SUPERHEROES OF FAITH

 

Superman, Spiderman, Batman, .... They are known as superheroes, men who possess extraordinary strength and character. Even if they are regarded as such, still they are like us. They are also human beings because they behave, think, and live like the way we do. Superman, for instance, works as an office clerk: Spiderman, on the other hand, wants to be great in photography. Each of them was called to carry that special power to be used to defend the oppressed and fight the evil forces aiming to destroy mankind. Some of them were unaware of it and hardly understood why it happened to them. Others showed resistance and felt uncertainties. Though they could have refused and ran away but it seemed inevitable. In the long run, they could do nothing but accept it. Ordinary as they regarded themselves, yet, they embraced with all their might, their calling, their fate, whether it is a curse or a gift. In effect, they opted to live an ordinary life, as ordinary persons but did their work extraordinarily. They encountered more difficulties in revealing their real self than their super self. Indeed, this takes an extraordinary effort to comply and traverse two diverged roads.

Next, they chose to be celibates although they do fall in love. Celibacy is not an escape from married life but a self-dedication in serving others. Anyway, loving someone does not always mean marrying the person. They were never alone. A lot of people love them even without their knowledge. Many admire them for their great deeds. People are longing for their presence. Both the young and the old, man or woman, are excited and amazed to see them. Even if they do not have their beloved with them, still they have these people who love them.

In their context, to have diversity of power is not a reason of having conflict with others who have superpowers too. Neither superiority complex nor inferiority complex is experienced within the group. Did Superman do something to outmaneuver either Spiderman or Batman so that he will be regarded as the greatest? No, he didn't and the others also never did it. They've respected each other's gift and mission. What preoccupied them is their desire to serve and to do their work well. Moreover, they were given different gifts, wherein each has corresponding responsibility. In addition to that, they sprang from different eras and they used their power to support one another and not to compete with each other.

Superheroes last forever. Their immortality relies on the works they have done. I have first known them when I was still a child. They were there in the past, evident in the present, and definitely will be remembered in the future. People from all walks of life and from many generations still have them in their hearts. Their legacy is still cherished and admired, and such makes them immortals. For sure superheroes are not real. In the Philippine setting, we also have the like of Captain Barbel and Darna just to mention a few. They are comic characters. They only exist in the imagination or fictional for that matter. Nevertheless, one thing is certain. They can inspire us to do exemplary things, to do an ordinary work in an extraordinary way.

In the real world, somehow we find superheroes existing in the persona of PRIESTS by these indicators similar to that of Superman and the like. First, priests are ordinary persons but they do their work extraordinarily with the grace of God who calls them to be His ministers despite of being sinners like the rest of mankind.

Priests live a celibate life. Some may have fallen in love but they have sacrificed themselves for the sake of service to others. They are never alone because the whole clergy and Christian community are there. If not so, definitely Christ is with them.

Priesthood is not in conflict with other offices that hold power too. Priests cooperate with other sectors to promote the common good.

Priests last forever. “You will be a priest forever.” To use the words of Karl Rahner in his writing entitled, “A Priest  Forever”, “The priest is a man taken from among men. He is not made from another kind of clay that the rest of us. He continues to share the lot of men after the hand of God has rested on him in the form of the bishop’s hand. As human messengers of the everlasting God, they say, ‘Do not be scandalized at us. We know we carry God’s treasure in vessels of clay; we know that our own shadow keeps darkening God’s light, which we ought to bring to you. Be merciful toward us; don’t judge us; feel sympathy with us weaklings, on whose shoulders God has loaded more grace than what we carry. From it learn that God has no horror of human beings. Blessed will you be then, those of you who have not been scandalized at the priest.” May God bless us all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catechesis for Solemnity of All Saints

 

 TODOS LOS SANTOS 2024

l Ro mga nahaunang sumueonod ni Kristo Hesus nagpangatubang sa mga paghingabot kanda eabi ku mga makagagahum nga Judeo kamana it Sanhedrin (Acts 8:1). Ro hauna nga nagpangatubang sa mga paghingabot ag ginpili nga mamatay nga may pagtuo hay si St. Stephen (Acts 7: 54-60).

