A Third World Version of 'The Lord's Prayer'

 

Our Father and Mother
who is in us here on earth,
holy is your name
in the hungry
who share their bread and their song.

Your Kingdom come,
which is a generous land
flowing with milk and honey.

Let us do your will,
standing up when all are sitting down,
and raising our voice
when all are silent.

You are giving us our daily bread
in the song of the bird and the miracle of the corn.

Forgive us
for keeping silent in the face of injustice,
and for burying our dreams;
for not sharing bread and wine,
love and the land,
among us, now.

Don't let us fall into the temptation
of shutting the door through fear,
of resigning ourselves to hunger and injustice,
of taking up the same arms as the enemy.

But deliver us from evil.
Give us the perseverance and the solidarity
to look for love,
even if the path has not yet been trodden,
even if we fail;
so we shall have known your Kingdom
which is being built forever and ever.

Amen

What is Spirituality?

"Spirituality" is, decidedly, an unfortunate word. We have to say this at the start, so as to tackle the problem head on, because many people will find the first difficulty with this book in the title itself. For them, spirituality may mean something removed from real life, useless and perhaps even hateful.

These are people who, legitimately, shun old and new spiritualisms, unreal abstractions, and see no reason to waste their time.

The word "spirituality" derives from "spirit." And for most people, spirit is opposed to matter. "Spirits" are immaterial beings, without a body, very different from ourselves. In this sense, what is not material, what does not have a body, would be spiritual. And one would say that people are "spiritual" or" very spiritual" if they live without worrying much about material things, even about their own body, trying to live only off spiritual realites.

These concepts of spirit and spirituality as realities opposed to material and bodily reality come from Greek culture. From that, they moved to Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, even English and German So that whatever might be labelled "Western culture" is, in effect, as it were infected with this Greek concept of what is spiritual. The same is not true, for example, of the Quechua, Guaranf or Aymara languages.

Neither did the ancestral tongue of the Bible, the Hebrew language, the Semitic cultural world, understand "spiritual" in this way. For the Bible, spirit is not opposed to matter, or to body, but to evil (destruction); it is opposed to flesh, to death (the fragility of what is destined to die), and it is opposed to the law (imposition, fear, punishment). In this semantic context, spirit means life, building, power, action, freedom. The spirit is not something that is outside matter, outside the body and outside tangible reality, but something that is within, that inhabit smatter, the body, actuality, and gives them life, makes them be what they are; it fills them with power, moves them, impels them; it propels them into growth and creativity in an impulse of freedom.

In Hebrew, the word for spirit, ruah, means wind, breath, exhalation. The spirit is, like the wind, light, strong, flattening, unpredictable. It is, like breath, the bodily wind that makes us breathe and take in oxygen, lets us go on living. It is like the exhalation of our breathing: while we breathe, we live; if we don't breathe, we die.

The spirit is not another life but the best of life, what makes life be what it is, giving it love and strength, looking after it and moving it forward.

We can say that something is spiritual in that it has the presence of the spirit in it. So, from now on, we abandon the Greek sense of the word "spirit" and will take care to use it in its biblical, indigenous, African, not its split "Western," sense.

+Bp. Pedro Casaldaliga
Excerpt from The Spirituality of Liberation, Int. pp. 1

Invocation to the Spirit

José Antonio Pagola
May 24, 2015

John 20:19-23

Come Holy Spirit. Awaken our small, weak and wavering faith. Teach us to live trusting in the unfathomable love of God our Father towards His sons and daughters, be they within or outside of your Church. If the faith in our hearts goes out, our communities and churches will soon die as well.

Come Holy Spirit. Make Jesus be the center of your Church. May nobody and nothing take His place or obscure Him. Do not dwell among us without bringing us to His gospel and converting us to follow Him. May we not flee from His Word, nor turn away from His commandment to love. May the memory of Him not be lost in the world.

Come Holy Spirit. Open our ears to hear your call, the one that comes to us today from the questions, suffering, conflicts and contradictions of the men and women of our time. Make us open to your power to give birth to the new faith that this new society needs. In your Church, may we be more attentive to what is being born than to what is dying, with hearts sustained by hope, not undermined by nostalgia.

Come Holy Spirit and purify the heart of your Church. Put truth among us. Teach us to recognize our sins and limitations. Remind us that we are all weak, mediocre and sinful. Free us from our arrogance and false security. Help us learn to walk among men and women with more honesty and humility.

Come Holy Spirit. Teach us to look at life, the world, and especially people in a new way. May we learn to look as Jesus looked upon those who suffer, those who cry, those who have fallen, those who live alone and forgotten. If our way of seeing changes, so too will the heart and face of your Church. We, the disciples of Jesus, would better reflect his closeness, understanding and solidarity with the neediest. We would be more like our Lord and Master.

Come Holy Spirit. Make us a Church of open doors, compassionate hearts, and contagious hope. May nothing and nobody distract us or deviate us from Jesus' plan: to build a more just and worthy world, a more friendly and blessed one, opening the way to the Kingdom of God.

The Despised

Today we come to you, Lord, we, the despised.
We are not a sorry procession, but a repugnant one.
We do not even arouse compassion, or hatred, tenderness or sympathy.
We are simply despised; we disgust people.
The leper arouses compassion.
The fiercest criminal stirs up hatred or terror.
But there is no place reserved for us in the catalogue of the works of mercy.

I, Lord, am a drug addict.
For all practical purposes, I have resigned from the human race.
I have lost all hope of regaining my self- control, of becoming myself again.
There are other people who have drugged, not their bodies, but their consciences and hearts.
But nobody despises them. At worst, they are feared.

I, Lord, am a homosexual.
I don’t like women.
Now and then, I go with another man.
I commit fewer sins than my brother who certainly does like women and who even takes up with other men’s wives.
Bur no one at home or outside turns their nose up at him; they don’t find him repugnant; on the contrary, sometimes they even admire him.
But everyone, both men and women, shy away from me.
And I am acceptable only to someone who, like me, also feels that he is cast off by normal society.

I, Lord, am a drunkard.
But a poor one.
I’ve been on the bottle for many years.
They don’t want me at home because they’re ashamed of me, and so I’m left to stagger around the streets like a sick dog.
When people see me coming, they hastily cross to the other side of the street.
Even a beggar occasionally has the consolation of having someone approach him and, although hurriedly, put a small coin in his hand, which, as you yourself had told us, is also in your hand.
But nobody comes near me; except perhaps a policeman to hustle me off to jail.
Yet, Lord, there are others who also get drunk, but they do it at exclusive parties in the suburb and, because they are influential, people only laugh good- naturedly at their drunken antics.
They are readily forgiven and, if necessary, excuses are found for them by their hangers-on, who covers up for them.
No policeman ever lays a finger on them.
I wonder – am I more repugnant when drunk than they are, just because I get loaded on cheap wine, while they do it on expensive whiskey, vodka and gin?

I, Lord, am a prostitute.
I can’t claim to be one of the girls, not any more.
Because now I’m old and fat and tired.
I have no one now to pay the rent of an apartment for me and buy me nice things.
I am one of those who have to satisfied with what the ‘customers’ feel like giving them.
I no longer have a nice apartment to entertain my clients in, and I don’t have the money to advertise in the newspaper as a ‘masseuse.’
I have to be satisfied with hanging around cheap bars in the slums or on street corners in the cold and the rain, hoping that some poor wretch will be willing to pay me a few coins for the remnants of my favours.
People passing in their cars look down their noses at me and quickly turn away so as not to meet my eyes.
I am despised even by the high-class call-girls who, glittering with jewels and wrapped in furs, glide by in big cars driven by their very respectable ‘patrons.’

