrete realities when eleven Catholic missiologists gathered in Cebu (17-19 August 2001) to begin work on the National Mission Plan for the CBCP (a pivotal recommendation of the Cebu National Mission Congress); the participants also explored the possibilities of forming a missiological society. During this historic meeting, the assembled missiologists decided to forge ahead and initiate the Philippine Association of Catholic Missiologists (PACM). The vision and commitment to renewal for mission had become concrete. Cardinal Ricardo J. Vidal hosted the PACM at a luncheon, encouraging its members to pursue various activities of mission animation within the Local Church of the Philippines. PACM had been born!

Drama Presentation of the MSP seminarians
Drama Presentation by Seminarians of
the Mission Society of the Philippines

Recent growth and activity

The momentum continued; enthusiasm grew. The fledgling PACM held its First Plenary Assembly at the Lorenzo Mission Institute in Manila (20-21 October 2001). The Association augmented and refined the proposed National Mission Plan for presentation at the January 2002 CBCP meeting. PACM completed the tedious work of developing and ratifying its Statutes; participants elected officers for 2001-2004; future plans and activities were explored. PACM had taken its first few steps.

Animating the Church

PACM ‘exists for the purpose of fostering and animating the Philippine Church being a Church-in-Mission’. It also ‘commits itself to promoting missiological research, studies and educational activities as well as encouraging collaboration among the Catholic missiologists of the Philippines’. Its members are ‘those persons who hold a graduate or postgraduate degree in the field of Missiology’ (PACM Statutes).
Participants in the PACM founding assembly in cebu
Participants of the PACM Assembly held in Cebu. Standing: W. LaRousse, G. Millan, G. Decasa, B. Valenzuela, P. Steffen, S. Mesiona. Seated: J. Yu, J. Kroeger, V. Manuel, J. Enginco, M. Gabriel

Currently (2007) PACM counts sixteen degreed missiologists among its members. Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao are represented. In terms of their affiliations, members come from these groups: diocesan priests, Divine Word Missionaries (SVD), Maryknoll Fathers (MM), Mission Society of the Philippines (MSP), Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Society (LRMS), Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM), Xaverian Missionaries (SX), Missionaries of Jesus (MJ), Dominican Sisters (OP), Good Shepherd Sisters (RGS), and Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM). Additional Filipinos are presently in Rome pursuing licentiates or doctorates in missiology.

PACM held its Second Plenary Assembly in Tagaytay (21-23 February 2002); the group was graciously hosted by the seminary community of the Mission Society of the Philippines. Updates on mission activities were given; new members were welcomed; proposals were presented to ascertain how the PACM could contribute to the implementation of the National Mission Plan that was unanimously approved by the CBCP on 26 January 2002. Joyful enthusiasm characterized this second PACM Plenary Assembly.

A unique feature of the PACM Annual Plenary Assembly is a half-day ‘Mission Conference’; this symposium is open to the public and addresses a current issue of missiological significance. The 2002 Tagaytay Conference, held at the Divine Word School of Theology, explored the question: ‘Is Dialogue Possible? Muslims and Christians in Mindanao’. Father William LaRousse MM spoke insightfully of Muslim-Christian Dialogue in the context of the southern Philippines; he was followed by reactions from two respondents. Father Antonio de Castro SJ, a Church historian originally from Mindanao, and Sister Lilian Curaming FMM, an Islamic expert engaged in Muslim-Christian dialogue, gave their perceptive reflections on the LaRousse paper. A lively open forum completed the lengthy mission symposium. The proceedings of the PACM Mission Conference 2002 have been published in Landas (Loyola School of Theology) [16 (2002): 273- 311].

The Third PACM Plenary Assembly (2003) was held in Cebu; the Mission Conference was hosted by the Seminario Mayor de San Carlos. The conference theme was devoted to ‘Inculturation in the Chinese-Filipino Context’. Father Jose Vidamor B. Yu LRMS gave the keynote address, outlining the challenges, phases, and possibilities of genuine inculturation of the faith in the ‘Chinoy’ context. Two dynamic responses to the Yu presentation were given by Sr Catherine S. Cheong FI and Fr Aristotle C. Dy SJ. The three presentations are available in Landas [17 (2003): 201-241].