 l Ro mga sumueonod ni KristoHesus nga nag-atubang sa paghingabot ag ginpili nga mamatay nga may pagtuo kaysa sa talikdan ro andang pagtuo hay ginatawag nga “martires” nga ro buot hambaeon “testigo”. Sanda hay ginakabig nga testigo bangud anda nga ginpamatud-an ro andang pagtuo paagi sa pag-uea it andang dugo.  

 l Ro andang kaisog sa pagbaton it kamatayon nga may pagtuo hay nagasandig sa ginturo ni Kristo Hesus (Matthew 5: 11-12)

 “Bulahan kamo kon tungod sa inyo pagsunod sa akon ginayaguta kamo, ginahingabot, kag ginabutang-butangan sang tanan nga kalainan. Amo man ini ang ila ginhimo sang una sa mga propeta. Gani magkalipay gid kamo tungod nga mabaton ninyo ang dako nga balos sa langit.”

 l Dugang sa mga ginapangatubang nga paghingabot ku mga sumueonod ni Kristo Hesus hay ro paghingabot kanda it Roman Empire bangud indi sanda magsimba sa emperador it Roma bilang Dios o bisan dyos-dyosan. Si St. Paul hay nag-atubang sa kamatayon sa alima it mga Romano nga may pagtuo (2 Timoteo 4: 7-8)

 “Gintipigan ko ang akon pagtuo. Kag karon, may ginatigana ang Dios sa akon nga padya sang pagkamatarong nga iya igahatag sa akon sa adlaw nga siya maghukom sa tanan, kag ang iya paghukom matarong. Indi lang ako ang gintigan-an sina nga padya kundi ang tanan man nga nagapaabot sa iya pagbalik.”

 l  Kombinsido nga ro mga martires namatay nga may pagtuo ag nakabaton eon it balos o padya it Dios sa eangit, ro mga nagakabuhi sa kalibutan nga tumueo-o nagapangamuyo kanda nga buligan ag ig-ampo sanda sa Dios nga kaibahan nanda sa eangit.

 l Sa pagtaliwan it paniempo, natapos eon gid man ro mga paghingabot sa mga sumueonod ni Kristo Hesus, pero padayon gihapon ro pagkabuhi it mga sumueonod ni Kristo Hesus nga may pagtuo. Bisan pa nga owa pinatay bangud sa pagtuo hay may mga sumueonod ni Kristo Hesus nga nagkabuhi it matarong sa rayang kalibutan ag namatay nga ginpakita kon mauno magkabuhi ro isaeang sumueonod ni Kristo Hesus suno sa Ana nga mga bilin o sugo. Raya nga mga tawo ginakabig it Simbahan nga mga santos ag santas it Dios.

 l Ngani ro mga martires ag santos ag santas it Dios nga nauna sa eangit hay mabahoe gid nga bulig sa mga tumueo-o nga nagakabuhi pa sa kalibutan nga igaampo sanda sa Dios.

 l Sa Roma may templo nga kato anay ginatawag nga “Pantheon” (pan = tanan + theo = Dios o buot hambaeon hay baeay it tanan nga dios o dyos-dyosan), hay haadto sa pagtina-eapan ku Simbahan ag ginpamaeos idto ro mga dyos-dyosan ag ginpa-eabi nga mangin simbahan nga ginpangaean kay Santa Maria ag sa tanan nga mga santos ag santas. Ginpakamayad gid it Simbahan nga magtukod it adlaw nga pyesta it tanan nga mga santos ag santas it Dios bangud indi tanan nga nabuhi ag namatay para sa Dios hay mapangaeanan it Simbahan ag makata-eana it adlaw nga pyesta kanda.

 l Ro paghiwat it Todos los Santos hay indi eamang pagpadungog sa mga kilaea nga mga santos o santas kamana kanday San Isidro o Santa Maria de la Cabeza nga may anda nga kinaugalingon nga pyesta, kundi sa mga nabuhi ag namatay nga nagapakasantos o santas man ugaling wa eang haabot sa igta-eupangod ku Simbahan.

 l   Ro paghiwat it Todos los Santos hay pagpadumdom sa mga buhi nga sumueonod ni Kristo Hesus sa kalibutan ku anda nga pagaadtunan (John 3:16)

 “Kay ginahigugma gid sang Dios ang mga tawo sa kalibutan, amo gani nga ginhatag niya ang iya bugtong nga Anak, agod nga ang bisan sin-o nga magtuo sa iya indi mawala kundi hatagan sang kabuhi nga wala sing katapusan.”

