Fr. Bembol, together with the community of San Mateo, Rizal, celebrated his first Easter Sunday Mass last April 1, 2018. Photo: Aldrin Llagas / MPIM
AS OUR ADDITIONAL WRITER ON HIS SEGMENT ON OUR WEBSITE: “POINT-COUNTERPOINT”
I choose Point-Counterpoint as my fortnightly column’s tag in the spirit of open-forum discussion or its equivalent in print. None of us would very much want to be a lonely voice in the desert or VOZ SOLAMENTE EN DESIERTO. The ideal thing would be to get the thoughts of one’s parishioners into the equation, so that something worthwhile might come to the front and be accounted for if a healthy give and take is desired.
ONE MONTH AFTER, HIS MESSAGE TO HIS PARISHIONERS
Fr Bembol’s first and exclusive interview upon his arrival at DSPNSDA last February 26.
Foremost of the virtues of any decent man Christian or otherwise, is thankfulness. I even believe that the Ten Commandments can be conflated into Thank You-mandment, because the sense of gratitude automatically subsumes all the other virtues which mere enumeration cannot further emphasize. So? From the bottom, the middle, the top of my heart I thank you all most cordially for the very warm welcome you’ve given a stranger in your midst last 26 February 2018.
In partial return for your heart warming welcome of this stranger amongst you (but not anymore strange upon our closer acquaintance), I’ll do my best to pursue the following goals:
- Cleanliness and orderliness in the conduct of this my allotted time with you. Punctualness should not a mere second to the first but is a corollary of same.
- To propagate the good practice of the Lectio Divina, and to cultivate lovingly our devotion to Our Lady of Aranzazu.
- In the close connection to the above, I’ll do what I can to enhance our Church’s good reputation as a pilgrimage site in the same way that Our Lady of Buenviaje in Antipolo has had it made. Not to the same degree, maybe, but certainly among the same lines.
- Thus means going-out of your way, out your comfort – zone (as the buzzword has it) to proclaim the good news of God amongst us. Easier said than done, but there’s precisely the essence of being procliamer of God’s promise: you just cannot be wishy-washy about it but have to go the distance, to negotiate the long haul, before you can be said to have done you share of evangelizing. Thus must be in accordance with what gifts or charism you may have – and then adding that extra effort to live nothing in doubt, to do justice to the overwhelming phenomenon of God’s grace.
- A mission cannot go underailed if the people engaged in its pursuit are no in communication. Unity of purpose is all the more achievable when there’s an under pinning of a more primary nature: a communion of lay and clergy of the parish.
- Stewardship as a way of life needn’t concern only the priests, but also and with equal force, the laity who make up the parish. There is no sense in a stewardship if its not shared – each according to his / her ability or gifts – with the community it encloses.
Fr. Bembol with the Parish Pastoral Council, Shrine Ministry and the Coordinators of “Munting Sambayanang Kristiyano” on their first meet and greet.
MAXIMIZE THE POTENTIALS OF THE PARISH
I put this desideratum last but it’s not oh no, it’s not the least. It assumes under its wide – span wings the general betterment, in various degrees of importance, of the parish. The potentials of any parish are just there, but unless some proactive move is made, they tend to be immobilized, inertia takes over and you’ll be just where you were back in square one, if no worse. So action, kinetic energy, the full expression of a united willingness to strain – excelsior I – for higher, for better, – why not for best? This is maximizing and it’ll take a lot of striving. As Robert Browning so aptly states; Our reach should exceed our grasp. Or what’s a heaven for? – Rev. Fr. Bembol