I, Lord, have been excommunicated in your Church.
I can’t receive the sacraments, as do the criminals and money-grubbers and oppressors of the poor.
Nobody even dreams that I may perhaps be at peace with my conscience.
Didn’t the Church of your day excommunicate you?
There are others who defend more heresies than I; who even boast about their atheism; who exploit your Church and who live off her without believing in her.
But they are admired and respected.
They don’t carry the shameful mark of excommunication in their foreheads, as I do.
Perhaps this is because they have friends who stand up for them, or because they know how to be more diplomatic than I, professing in public what they betray in private or in the dark places of their consciences.

We and so many others whom the society does not even pity; we, the despised of the earth, who arouse neither hatred nor pity nor fear, but only disgust, today we come to you, who are sinless, because we believe that, if you do exist, you will not despise but will even forgive us.

We aren’t trying to hid or make excuses for the sins that have caused us to be cast off by society.

We only hope that perhaps you, who not only forgive but also excuse, will be able to avoid humiliating us further and to tell us , as once you told the man possessed by the devil, that saving us will let others see your glory and mercy in us.

Remember, you said you came to save what was lost.
And who is more lost than us who do not even arouse pity?

Sometimes, a ray of hope lets us dream for a moment that perhaps you may bring yourself to love even us and to find under the filth and grime some traces of your own likeness.

Forgive us, Lord, if we are sometimes tempted to think that you do not exist.

It’s not easy to believe in your, whom we cannot see when all our fellowmen, who we can see only too well, turn their eyes away from us in disgust so as not to have to look at us.

Forgive us also if, as very seldom happens, we find someone who does not despise us and even hold out a friendly hand to us, so that we feel tempted to confuse him with you and adore him as our God.

Forgive that idolatry.

But would it be really idolatry?

If someone succeeds in loving what everyone else despises, doesn’t he thereby become you yourself presented and living among us?

O Christ, have pity, at least you, our Lord and our Brother – have pity on us, the despised of the earth.

+Juan Arias
Prayer without Frills

Papal Visit @ UST

A Short Way of the Cross

This shorter way of the cross 

is used by Franciscan Missionaries in mission

 who do not have ample time

 to use the usual form.

First Station Jesus Condemned to Death
O Jesus! so meek and uncomplaining, teach me resignation in trials.

Second Station Jesus Carries His Cross
My Jesus, this Cross should be mine, not Thine; my sins crucified Thee.

Third Station Our Lord Falls the First Time
O Jesus! by this first fall, never let me fall into mortal sin.

Fourth Station Jesus Meets His Mother
O Jesus! may no human tie, however dear, keep me from following the road of the Cross.

Fifth Station Simon the Cyrenean Helps Jesus Carry His Cross
Simon unwillingly assisted Thee; may I with patience suffer all for Thee.

Sixth Station Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
O Jesus! Thou didst imprint Thy sacred features upon Veronica's veil; stamp them also indelibly upon my heart.

Seventh Station The Second Fall of Jesus
By Thy second fall, preserve me, dear Lord, from relapse into sin.

Eighth Station Jesus Consoles the Women of Jerusalem
My greatest consolation would be to hear Thee say: "Many sins are forgiven thee, because thou hast loved much."
Ninth Station Third Fall of Jesus
O Jesus! when weary upon life's long journey, be Thou my strength and my perseverance.

Tenth Station Jesus Stripped of His Garments
My soul has been robbed of its robe of innocence; clothe me, dear Jesus, with the garb of penance and contrition.

Eleventh Station Jesus Nailed to the Cross
Thou didst forgive Thy enemies; my God, teach me to forgive injuries and FORGET them.

Twelfth Station Jesus Dies on the Cross
Thou art dying, my Jesus, but Thy Sacred Heart still throbs with love for Thy sinful children.

Thirteenth Station Jesus Taken Down from the Cross
Receive me into thy arms, O Sorrowful Mother; and obtain for me perfect contrition for my sins.

Fourteenth Station Jesus Laid in the Sepulchre
When I receive Thee into my heart in Holy Communion, O Jesus, make it a fit abiding place for Thy adorable Body. Amen.

Father Rufus Halley

Father Rufus Halley

by: Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales

I first met Father Rufus Halley in the mid-1970s when I was appointed auxiliary bishop in Manila with responsibility for Rizal Province, the area that became the Diocese of Antipolo in 1983. The Columbans had been working in parishes there since before the War. Father Rufus was in Jalajala at the time. Father Feliciano Manalili, a diocesan priest, introduced me to him. Father Manalili is now a Trappist monk in Mepkin Abbey, South Carolina, USA, where he is prior.

New friend
At first I knew Father Rufus in a formal way, as one of the parish priests under my jurisdiction. But I gradually began to know this man with an open personality and a wonderful sense of humor as a person. On one occasion he invited me to a barrio in his parish that was 45 minutes by boat from the centro. He had forewarned me that this would be a different kind of pastoral visit. We set off in the afternoon. The house where we stayed was on a duck farm and some of the birds were waddling around the house. There was no electricity. After dinner we walked around the village. I saw the people at their usual occupations that included drinking and gambling games such as bingo. Father Rufus introduced me as ‘my friend from Manila,’ which wasn’t untrue, as we were in the Archdiocese of Manila.

Back at the house we chatted for a long time and prayed together. We decided we’d celebrate Mass the next day back at the centro. We slept on the floor. As we were leaving next morning people came to see us off and it was only then that their parish priest told them that I was the area bishop. Though there was some embarrassment, especially among those who were members of Church organizations, there was a lot of laughter at the realization that the bishop had met them as they really were.

Tagalog speaking Irishman.
By this time Father Rufus and I were close friends and I called him ‘Pareng Rufus’ and he called me ‘Pareng Dency.’ I felt free to drop in on him any time and to go through the back door of his convento. Sometimes I wouldn’t find him in the office or upstairs and would then realize that, despite his red hair and blue eyes, I had passed him in the kitchen, where he was chatting with the staff. (His baptismal name was Michael but his parents always called him ‘Rufus’ because of his red hair). What threw me was that I’d hear only pure Tagalog while walking through the kitchen. My Irish friend spoke the language perfectly.

Father Rufus Halley with the author, Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales

Another trademark of Father Rufus was his bakya. I learned from the late Father Patrick Ronan, then parish priest in Morong, that Father Rufus came from a privileged background. That was a revelation to me, as I had always been struck by the simplicity I saw in his life. Father Ronan, another Irish missionary with a great sense of humor and known to his fellow Columbans as ‘Pops’, had spent time in jail in China after the Communist takeover in 1949.

Around 1980 Father Rufus felt called by God to leave the security of living in an overwhelmingly Catholic community to work in the new Prelature of Marawi, which includes all of Lanao del Sur and part of Lanao del Norte, where 95 percent of the people are Muslims. He was very aware of the long history of tension and occasional outright conflict between Christians and Muslims. He also became fluent in two other languages, Maranao, spoken by the Muslims in the area, and Cebuano, spoken by the Christians.

His kind of dialogueo

I too moved to Mindanao, becoming Coadjutor Bishop of Malaybalay in 1982 and succeeding Bishop Francisco Claver SJ in 1984. On one occasion, after spending about a week on retreat in the Benedictine Monastery of the Transfiguration in Malaybalay, Pareng Rufus came to spend a night at my place. He spoke of a ‘brother Muslim’ whom he loved very much and told me that he had been hired to work in a store in the market in Malabang, Lanao del Sur. ‘Why?’ I asked him. ‘This is my kind of dialogue,’ he told me. He was pushing Christian-Muslim dialogue to the limit. When the late Bishop Bienvenido Tudtud, first bishop of the then Prelature of Iligan, which covered the two Lanao provinces, told Pope Paul VI of the conflict there and of his vision of a ‘dialogue of life’ between the two communities, the Pope encouraged him to the extent of dividing the prelature and transferring him to Marawi. Bishop Tudtud died tragically in a plane crash in 1987.

