It’s definitely a complex question to answer. We can say,
of course, that many good things have indeed happened, have indeed
been accomplished, etc., but neither can we deny that there are still
many issues to be tackled, problems to be solved, things to be done.
I suppose this is how things in general will always be.
There will always be lights and shadows, progress in some areas and
deficiencies and failures in others. But we just have to move on and
do our best to chart a more clear and coordinated way to live our
Christianity, personally and collectively, better. This will always be
a work in progress, never a finished project in our earthly life.
I believe the first thing to do is to be profusely and
sincerely thankful to God for the countless graces we have received
through the history of our nation. We have to be thankful that as a
people, we already had a strong religious inclination even before
Christianity came to our shore.
We already believed in some deity, in some spiritual and
supernatural beings, etc., albeit mixed with a lot of superstitions.
In this regard, we showed ourselves as a simple and a believing
people, open and receptive to the Christian faith when it finally came
to us.
Despite the heavy drama that played out in the
Christianization of our country, we can confidently, even proudly say
that we are a Christian nation that also knows how to be open,
tolerant and friendly to a variety of other religions and beliefs.
This can easily be shown by the many manifestations of popular piety
that we can see in many parts of our country.
In Cebu, for example, the devotion to the Child Jesus
(Sto. Nino) is strong and widespread. In Manila, we have the devotion
to the Black Nazarene. The celebration of the feasts of patron saints
is practiced everywhere. We have the “Simbang Gabi” tradition. And
each liturgical season, as in Lent, Easter, Advent, has its peculiar
way of living it. Thanks to God, we have a good number of priestly and
religious vocations in the seminaries and various religious
communities.
But a lot still need to be done and improved. The
Christian formation of everyone has to continue developing, this time
tackling the challenges of the new developments and the so-called new
normal. The life of prayer really has to be made strong and
consistent, one that would lead us to bear real and tangible fruits of
personal holiness and apostolate.
There is also the question of whether we can truly
consider ourselves as the vanguard of Christianity at least in Asia as
we are expected to be. Yes, we cannot deny that many Filipinos who are
working abroad or who have already migrated, are bringing with them at
least some traces of the Christian spirit to where they work and live.
Indeed there are many fruits that we can reap after 500
years of Christianity, but there are still a lot more, in fact
endlessly more, that still need to be done. Our Church
leaders—bishops, priests, and active lay people—should continue to do
their best in propagating the Christian faith and life everywhere,
starting with where they are now.
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