“PASS IT ON”. This is the parting message of Most Rev.
Jesse Mercado,D.D., the National Spiritual Director of LAIKO and the Chairman
of CBCP-ECLA, at the Eucharistic Celebration on October 23, 2011, the
culminating activity in the 17th Biennial National Convention of the
Sangguniang Laiko Ng. Pilipinas.
To stress the very significant
importance of this message, he sang it and encouraged all present to sing it
with him.
The lyrics of the song are as follows:
It only takes a spark
To get the FIRE going
And soon all those around will
Bind us in its glowing
That’s how it is with God’s love
Once you’ve experienced it
You spread His love to everyone
You want to PASS IT ON.
Meditating on the song, the following inspiring thoughts came to my mind:
1.
God
created me and every human being in this world out of love.
2.
God’s
love is unconditional and therefore, he loves everyone regardless of how he may
be.
3.
God
wants everyone to be a CHANNEL of HIS LOVE.
4.
As a
channel, one must not keep this Love of God for himself but must PASS IT ON.
Reflecting on the thoughts, I realized that this is my MISSION ON
EARTH -
TO PASS ON THE LOVE OF GOD TO EVERYONE I MEET.
I find it very essential to always
remember the last lines: “ONCE
YOU’VE EXPERIENCED IT, YOU SPREAD HIS LOVE TO
EVERYONE, YOU WANT TO PASS IT ON”.
Why? Because as the saying goes: “One
cannot give what he does not
have”.
One, therefore, must first have a personal experience of this Love of
God before he can share it. It is for
this reason that the basic aim of catechesis, as enunciated in the National
Catechetical Directory of the Philippines (NCDP- No.77) is “to put
people not only in touch but in communion, in intimacy, with Jesus Christ” –the
Son of God. Hence, the ”heart of catechesis is not a doctrine, or a
moral principle, or an act of worship, but a ‘PERSON’, the PERSON OF JESUS OF
NAZARETH”
In other words, one must first have
experienced this love of God through an intimate personal relationship with
Christ, for as Christ Jesus said: “I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE; NO ONE COMES
TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THRU ME”. (John 14:6).
By: Buddy Cagurangan
October
23, 2011