Father Rufus Halley with Maranao-Muslim friends

Male dominated Maranaos
My friend Rufus wanted not only to know the faith and culture of Muslims but to ‘befriend the culture of our brother Muslims.’ More than that, he wanted to understand the culture of the Maranaos. This involved trying to understand aspects of that culture that went against his own warm nature and that didn’t seem to be in harmony with the Gospel. For example, he noticed that among Maranao men it wasn’t seen as proper to show any public signs of softness, even if a child of theirs was hurt. He noticed how stiff Maranao men are in their dances which many Filipinos are familiar with. Men sometimes carry a kris as a sign of power. He was well aware that many men, Christian and Muslim, carry a gun for the same reason, and not only in Lanao. He asked himself if there were any areas of tenderness in the macho culture of the Maranaos and stressed the importance of trying to find ways in which the Gospel could enter into dialogue with that culture.

Pareng Rufus was really educating me that night.

Who inspired himo
I knew of the intensity with which Father Rufus lived his own Christian faith, how he began each day with an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, the centrality of the Mass in his life. A big influence on him was the life of Charles de Foucauld, 1858-1916, beatified last November. This Frenchman was also from a privileged background. Unlike Pareng Rufus, he lost his Catholic faith and became a notorious playboy before re-discovering it, partly through the example of Muslims living in North Africa. He spent many years as a priest living among the poorest Muslims in a remote corner of the Sahara, pioneering Christian-Muslim dialogue by discovering himself as the Little Brother of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and as the Little Brother of the Muslims who came knocking at his hermitage door.

Death of a peacemaker 
On 1 December 1916 Charles de Foucauld died at the hands of a young gunman outside his hermitage and on 28 September 2001 Pareng Rufus died at the hands of gunmen who ambushed him as he was riding on his motorcycle from a meeting of Muslim and Christian leaders in Balabagan to his parish in Malabang. The local people, both Christian and Muslim, mourned for him deeply. The grief of the Muslims was all the greater because the men who murdered my Pareng Rufus happened to be Muslims. This great missionary priest brought both communities together in their shared grief for a man of God, a true follower of Jesus Christ.

Fr. Godofredo Alingal, S.J.

Fr. Godofredo Alingal, S.J.

Fr. Godofredo Alingal, called Fr. Ling by friends, was born in Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte, a province considered a “Jesuit country,” and so perhaps it was inevitable for this son of the soil and the sea to become a Jesuit priest.

Fr. Ling’s first assignments were in the province of Bukidnon, moving to Ateneo de Naga, Cagayan de Oro City, and in 1968, back to Bukidnon.

At that time, the Catholic Church was seeing dramatic changes as an aftermath of the Second Vatican Council. The Gospel was henceforth to be preached beyond the walls of the church, and in the fields, market places, the hills, and lived as a witness to give people back their dignity and their rights.

Fr. Ling embraced these new church teachings, preaching as well as practicing them with his flock. He found Bukidnon a land of great social conflicts. Politics was rough, and bullets counted more than ballots. Peasants were oppressed by landlords, usurers and middlemen, and power was in the hands of a small few.

Fr. Ling’s involvement with farmers began by helping them start a credit union and a grains marketing cooperative. He helped organize the Kibawe chapter of the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF).

Fr. Godofredo Alingal, S.J.

Martial law brought repression and militarization to Zamboanga del Norte, and Fr. Ling redoubled his efforts in behalf of poor people. He started a Community Organization Program, believed a first of its kind in rural Philippines. The program aimed to organize farmers, mothers and vendors to protest abuses and demand their rights.

Gentle and soft-spoken, Fr. Ling nevertheless spoke out against electoral fraud, threats and harassments by the military, denouncing these from the pulpit and through the prelature newsletter Bandilyo. In 1977, the martial law government closed down the prelature radio station DXBB, and Fr. Ling, refusing to be cowed, started the Blackboard News Service, a giant blackboard in front of the church, broadcasting news otherwise being suppressed, and as always, denouncing official abuses. The blackboard was vandalized repeatedly, but Fr. Ling, exhibiting both patience and determination, simply put up a new blackboard to replace it.

Fr. Ling’s advocacy for clean elections in 1980 earned him a written death threat: “Stop using the pulpit for politics … your days are numbered.” He received another death threat months later. But he told himself, “What else is there to do -- the priesthood is not a safe vocation.”

He had just gotten orders for reassignment to another parish in April 1981, when assassins swooped down on his parish and killed him on the evening of the 13th of April. Two parish houseboys having gone out to lock up the church for the night were suddenly crying for help. The priest, wanting to know what was happening, opened his door to five men, armed and wearing masks. A .45 caliber automatic was aimed at him, one bullet going straight through his heart. Two men then ran up to cut off the church’s electric connection. Then they all fled on motorbikes. A physician living nearby rushed to the church when he heard the shot. Fr. Ling died in his arms.

He was 59.

Two bishops and about 70 priests, including then Jesuit Father Provincial Joaquin Bernas, concelebrated the funeral mass for Fr. Ling. Thousands coming from the town proper and the surrounding barrios and towns joined the funeral march, bringing with them placards, painted with the angry query: "Hain ang justicia? (Where is justice?)” People across Bukidnon expressed their outrage over the priest’s killing.

Can the poor receive communion?

Fr. Fausto 'Pops' Tentorio

By Jorge Costadoat, SJ
October 8, 2014

This question is hard. I know. Hard on the poor. It might be hurtful to them. But this question is not against them. They know that.

In my country, Chile, it's normal for the poor to form their families little by little. When life smiles on them, they come to have their own house and, if they're Catholics, they get married in the Church. There is nothing more wonderful than a religious marriage celebrated after making a long journey of great effort, with all the winds against you. The best of all worlds is having reached this point, having brought up your children and still having the strength to take on the grandchildren.

The working class family is a miracle. It consists of people who tend to come from very precarious human situations, have gotten ahead by overcoming great adversity and, if that weren't enough, bear the scorn for being poor. Society looks askance at them and blames them for their destitution! They do not live as they should.

She already had a child. She got pregnant at fifteen. He also had a child elsewhere. They fell in love and went off to live together in a room they could rent. But in a few months, life there became impossible for them. The child cried. The bathroom wasn't enough for everyone. In the refrigerator, they had a minimal space reserved for the baby bottle and nothing more. There were rumors of a land takeover. A political party offered them a share. They decided to run the risk because it was dangerous to try it. In the camp, a third child was born...of both of them. Together the four withstood the lack of water, the filth, the trips to the hospital, the bad environment...Thanks to the leaders and the assemblies, they fought for a house and got it. Getting married in the Church never crossed their minds. Civilly, yes. But they didn't want to do it until they could offer a fiesta in the place they would live forever. In the meantime, she arranged to leave the children with a neighbor and thus be able to be employed in a private home. He, a construction worker, was a real go-getter. He rarely lacked work. But to get to the job, he often had to take two buses, a trip that took him an hour and a half or two hours in all.

What piety is possible under these living conditions? A very deep one. I know. It's not a matter of talking about it. I would have to extend my remarks. I just want to make it known that the working class Christian communities are composed of people like these. They themselves are the ones who got land for the chapel, built it, and water the garden. These same people are responsible for the catechesis of their children. In these communities, at Sunday Mass, at the moment of Communion, no one is denied anything.

If the poor couldn't receive communion, the Church wouldn't be the Church.

Sr. Dorothy Stang: Living in Extreme Poverty with the Poorest of the Poor

Sr. Dorothy Stang

Sr. Dorothy Stang chose to live in extreme poverty in order to help others living in poverty. She had a passion for people of all cultures, for social justice, peacemaking, fairness, and respect for the environment. She possessed few material things: a mix-match of colorful clothing, spartan furnishings and her Bible, which she carried everywhere and sometimes called it her “weapon.”

