Filipino Catholics today. Second, the Question-Answer section aims at presenting what
is most important and central to each chapter, summarizing its essential
matter. Thus the Questions-Answers offer what is recommended for learning by
heart through memorization.
27.
Synthesis. This Catechism, then, can be described in summary
terms as follows:
What? A National Catechism presenting the essentials
of the Catholic Faith,
prepared by the CBCP, following the guidelines of the NCDP, and drawing on the
Catechism of the Catholic Church [ccc] and the 2nd Plenary Council
of the Philippines [pcp ii] with its National Pastoral
Plan [NPP];
Why? in order to present the essentials
of the Catholic Faith, in an up-to-date, inculturated, organic, and systematic
exposition;
How? by grounding its message firmly and consistently on Scripture
and Church Teaching, in unceasing interplay with Filipino experience
and culture, both personal and social;
For? Filipino
Catholics engaged in
communicating the Faith, and all who wish to know more about the Catholic Faith
today;
In What Shape?
•
structured according to the Trinitarian exposition of the Faith, that is Christ-centered by focusing directly on Jesus Christ, our Truth, our
Way and our Life; and calling for a life-response of Faith, Hope and Love, animated by the example of Mary, the mother of our Savior and his perfect disciple.
•
organized in 29 chapters, each with an Opening, a Context, a
detailed Exposition, a specific example of Integration, and
concluding with a synthesis in Question-Answer form.
• with a concluding chapter, the Epilogue,
which synthesizes the
whole work.
Catechism
for Filipino Catholics
Table
of Contents
Chapter 1
: Who is the Filipino Catholic
Chapter 2
: God's Call : Revelation
Chapter 3
: Our Response : We Believe
Chapter 4
: Our Unbelief
Chapter 5
: Catholic Doctrine : Christ- Our
Truth
Chapter 6
: God - The Father Almighty
Chapter 7
: Creator of Heaven and Earth
Chapter 8
: The Fall From Glory
Chapter 9
: God Promises a Savior
Chapter 10 : Jesus Christ : Mission and Person
Chapter 11 : Christ Has Died
Chapter 12 : Christ is Risen and Will Come Again
Chapter 13 : Living as Disciples of Christ
Chapter 14 : The Challenge of Following Christ
Chapter 15 : The Christian Law of Life-Giving
Love
Chapter 16 : Love the Lord Your God
Chapter 17 : Love One Another
Chapter 18 : Respect God's Gift : Life
Chapter 19 : Respecting Human Sexuality
Chapter 20 : Building Justice
Chapter 21 : Respecting Truth
Chapter 22 : The Holy Spirit : The Giver of
Life
Chapter 23 : The Catholic Church : Nature and Mission
Chapter 24 : Catholic Prayer and Worship
Chapter 25 : New Life in Christ : Baptism and
Confirmation
Chapter 26 : Christ - the Living Bread of Life
: The Eucharist
Chapter 27 : Christ's Healing : Reconciliation
and Anointing
Chapter 28 : Vocations in Christ : Marriage and
Holy Orders
Chapter 29 : FINAL GOAL : Resurrection of the
Body and Life Everlasting
Chapter 30 : EPILOGUE : The Lord's Prayer
Chapter 1
Who is the Filipino
Catholic?
The Word became
flesh, and made his dwelling among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of
an only Son, coming from the Father, filled with enduring love.
(Jn
1:14)
We Filipinos are
followers of Christ, his disciples. To trace his footsteps in our times means
to utter his word to others, to love with his love, to live with his life; . .
. To cease following him is to betray our very identity.
(PCP
II 34)
OPENING
28. This is a book about life in
Christ, life lived according to the Gospel. The “Good News” is that God has
become man in Jesus Christ our Lord, who came to save us from sin and bring us
to fullness of life. This is the Gospel which we Filipinos have accepted. As PCP II proudly declares: “For us Filipinos, the first
century of the coming millennium will mark the 500th year since we as a people
accepted the Faith” (PCP II 3). It makes us the only Christian nation among our
Asian brethren. There are deep affinities between Christ’s message and the
Filipino’s inmost ways of thinking and acting. “Much of the Gospel has become
part of us __ compassion,
forgiveness, caring, piety __ and makes of us a basically decent people (PCP II 15). Through the past centuries, right up to our present
critical times, growing more mature in the following of Christ has meant
becoming more truly and authentically Filipino.
29. Vatican II teaches that
Catholics “must give expression to this newness of [Christian] life in their
own society and culture and in a manner that is in keeping with
the traditions of their own land.” As addressed to us Filipino Catholics,
therefore, the Council declares that we
must be familiar with our
culture, we must purify and guard it, develop it in accordance with present-day
conditions. We must perfect it in Christ so that the faith of Christ and the
life of the Church will not be something foreign to the society in which we
live, but will begin to transform and permeate it. (AG
21)
30.