Homily on my Mom's Funeral

Ours is not a story of a fatherless family. Our story is about a wife and a mother whose life reflects these words of Proverbs 31: 28-29: Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband, too, praises her: “Many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all.”

We, the six children of Mary Jane Yu Acevedo Rebaldo, call her blessed; this does not mean that she should be declared a saint. Rather, she is called blessed because she received God’s favor. The first favor she always prayed for is that her children remain one and united. What a curse for a mother to see her children fighting against each other? But a mother is called blessed when her children love one another. Why blessed? Well, in our oneness and unity, we are likened to a jigsaw puzzle that when we put ourselves together, people can see the image of our mother. But when we cannot connect to each other, when we are divided, there will be no reminder for people who our mother is.

Mommy believed that the greatest blessing a family can receive from God is the gift of priesthood. She believed that a priest can save all his family members both living and dead by praying and saying mass for them. This is the second favor mommy prayed for –to have a priest in the family.

She started hoping to receive this God’s favor through Nong Regnier ag Nong Boyet. Ro daywa nanging sakristan anay ni Msgr. Jose Iturralde ag nagasunod-sunod man si Nong Regnier kay Fr. Jeoffry Jimenez sa anang milisahan. Tag magasueod eon kunta si Nong Regnier sa seminaryo, ginhawiran imaw ni Mama ro nanay ni mommy. Hambae nana hay abu ro eaki sa mga unga ni mommy para magpari pero ipaiway guid ro kamagueangan hay imaw ro katimbang it ginikanan sa pagbantay it pamilya. Si mommy nagpasugot but she continued to ask for God’s gift of the priesthood para sa pamilya. Ro pangamuyo ni mommy istan lang ginpamatian it Dios. Si Nong Ruben nakaasawa it unga it Diakono (deacon) it Iglesia ni Kristo. Samtang si Nong Randy nakaasawa it gumankon it pari nga si Msgr. Mesina.

Mommy’s fantastic four hay ginbunyagan ag ginpangaeanan nga Anthony Regnier, Anthony Raymar, Ruben Anthony ag Randy Anthony. Ro andang ngaean hay gintuead ni mommy sa pinalangga na nga magueang nga si Atty. Anthony Acevedo ag sa anda nga santos nga sangay nga si San Antonio de Padua. Para sa kasayuran it tanan, si San Antonio de Padua hay patron it kada Martes. Si mommy nagtaliwan ku July 30, 2019 adlaw guid nga martes, ro adlaw nga gintaeana para kay San Antonio de Padua.

These fantastic four hay kon magtawag sa among ginikanan hay Nanay ag Tatay pero kami ni Neneng Myra, Mommy ag Papa mat-a. Si Neneng Myra hay sambilog eamang nga baye sa magmanghud. Pinakapalangga imaw ni papa. Palangga man imaw ni Mommy bangud imaw eamang ro ginhawiran ni mommy nga magpabilin kana sa baeay. Ro bilin ni Nanay, si Neneng Myra sa baeay. Dugang nga handum ni mommy hay ro unga ni Neneng Myra nga si Baby Jesus hay manging pari man.

Si mommy hay atat na atat, sabik na sabik, gigil na gigil, nga may magpari sa pamilya. Pero hambae na kang wa ako sa plano na nga magaabot sa anang kabuhi. Bangud una eon kuno ako sa anang tiyan, nangamuyo imaw nga mangin pari guid ako sa pag-ampo ni St. Jude Thaddeus. Ginbunyagan ako nga Jude Isidro, ro ngaean nga wa gaumpisa sa letrang R ag wa man eon it Anthony. Ginbunyagan man ako nga pari ro akon nga ninong, si Fr. Pabs Rentino. Kon ro mga inunga kato hay nagakabisar it “A-B-C”, ako mat-a hay ginapauman-uman nga maghambae “gapari ako”. Tag ginsampok ako sa dahi sang igkampod it dust pan nga himo sa lata nga Baguio Oil, imbes magbaeos ako, si mommy gahambae nga magpasensya bangud kon gapari ako hay ro pari kinahangean mapinasensyahon ag mapinatawaron. Tag gintuli ako, owa it inugpotos ro manugtuli ngani maong ro gingamit na kang. Abaw tag adlaw nga ginapaeos eon ro maong hay indi ana bangud nagadukot sa panit. Kasakit ag ngani gatinangis ako. Si mommy samtang amat amat na ginabadbad ro maong nagahambae kang, nano eot-a ra, di ka eon pwede mag-asawa kon mawra. Kato eon nagtanum sa akong isip nga gapari lang guid ako.