On a rain-soaked Saturday in February 2005, she carried that Bible while making her way along a muddy Amazon jungle road. She was headed to Boa Esperança, a village near Anapu, where she lived in the northern Brazil state of Para. The area lies on the eastern edge of the Amazon, a region known for its wealth of natural resources and the violence that boils over from land disputes.

Waiting for Sr. Dorothy that morning was a group of peasant farmers whose homes had been burned down to the ground on the land which the federal government had granted to these farmers. In the entire state of Para and in a place like Boa Esperança, legal title to land does not always end disputes. In Para, logging firms and wealthy ranchers find assistance from local politicians and police in procuring and commandeering property from indigenous peoples and small farmers. While Sr. Dorothy walked on toward Boa Esperança, she heard taunts from men who had stopped alongside her. The rain poured as she stopped and opened her Bible. She read to the men. They listened to two verses, stepped back and aimed their guns. Sr. Dorothy raised her Bible toward them and six shots were fired at point blank range. She fell to the ground, martyred.

In the days preceding her murder on February 12, 2005, Sr. Dorothy was attempting to halt illegal logging where land sharks had interests but no legal rights. Authorities believe the murder was arranged by a local rancher for $19,300 (U.S.). Many believe that a consortium of loggers and ranchers had contributed to the bounty on Sr. Dorothy’s head in an effort to silence her. Ironically, their attempt at silence resulted in an opposite effect: an outraged world, well informed about the murder through persistent global media reports, sent Sr. Dorothy’s voice soaring to new heights. And a proclamation came quickly from Brazil’s President Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva, that the land in question, over 22,000 acres, would be reserved for sustainable development by the poor farmers whose cause Sr. Dorothy had championed.

Following her death, Brazil’s Human Rights Minister, Nilmario Miranda, described her as “a legend, a person considered a symbol of the fight for human rights in Para.” While this accolade has become global consensus, Sisters who knew the down-to-earth Sr. Dorothy state that she would have cringed at being called a legend. Having spoken with Sr. Dorothy days before her death about threats against herself and others, Mr.Miranda says: “She always asked for protection for others, never for herself.”

Her Sisters, family, friends and colleagues gathering around tables, at prayer services and in classrooms around the world, try to understand the pattern of fact and circumstances that led to Sr. Dorothy’s death. Many are curious to know more about her ministry and what brought her to Brazil in the first place.

Like most Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Dorothy Stang chose life in this Congregation which has a clear preference for work among those living in poverty. At age 18, she completed her application to join the Sisters and wrote boldly across the top of the form: “I would like to volunteer for the Chinese missions.” She never served in China, but her dream of missionary work was realized in Brazil.

Sr. Dorothy lived and worked in Brazil for nearly 40 years. She went there for the first time in 1966 with five other Sisters of Notre Dame. At that time, Sr. Dorothy and her Sisters spoke little or no Portuguese. So they began the ministry with language learning. Soon they established a new convent at Coroatá in the state of Maranhão, where they trained lay catechists and gave religious instruction to adults. Over time, the Sisters became more aware of the social problems troubling this region, particularly the oppression of farmers. The Sisters reacted by stressing basic tenets of human rights in their lessons and their work took on new proportions and expanded to new areas in Brazil.

Sr. Barbara English was among the group who traveled to Brazil with Sr. Dorothy. She remembers: “By 1968, all of us (SNDs) in Brazil were aware of the repression and violence promoted by the military dictatorship. People who worked for human rights and for the small farmers’ rights to the land were labeled subversive and the military dictatorship had them hunted down.”

In the early 1970s, Brazil’s government touted the benefits for impoverished people to move to the Transamazonian region. Landless people saw this as an opportunity to become farming homesteaders. Many moved to the state of Para to begin new lives for their families. This sparked in Sr. Dorothy something that would have attracted many Sisters of Notre Dame — the chance to help people create better lives for themselves. She packed up and joined the farmers on their journey to the new frontier but once there, they all realized that the poverty and insecurity they had left behind had been replaced by new problems: land sharks, intent on occupying the soil they had come to till, were taking over. Officials in Para offered no remedy since many police and politicians were well paid to scare off the homesteaders.

The farmers who had traveled to the region on the advice of the Brazilian government found their dreams of independence and security for their families not only elusive but dangerous. So they moved even deeper into the forest, and Sr. Dorothy moved with them. Still, the situation was the same after each migration and, according to Sr. Barbara, it became obvious by 1980 that the government had other plans for the region.

The Great Carajás Project designated 10.5 million acres in northern Brazil for development encompassing three states, including Para. Sr. Barbara recalls: “This sector of Brazil held every imaginable mineral deposit along with potential highways, railways and waterways for transportation, as well as potential dams for energy.” The plan was to open the land for mining, refining and agribusiness projects.

“They were David facing Goliath,” said Sr. Barbara, of Sr. Dorothy and the peasant farmers, “and Goliath came in the form of multinationals, big businesses, ranching and lumber companies ... They began to devour the Amazon forest.” (Environmentalists estimate that the Amazon loses 9,170 square miles of forest every year and that about 20% of its 1.6 million square miles has already been cut down to make cattle pasture or to log cedar, mahogany and other precious hardwoods.)

Sr. Dorothy and “her people” moved still further into the forest. Her dream of landless families safely engaged in sustainable development projects brought her ultimately to Anapu, Para in 1982. There, she worked to develop a new type of agrarian society that helped farm families from diverse cultures develop common bonds and learn how to use the soil to sustain themselves and the land. With Sr. Dorothy’s help, the communities in Anapu lived in solidarity and with respect for the environment. During these years, she worked with the Pastoral Land Commission, an agency of the Bishops’ Conference in Brazil. She also helped to foster small family business projects in the village, often creating, for the first time in many families, women breadwinners.

“She helped train agricultural technicians and worked hard to create a fruit factory,” said Betsy Flynn, SND, a Sister of Notre Dame whose ministry has also brought her to Brazil. Sr. Betsy remembers Sr. Dorothy as a person supporting the community she helped build through education and health care. “She worked to create schools and helped teachers become properly trained and credentialed,” said Sr. Betsy. “Many people learned to read and write because of Sr. Dorothy Stang. She also had a vast knowledge of popular health care remedies, particularly useful in areas where doctors and hospitals are scarce, and medication costs are often exorbitant.”

In the last year of her life, Sr. Dorothy was granted naturalized citizenship in Brazil. She received a humanitarian award from a Brazilian lawyers’ association and officials in the state of Para named her “Woman of the Year.” Both honors were given for her work to secure land rights for peasants but while she was given the award from the officials in Para, a plan was underway for a paved highway through the area, raising land values higher and escalating the violence.

At the federal level, President da Silva is caught between a promise to find homes for 400,000 landless families, an expressed desire to protect the rainforest and the pressure to open tracts of forest to support economic growth. External pressure comes from the International Monetary Fund, which loaned Brazil billions of dollars after its 2002 recession. It is a dangerous and complicated life for many in Brazil, but for none more than the people in Para. The Pastoral Land Commission reported recently that the state of Para has been the site of 40% of the 1,237 land-conflict killings in Brazil over the past 30 years. The many concerns surrounding the climate of corruption in Para have increased efforts to move the investigation into Sr. Dorothy’s murder from the state to the federal government. It is widely believed that a fair trial cannot be achieved in Para.

Mary Alice McCabe, SND, who defends the rights of families relying on the fishing trade in Ceara, Brazil, says of Sr. Dorothy: “She was with the excluded migrant farmers in their constant, futile search for a piece of land to call their own. She persistently pressured the government to do its job in defending the rights of the people. She never gave up. She never lost hope.”

