I had the privilege of traveling a few countries the past month. I did this for two basic reasons: one, for a personal desire to visit the Holy Land before I reach 50 years old. This goes way back to my seminary days. The second reason is to attend the Seminar on Spiritual Direction initiated by the Pontifical Mission Societies. The travel opened me to so many learning, reflections and insights.

I. HOLY LAND TOUR

I toured the Holy Land  (November 5 to 14, 2008) first with my 5 brother priests from our Archdiocese: Fathers Ed Pagcaliuangan, Gami Balita, Eric Arada, Lou Dolor and Larry Abante, with 5 other priests from other dioceses and a religious congregation (OMI) plus some 37 lay people. All came with the desire to see the Holy Places that would situate our faith context on God, on Jesus Christ, our Savior. We did not fail as we went from one Holy Place to another experiencing the life of Christ, his journey, teachings, miracles and saving act.

I could just imagine the power of God in Jesus Christ, how His mission was completed and transmitted to the disciples who in turn brought it to the whole world. It reached us through the Spanish Missionaries. His story should and must continually be told to people of all walks of life, believers and non-believers, so that all may continually put their trust on the Redeemer, born in a manger, in Bethlehem on the first Christmas day!

II. SPIRITUAL DIRECTION SEMINAR IN ROME

I was privileged to attend a seminar on spiritual direction from November 14 to 27, 2008, hosted by the Pontifical Mission Societies in Urbaniana, Rome, Italy. In spite of my personal training and experiences in spiritual direction, this seminar gave me a new dimension since this was prepared intentionally for mission territories in Asia and Africa. Moreover, this has a particular emphasis on seminary formation. The Congregation for the Propagation of faith discovered that this seminary formation, and in particular, spiritual direction was and is the root of the quality of priests and missionaries we have at the moment in these two continents. The speakers and moderators seemed to point out that, good priests and missionaries come from good seminary formation and spiritual direction and problem-situated priests and missionaries come from poor seminary formation and spiritual direction. It is of course a generalization, but certainly, there is truth in this in reality.

The tough experiences of priests from Africa and Asia in their mission and ministry, and in their formation work in the seminaries made me realize that we in the Philippines, in particular, in our Archdiocese are very much in a privileged position in terms of financial, social and academic security. It is very embarrassing to think and feel bad about our situation here when priests and missionaries out there suffer many difficult and out-of-control situations.

III. MIGRANTS’ ISSUES AND SITUATIONS

I met a good number of OFWs in Rome, Florence and Dubai. I felt helpless at their flight working abroad trying to earn better for themselves and their families and in the end they lose their values, they lose their families and they at times lose their identity as Catholics and Filipinos. Financially, yes, they are okay, at least 30% of them; still many live under difficult situation with meager income. And many things change in their lives. Many become materialistic. A good number lose their families: falling to other relationships, abandoning their children, living a life of infidelities. Some fall to gambling, alcohol and drug addictions. Many more just completely abandon their faith, if ever they had it before they left our country.

On the other hand, there are signs of hope among these people. A good number of them stay connected with the Church, become leaders and catechists and members of different organizations like the Couples for Christ. They reach out to others, especially the young, who are lost. They invite people to join evangelization programs in the parishes. Some Filipino priests do ministry to them and take care of them as much as they can.

Yet, the work is humungous! With more and more Filipinos going abroad trying to find their luck and life there, our Church always comes in late in doing ministry to them. I feel that the program of formation and education for Filipinos begin while they are still here – in the schools, in the parishes, in the barangays and tuklongs of our parishes. With this, we can aspire for a better church for our country especially for our Archdiocese.

All these can happen with God’s grace and we do everything for his greater glory. I hope our Christmas will find its way towards the meaning of Jesus’ birth: Mission to bring the good news to all - From his birth in the Holy Land of Bethlehem, to the missions and to the migrants of our world and our country.

A Blessed Christmas and a Meaningful New Year to all!