Bangud ako magapari, gintur-an ako ni mommy magpangamuyo. Palapangamuyo abi imaw eabi eon kon makabati imaw nga may mga namatyan, maduaw guid maw para mangamuyo. Nadumduman ko tag si papa hay masakiton sa ospital, adlaw-gabii kami gapangamuyo ag ako ro gapamatbat. Si Papa namatay hay grade 3 ako. Ro tatay ni Mommy namatay hay grade 3 si mommy. Si Papa namatay sa edad nga 47 ag si mommy kato hay 43. Si mommy namatay sa edad nga 77 ag ang edad kara hay 43. Like mother, like son guid kaming daywa.

Tag magasueod eon ako sa seminaryo, gindaea ako nanday Mommy, Mama ag Lola Mary kay Uncle Tony ag Aunty Taty para magpabulig sa galastusan sa sueod it 13 anyos sa seminaryo. Tag gahayskol ako sa seminaryo, masakiton ako. Ginhana ako nga paguwaon bangud abo eon ako nga absences. Ro ginhimo ni Mommy hay gindaea na si Ninang Liezel sa seminaryo para himoong ninong ko sa kumpirma si Fr. Vic Martelino. Si Fr. Vic hay rector kato sa seminaryo ag si Ninang Liezel ana nga sister. Ngani owa guid ako hasipa paguwa sa seminaryo hay ninong ko eon abi ro rector. Tag sa college eon ako hay si Fr. Alex Acevedo Meñez man ro amon nanging rector. Kaistrikto guid kana ag ngani gaguwa eon lang ako sa seminaryo bangud indi ako katakod. Pagkasayud ni Fr. Alex nga maguwa ako hay ana ako minueay. Kahuya huya kuno ako nga manging unga ni Nang Jane na. Bilang kaeapit baeay ag igkampod, kilaea na si mommy nga maisog it boot ag wa gapaeagyo sa mga kabudlayan. Ano kuno ako agi nga sangkere nga problema hay maeagyo. Nachallenge ako. Gintapos ko ro college para pamatud-an kay Fr. Alex nga eaki guid ako. Nagpadayon ako sa Iloilo magtoon pero pag-abot it 1998, nag-eaong eon ako kay mommy nga indi eon ako magpari bangud nabudlayan ako. Ginpasueang eon gani ako kato ni Mama ag ni La Mary kanday Nong Regnier ag Nong Boyet sa Barotac Viejo. Pero owa ako kanda nagsunod pauli hay hambae ko kanda gusto ko lang taposon anay ro school year. Wa ako kasayod nga sa andang pagsueang kang nag-umpisa ro sigedas nga pagpinangamuyo ag sakripisyo ni mommy. Nakaabot imaw kon siin-siin sa pagpangamuyo ag maghaead it kandila ag itlog para eang ako magpari. Nakibot eang ro tanan nga ako paga-ordinahan sa pagkapari. Ako man gani nakibot. Si Fr. Kenn Estocado ro akon classmate halin sa kinder asta nagpari sayod na nga milagro kun bukon it himala nga ako magapari. Para kakon nadaea ni Mommy sa pangamuyo ro pagpari ko. Bago ako ordinahan hambae ko kana, “Mommy, nahadlok ako basi di ko kaya.” Ana eang ako ginsabat nga mangamuyo lang. Hambae na indi na ako pag-aywanan bisan ano matabo. Gintindugan guid ni mommy ro ana nga promisa kang hasta nga umabot ro adlaw nga gauli imaw pagkatapos na magklase hay tinama imaw it bola nga volleyball sa ueo ag tumumba imaw ag nalipong guid. Umpisa kato hay wa pahuway nga ginabalik balik imaw sa ospital sa pagpabueong. 