Several thousand people attended Sr. Dorothy's funeral. In the month following her murder, four men were arrested and charged with the murder. President da Silva sent 2,000 troops to the area to quell violence, while the United States sent FBI agents to Anapu to investigate the killing. Memorial services were conducted around the world and the Brazilian Ambassador to the United States spoke at a Memorial Mass for Sr. Dorothy in Baltimore. On March 9, 2005, U.S. Congress Resolution #89 was introduced, honoring the life of Sr. Dorothy Stang. On December 10, 2008, Sr. Dorothy Stang was awarded the 2008 United Nations Award in the Field of Human Rights.

She is buried in a grove in Anapu, her grave marked with a simple wooden cross bearing her name and dates of birth and death.

Trust and Responsibility

by: José Antonio Pagola
May 17, 2015

Mark 16:15-20

At some point an appendix was added to the original gospel of Mark in which this final mandate of Jesus is recorded: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." The gospel must not remain within his small group of disciples. They are to go out and travel to reach the "whole world" and bring the Good News to all the peoples, to "all of creation."

Undoubtedly, these words were heard with enthusiasm when Christians were fully expanding and their communities were multiplying throughout the Empire, but how do we hear them today when we see ourselves as powerless to retain those who abandon our churches because they no longer feel a need for our religion?

The first thing is to live based on absolute trust in God's actions. Jesus taught us so. God continues to work on the hearts and minds of all His sons and daughters with infinite love, even though we consider them to be "lost sheep." God isn't blocked by any crisis.

He isn't waiting for us to put our plans for restoration or our innovation projects into action in the Church. He is still acting in the Church and outside of the Church. No one is abandoned by God, even though they might have never heard about the Gospel of Jesus.

But all this does not dispense us from our responsibility. We must begin to ask ourselves new questions: Through what paths does God go looking for men and women of the modern culture? How does He want to make present the Good News of Jesus to the men and women of our time?

We are to ask ourselves something more yet: How is God calling us to transform our traditional ways of thinking, expressing, celebrating, and incarnating the Christian faith such that we propitiate the actions of God within modern culture? With our inertia and inaction, don't we run the risk of becoming a deterrent and cultural obstacle to the incarnation of the Gospel in contemporary society?

Nobody knows how the Christian faith will be in the new world that is emerging, but it will hardly be a "cloning" of the past. The Gospel has the power to inaugurate a new Christianity.

Bishop Antonino Nepomuceno, OMI, DD: A Man for the Poor and the Oppressed

Bishop Antonino Nepomuceno, OMI, DD

By: Fr. Eliseo ‘Jun’ Mercado, OMI

Bishop Nepomuceno or simply Tony to his friends was born on June 13, 1925 in Bustos, Bulacan. He entered San Jose Seminary at an early age. At the seminary, he met Fr. Joseph Boyd, OMI and through him got to know about the mission of the Oblates in Cotabato and Sulu. He was attracted to the Oblate Missionary life and later joined the Oblates.

Tony was sent to Texas for his novitiate and scholasticate. He made his first vows in 1948, and his perpetual vows in 1951. in his fourth year of Theology, he was ordained priest (July 10, 1953), and came home to the Philippines on July 10, 1954 to begin his missionary life in Mindanao.

His early ministry was in the parishes of Cotabato and Grace Park. His outstanding characteristics were noted during his stint in parish priest of Kidapawan. He was, indeed, an exemplary pastor that when the OMI Province and the Prelature of Cotabato was looking for a Filipino Auxillary Bishop, his name was immediately submitted to the Holy See for appointment. Thus, he became the first Filipino Oblate Bishop on August 31, 1969.

After his appointment as auxillary Bishop of Cotabato, he was given the task to organize the Notre Dame Social Action. This was the period when the Catholic Church was beginning to get involved in development. His dynamic leadership and his firm commitment to the poor transformed the Notre Dame Social Action ministry into one of the most active in the whole Philippines.

With religious and lay co-workers, the Social Action ministry reached practically every nook and corner of the Prelature. His pioneering and innovative approach to Social Action put him in the limelight not only in the Prelature nut also in the whole Mindanao and entire Philippines.

His work among the poor and the oppressed went into difficult times during the Martial Law period. He was a lone voice in the whole Prelature in denouncing the abuses of the Marcos regime. While many church leaders adopted a critical collaboration stance (which actually was more collaborator than critical), Bishop Tony was firm in his struggle for justice and freedom of our people.
His commitment to the poor and the oppressed cost him a great deal. People who were for the status quo labeled him “leftist”, or at times “communist”.

It was a difficult time. He chose the unpopular and painful struggle, the cause of the poor and the oppressed. While many church authorities were collaborating with Marcos, and receiving all praises from all sides, Bishop Tony was being subjected to all kinds of black propaganda. Sad to say, some of his confreres both in episcopate and the priesthood had lent themselves as tools in assailing Bishop Tony’s commitment to poor and the oppressed. Ecclesiastical pressures (from the “balimbinmg sectors) were put on him. When he could no longer stomach the insidious intrigues, he announced his retirement on November 11, 1979 as Auxiliary Bishop of Cotabato.

After his retirement he worked as Director for the Communications Foundation of Asia under Fr. Lagerway, MSC. In this position, he was able to continue his commitment to the development of the poor and his struggle for freedom and democracy.

Another outstanding labor of Bishop Tony was his commitment to Muslim-Christian understanding. Together with Ustadz Omar Bajunaid, he organized the Christian Clergy (Catholic and Protestants) and the Muslim religious leaders. This organization was effective not only in paving the way for reconciliation and understanding, but also in giving protection for the people who were harassed, imprisoned, and salvaged during the Martial Law years.

The other strong passion of Bishop Tony was the ouster of the US Bases in the Philippines and his commitment to Nuclear Free Philippines. He would be present in major rallies against US Bases and his presence would, in many ways, ‘provide’ the ‘semblance’ that the Church, was present there in the struggle of the Filipino people against colonial vestiges like the military bases.

Bishop Tony lived in the OMI Community at the OMI Regional house in Manila. For his pastoral work, he was always available to help at Bagong Barrio, the OMI squatter parish, in Greater Manila area. He was very active in his struggle fro a Nuclear-free Philippines. His commitment to the poor and oppressed remains his ardent passion as Oblate, a veritable missionary of the poor and the most abandoned.

With his brother OMI’s from Manila, they went to Jolo for the funeral of the martyred Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, OMI. After the funeral on the 14th February 1997, instead of taking his flight the day after as scheduled, he managed to get a flight in a small place on the afternoon of the same day. That plane took off but failed to gain steam and crashed landed against coconut tress few kilometers from the end of the runaway in Jolo Airport.

Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, OMI

Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, OMI

In Sulu, Tawi-Tawi missions, Bishop Ben got used to riding on boats to visit the different islands to administer the sacraments or visits the school. He was exposed in dealing with top government officials of the province/municipality and military officials.

This was particularly true in Sulu. Bishop Ben spoke in several occasions when his life was endangered and trembling with fear he carried on the work. He would share ‘the times of difficulties in trying to be faithful to the vows’. During the 50th Jubilee of OMI presence in Jolo, he shared ‘Thanks be to God I preserved in His service! If God gave me the grace to be faithful for the past 27 years as a religious and 21 years as a priest, I hope and pray that by the grace of our OMI Golden Jubilee celebration, I will be able to persevere unto the end, singing praises to God for the good things He has done in me and through me to the people that I serve. Oblate vocation is truly a gratuitous gift of God to me. I am an ordinary human being, weak, vulnerable, but God used me to proclaim his love and compassion to others.’

