With over 12,000 delegates expected to attend, it is but fitting that the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) starts off on a note or theme of hope as preached by some of the Catholic Church’s top leaders last Thursday.
Even non-Catholics can appreciate the words of Dominican priest Fr. Timothy Radcliffe who said “hope is the most profound gift the Church can give today.”
“Appalling suffering may tempt us to doubt whether anything has meaning. (But) if everything goes wrong, we need not be afraid,” Fr. Radcliffe told the 1,500 people gathered for last Wednesday’s start of a three-day symposia held ahead of the IEC.
Encouragement like this comes aplenty for those with strong religious faith or those claiming to be Christian. But it doesn’t have to be limited to them because the rest of the world also needs such encouragement, especially those who are being persecuted precisely for their faith.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma lamented that of the thousands scheduled to attend the IEC, there are practically few, if at all, who come from the countries being hit by the terrorist group Isis.
At a time when Muslim religious leaders have been working hard to establish their faith as rejecting extremist violence, such news is tragic indeed but not that surprising.
When it’s not religious extremist violence, the Church also has to contend with poverty of both the material and spiritual kind. While the widening gap between rich and poor is nothing new, the creeping apathy and indifference between both classes towards religious faith and moral values inculcated in Filipino families is and it’s quite alarming and sobering.
But as pointed out by Fr. Radcliffe, it is during these tough times of calamities, both natural and man-made, that one sees the strengh and resiliency of the Filipino’s faith in God.
That was demonstrated in the natural calamities that continually batter this country such as supertyphoon Yolanda. From the ashes of such disasters, we’ve also shown the strength of our faith in God by pooling our resources and helping our less fortunate neighbors rise up and rebuild.
A host of issues will be discussed in the coming IEC, such as lobbying for a localized version of the Eucharist, but again it is useful to note that the Church started one of their most historic events by touching on the theme of hope.
For it is hope that continually sustains humanity and we need it now more than ever as we battle not only climate change and the continuing deterioration of the environment but the ambitions and depravity of those who wish only to rule and dominate without thought or concern for the world’s betterment.
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