A little sense of religious history
TABLETS OF STONE |
Larry Faraon, OP |
The beatification of Blessed John Paul II last Sunday was a great single event that should really touch the hearts of the Filipinos deeply. Unlike our first Filipino saint, Lorenzo Ruiz, who lived around the 17th century, we have a contemporary, live, tete-a-tete experience with this holy man from Poland since he has stepped into our shores, kissed our land twice in 1982 and 1995 during the World Youth Day. Our bonding with the man extended beyond his being the universal leader of some 1.2 billion Catholics all over the world including the nearly 70 million local Roman Catholics toward a deeper level where encounters were personally empowering and inspiring.
In 1982, the first time he came, he really wanted to see and bless the lepers of the Tala Leprosarium in San Jose del Monte Bulacan. Unfortunately then President Ferdinand Marcos discouraged the papal entourage for doing so for security reasons. But the Pope insisted, since he really had an eye and a heart for such dejected people whenever he visits a country. In his 1980 visit to Brazil, his tears trickled down freely upon beholding over a thousand lepers at one of the Brazilian colonies. To solve the impasse, the late Cardinal Sin thought of a way out. He summoned for me with instructions that I invite some 50 lepers from Tala Leprosarium, then bring them to Radio Veritas conference room where the Pope could meet and bless them, since the Holy Father was awarding the winners of the Catholic Mass Media Awards at the Radio Veritas auditorium on the same day..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110508com6.html
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