Ku July 28, ginbadlisan imaw ni Fr. Jesse Pandongon sa bulig ni Fr. Ike Temporaza nga taga Tangalan. Nadumduman ko nga si papa ginbadlisan kato ni Fr. Frederick Malacas sa bulig ni nang Nelfa Tungala nga taga Tangalan man. Ro Tangalan hay hometown ku amon nga tatay ag kon siin sanday Nong Regnier ag Nong Boyet nagserbisyo bilang Kabataang Barangay Chairman ag Kagawad. Sanday Nong Regnier ag Nong Boyet ro gintugyanan ni papa nga proteksyunan si mommy ag kami nga andang mga manghud.

Para sa kasayuran man it tanan, sanday Fr. Pandongon ag Msgr. Malacas hay nanging kibahan ko sa St. Jude Parish anay ag si St. Jude Thaddeus ro natuonan nga pinakapaborito nga santo ni mommy. Dugang pa kara, ro gamisa makaron hay si Msgr. Nestor Nalangan, igkampod ni mommy ag imaw guid ra ro nagturo kang maghiwat it primero ko nga misa cantada pagka-ordin. Sa primero ko nga misa cantada, soksok ko ro stola nga ginbasbasan ni Bishop Gabriel Reyes. Ro stola ngato hay makaron sa alima eon ni mommy. Indi Philippine Flag o Santo Rosario ro ginpadaea ko kana kundi ang stola. Mommy will not face God empty-handed but will bring my blessed stole with her to present it to God humbly saying: “Lord God, salamat may pari ako nga unga. I am blessed and now I have come to take my rest.” God will surely tell her this, “Mary Jane, many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all. Come and rest with me. Amen.”

Roland and Mary's Wedding

Roland and Mary, you both experienced how to love and be loved. You also experienced getting hurt in the name of love. You were hurt because even if you desire to love forever, situations such as the loss of one’s passion or the death of a beloved, have left you all alone, broken and empty.

It is good to love. But once you have lost the one you love, you become afraid to love anymore. You are afraid to get hurt in the name of love. But Roland and Mary, you cannot escape from the fact that God who created you is love; and because He is love, time will come and has come for you to realize that you are meant to be with someone to live in love.

Roland and Mary, you have found your special someone when you started to love each other for being who you are. No matter what you have been through over the past years or what kind of person you are in the mind of others, as long as you love each other, it is enough to open your hearts again before God. Do not be afraid to love again. Do not fear. 1 John 4: 18 states, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.”

Roland and Mary, embrace the fact that this time everything will be different. Somehow, you will find it difficult not to compare your present relationship with your previous relationships. This is ok. But it is still better to thank God for all the past hurts in the past relationships. You see, despite your sad experiences, you still have the chance to love again and be happy to celebrate love again. 

Roland, thank God for giving you Mary –she is a very loving woman and she loves you the way other women cannot do. Mary, thank God for giving you Roland –not only because he is handsome but also he is very supportive in all your endeavors. Roland and Mary, thank God for giving both of you your second chance to live with someone in love. Amen.

Rey Jenald and Maecel Joy's Wedding

Is it possible for a young couple to truly be in love? Many in our society raise their doubts on young couples like you, Rey Jenald and Maecel Joy, to celebrate true love. They believe that true love comes only for those who reach the age of maturity. But how can you believe this if you can find some adults or older people who said theirs is true love yet their marriage ends in divorce or separation? Moreover, there are couples who got married at a young age and still they remain in their marriage because they love each other until one or both of them die.   

Rey Jenald and Maecel Joy, the truth is, both the young ones and the once young, hardly delineate what true love is. Yet, all may agree that when couples love each other until death, theirs is indeed true love. In saying this, all may concur that love is true when  it lasts for a lifetime. And if you, Rey Jenald and Maecel Joy , believe in a fairy tale love story, the two of you share such faith and hope that true love does not just last for a lifetime; rather it lasts forever. Nevertheless, whether love shall last for a lifetime or it should be forever, what matters most is that what you Rey Jenald and Maecel Joy feel for each other is love. Love is what all you need. Love leads you to each other, and that same love shall lead both of you to God because He is the source of love. 1 John 4: 7 states, "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God." 

