In our dark age we must light the fire of our faith
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.
– The Second Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy, 4:1-2
ARE you afraid of the dark? Not the pitch black of midnight filled with ghouls and other nasties from childhood and folklore.
Rather, the swaths of our world and age bereft of peace, goodness, truth, righteousness and love, darkened by war, iniquity, lies, injustice and hate.
The nasty places and events that make headlines, go viral and get bashed, yet keep burgeoning to the collective shrug of humanity.
In fact, most of us do fear that darkness and hardly challenge the denizens spreading it. But for a heroic few who do stand up and fight with the light of goodness and right.
In today’s reflection on the October 16 Holy Mass readings we highlight three stalwarts of our faith who dared to stand up and ignite the fire of faith in our dark age, two awarded by the Vatican and the third honored by the Netherlands.
As the Apostle Paul exhorts in the second Mass reading from his Second Letter to Timothy (2 Tm :14-4:2), partly quoted above, the faithful must “proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient.”
And sadly and increasingly in our age, it has become more and more inconvenient, difficult and even dangerous to advance our Christian tenets in the face of godless selfishness, worldliness, violence and materialism.
Lighting the darkness of death
Dangerous indeed: So it has been for Fr. Flaviano “Flavie” Villanueva of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD by its Latin initials). Last November he was conferred the Human Rights Tulip Award by the Dutch government — the first Filipino so honored — for his work among bereaved
families of people killed in the Duterte anti-drugs campaign.
Besides providing prayer, counsel and support for the families, the 52-year-old missioinary has undertaken in recent years the transfer of remains from public cemeteries after the maximum burial period of five years granted by local regulations.
Under his ministry the remains are given interment rites, which might not have been provided after the violent deaths. There was also forensic examination of selected remains to ascertain the circumstances of death, including the veracity of claims that those killed attacked law enforcers.
This Paghilom (healing in Filipino) ministry, explains Fr. Flavie, brings closure to the 273 families under the program, most especially among families who never got autopsy reports. So far, 65 fatalities have been exhumed and examined, with around 80 still awaiting exhumation and autopsy.
“The work is most certainly enormous,” he said, “and even life-threatening at times.”
Even before his apostolate to drug-war fatalities, the priest has cared for the poor for decades at his congregation’s Kalinga centers, providing meals, lessons and showers (Kain-Aral-Ligo Nang Ayos in Filipino). And he still faces a subversion case along with others over online videos making narcotics allegations involving the Duterte family.
For peace, justice and worship
The other two exemplars lighting the dark with faith are women who have won awards from Pope Francis this year. Abra anti-graft crusader, Cordillera peace advocate and diocesan educator Puraperla “Pura” de la Cruz Sumangil was conferred the Pro Ecclesia et Pro Pontifice (For the Church and for the Pope) medal in April, the highest Vatican award for laity.
With a master’s degree in development management, Sumangil is perhaps most widely admired for leading the Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Government anti-corruption group, which has exposed countless anomalies and closely monitors government projects. Sumangil, 81, is also research director at the Divine Word College, also under SVD.
Her unrelenting campaign against sleaze calls to mind the persistent widow in the Mass Gospel reading from St. Luke (Lk 18:1-8), badgering the dishonest judge till he renders a righteous verdict. Sumangil’s staunch advocacy for justice and integrity has also served her well in peace efforts among Indigenous communities.
The other papal awardee lights the flame of faith and worship in the dark of our increasingly irreligous world through her Bahay ng Diyos Foundation (BDF) undertaking the repair or construction of churches in mostly poor parishes.
Awarded the Benemerenti Medal for service to the Church, then exporter Noemi Saludo, this writer’s 87-year-old mother, did not renew her term as the first woman president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2005 despite calls for her to stay. Instead, she founded BDF on her birthday the following year.
Business colleagues asked her then why she stepped down from the pinnacle of national commerce. Saludo replied: “I’m not stepping down. I’m moving up to serve the Lord.”
Since she first heard a voice saying “This is your mission — build my church, help my priests,” she has raised funds through BDF for more than 70 projects assisted since its founding in 2006.
Among those assisted were churches severely damaged by typhoons and earthquakes, for which archbishops advising the foundation, including Cardinals Gaudencio Rosales and Luis Antonio Tagle, called for urgent funding.
While the darkness of rights abuses and corruption is widely acknowledged, few people today see the paucity of churches as a kind of darkness.
For the faithful, however, the absence of holy places to give public worship, seek mercy and bring petitions and gratitude to the Almighty also dims our communities. And it is BDF’s mission to bring not just religion to Filipinos, but God Himself really and truly present in the Eucharist.
“Our help is from the Lord who made heaven and earth,” declares the Mass Responsorial Psalm (Ps 121:1-8), and the first reading from the Book of Exodus (Ex 17:813) shows how crucial to Israel was the homage Moses showed God.
Indeed, like safeguarding rights and righteousness, we must also fight for faith in our land against the forces of abuse, injustice and godlessness. Amen.