building the church
We celebrated last May 26, albeit without much fanfare, the anniversary of the Dedication of the Jaro Cathedral. Since it is a cathedral it is not just celebrated as a Solemnity in the Cathedral itself (in the liturgical yardstick that’s equivalent to the Jaro Fiesta) but also as a feast in all the parishes of the Archdiocese of Jaro. On that day the 12 candlesticks on the walls of the cathedral were all lighted up signifying the solemnity of the occasion and the high festivity of the celebration. In the liturgy, the more candles we light, the more festive is the occasion, and in the occasion of the Anniversary of the Dedication it’s not just four or six but twelve candles plus the six candles beside the altar.
The Cathedral of Jaro represents the people of God not just in the parish of Jaro but even so of the whole archdiocese, since this is a catheral where the cathedra (the Latin word for seat or chair) of the Archbishop of Jaro is. (If you are facing the altar you won’t miss it – it’s that conspicuous marble chair with a wooden baldachin serving as a backdrop on your left under the statue of St. Peter.) It’s the Archbishop’s chair, the symbol of his authority to govern, to teach and his responsibility to sanctify the flock entrusted to his care. No one may sit on this chair except the Archbishop and those fellow bishops he permits for ceremonial purposes (though I must admit I sometimes sit there when nobody is around, and I tell you it is as uncomfortable as the authority it symbolizes – a pain on the a_ _ so to say, literally and symbolically! I pity the bishops!)
We would have wanted to finish the cathedral (the interior, that is) in time for this day, but the retablo which we are trying to restore could not be finished in time for this celebration. We will be setting up an authentic wooden retablo (not those precast type you see in most modern churches today). It would be the real one, delicately hand carved to look “approximately” like the original retablo eaten by termites years back. I said “approximately” because the original cannot be duplicated anymore without compromising so many things. This is because of the more than 9-foot image of Our Lady of Candles sculpted by the famous Maximo Vicente (the original statue made in proportion to the original retablo is now kept at the sacristy and is very much smaller). This gargantuan image would not fit in the niche of the original retablo and it would look terribly out of proportion with the retablo (though I should say it is in proportion to the church). And besides, we would like to preserve the Carrara marble altar as it is right now. Hopefully by August this year the altar with its retablo would be finished in time for the Birthday of Our Blessed Mother (September 8), and it would be a wonderful gift to our Mother. We trust that by then too, our PhP. 2.7 million deficit would also have been paid up.
Less people think that the parish’s main concern is the building which symbolizes the people of God, we would like to inform you that our parish programs, though quite slowly, is doing fine. Most of our Urna cells are active especially in gathering each week for the faith sharing. Our BEC pilot barangays, namely Simon Ledesma, Tabuc Suba Ilaya and San Vicente are also moving forward despite the many setbacks and obstacles along the way. Now we are on the stage of profiling the members of our Urna for the KABALAKA Project which is the livelihood program of our parish. This is to instil among our parishioners that the parish program do not only involve the spirit but also the body so that our evangelization may become truly integral, involving the person in his or her totality – soul and body, spiritual and material, earth and heaven. I really admire our more creative and very active BAC coordinators who helped us in our efforts in the parish. Some of them are campaigning hard to raise funds for the KABALAKA distributing the plastic bottles (which we call “alkansiya sang pamilya”) among their neighbors to collect coins or the so called “crumbs” so that we can gather and use these to help people help themselves. This is not only from well to do families but even more so among the poor of our parish. It’s really the poor helping the poor. After all who else can truly comprehend from experience the day to day plight of the poor but the poor themselves. As of this time we have gathered PhP. 163,000.00 for the KABALAKA programs, and when we have counted out all the perdon sold during the fiesta we would by then know how many PhP. 2.50’s per candle we have gained for our livelihood program. As of this time the people from the brangays are still bringing with them their “bottle” of coins, their alkansiya, during the offertory of the Mass – a worthy offering indeed that “beautifies” not just a structure of stone which is the cathedral, but the people of God themselves, our parishioners. I believe this is the more worthy gift to the Blessed Mother – when we can present to her the real “treasures of the Church,” that is, the poor able to earn a living because of the “crumbs” that we painstakingly and patiently gathered and which you have willingly offered.