Again, in the context of the annual, three-day plenary assembly, the PACM, meeting in Davao and hosted by St Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary and the Maryknoll Fathers, sponsored Mission Conference 2004. The focus of the gathering centered on ‘BECs as Evangelizing Communities: Challenges’. Three PACM members spoke: Sr Fe Mendoza RGS, Msgr Manuel G. Gabriel, and Fr James H. Kroeger MM. Published proceedings are found in Landas [18 (2004): 265-308].

For its 2005 assembly the PACM journeyed to Naga and was hosted by Holy Rosary Major Seminary and the Universidad de Sta Isabel. Note that a theological / major seminary or school of theology is always requested to hold the annual mission conference; the PACM views this as one small way to inject missiological discussion into seminary formation. The topic for the Naga event was: ‘The Church’s Mission of Evangelization in Asia: FABC Perspectives’. [Editor’s note: the FABC is the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences.] Speakers included Fr James H. Kroeger MM, Archbishop Leonardo Legaspi OP of Caceres, and Joy Candelario of the FABC Youth Desk. The documents are available in Landas [19 (2005); 175-219].

Migration and Mission

Cagayan de Oro and Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary were the venue for the 2006 PACM gathering. The Mission Conference theme explored ‘Migration and Mission’. Speakers included: Fr Fabio Baggio CS of the Scalabrini Migration Center, Fr James H. Kroeger MM, and Fr Edwin Corros CS of the CBCP Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. Publication of the proceedings is currently in progress.

In Manila the Lorenzo Mission Institute and San Carlos School of Theology hosted the 2007 PACM assembly. ‘God’s Global Household: A Theology of Mission in the Context of Globalization’ was the relevant theme for the event. Presenters were Fr Andrew G. Recepcion, Ms Teresa Medrano-Ganzon, and Mr Dominador Bombongan, Jr. Publication of the talks is foreseen.

Future with a vision

Plans are already being formulated for the 2008 PACM Plenary Assembly and Mission Conference. It is proposed that the gathering be held in Iloilo in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Jaro and St Joseph Regional Seminary. The topic chosen for Mission Conference 2008 is: ‘Storytelling as a Mission Methodology in the Context of Asia’. Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle DD of Imus will serve as the keynote speaker. His presentation, along with further discussion by PACM members, will build upon the insights of the October 2006 Asian Mission Congress held in Thailand.

In the vision of PACM, effective mission today needs both practitioner evangelists as well as theologian visionaries. To insightfully identify the trends, challenges, and theological questions – and to offer missiological insight – can help lay the groundwork for more fruitful mission endeavors on the part of the many laborers in the field. In a word, there is an ongoing, even urgent, need for a body like PACM to engage the missiological questions of the third millennium of Christianity. Thus, PACM desires to do its small share, to make its humble contribution, to enable the Local Church of the Philippines become a fully missionary faith community. A professional group of missiologists like PACM (though it is less than 20 members at this time) sees its yeast-like role within the Local Church. From a very modest origin in 2001, its mission contribution can grow and expand. In addition, PACM realizes that it is only one of the many, praise-worthy evangelistic initiatives existing in the Philippine Church.

God’s project

Presently, in addition to its own internal activities, PACM members teach missiology in eleven major seminaries or schools of theology. They work in close collaboration with the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Mission, the Pontifical Mission Societies of the Philippines, the Philippine Catholic Mission Council, the FABC Office of Evangelization, and the International Association of Catholic Missiologists. PACM members have written theological and catechetical books with a mission focus; they have collaborated with various media initiatives; they make themselves available for conferences, workshops, and seminars.

PACM members see themselves ‘at the service of mission’ within the Local Church; they are profoundly aware that mission always remains ‘God’s Project’ and that the Holy Spirit is ‘the principal agent of mission’. They follow the view that the Church - each Local Church - by her very nature is missionary, that evangelization is her proper vocation, her deepest identity. In a word, the Church exists in order to evangelize; likewise, for PACM, to live is to evangelize!