Bishop Ben was kindness and friendship personified. When he was shot in front of the Jolo Cathedral in the morning of February 4th, 1997, shock waves reverberated to the entire Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and to the Philippine Church. He was the first Bishop brutally killed few months after the Final Peace Agreement between the Philippine Government and the Moro National Liberation Front was signed on September 2, 1996.

Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, OMI

Two weeks before the bishop was martyred, a devoted woman came to tell an Oblate of her vision. She said, “Father, I have seen a vision. I’ve seen throngs of people in the clouds and they were carrying lighted candles. They surrounded someone who was dressed in white robe.” Then, the lady asked innocently, “What does that vision mean, Father?” The priest did not know what it meant but he wanted to be polite with her and so he explained that perhaps what she saw in her vision was the Last Day of Judgment as told in the book of Revelations and depicted by artists in some of those medieval paintings. When she left, he forgot everything about that encounter. But during the wake Bishop Ben, that same woman approached him again and said, “Father, do you remember the vision I told you about”? He was temporarily suspended. He looked at her and said, “Yes, I remember.”

If indeed it was God’s will that Bishop Ben would die, then, we believe it was not without purpose. Bishop Ben’s death has moved many peace advocates throughout the country to work even more for peace to reign in the Philippines. His dream of a harmonious relationship among Muslims and Christians has inspired the hearts of a new wave of dialoguers. Bishop Ben’s martyrdom became a symbol of dialogue and peace.

Fr. Benjamin Inocencio, OMI

He was born January 17, 1958 in Ugong, Pasig City, Metro Manila. Having obtained a college degree in accounting and he worked in a bank prior to novitiate. He made his first vows at Tamontaka in 1986 and was ordained a priest in 1992 at the age of 34. After ordination he was parish priest at Timanan, South Upi, Maguindanao for a year before being assigned to Cagayan de Mapun, Tawi-Tawi one of the remote island stations of the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo. He spent eight years the reserving the Badjaos the poorest among the poor in the southernmost part of the Philippines before being appointed Chancellor of the Vicariate in June this year.

Bishop Angelito LAMPON Vicar Apostolic of Jolo who has known Fr Inocencio for many years describes him as a very kind and open person easy to get along with.“He would regularly meet the staff and pray with them in inter-religious worship – because we have Muslims on our staff. They prayed together.He was very kind to people and they did not hesitate to approach him to talk. He was very transparent the kind of person of whom you can say ‘what you see is what you get’” said the bishop.

Others who knew Fr. Inocencio say he was “a very quiet meditative person… a very kind and gentle person… quiet and simple.”

According to Bishop Lampon Fr. Inocencio was on his way to the market to buy items needed for the Jolo Vicariate’s combined Christmas and Hari-Raya celebration to be held the next day. A day before the incident Jolo celebrated Eid’l Fitr marking the end of fasting in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and the end of a Vicariate sponsored seminar on the culture of peace.

Fr. Inocencio, 42, was martyred on Thursday, December 28, 2009. He was ordained to the priesthood at Grace Park, Caloocan City, Metro Manila on April 25, 1992. He was first assigned to Timanan in June 1992. Three months later he was assigned to Cagayan de Mapun in Tawi-Tawi, where he became the Parochial Vicar of Mapun Parish and at the same time the Director of Notre Dame of Mapun. He spent more than eight years of humble and faithful service to the people of island.

In June 2000, he was assigned Chancellor of the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo with Bishop Angelito R. Lampon, OMI, DD. At the same time, he served as Chaplain of the Notre Dame of Jolo College.

Beside the Cathedral of Jolo, Fr. Inocencio was shot on the head that caused his sudden death on the feast of the Holy Innocents, December 28, 2000.

The Martyrdom of Fr. Benjamin Inocencio, OMI fondly called as Fr. Benjie, is a second brutal murder of the servant of the Catholic Church which took place in Jolo. The first was the senseless killing of Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, OMI, DD on February 4, 1997.

Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, OMI: “If you want me, then just kill me here in God’s chapel!”

Fr. Nelson Javellana, OMI

Fr. Nelson Javellana, OMI was born in November 11, 1941 in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental. In 1957, he joined the Oblate Juniorate in Baesa, Quezon City. As was the set-up then, he took up his classical studies in the nearby Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary. After he made his novitiate in Tamontaka, in Dinaig (now Datu Odin Sinsuat), Maguindanao, he returned to San Jose Seminary for his philosophical studies and later, his theological studies at the Loyola House of Studies, also Jesuit-run, at the Ateneo de Manila University campus. He made his perpetual vows in 1964.
Nelson, as close friends (he was one of my best friends) were wont to call him, was well liked by his fellow seminarians. He was a very generous person - with himself, his time and his talents. He was "always available" for anything. Those who wanted a quick hair cut got it from him during recreation time. Being highly intelligent, he helped those who were not as well gifted - to explain patiently a difficult philosophical or theological concept or to type and correct at the same time their term papers or reports, sometimes even up to midnight.

While doing his theological studies, Nelson took a leave of absence for personal reasons. He forthwith taught in the high school department of De La Salle College in Bacolod City. After a year, he transferred to the Oblate-run Notre Dame University in Cotabato City and taught mostly philosophy subjects. Two years later, he returned to the Oblate scholasticate in Quezon City and continued his theological studies. He was ordained to the priesthood in Bacolod City in April 11, 1971.

Thereafter, he worked in the Archdiocese of Cotabato as assistant parish priest of Esperanza then a part of the Municipality of Ampatuan. He was also the director of the high schools of Notre Dame of Esperanza and Notre Dame of Dukay.

Fr. Nelson Javellana, OMI

As a young priest, Nelson had shown the zeal not only of a missionary but also of an educator and community worker. He had a great future ahead of him with the Oblates. But that was not to be.

In November 3, 1971, Nelson and a group of about 70 people from Esperanza went to Cotabato City in a convoy of several vehicles. This was for protection as the conflict between the Muslims and Christians was raging. Many of the men were also armed though not Nelson. They were to present a petition at a hearing to be presided by the national government's chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Previously, in a peace conference with the provincial governor, the Christian leaders of Esperanza drew up a petition for the transfer of the counting of ballots from the barrios to the town and to suspend voting in seven towns in the national and local elections which were about to be held. Nelson was a signatory of the petition.

When they arrived in Cotabato City, they were told that the Comelec chairman would be in the 5:00 PM plane. They waited for the plane and had a plane side conference with the Comelec chairman. They then proceeded to return to Esperanza.

While their baby bus was negotiating a bad, muddy and uphill portion of the highway in Tambunan, Dinaig, they were ambushed by an unidentified armed band. From both sides of the road they were sprayed with bullets from automatic weapons including 50 caliber machine guns. They were completely taken by surprise. Those who did not die from bullets were hacked to death. Nelson was one of the twelve men who died instantly. He sustained bullet wounds all over his body. All were divested of their personal valuables. The soldier who served as their security detail was stripped of his uniform, boots, garand rifle and ammunition.

The authorities said the ambush was politically motivated. The murderers were never identified.

Nelson was a priest for only seven months when he was killed. Then Father Provincial John Murphy OMI wrote in the Provincial Missive dated November 25, 1971 thus: "He was just beginning his priestly ministry with the promise of many long years of dedicated service ahead of him.... We can certainly say that he died because of his generosity to his friends. He felt justified in taking these risks...."

Fr. Nelson Javellana, OMI was the first member of the Philippine Province to die a violent death. Others were to follow some years later. In February 4, 1997, his classmate, Bishop Benjamin "Ben" de Jesus, was assasinated and in December 28, 2000, another Benjamin, Fr. "Benjie" Inocencio was killed in the same way. Both were shot in Jolo, Sulu in broad daylight. And like Nelson's case, theirs remain unsolved to this day.

