DAY ONE, WORLD TRADE CENTER, CCP COMPLEX, MANILA… More than five thousand priests from all over the country congregated in what can be touted as the largest single gathering of bishops and priests in the Philippines to date. The occasion is The Second National Congress of the Clergy in celebration of the Year of Priests. The attendance is simply awesome and overwhelming. I cannot help but be humbled and feel immensely blessed to have been a part of this holy event.
Nothing’s more heavenly than con-celebrating the Holy Eucharist with virtually all my brother priests from all ages, walks of life and manners of ministry; fellow stewards in the vineyard of the Lord; brothers and friends with their triumphs and failures, hopes and frustrations, struggles and dreams, joys and pains, their many little deaths and moments of resurrection. This is communion revealed, a foretaste of the sumptuous banquet that awaits us in the Divine Liturgy in heaven.
The early hours of the afternoon saw us again gathered before the altar in silent worship of the Eucharistic Lord. The scenario was not unlike a vast army of soldiers in front of their commander-in-chief, the former called in from various fronts for a very urgent briefing regarding some future battles. But the comparison ends here. For the encounter of the stewards with The Good Shepherd himself feels more like an invitation to rest, to be healed, to be revived, to just spend time doing and thinking of nothing than to enjoy one another’s company. One could almost hear the Lord reminding each of us not to punish ourselves so much with the humanly impossible task that we too often usurp from Him that is to save the world. Here’s Jesus once more addressing his seated disciples! Here’s Jesus gently reminding us to take it easy, to pay more attention to making ourselves happy and free in the ministry, and to tend to our own wounds and hurts just as intently as we would those of the persons we serve as priests.
Truly a moment of grace…
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