The Cathedral of Jaro represents the people of God not just in the parish of Jaro but even so of the whole archdiocese, since this is a catheral where the cathedra (the Latin word for seat or chair) of the Archbishop of Jaro is. (If you are facing the altar you won’t miss it – it’s that conspicuous marble chair with a wooden baldachin serving as a backdrop on your left under the statue of St. Peter.) It’s the Archbishop’s chair, the symbol of his authority to govern, to teach and his responsibility to sanctify the flock entrusted to his care. No one may sit on this chair except the Archbishop and those fellow bishops he permits for ceremonial purposes (though I must admit I sometimes sit there when nobody is around, and I tell you it is as uncomfortable as the authority it symbolizes – a pain on the a_ _ so to say, literally and symbolically! I pity the bishops!)
We would have wanted to finish the cathedral (the interior, that is) in time for this day, but the retablo which we are trying to restore could not be finished in time for this celebration. We will be setting up an authentic wooden retablo (not those precast type you see in most modern churches today). It would be the real one, delicately hand carved to look “approximately” like the original retablo eaten by termites years back. I said “approximately” because the original cannot be duplicated anymore without compromising so many things. This is because of the more than 9-foot image of Our Lady of Candles sculpted by the famous Maximo Vicente (the original statue made in proportion to the original retablo is now kept at the sacristy and is very much smaller). This gargantuan image would not fit in the niche of the original retablo and it would look terribly out of proportion with the retablo (though I should say it is in proportion to the church). And besides, we would like to preserve the Carrara marble altar as it is right now. Hopefully by August this year the altar with its retablo would be finished in time for the Birthday of Our Blessed Mother (September 8), and it would be a wonderful gift to our Mother. We trust that by then too, our PhP. 2.7 million deficit would also have been paid up.
Less people think that the parish’s main concern is the building which symbolizes the people of God, we would like to inform you that our parish programs, though quite slowly, is doing fine. Most of our Urna cells are active especially in gathering each week for the faith sharing. Our BEC pilot barangays, namely Simon Ledesma, Tabuc Suba Ilaya and San Vicente are also moving forward despite the many setbacks and obstacles along the way. Now we are on the stage of profiling the members of our Urna for the KABALAKA Project which is the livelihood program of our parish. This is to instil among our parishioners that the parish program do not only involve the spirit but also the body so that our evangelization may become truly integral, involving the person in his or her totality – soul and body, spiritual and material, earth and heaven. I really admire our more creative and very active BAC coordinators who helped us in our efforts in the parish. Some of them are campaigning hard to raise funds for the KABALAKA distributing the plastic bottles (which we call “alkansiya sang pamilya”) among their neighbors to collect coins or the so called “crumbs” so that we can gather and use these to help people help themselves. This is not only from well to do families but even more so among the poor of our parish. It’s really the poor helping the poor. After all who else can truly comprehend from experience the day to day plight of the poor but the poor themselves. As of this time we have gathered PhP. 163,000.00 for the KABALAKA programs, and when we have counted out all the perdon sold during the fiesta we would by then know how many PhP. 2.50’s per candle we have gained for our livelihood program. As of this time the people from the brangays are still bringing with them their “bottle” of coins, their alkansiya, during the offertory of the Mass – a worthy offering indeed that “beautifies” not just a structure of stone which is the cathedral, but the people of God themselves, our parishioners. I believe this is the more worthy gift to the Blessed Mother – when we can present to her the real “treasures of the Church,” that is, the poor able to earn a living because of the “crumbs” that we painstakingly and patiently gathered and which you have willingly offered.
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