These three Oblates had one thing in common: they all died in the service of the people and community they were sent to shepherd.

Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, OMI: “If you want me, then just kill me here in God’s chapel!”

“If you want me, then just kill me here in God’s chapel!” Those were the words heard from Fr. Rey as he was being forcedly taken out by his killers from the chapel where he was praying. There were shouts for help. Outside the chapel, near the flag pole in the quadrangle of Notre Dame of Tabawan High School, a piercing shot was heard loud in the dark. After this, except for the silhouettes of the killers dragging their victim, nothing more was seen by those peeping through the jalousies from the second floor of the school building.

Later, Fr. Rey’s body was found just outside the school premises, left on a road near the shoreline from where the murderers sped away in a motorized boat. His body bore several wounds from gunshots, stabs and lacerations in the head, face, neck, abdomen and on the back. From the wounds it is quite clear that he was meant to be killed and not to be kidnapped. As regards who killed him or who had ordered the assassins to kill him, up to this writing, we are still waiting for a satisfactory investigation result from the authorities.

Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, OMI., was mercilessly killed at about 8:30 in that bleak and starless evening of January 15, 2008 in the remote island of Tabawan, South Ubian, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines. Not so distant southward is already Indonesian territory. He had been Director of Notre Dame of Tabawan High School and head of the OMI Mission Station there under the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo for ten years.

Fr. Rey was born to Bonifacio Roda and Benigna Albores on February 5, 1954 at Cotabato City. He had one brother and 3 sisters. He entered the Oblate Juniorate in 1970 after graduating from Notre Dame of Cotabato High School, took his perpetual vows as an Oblate of Mary Immaculate in 1979 and was ordained priest at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral on May 10, 1980.

After his ordination he had been assigned as Parish Vicar in Grace Park, Caloocan City in 1980 and in Midsayap, North Cotabato in 1981, as Parish Priest and Notre Dame high school Director in 1982 at Lebak, Cotabato, as Parish Priest in Magpet, Cotabato in 1984, as Chancellor of Kidapawan diocese in 1988 and as Parish Priest of Pres. Roxas, Cotabato in 1991. He did a stint in the foreign mission. He was sent to Thailand in 1992 and became the Rector of the Oblate Juniorate in Bankok. He came back to the Philippines in 1997 to be in Batu-Batu Mission in Tawi-Tawi and in June 1998 he took over as Director of Notre Dame of Tabawan High School and head of the Mission Station there up to his death just about 2 weeks before his 54rth birthday.

Fr. Rey had been ministering to the people of Tabawan and neighboring islands through education, infra-structure and developmental projects to alleviate poverty. The people are more than 99% Muslims, mostly Samals with a sprinkling of Tausug. The Christians are less than 1% and not all Catholics. The other Christians have their own Pastor, a good friend of Fr. Rey.

Every year, Fr. Rey used to write a Christmas letter expressing his greetings and summarizing the big events of that year in Tabawan. He sent this to friends who were helping him somehow in his mission. I have copies of his letters sent to our common friend who works and live in Rome, Italy. She was on vacation and intending to visit Rey in Tabawan but unfortunately and sadly she attended Fr. Rey’s funeral instead in Cotabato City.

In his December 20, 2000 letter, Fr. Rey said: “ A holy Christmas greetings from Tabawan, "probably, the most peaceful island’ in the world!” Although near the end of that letter, he also mentioned that Southern Philippines is besieged, among others, by “Abu Sayaff’s terrorism and the rise of Muslim fundamentalism.” In 2005, he also wrote: “We are losing hope in the corrupt-ridden government bureaucracy. We expect little from our power-hungry elected officials.”

He wrote:”As we end this year 2006, we thank the merciful and compassionate God for His countless blessings to me and to the peace-loving Sama people of Tabawan.” Then, he mentioned his development projects achieved through the assistance of Tabang Mindanao and Pagtabangan Basulta, a coalition of NGOs: the feeding program of 6 months for 120 Grade One pupils; the sending of public school teachers to the capability-building seminars in Bongao and Davao city. The latter because of distance would entail tremendous expense even just the transportation alone; the rehabilitation of 7 units of Grade One classroom and the construction of 2 water tanks for the public school. Most of all he was thankful that God spared him from the evil intent of kidnappers who barged into the rectory in November. He was in bongao then.

In that letter, he added this: “As I, together with my trusted aides Jularino and Sayatul engage in doing more development projects with the people, I know I will be somehow concerned for my safety and security. I will be less mobile than before. … Hopefully, the community will assist the police in monitoring and warding off violent men. I need such peaceful atmosphere in order to live, to work and to pray. Tabawan has been my place for 9 years now.”

Fr. Rey wrote his 2007 Christmas letter without knowing it would be his last. He was so happy to report that at the beginning of the year 2007, ND Tabawan’s Community Extention Services, which he had organized years before, facilitated the coming of GMA Kapuso Foundation all the way from Manila to distribute Christmas gifts to 2,500 children of Tabawan and Bintawlan, the neighboring island. He had also mentioned in the letter that the 7 units of Grade 1 classroom and 2 cement water tanks had been completed for the public schools and 150 children including those from the neighboring island are still in the feeding program.

Aside from all these, out of some 357 high school students enrolled at Notre Dame of Tabawan, more than 30 are under scholarship. There are also 8 college students at Notre dame of Jolo College, Ateneo de Zamboanga University, Notre dame University, Cotabato City and Mindanao State University at Marawi City. Their being at school is dependent so much on what fr. Rey was able to receive from donors personally contacted or through his solicitation letters.

At his death, the people of Tabawan, particularly the scholars, were all asking: What will happen to us now? “Other Oblates will come to serve you,” the Oblates responded.

I have been with Fr. Rey for 5 years in Magpet parish, North Cotabato, and that created in us a special bonding. Fr. Rey, where you are now in that Great Beyond where there are no more tears nor sweat nor fears, know that I am writing this as my best tribute to you. We honor you as our choice mission offering and we say to God, paraphrasing the Episcopal Motto of our present bishop, Angelito Lampon: Accipe Oblationem Nostram (Receive our oblation).

Meditations when Hearing Mass in Union with the Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ as Prescribed by St. Frances de Sales

When the priest goes to the foot of the Altar
Jesus enters the garden

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, Who was pleased voluntarily to endure mortal terror and anguish at the view of Your approaching passion, give me grace henceforth to consecrate all my sorrows to You. O God of my heart! Assist me to support my trials in union with Your agony, that through the merits of Your Passion they may become profitable to my soul.

At the Beginning of Mass
Prayer of Jesus in the garden
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, Who was pleased to be comforted by an angel in Your dreadful agony, grant through the merits of Your prayer in the garden that Your consoling angel may ever assist me in mine.

At the Confiteor
Jesus prostrated in the garden

Lord Jesus Christ, Who in the excess of Your anguish, was bathed in a sweat of blood while praying to Your Father in the Garden of Olives, grant that I may participate in Your sorrows by sympathy, and unite bitter tears of repentance with Your tears of blood.

The Priest kisses the Altar
Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss

Lord Jesus Christ, who submitted to the embrace of Judas, preserve me by Your grace, from misfortune of ever betraying You, and assist me to repay calumny and injustice with cordial charity and active kindness.

The priest goes to the Epistle side.
Jesus is dragged to prison

Lord Jesus Christ, Who submitted to be bound with ropes by the hands of wicked men, break, I beg You, the chains of my sins and attach the powers of my soul and body closely to You by bonds of charity, that they may never escape from the salutary restraint of perfect submission to Your Divine Will.

At the Introit
Jesus receives a blow

Lord Jesus Christ, Who was conducted as a criminal to the house of Annas, grant that I may never suffer myself to be led into sin by temptations of the evil spirit, or the evil suggestions of my fellow creatures, but that I may be securely guided by the Divine Spirit in the perfect accomplishment of Your holy ordinances.