Rey Jenald and Maecel Joy, look at how love has led you to each other. The first time you met during the celebration of the feast of our dear Sto. Nino, you were sixteen or seventeen then yet you were able to start a good relationship with each other. Despite the advices from your elders to focus on your studies, you were able to give time to your studies as well as to your relationship. You did not want to disobey and disappoint your elders but you did not want to lose each other either. So, you tried to make your relationship discreet.The biggest challenge of your secret relationship was how to keep it secret all the time. There were even trials in your relationship created by physical distance as Rey Jenald went to Manila while you were left here in Aklan, Maecel Joy. But look how far you have come! As your love has led you to each other, it has also led both of you to God. Yesterday, you celebrated your last anniversary as boyfriend and girlfriend , but today you are here before the altar of God to ask for His blessings to begin your life as husband and wife. 

Rey Jenald and Maecel Joy, you have shown us that it is possible for a young couple like you to truly be in love. Your Church wedding today indicates that you are both truly in love. Now that you are married, remain in love. You have your lifetime to stay together and love each other. Trials and tribulations may still come your way. Bigger challenges may at once disturb your relationship. But as long as you love each other, you have what you need as husband and wife to keep your relationship sacred. Whether or not others would say yours is true love or puppy love, or any kind of love, as long as both of you believe that it is love and you act upon such belief, you will not falter to live as husband and wife. Remain in love and you have what you necessarily need to accomplish what you have started in a relationship. Ephesians 4:2 states, "With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love." Thus,  Rey Jenald and Maecel Joy, love each other until death. Amen.

Mia and Frank's Wedding

Life is beautiful. Regardless of circumstances, life is beautiful. There are many times however that unpleasant circumstances beat a person down that he/she fails to see its beauty.  Life then becomes a struggle for survival. One merely exists and hardly remembers that life is beautiful.  Even Job, one of the famous Bible figures, shared the same sentiment as he said, "Man born of woman is short-lived and full of trouble" (Job 14:1). The Book of Psalms (90:10)  also states, "Seventy is the sum of our years, or eighty, if we are strong; Most of them are toil and sorrow; they pass quickly, and we are gone." 

Eventually, with all its struggles and troubles, life is reduced as a matter of existence. But we are not here on earth just to exist. We are here to live because life is beautiful. God Himself assures us this when He said, "For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope" (Jeremiah 29:11). If we put our hope in His words, God can make a  beautiful life rise from any unpleasant circumstances. "And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts" (Romans 5:5). 

Dear Mia and Frank, life is beautiful because of the love of God for us. It is the love of God, and not our past, which determines our future. God said, "Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; See, I am doing something new!" (Isaiah 43:18-19). Because God loves us, He makes our unpleasant circumstances a blessing in disguise -to start anew. At first, we may not understand what is happening in our life. But later we shall realize God makes all things come right. So that at the end, we can say, life is indeed beautiful. 

Mia and Frank,  look how far you have come and you have become. I believe you see your life as somewhat beautiful being with each other.  It is written on your invitation letter, "It is with great joy that we invite you to share in our happiness." You will never say this if your life is not beautiful despite both of you experienced a kind of heartache caused by someone's broken vow. But let me tell you this, your life is beautiful as it is God who has led you to each other. Because God loves you, He makes your life beautiful. Because God loves you, He chooses you for each other -to love and be loved. Because God loves you, love has been poured out in your hearts. As an act of your gratitude to God, Mia and Frank, always love God first as a couple. Romans 8: 28 has this to say, "We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." This means that those who love God may expect that their life is and will always be beautiful regardless of their circumstances. Though they may not understand why some things have to happen, they just have to believe that God has a purpose i.e., to make life beautiful. 

Mia and Frank, your wedding tonight is an expression of your love for God. Though you can be together without the benefit of a Church's wedding, still you choose to ask for His blessing to live as husband and wife. Truly, there is no better way to show your love for God but to let Him continue His work which He started prior to your wedding.  To end, Mia and Frank, have no fear to live together because God is with you. Just remember the marriage of St. Joseph and Mary. God brought them together and He never abandoned them. So shall it be for you, Frank "Joseph" and "Maria" Melissa, God has brought you together in front of His altar. He would not bring you this far just to abandon you later. Rather, He will see to it that at the end of your long and well-spent life, you can say with confidence: Thank God for the gift of life, for another chance to live and love, which is beautiful. Amen.

Sr. Sto Niño de Kalibo 2020

Here we go again! Many people celebrate the feast of Sr. Sto. Niño here in Kalibo but only few understand why we celebrate the said feast. Even some Kalibeños or Kalibonhons are confused about the reason for the celebration. Why? This is because of the various versions of its origin.

