�Anyone who was bitten could look at it and be healed� Num. 21.8 �
The ancestors of the modern Filippino Catholics were mostly animists or some of them were muslims and that too happened since the eleventh centurtury. Christianity started in the Philippine archipelago with the first circum navigator of the world,� the Spanish conquistador Magellan who lost his life in the Philippines Islands to a chieftain by the name Lapu Lapu and Magellan�s �tomb is in Mactan island in the! Philippine Archipelago. The Holy Cross that Magellan brought to the Philippines is enshrined at the Magellan�s Cross, a national monument beside the Bascilica de Santo Nino at Cebu. Magellan and the conquistadores died but the Holy Cross and the faith that the Spanish missionaries brought to the islands is retained. Christ lives in the hearts and lives of the people, making the Philippines the only catholic nation in the Orient.�������������������������&! nbsp;������� � I stayed with a group of mountain dwellers, in the Northern parts of the Luzon Island, in the Philippines.�It is these inhabitants of� Benawe, who carved the beautiful Rice terraces. The Filippino people regard this as the eighth wonder in the world. �I think those Rice Terraces in Benwe ( the name Banawe derived from a an exceptionally beautiful Ifugao young woman�who lived and died in the mountains and the Ifugao people named that ! place after. Thus the name Benawe) is clamied to be the most beautiful of all the rice terraces in the entire world. If we add up the terraces one after the other, it is enough to add a ring around the earth. Observing some of the customs of the Ifugao people ( The inhabitants of �Benawe) �was �enriching and inspiring. I stayed with those head hunters.( The Ifugao people are notorious headhunters and they are a priestly people too. Every male is a priest although they have only one high priest ). I walked with Mr. George the chief of one of the Ifugao communities at Benawe . As we walked through the Rice Terraces along a stream,� Mr.George who was dressed in G-string� and a blank! et with a bolo in his hand, used to� murmur. I asked him what he was saying and Mr. George said �I am asking permission�. It was an amusing experience for me an anthropology student, who went to live among them to observe their various customs and traditions especially �the popular relegiocity� among the Ifugao people. � Mr. George recognized my interest and explained, pointing to a corner of the stream �This is the place where the Spirit of water lives� and at another corner by the winding stream, he said �This is the abode of the spirit of the animals� and he kept explaining the various spirits that protected their villages and rice fields. Although they have innumerable spirits that guard every inch of their property and possessions, they have only one supreme God, the God of the Granaries and that God has no shape, no name and you cannot carve a proper face of that God. They carve on a wooden piece a disfigured� statue of the Supreme God�and keep that in the granaries. �Every time we crossed a fence and entered a ! foot path, Mr. George ( he is converted to Christianity) asked permission from the spirit that guarded that particular path. � Asking permission from the gods �or the spirits �is an age old custom among the �mountain dwellers and law-landers in the Philippines. Offering sacrifices and gifts to the spirits is seen in different parts of the world. This custom was Christianized by the early Spanish missionaries in the Philippine islands and different parts of the world. The Spanish and Portugeze� people have colonized and their Missionaries have evangelized� most of the globe. One subtle thing the&! nbsp; Missionaries did was to train the Philippine Catholics is to make the sign of the cross as they entered each� walk way. �An amazing explotion of� popular religiocity is that they carry a little bag with the Infant Jesus inside the little bag. If you search the bags of the Filippino people they will proudly display the image of Senor Santo Nino, their protector. It is a Christianized version of hanging a pendant on a chain� around their neck. �So many Latin words� such as � Colorum Clorum ( reminisicnet of� seculorum</SPA! N>) are inscribed in the amulet. And the people even now are seen carrying the amulet as a protection and a good luck charm. � Asking permission from God in doing anything is a custom and a tradition and a faith expression that we humans are mostly born into. No wonder the Hindu people have the images of their deities displayed� every corner of their village and a temple erected in honor of them. � The Israelites disobeyed God, �The Israelites left Mount Sinai and along the way � they lost patience with God and Moses� Num 21.5. This impatient people sinned against God. Their sin was their impatience and their complaints. They complained and abused God. They fought against God, wrestled with God �and sinned in their hearts. From the dissatisfied hearts they said �Why did you bring us out ! of Egypt to die in this desert� Num 