At the Kyrie Eleison
Jesus is thrice denied by Peter

Lord Jesus Christ, Who submitted to be thrice denied in the house of Caiphas, by the head and prince of the apostles preserve me from the danger of evil company, that I may not be exposed to the misfortune of separation from You.

At the Dominus Vobiscum
Jesus looks at Peter and touches his heart

Lord Jesus Christ, who by one glance of love did melt the heart of St. Peter into a fountain of penitential tears, grant by Your mercy that I may weep for my sins and never by word or deed deny You, who art my lord and my God.

At the Epistle
Jesus is conducted to the house of Pilate

Lord Jesus Christ, Who was pleased to be led before Pilate, and there falsely accused, teach me to avoid the deceits of the wicked, and to profess my faith by the constant practice of good works.

At the Munda Cor Mum
Jesus is led to Herod

Lord Jesus Christ, who silently endured to be again falsely accused before Herod, grant me patience under calumny, and silence under outrages.

At the Gospel
Jesus is mocked as a fool and sent back to Pilate

Lord Jesus Christ, Who submitted to be sent as a fool by Herod to Pilate, who though enemies before, then became friends, strengthen me so powerfully by Your grace, that instead of apprehending the machinations of the wicked, I may learn to bear their malice as You did and thus render their injustice profitable to my soul.

The Priest uncovers the Chalice
Jesus is stripped of His garments

Lord Jesus Christ, Who was pleased to be despoiled of Your garments and most inhumanly scourged for love of me, grant me grace to lay aside the burden of my sins by a good confession, and never to appear before You despoiled of the virtues of a Christian.

At the Offertory
Jesus is scourged

Lord Jesus Christ, Who was pleased to be fastened to the pillar and torn with stripes, grant me grace to patiently endure the scourges of Your paternal correction and never more to grieve Your Heart with my sins.

The Priest offers the Chalice
Jesus is crowned with thorns

Lord Jesus Christ, Who submitted, through love for me, to be crowned with thorns, grant that my heart may be so penetrated with the thorns of repentance in this world, that I may deserve to be hereafter crowned with You in glory.

The priest washes his fingers
Pilate washes his hands

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Who, although declared innocent by Pilate was subjected to the insults and outrages of the Jews, grant me the grace to lead an irreproachable life and at the same time to maintain a holy indifference to the opinions of men.

At the Preface
Jesus is condemned to death

Lord Jesus Christ, Who, though the God of all sanctity, submitted through love for me to a most ignominious condemnation, grant me grace to avoid rash judgments and strengthen me to bear with patience, the injustice of men.

At the Momento for the living
Jesus carries His Cross
Lord Jesus Christ, Who carried your heavy Cross for my salvation, grant that I may voluntarily embrace the cross of mortification and carry it daily for Your love.

At the Communicantes
Veronica wipes with a linen cloth the Face of Jesus
Lord Jesus Christ, Who on Your way to Calvary, said to the holy women that wept for the love of You: "Weep not for me but for yourselves;” give me the grace to weep for my sins with tears of holy contrition and love that will render me agreeable to Your divine Majesty.

Blessing of the Bread and Wine
Jesus is nailed to the Cross

Lord Jesus Christ, Who was nailed to the Cross for my redemption, attaching to it through Your Sacred Flesh, my sins, and the eternal punishment due to them, grant me Your saving fear, that resolutely observing Your Holy precepts, I may ever be attached to the Cross with You.

At the Elevation of the Host
The Cross of Jesus is elevated between Heaven and earth.

Lord Jesus Christ, Who was pleased to be elevated on the Cross and exalted above the earth for the love of me, detach my heart, I beg You, from all terrestrial affections and elevate my understanding to the consideration of Heavenly things.

At the elevation of the Chalice
The Blood of Jesus flows from His wounds.

Lord Jesus Christ, Your sacred wounds are the inexhaustible source of all grace; grant then, that Your Precious Blood may purify my soul from all evil thoughts and prove a salutary remedy for all my spiritual miseries.

At the Momento for the dead
Jesus prays for all men
Lord Jesus Christ, who prayed on the Cross for all men, even for Your executioners, grant me the spirit of meekness and patience, that according to Your precepts and example I may love my enemies and cordially return good for evil.

At the Momento for the dead
Jesus prays for all men

Lord Jesus Christ, who prayed on the Cross for all men, even for Your executioners, grant me the spirit of meekness and patience, that according to Your precepts and example I may love my enemies and cordially return good for evil.

At the Pater Noster
The seven words of Christ

Lord Jesus Christ, Who from the cross recommended Your Blessed Mother to the beloved disciple, and the disciple to Your Mother, receive me, I beg You, under Your protection, and grant that amidst the snares and perils of this world I may never lose the treasure of thy friendship.

At the division of the Host
Jesus expires of the Cross
Lord Jesus Christ, Who before expiring on the Cross commended Your Soul to Your Father, grant that I may die spiritually with You now, and so confide my eternal destiny with confidence to Your hands at the hour of my death.

At the division of the Host
Jesus expires of the Cross

Lord Jesus Christ, Who before expiring on the Cross commended Your Soul to Your Father, grant that I may die spiritually with You now, and so confide my eternal destiny with confidence to Your hands at the hour of my death.

At the Agnus Dei
The conversion of sinners

Lord Jesus Christ, the contemplation of Your torments has excited repentance in many hearts; grant me, through the efficacy of Your painful sufferings and ignominious death, perfect contrition for my past offenses, and the grace to avoid all willful sin.

At the Communion
Jesus is buried

Lord Jesus Christ, Who was pleased to be buried in a new monument, give me a new heart, so that being buried with You, I may attain to the glory of Your resurrection.

At the Ablution
Jesus is embalmed

Lord Jesus Christ, who was pleased to be embalmed and wrapped in a clean linen cloth by Joseph and Nicodemus, give me the grace to receive most worthily, Your Precious Body and Blood in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, with a heart embalmed with the precious ointment of Your virtues.

After the Communion
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Lord Jesus Christ, Who triumphantly issued from the fast sealed monument, grant that, rising from the tomb of my sins, I may walk in newness of life so that when You shall appear in glory I may merit also to appear with You.

At the Dominus Vobiscum
Jesus appears to His disciples

Lord Jesus Christ, who gladdened the hearts of Your Blessed Mother and Your apostles by manifesting Yourself to them after Your Resurrection, grant that, since I cannot be so happy as to behold You in this mortal life, I may hereafter enjoy the unclouded vision of Your glory.

At the Post-Communion
Jesus converses for forty days with His disciples

Lord Jesus Christ, Who after Your Resurrection deign to converse for forty days with Your disciples, instructing them in the mysteries of our faith, increase, I beg You, my knowledge of those Divine Truths, and confirm my belief in them.

At the Post-Communion
Jesus converses for forty days with His disciples

Lord Jesus Christ, Who after Your Resurrection deign to converse for forty days with Your disciples, instructing them in the mysteries of our faith, increase, I beg You, my knowledge of those Divine Truths, and confirm my belief in them.

At the Priest’s blessing
The descent of the Holy Ghost

Lord Jesus Christ, Who sent the Holy Spirit on Your apostles, while engaged in unanimous and persevering prayer, purify my soul, I beg You, that the Paraclete, finding therein a dwelling well pleasing to Him, may adorn it with His gifts and replenish it with His consolations

Thanksgiving after Mass

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and Redeemer of men, I humbly thank You for having permitted me to assist today at the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I beg You, through the efficacy of that adorable Sacrifice, to strengthen me against all temptations, and to grant that, having served You faithfully in this life, I may hereafter attain to the possession of Your glory.

AMEN