PLEASE PASS CHARITY BILL 143 INSTEAD

(A reflection on the apostolate of Fr. Anton Pascual,

Guest Speaker of Pentecost 2011 Celebration of the Diocese of Catarman)

BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES in the name of the Lord! (Mt 21:9) The 15th Pentecost Celebration of the Diocese of Catarman is graced by the presence of an opportune and excellent speaker in the person of Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual of the Archdiocese of Manila. He is currently serving as Minister in the Ministry for Social Services of the Archdiocese, Vice-President of the Catholic run radio Radio Veritas, and Executive Director of Caritas Manila, then known as Catholic Charities, the lead Catholic agency for social services and development of the Archdiocese established by the late Rufino Cardinal Santos on October 1953.

Fr. Pascual’s being the Director of Caritas Manila is not a matter of chance because he knows by heart that his vocation is nothing but Charity (the Latin of “caritas”) through serving the “least, last, and lost” of the society. Charity, the perfection of love, is the true love, the Christian understanding of love. This charity is the motive force that enables him to sustain his apostolate and to persevere in his ministry; it also enables him to see the glorious Christ behind the lowly appearance of the poor, the weak, and the oppressed.

St. Vincent de Paul, founder of the Congregation of the Missions and Ladies of Charity and is known to be the Patron of the Poor, has always insisted on his members on valuing and serving the poor: the poor for him are our real masters. He said that we must serve them in the same way that we may serve kings. That means enduring the sacrifices and humbling ourselves in order to show and communicate to them the love in which the Lord has loved us. But who then are the poor? Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta said that they are “the ones who seek the tenderness of God”, those who hunger and thirst for love. Indeed, all of us are poor because all of us are in dire need of love. We channel this need through various expressions especially in our religiosity as well as in interpersonal relations, some even deviantly ended up doing social evils. But our real need is the need for love wither we admit or not. In his encyclical Redemptor Hominis (Redeemer of Man), Blessed Pope John Paul II powerfully puts it: “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.”

The abovementioned words from the renowned saint and blessed of the Church confirms the essential role of the apostolate of charity. Is not charity the concrete answer to our problems today, both physical and moral? All of us need love: all of us experience poverty. Jesus gives us the direction, “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” (John 15:12) The love that Jesus has for us must be the same measure in loving our neighbors. Love must even be the distinguishing feature of all Christian community: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

I believe that there should be more Caritas in the Philippines. Let it find its place in all dioceses, in all provinces, towns and barangays, in Congress, and indeed in our hearts. Juan de la Cruz need not buy condoms and other contraceptives of various colors, flavors, shapes, and sizes. He needs love concretized in action, the love made flesh in the hands of every individual Filipino. The legislators for Juan should not pass the legalization of divorce either, but the strengthening of families instead. What do we prefer, destruction of marriage or the fortification of families? What should we choose, fostering fidelity and love between partners or a seasonal ‘rigodon’ of couples because we judged them unfit? Love alone fits, love alone unites.

This is my final words: God created us in love, preserves us in love, and will confirm us in love. Therefore, our very being is love: we need to give and receive it to fully experience living. Love is our apostolate. If we forget love and recourse to other things, either as means or as an end, we will never attain the joy and meaning of life.

by E. S. Ponce

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