21.5. � They have forgotten the good deeds of God in their lives. God protected and gave everything to them. Saved them from Pharao, helped them cross the Sea. Yet they forgot the abiding presence of God . Satan entered them and provoked them to fight against God. God punished the Israelites whom he loved most. �God sent poisonous serpents among them. Many Israelites were bitten and died� Num 21.6. Then they repented and requested Moses to intercede. �We have sinned against God and now you pray to God to take away these serpents from us� Nu. 21.7. Moses interceded. �Moses prayed for the people� Nu. 21.7. This attitude of seeking� intercession is very important in our Catholic tradition. We need some people to intercede. We need people to be between us and Our God.� We need holy men and women to intercede in our behalf before God. Some people say we could converse with God directly. Yes t! hat is possible but God has anointed people, to intercede for us. Jesus is our greatest mediator and savior. � � When Moses interceded God saved the Israelites. � God said to Moses to make a metal snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would look at the bronze snake and be healed� Nu 21.9. �Moses did as God commanded. Today that sign is the emblem of the medical profession, a sign for the healers. This bronze serpent is the pre-figuration of Jesus. Jesus was lifted on a standard, a sign that was opposed. Anyone who looks on the pierced Jesus is saved. � Anyone who may make the sign of the cross and prays will have the imprint of the cross on his brain and heart and the whole system. We are a composite of Spirit and Matter. The Spiritual energy of the Holy cross will energize and transform us. We know that mind is over matter. �The imprint of the Holy Cross will save us. � The sign of the cross was the emblem for the Crusaders.� The other day when I was flying over the ocean, I saw a passenger next to me making the sign of the cross in haste as the plane soared to the sky from Los Angeles. When the plane landed �at Nandi Airport in Fiji Islands� that �passenger did the same thing and I asked � why did you make the sign of the cross� and that passenger said � I thank God for the safe trip�. My comment was ��In other words you said praise the Lord for the safe trip� the passenger looked at me and asked if I Am a Christian . When he learned that I am a catholic priest, he was happy and� asked me to pray �for him . I made the sign of the cross on ! his�palm and blessed him.�He said �I will always remember this trip with a priest�. � The sign of the cross will banish all evils from our mind, from our body and around us. Making the sign of the cross is in a way saying �Praise the Lord Jesus Christ�. In early days I have heard the� people say to the� priests or religious sisters ��Praise you Jesus Christ�. Making the sign of the cross on someone and if we say � May Jesus Bless you�, surely God will protect and bless �the Lord said If they prounounce my name as a blessing over the people,I will bles! s them� Nu 6.27. � In fact� the good Lord commanded Moses to Bless the people in a definite way.� God commanded Moses to teach Aaron �and his children to bless the people as follows � Tell Aaron� and his sons to use the following words of blessing in blessing Israel. May God Bless you and take care of you. May the Lord be kind and gratious to you. May the Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.� Nu. 6.22, 23, 24,25. When the priests blessed the people with the God given formula it was �not the priests who blessed the people, rather the Lord blessing them. �the Lord said If they prounounce my name as a blessing over the people,I will bless them� Nu 6.27. � It is God who is blessing the people when we invoke the name of the Lord. When we make the sign of the cross at the start of our journey we are offering ourselves in God�s secure hands and God is in command. Everything we do in God is God�s. When God is in command we have no reason to worry. If we worry Jesus will ask us the same way as he did to his disciples �Why are you so frightened, what little faith you have� Mt.8.26. Every time I start driving the car, I make the sign of the cross and ask God to bless my way. Make the sign of the cross as you wake up and as you walk along. Make the sign of the cross before you go to sleep so you may get a restful sleep and a if you die in sleep God Bless you � Praise the Lord Fr Thomas Mathew New Zealand � ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Internet access plans that fit your lifestyle -- join MSN. Click Here **************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. For more info on the list visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet To unsubscribe from the list send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the list visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet/join To get a standard help message on the list services send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ****************************************************************