PCP II insisted on the
mutual interaction between Christian Faith and Filipino culture. “Hence we must
take a closer look at how the values that we have from our Christian Faith can
strengthen the good in our cultural values and correct what is excessive in
them and supply for their deficiencies” (PCP II 22). Likewise,
for Faith to mature in
love, it must be interiorized. Church teachings and practices must be
personally appreciated and appropriated by us, as a people with our own
particular culture, with our own ways of thinking and valuing. Faith must take
root in the matrix of our Filipino being so that we may truly believe and love
as Filipinos (PCP II 72).
CONTEXT
31. We Filipinos have had a long
history of very sharp and colorful religious experiences: From our
pre-Christian times, through the centuries of Spanish Christian evangelization,
to the American Protestant influx in the Commonwealth era, and the Japanese
occupation during World War II, right up past Vatican II’s “Second Pentecost,”
to “People Power” and today’s “Basic Christian Communities,” and the 2nd
Plenary Council of the Philippines [PCP II]. Our understanding and love of Jesus Christ has been
colored by our personal and national historical experiences of pain and
struggle, of victory and celebration. Our faith in Jesus is marked by our deep
devotion to Mary, his Mother, and
our Mother and Model. All these experiences have somehow defined and clarified
our unique identity as persons, as Christians,
as Filipinos, as a nation.
32. PCP II was held “to take stock of where we are; to
look where we are going; to reanimate our life in Christ; to unite all things
in Him (PCP II 7). Our Catholic Faith, therefore, must be “inculturated” within our specific and unique
Filipino character which has in part shaped our faith-experiences through the
years. This Catechism represents a serious effort at just such an inculturated
presentation of the essentials of the Faith to the Catholic Filipino of today.
EXPOSITION
33. To identify what it means to
be a “Filipino Catholic” we ask: From whom do we naturally draw our self-identity? Where do we find the deepest meaning in our lives? How do we react to suffering? How do we commit ourselves to our ideals in life? What is our view of the world in all its depth and hidden reality? Brief answers to
these questions can be sketched by selecting a series of five predominant Filipino characteristics, together with five essential traits of Jesus Christ,
both assumed within the typical “Filipino way” to Jesus. This will at once
define the Filipino Catholic as well as show that in our country, to become
more deeply Christian is to become more
truly and authentically Filipino.
A.
Self-identity
34. First, we Filipinos are family-oriented. The anak-magulang
relationship is of primary importance to us Filipinos. Ama, ina, and anak
are culturally and emotionally significant to us Filipinos who cherish our
filial attachment not only to our immediate family, but also to our extended
family (ninongs, ninangs, etc.). This family-centeredness
supplies a basic sense of belonging, stability and security. It is from our
families that we Filipinos naturally draw our sense of self-identity.
35.
Jesus as both the Son of God (Anak ng Amang Diyos) and the Son of Man (Anak ng Tao) endears himself naturally to us family-oriented
Filipinos. As Son of Man, Jesus leads us to his Mother Mary (Ina ng Diyos) whom he shares with us (cf. Jn 19:26-27). He thus welcomes us into his own household, offers
himself as our brother (kapatid), and draws us through the Sacrament of Baptism to a new identity and
into the family life of his heavenly Father (cf. Jn 3:5-7).
36. What can better remind us Filipinos of our
early childhood, or respond more directly to our traditional love for children,
than Jesus, the Sto. Niño? At twelve, Jesus was a discerning and daring
child, who nonetheless remained obedient to his parents (cf. Lk 2:41-51). In his public life, Jesus embraced little
children and admonished his disciples to become child-like in openness and
simplicity (cf. Mt 18:2-4). In our family-orientedness, then, we Filipinos
are naturally attracted to Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God and Son of Man. Thus, PCP II 46-48 stress the exceptional importance of our
Filipino family as both subject and object of evangelization.
B.
Meaning in Life
37.
Second, we
Filipinos are meal-oriented (salu-salo, kainan). Because Filipinos
consider almost everyone as part of their family (parang pamilya), we
are known for being gracious hosts and grateful guests. Serving our guests with
the best we have is an inborn value to Filipinos, rich and poor alike. We love
to celebrate any and all events with a special meal. Even with unexpected
guests, we Filipinos try our best to offer something, meager as it may be, with
the traditional greeting: “Come and eat with us.” (Tuloy po kayo at kumain
muna tayo.)
38.
Jesus as Eucharist is not only the host
of the new Paschal Meal (cf. 1 Cor 11:23-26), and the
food, the bread of life (cf. Jn 6:48-58),
but even the guest in every gathering (cf. Mt 18:20; Rev
3:20). The New Testament refers more than twenty-five times to
eating (kainan). Eating together in table fellowship with the presence
of the risen Christ (cf. 1 Cor 10:17),
“Communion,” in other words, constitutes the core-witness of the early
Church as a Eucharistic community. So we Filipinos feel naturally “at home” in
breaking bread together with Jesus. PCP II’s “spirituality of social
transformation finds in the Eucharist not only its full nourishment but also its total prayerful communion
with the Lord of salvation and liberation” (PCP II 281).
C.
Sufferings in Life
39. Third, we Filipinos are kundiman-oriented. The kundiman is a sad Filipino song about wounded love. Filipinos are naturally
attracted to heroes sacrificing everything for love. We are patient and
forgiving to a fault (“magpapaka-alipin ako nang dahil sa iyo”). This acceptance of suffering manifests a deep,
positive spiritual value of Filipinos’ kalooban.
40. Jesus, the Suffering Servant of the prophet Isaiah, is portrayed through our
favorite Filipino images of Padre Hesus Nazareno, the Santo Entierro or the Sacred Heart. Through
these images, Jesus appears as
one of “the least of our brethren”: the hungry and thirsty, the naked, the sick, the lonely stranger and the prisoner (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Jesus the Suffering Servant can thus reach out to us
Filipinos as a healing and forgiving Savior who understands our weaknesses, our
failures, our feelings of depression, fear and loneliness. He has been through
it all himself! To us Filipinos who can even celebrate the sufferings and hardships of life in song, Jesus Christ calls: “Come
to me, all you who are weary and find life
burdensome, and I will refresh you” (Mt 11:28).
D.
Life-Commitment
41. Fourth, we Filipinos are bayani-oriented. A bayani is a hero. We Filipinos are
natural hero-followers. For all our patience and tolerance, we will not accept
ultimate failure and defeat. We tend instinctively to always personalize any
good cause in terms of a leader, especially when its object is to defend the
weak and the oppressed. To protect this innate sense of human dignity,
Filipinos are prepared to lay down
even their lives.
42. Jesus as Christ
the King (Cristo Rey) responds well to the bayani-oriented Filipino.
As born social critics, organizers and martyrs, we Filipinos see Jesus Christ
as the Conqueror of the world by his mission as prophet, king
and priest (cf. PCP II 57-61). Jesus came as one sent by the Father, to do the
Father’s will (cf. Jn 5:30). He was “to bring glad tidings to the poor, to
proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and release to
prisoners” (Lk 4:18). Although a “sign of contradiction” himself (Lk 2:34), Jesus made the Kingdom of God
present among his people by his teaching (cf. Mt 7:29) and signs. “The blind recover their sight, cripples
walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, dead men are raised to life, and the
poor have the good news preached to them” (Lk 7:22). So as bayani-oriented, we Filipinos enthrone our image of Cristo Rey. He assures us that everything will be alright in the
end. Christ the King has won the ultimate victory over evil.
E.
World View
43.
Fifth, we Filipinos are spirit-oriented. We are often said to be naturally psychic. We have a
deep-seated belief in the supernatural and in all kinds of spirits dwelling in
individual persons, places and things. Even in today’s world of science and
technology, Filipinos continue to invoke the spirits in various undertakings,
especially in faith-healings and exorcisms.
44. Jesus
the “miracle-worker” who promised to send his Spirit to his disciples to give them new life (cf. Jn 15:26; 16:7; 13-14), is thus very appealing to us Filipinos. The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Risen
Christ, draws us Filipinos into a community wherein superstition and enslaving
magic are overcome by authentic worship of the Father “in spirit and truth” (cf. Jn 4:23). In Christ’s community, the Church, “to each person
the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7). This same Spirit, which empowered Jesus the miracle worker,
is active in his disciples, uniting them in the teaching of the apostles, and
in community fellowship of the breaking of bread and prayer through Christ
their Lord (LG 13).
F.
The Filipino Way
45.
But accepting Jesus Christ as responding to these essential Filipino traits has
historically come about and continued in a typical “Filipino” manner. The
outstanding characteristic of the Church in the Philippines is to be a “pueblo amante de Maria” __ a people in love with Mary. Even before the coming of
the Spanish missionaries, there was a small dark image of the Blessed Virgin,
known only as coming “from the sea,” venerated on the shores of Manila Bay.
Thus originated the devotion to Nuestra Señora de
Guia, Our Lady, Guide of
the Way, the oldest extant image of Mary in the Philippines (PCP II 153).
46.
The typically “Filipino”
approach to Christ, therefore, is with and through Mary. Devotion to Mary has always been intimately
intertwined with Christ. The two central mysteries of our Faith in Christ: the
mystery of the Incarnation celebrated at Christmas, and of Redemption
celebrated during Holy Week, are deeply marked by the veneration of Mary. This
is portrayed graphically in the Simbang Gabi (Misa de Gallo or de Aguinaldo) and the panunuluyan at Christmas time, and the Salubong in Easter Sunday morning (NCDP 242).
47. Marian devotion and piety seem co-natural to us
Filipinos. Mary is deeply involved in each of the five Filipino characteristics
leading us to Christ. The “family altar” in so many Filipino homes witnesses to
Mary as mother of Jesus and our spiritual mother. Thus she is at the center of our family-orientedness.
As celebration and meal-oriented, Mary’s month of May is noted for the fiestas
in her honor and pilgrimages to her shrines. For suffering
in life, Mary is venerated
as the Mater Dolorosa, the Sorrowful Mother, whose “Perpetual Help,” compassion and love is sought through popular novenas and devotions.
As bayani-oriented, we have Mary as our Queen, the loving mother of Christ our King. Moreover, she is
the young maiden whose life commitment: “Be it done to me according to your word,” is
repeated thrice everyday in the Angelus. Finally, as spirit-oriented, Mary is venerated precisely as the woman upon whom
the Holy Spirit came, that her offspring would be called Son of God (cf. Lk 1:35). The many Lourdes
“grottos” throughout our country testify to our Filipino attraction to her many
apparitions.
48.
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ang Mahal na Birhen, has greatly helped many simple Filipinos to remain
Catholics. Their deep devotion to the
Mother of God has been the strongest force keeping their faith alive (cf. AMB 67). Mary has been and remains the central inspiring force
in bringing about a deeper evangelization of the masses of our people, “the safeguard for the preservation of our
Catholic Faith, and the principle of deeper and fuller evangelization” (AMB 72-73).
G.
The Filipino Catholic
49. From this Marian approach to the series of five Filipino
characteristics inter-related with essential traits of Jesus Christ, a rough
sketch of us Filipino Catholics can be drawn. We are first of all family-centered Filipinos who can easily talk
to God the Father through His only begotten Son-made-man, our Lord Jesus
Christ. Our devotion to the Sto. Niño and the Mahal na Birhen reveals
fundamental depths of our own self-identity. Secondly, we find meaning in our lives and learn to face the
hunger and poverty around us in encountering Jesus as Eucharist in our parish
community. “Around the table of the Lord,” we Filipino Catholics are drawn by
prayer to share our time, energy and very lives, for the service of our needy
brethren and for the building-up of truly Christian communities of justice,
love and healing.
50.
Third, as Filipino Catholics, because we have met Christ the
Suffering Servant in his Passion, we can pray about sin and forgiveness, about
justice and reconciliation, about the suffering and Passion of our own Filipino
people today. We have the strength to offer ourselves as “bread broken for the
world,” together with Jesus, because we believe with unshakeable hope that the
Crucified One is Risen from the dead, victorious over sin, death and the world.
51.
Fourth, we Catholic Filipinos, resilient as the bamboo (kawayan) and sturdy as the narra, commit ourselves to Christ, our hero-king, in deep
gratitude for the gift of faith and for being Filipino. Lastly, our world vision as Catholic Filipinos is gradually
transformed by Christ’s Spirit-in-the-world in our Church community.
In
the depths of the Filipino spirit is a longing for kaayusan, for order out of chaos, a longing for the life that
the creative Spirit of Jesus gives as a gift, a gift which is likewise a
challenge (cf. PCP II 257). Through
sacramental encounters with the Risen Lord, we experience his Spirit’s healing
and strengthening power. In Christ’s Spirit, we Catholic Filipinos, inspired by
Mary, the Holy Virgin, our Mother, are confirmed in our
witness to Jesus by our service of our brethren, and our persevering prayer for
our beloved dead.
52. Who, then, are Filipino
Catholics? We are a people who have experienced in one way or another that our
Filipino identity, meaning, suffering, commitment and world-view are all tied to Jesus Christ. Like a diamond with a thousand facets, Christ is
able to reveal to every person and nation, their very own unity, truth and
value. Thus we Filipino Catholics are people who:
•
as baptized into discipleship of Jesus Christ, discover our identity as adopted children of our Father and as
members of Christ’s Body, the Church, inspired by Mary our Mother;
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