Filipinos as God’s gift of grace and joy to the rest of the world

SERVAAS. Grateful testimonial.

Our week-long participation in the recent International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu City was a fruitfully immersive spiritual experience, thanks to the insightful sharing of some of the finest religious speakers in the Catholic world.

Beyond the brilliant theological introspection and “pinhead” exegeses, however, we were looking for more personal insights derived not from theory but actual experience, and we found them as well, in exuberant abundance.

One of the speakers who talked “from the heart” and thus moved the audience in a special way was a Belgian theologian, Marianne Servaas, who had a personal story to

tell that resonated especially with the Filipinos in attendance—because it was about them!

Spiritual life

It turned out that Servaas had been a cold and conflicted Protestant in her home country, and had been looking for the joy and fire that she missed in her spiritual life.

It was only when she and her husband were posted with an evangelical youth organization in the Philippines that she finally found it—in the way we believe and live our faith.

This personal revelation surprised the audience, because we are used to the way we live and believe. But, Filipinos who go to church in the United States and Europe can vouch for the fact that some or many of those houses of worship are practically empty, because believers there have turned cold.

Compelling contrast

In compelling contrast, Servaas found Catholics’ love for Jesus Christ here alive, aflame and full of joy—precisely what she had been searching for fruitlessly for years.

Servaas’ joyful sharing felt especially “right” for the international Eucharistic  Congress, which sought to remind all believers that the Eucharist is “the beating heart of the Roman Catholic Church,” and that Christ isn’t just truly present in the consecrated host at Sunday Mass, but should similarly inform and enflame our daily lives.

Special gift

Listeners also deeply appreciated Servaas’ sharing because she made them realize that the way we live our faith is a special gift from God—and that it’s our turn now to give it back to other parts of the world, which have gone cold and dry.

Indeed, some other speakers seconded her motion and pointed out that some parishes abroad are dependent on our Overseas Contract Workers to become dynamic and faith-full.

In addition, the Philippines used to need missionaries from abroad to evangelize the populace, but Filipino missionaries have now reversed the “traffic” and are spreading the word and the light in other countries.

All of these grateful testimonials should make lethargic Catholics here realize that the faith we have been taking for granted has a special power, unction and fervor that is deeply appreciated by its foreign beneficiaries—so, who are we to give it short shrift?

It’s time for us to value God’s special gift to us for the rare and priceless treasure it is—

and to share it to light up the rest of the world.