Father Kroeger may be contacted at:
Maryknoll Fathers; Greenhills Post Office
Box 285, San Juan City, 1502 Metro
Manila, Philippines. His e-mail address
is: jkroeger@admu.edu.ph

RELATED WEBSITES

FABC: www.fabc.org
CBCP: www.cbcponline.net
Maryknoll Mission Family:
www.maryknoll.org

Columban Father Saenz is from the USA. He did some of his studies in Manila and has contributed to these pages on a number of occasions before. Misyon’s editorial office is in Bacolod City where the cathedral is dedicated to San Sebastian, patron of the diocese.

In 1995, while on my First Mission Assignment as a seminarian, I was assigned to San Sebastian parish, Puerto Saavedra, in southern Chile. According to history, San Sebastian was a lay martyr in the early 4th century. He was a Roman military officer who became a Christian and refused to declare the Emperor Diocletian as divine, becoming an early ‘conscientious objector’. Sebastian was sentenced to death, tied to a tree and shot with several arrows. In Puerto Saavedra there is a wooden carving of his image, brought to Puerto Saavedra some 100 years ago by Italian Capuchins, depicting this death. There a great devotion grew and on San Sebastian’s feast day, 20 January, thousands of pilgrims come to celebrate and pay their ‘mandas’.

Bargaining spiritually
Mandas are promises a pilgrim makes to a saint. Promises often consist of making a vow to visit the saint on his feast day for a number of years with an offering of money. In return the saint will fulfill the desire or wish of the pilgrim. To a western outsider it sounds like a bargain is made: ‘if I do this for you, you will do that for me’. Often I questioned this ‘bargaining spirituality’, considering it backwards and infantile. After all, wouldn’t the money be better spent in buying food for the poor pilgrims’ families? Wasn’t prayer enough?

During that time I was preparing young people for confirmation in a small rural chapel in a place called
Yarquenco. I would arrive Sunday afternoon by bus, teach catechism, stay the night with the community and return in the morning. This provided a great opportunity to share with the families. One family, the Lipans, had three of their four daughters preparing for confirmation. As the feast of San Sebastian approached, the family became excited and made great preparations. One day the father,
Alonso Lipan, told me that he was ready to pay his manda to the saint.Inwardly, I groaned and thought ‘another one!’ I asked Alonso why he was paying the manda. He explained.

In need of a miracle
Alonso’s oldest daughter, Maritza, had developed a tumor on her spine between the shoulder blades when she was a year old. She had three operations and the doctors took flesh from Alonso’s leg as a tissue transplant to close Maritza’s wound. However, her health did not improve. There was nothing more that could be done. Therefore, Alonso offered only what he had left – his faith. On the feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December, he took Maritza to Temuco to the shrine dedicated to the Virgin and there placed her under her protection and that of San Sebastian. Furthermore, he promised San Sebastian to visit his shrine in Puerto Saavedra on his feast day for twenty years and to give an annual offering. In return, Alonso asked for good health for Maritza.

Fellowship with the choir

Dawning understanding
My thoughts turned back to the image of San Sebastian in Puerto Saavedra. He is bound, helpless and defenseless. His body is wounded by arrows. Yet, his eyes are looking to the heavens above. It is an expression of offering all that he has left – his faith. I looked at Alonso Lipan and saw the same – a helpless man who can do no more than give his faith. Like San Sebastian, who greatly loved his God and refused to surrender to the emperor, Alonso greatly loved his daughter and refused to surrender to her illness. His spirituality was not backwards or infantile, it was a complete dependence on God. His manda was not a bargain but a prayer of great faith. It was a faith that was stronger than mine. Then I realized my previous view of a ‘bargaining spirituality’ was badly misplaced.

In 2006 I visited Alonso, Maritza and the family. Maritza is now almost thirty, lives in Santiago with one of her sisters, and is working. Life is not easy but Maritza is healthy and happy. Alonso, even though has completed the manda, continues to visit San Sebastian on his feast. Alonso’s faith was enough to give Maritza life.

In 2007 I visited Rome. I went to the basilica and catacombs of San Sebastian. There I saw the tomb of the saint in the basilica and I remembered the Lipan family of Chile. I looked up at the ornate ceiling and saw the image of San Sebastian, tied to the tree and with arrows in his body, helpless yet with an expression full of faith. Often in life, faith is all we have to bargain with. The Lipan family taught me the true meaning of this.

You may email the author at gcsz99@gmail.com or write him at:
Padres de San Columbano, Casilla 311,
Correo 22, SANTIAGO, CHILE