The head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has urged the faithful to participate in the simultaneous commemoration of the first Mass in the country on April 4.
"We therefore enjoin all our faithful to actively participate in our simultaneous commemoration of the first Mass celebrated in our country on Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021," CBCP President Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles said in his pastoral letter for the celebration of the 500 years of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines released on Tuesday, March 23.
"Let it also be the occasion for the opening of a jubilee door in every cathedral in the whole country, as well as in select Churches during the rest of Easter," he added.
As to the commemoration of the first Baptism, Valles enjoined bishops to have their own commemorations by celebrating the Sacrament of Baptism, either on April 14 or on the third Sunday of Easter, April 18, 2021.
This is aside from the national celebration on April 14, 2021 in Cebu.
"Let this year be a year of looking back in history so that we can understand better who we are in the present as communities of disciples, and an opportunity also to look forward in the next 500 years with the same missionary zeal that made it possible for us to receive the Christian faith," said Valles.
"What we received without cost is also what we give without cost. Cardinal(Luis Antonio) Tagle expressed this so well when he said 'The gift must continue being a gift. If it is kept for oneself, it ceases to be a gift. By God’s mysterious design, the gift of faith we have received is now being shared by the millions of Christian Filipino migrants in the different parts of the world,'" he added.
"It is their zeal that must move us who have stayed in the homeland, to ask ourselves how we are sharing this gift—to repeat the words of the Holy Father, how we are caring 'for those who are hurting and living on the fringes of life.'" said Valles.
Pope Francis on March 14 presided over a Mass for the Filipino community in Rome to celebrate the 500 years of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines.