Pope Francis should lead us to conversion!

Finally, Pope Francis will be flying to Manila tomorrow and if you read all the headlines of newspapers, the writing of columnists and listen to all the TV programs, there is no doubt that all Filipinos have been gripped by Pope Francis fever. However there is only one more catch… which is rather disturbing. It was reported by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) that a low pressure area (LPA) was spotted some 2,600 kilometers east of Mindanao which could develop by today into the country’s first cyclone for the year.

This potential typhoon that would be named “Amang” could be the spoiler for the Pope’s visit, especially to Tacloban City as this low-pressure area comes from the same spot where Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) was formed. Pagasa’s forecast as of Tuesday revealed that this low pressure might not hit land in the Visayas and Mindanao, but curve northward… however Tropical Storm Seniang, which hit us in Cebu only showed how faulty Pagasa’s forecast can be. So let’s start praying for better weather.

Meanwhile I watched PTV-4’s Morning Boss program last Tuesday morning where they had as their guest my good friend, Baby Nebrida. Baby has a group called Mary’s Army to Save Souls that for nine years now, during Christmas Day, they go out into the streets of Metro Manila giving food, clothing and blessings to the homeless. I saw all this in her Facebook page and I felt that if every Filipino did what our Lord Jesus Christ would have done… we’d be a better nation! With so many poor Filipinos in our midst… we should have the heart of Mother Teresa!

What we Filipinos ought to do is unite ourselves to extinguish poverty from within our midst because it is not an easy task. The solution to poverty is not giving the poor the DSWD’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCR) program because it leads our corrupt government bureaucrats to corruption. It should be full education that leads to great job opportunities. These two must go hand-in-hand. What good is having a good education when at the end of graduation… there is no work available?

For this Papal visit… Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III exhorted Filipinos to unity for this Papal visit. While I fully agree that Filipinos must unite… however we should do so even after the Pope’s visit is over. If we must clear our streets of beggars or vagrants, it should not be to move them to areas where no one can see them; rather we must make an earnest effort to improve their lot. This should be P-Noy’s message to the Filipino people, however he must do more in action than just mere words.

I was glad the PTV-4 asked Baby Nebrida what her message was to us Filipinos and in my book she virtually encapsulated her message for this Papal visit by Jose Mario Bergoglio a.k.a. Pope Francis. Baby Nebrida came out asking us Catholics what is our commitment as Catholics? This is a very pivotal question that Filipino Catholics should be asking themselves.

In fact at the height of our battle against the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill… there were Catholics who literally and brazenly believed in artificial contraception or worse even abortion. That battle for the RH bill was perhaps the most divisive time for all Filipino Catholics and I’m sure some of them left the Catholic Church because the exit door is opened wide anyway.

But this Papal visit which comes right on time on the very week when millions of Catholics trooped the streets of Manila during the boisterous procession of the Black Nazarene last Sunday and by the end of this week, millions more would be attending in total silence and reverence during the procession of the Senyor Sto. Niño in Cebu City. I have no doubt that the Catholic faith is very strong in the hearts of Filipinos. But there’s more than just going to Mass every Sunday and I’m sure this is what Pope Francis wants to impart to us Filipinos in his Papal visit here.

This brings us to the message that Baby Nebrida gave to us Filipinos through her interview on PTV-4, “To listen to what Pope Francis tells us. Please do not focus on Pope Francis but his message!” Let me give you what St. John the Baptist taught his disciples a lesson in humility, which we should also adopt for our own sake.

When Jesus began his public ministry, he asked John to baptize him for the sake of righteousness. After his baptism, you can read what John the Baptist said John 3:30, “Therefore the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

This attitude of John the Baptist is the right attitude for us to follow… that while Pope Francis is the head of the billion strong Catholic Church and perhaps a Superstar in his own right, the message of Pope Francis is for Catholics to have a conversion and be true to the Catholic faith.

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