By Ador Vincent Mayol, ReporterEven after 444 years since the image of the Sto. Niño de Cebu was recovered unscathed from a torched Cebuano settlement, the faith of Cebuanos has remained similarly intact, said Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Julio Cortes.
In celebrating the Kaplag Festival of barangay San Nicolas yesterday, Cortes, in his homily, reminded the faithful to rediscover Christ in their lives just as the Sto. Niño was rediscovered four centuries ago. He also asked the faithful to be witnesses of the Lord’s goodness.
“We are here in a journey of faith to retrieve what is pure and ideal,” Cortes said during a Mass morning at the Basilica del Sto. Nino.
Kaplag is an annual celebration in San Nicolas recalling the rediscovery of the Sto. Niño by Spanish soldier Juan Camus on April 28, 1565. Camus was a member of the Spanish expedition led by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi to colonize the archipelago and convert the natives to Christianity.
The image was the same one that explorer Ferdinand Magellan gifted Rajah Humabon and his wife in 1521.
Cortes urged the faithful to follow the example of Spanish friars who first evangelized Cebuanos.
Cortes said that although Cebuanos have benefited from what the Augustinians have planted, Cebuanos also have to share the faith to others by spreading the word of God, and teaching others to live the values of love, hope, and charity.
“We have to ask ourselves: What have I, who have received the faith, done to share it? Have I, in my own and with others, spread the word of God?” Cortes added.
Also in line with the 75th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Cebu, which was also marked yesterday in a separate celebration at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, Cortes urged the faithful to grow “more and more” in grace as the Body of Christ.
Comments