Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Six years have already passed since the church construction project of our parish started. From a small chapel, the vision was to create a church almost as big as the Church of the Gesu. Up to this day, the church is not yet finished. Nevertheless, with a finished roof top, we have been attending mass every Sunday inside our church building which looks very far from the blueprint design posted at the entrance.

Looking at our community, we are not in a financial status as of those people living in Forbes Park and White Plains. We live in a community where people only earn enough to feed their families and send their children to school. What I am trying to say is that, the church being constructed is so big and expensive. Even if we pool all our resources together, we cannot afford to make the building look exactly the same as the envisioned design. I cannot even remember how many fund-raising projects were launched and how many solicitation letters were distributed. As an honest opinion, people from the parish office had set a vision without their feet on the ground. They had an end in mind but had run out of ideas to achieve it.

Frankly, I find myself complaining already since the place is not conducive for prayer and reflection. Then again, a new look at the six years made me think beyond the physical structure being made. With the class discussions of my Theology 141 readings, I have been finding myself referring to our church as an example that concretizes the ideas on integral evangelization and liberation theology—a practice helping me reach a solid grasp of the key concepts.

Slowly, I am beginning to understand the efforts of our parish priest Father Jade. At first, I really get surprised on the different parish projects launched having no inclination to the church construction. There are these projects related to the catechism of the squatters’ area followed by livelihood seminars. Furthermore, solicitations for a scholarship fund intended for elementary students are conducted yearly. There are even free medical and dental missions twice a year. Also, badminton clinics and tournaments are always being held every summer. There are even street parties sponsored during the Fiesta, Christmas, and Valentines. Obviously, these projects are expenses not benefiting the construction of our church. However, I now find these efforts of Father Jade as part of CBCP’s mission of bringing forth a renewed form of integral evangelization to our community.

Though Father Jade is not originally from our place, he made the church reach out to the neighborhood in a particular way most of us are accustomed to. Sports, parties, and livelihood seminars are the events getting good participation since many cannot afford these without the sponsorship of the church. In a theological perspective, these efforts of the parish are leaned towards inculturation or simply the expression of the gospel through the elements visibly seen in our community. Active involvement of most members of our community in these activities enriches a new kind of lifestyle deeply rooted in spirituality guided by the gospel. Personally, I can attest to this community of dialogue continuously fostered. Church workers are constantly seen to be in the different parts of the community persuading the housewives and the youth to participate in the different projects despite their usual refusal. Also, Father Jade makes it a point to reach out to the squatters’ area in order to convince them that they are part of the parish and their support is important. With all these efforts, it can only be implied that Father Jade also envisions a social transformation in our community as evidenced by everybody’s realization of individual potentials to contribute to the building not simply of the physical church. Father Jade wants to attain a modern day manifestation of “bayanihan” that will lead everybody towards a communion of love—an earthly experience of God’s grace.

As in any case of a vision, there will always be impediments. The unfinished church has a lot to say about the factors hindering the envisioned social transformation. Nobody will contest to the fact that times are getting tougher especially when it comes to finances. Many families in our neighborhood cannot anymore afford to send their children to college if not for scholarships. In addition, people experience no salary increase and worse, they end up getting unemployed. Financially speaking, our community is only placed a notch higher than the El Salvadorans. Every family in our neighborhood experiences the dreadful financial struggle. With the problem bothering the families, the church’s vision has become seemingly too ideal.

Last Saturday morning, I saw my mother receiving the disconnection notice from Maynilad for our water supply. What made it more shocking is the sight of the thick bunch of disconnection notices the service agent has to deliver around our neighborhood. In these times of much distress, how then can the Father Jade enter and ask the members of the parish to be involved in his vision of social transformation? How can we follow Christ seeing these circumstances making us realize how frail we are because of our financial incapacities? There is no question on the inculturation of the gospel but the problem posed by material necessity creates the difficulty in achieving the longed metanoia. Personally, I cannot find it in my heart to go door to door in our area to ask for donations for the church knowing the fact that my neighbors cannot even pay their bills on time.

In a way, Father Jade faces the same problems Archbishop Romero battled. As evangelizers, there are people like me, already possessing a blinded faith because of the unending persecution brought about the demands raised by man’s earthly preoccupations. Juxtaposing the film Romero with our community’s situation, I can see the resemblance of the armed guerilla with our parish members sharing my same sentiments especially on the notion of the church’s role in our lives amidst the struggles that need to be fought and to be prioritized.

Then again, too much egocentrism had intoxicated my mind not to even notice that the efforts of Father Jade on the inculturation of the gospel geared towards his envisioned social transformation are also in unison with theology of liberation’s nature. The killings in the El Salvador need not happen here anymore before I get to realize that the church has been constantly reaching out to us, awakening us from our sleep of inhumanity. Sadly, most of us have lost the faith making us deeply human.

With a new way of seeing things, I get to experience liberation theology in the Philippine context. Our six-year long problem of finishing the church construction is in a way connected to the time we need to absorb the workings of liberation theology. With Father Jade’s continuous efforts of strengthening our faith and Archbishop Romero’s exemplary advocacy, we learn how to participate in our personal struggles as Christians. Moreover, the good thing about these struggles lies in the realization of the purpose of our Christian life and tradition. Believe it or not, the whole experience enriches our spirituality leading to our personal conversion. We have begun reliving a faith relevant to our lives and country. The church presents herself as a companion in everybody’s struggle for human dignity and progress—the church is in solidarity with the people. True enough, the aim on being a language about God that will be used in building the community of dialogue within the communion of the church is not far from its realization. The church has been doing their part and it is time we reciprocate.

Undoubtedly, I can see the clear transformation of the Church’s position in people’s lives. She is an institution completely immersed with her people in the reality of the Philippines—never losing hope and forever fighting for the liberation of everybody towards the development of a just society. As started by Father Romero in El Salvador, the church now takes political issues concerning the people seriously and acts on these immediately. The absence of great political upheaval like the one in El Salvador makes it hard for most of Filipinos to see the movement of the church in liberating the people. But, we really do not have to wait for it and we must not look forward to such turmoil. We simply have to look at our own parishes.

Now, we are left with the challenge to live out the beginnings of liberation theology in our lives. Though the church helps us in achieving temporal liberation, we must not stop in realizing our accountability. Our efforts must continue to sustain a life guided by faith with a lot of initiative starting from within. With an enriched spirituality, we realize that our actions will have their goodness in themselves alone. For sure, some things will go wrong in the future, but these must not discourage us.

Indeed, our community is not simply involved in building a huge physical structure. We, ourselves are rebuilding a renewed spirituality so that we can participate in our personal struggles as Christians. I was once talking to the church about my possible ways of helping. Now, with orthopraxis, I am with the church and we are talking about the ways we can help each other.

still solving life's unbalanced chemical equation.....