When we were young, we used to present the “Barter of Panay Reenactment” during our Boy Scouts’ gathering or camping. We were told then that “Kalibo Ati-Atihan” started when in 1200 A.D., ten Bornean Datus led by Datu Puti were allowed to settle in Panay Island by the Ati tribe, in exchange for a golden salakot, brass basins, bales of cloth and a long necklace. A celebration followed thereafter the exchange. Because of this story of “Barter of Panay”, it is said that the celebration was originally a pagan festival. It was only during the Spanish Period that the Catholic Church placed a Christian meaning on it and celebrated it as a religious festival through what is called inculturation.

However, on May 9, 2013, it was written in Madyaas Pen, a local newspaper, by Mr. Odon S. Bandiola, that there was no Barter of Panay that ever happened between the Bornean Datus and the Aeta natives, not so in any province in Panay Island, neither in Aklan. This statement was stressed by Professor Jose Eleazar Bersales and in so far as the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the National Commission on the Culture and the Arts were concerned, the Barter of Panay is a hoax. It was also said that Ati-Atihan all over Aklan have no historical basis. It could never be associated with an event which never happened.

With this contention, there is no good reason to celebrate an event when the event that gives us reason to celebrate does not exist at all. We have to settle then with this knowledge that the origin of our celebration here in Kalibo can never be farther from the celebration of the feast of the Sto. Niño in Cebu. It is written in history that the statue of the Sto. Niño was found in 1565 by Spanish explorers led by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. This Sto. Niño was given by Magellan to the wife of Rajah Humabon as a gift after the latter’s baptism to Christianity. The devotion to the Sr. Sto. Niño is neither a legend nor a fiction but factual and real. This is why the former Bishop of Kalibo, Msgr. Gabriel V. Reyes exhorted the local government of Kalibo then to call this celebration as Kalibo Sto. Niño Ati-Atihan and not only Kalibo Ati-Atihan. This is why we celebrate this feast in honor of our dear Sto. Niño because Sr. Sto. Niño is real and historical to us. This is why we shout out loud: Viva kay Sr. Sto. Niño and not Viva Datu Puti. The origin of this celebration is our devotion to Sr. Sto. Niño, and the reason why we celebrate this feast is Sr. Sto. Niño Himself who works in our personal story and even in our history.

I remember when I was assigned at St. Jude Parish, a woman was carrying her 5 year old son and she asked me to bless the dress which her son would wear. Some minutes after the blessing, I was surprised to see the boy dressed up as a Sr. Sto. Niño. But I was even surprised to learn that the woman was not a Catholic. She said she must have dressed her son in a Sr. Sto. Niño costume to express her gratitude to God. She said she gave birth to a dying son and someone told him to pray to Sr. Sto. Niño to save his life. She made then a promise to provide her son a dress like that of the Sr. Sto. Niño if her prayer for her son would be granted. The rest of her story is now a religious history.

This is why my dear friends, do not forget the religious or spiritual reason for this celebration –i.e., to foster our devotion to Sr. Sto. Niño. But this is more complicated nowadays. The government’s main thrust in celebrating the feast is to promote tourism and not to foster our devotion to Sr. Sto. Niño. This was the reason why the former President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared our celebration of the feast of Sr. Sto. Niño as the “Mother of all Philippine Native Festivals” to promote Kalibo as a premier tourism destination in Aklan aside from Boracay. She even “sadsad” after giving this statement to Aklanons in 2006. With her declaration, it boosts tourism in Kalibo. This sounds good for our local economy but not so good for the Church. Let us compare the former president’s declaration with the Holy See’s declaration that the Minor Basilica of the Holy Child or Sr. Sto. Niño in Cebu is the Mother and Head of all Churches in the Philippines. After the Sinulog Festival, people still go there to the church because of their devotion to Sr. Sto. Niño. Even without the festival, guests and tourists enter the church as pilgrims. How about us in Kalibo? After the Kalibo Sto. Niño Ati-Atihan, can we still see devotees and pilgrims in our Cathedral praying before our dear Sto. Niño? Hopefully, we Kalibonhons, do not forget, we have the duty to foster our devotion to Sr. Sto. Niño and be proud to cry aloud, “Viva kay Sto. Niño!”