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Bohol
prepares for visit of St. Therese
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A
"shower of roses" is falling down from the
heavens. Whether it comes from military helicopters
dropping off five sacks of rose petals (as they did
in Manila) or just native flowers coming from the tiny
hands of innocent kids (as we will be doing in Bohol),
the fact is, the Boholano faithful will expect a rainfall
of blessings during the visit of the Miraculous Pilgrim
Relics of St. Therese of the Child Jesus on February
27-29, 2008.
Msgr.
Bernard Lagoutte, rector of the Basilica of St. Therese
in Lisieux (France) who accompanied the relics to the
Philippines on a two-month visit, came to Dauis Church
recently to observe the preparations of the designated
venue of veneration.
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According
to Fr. Val Pinlac, parish priest and rector of the Shrine
of the Assumption of our Lady, the French priest was amazed
at how the preparations are going: both the church and state
officials, as well as the private sector, are very well involved
in this forthcoming religious activity.
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Why
such a fuss for a cloistered nun who lived an uneventful
life and died at the young age of twenty-four? She never
went to University but left an amazing volume of prose
and poetry about the love of God for us and about her
simple way of loving Him.
Having
gone to school for barely five years and left the world
at the tender age of 15 to enter the monastery, St.
Therese left her own doctrine of the Little Way which
she had written in her sick bed just before she died.
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Thus,
after her death in 1897 her autobiography "The Story
of a Soul" caught the world by storm. In 1925, she was
canonized a saint and in 1927 was declared Patron of the Universal
Mission at par with St. Francis of Xavier. A century later,
in 1997, Pope John Paul II extolled her as Doctor of the Church,
the youngest of 33 Universal Teachers in the likes of the
great St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas.
The
Diocese of Tagbilaran is among the few dioceses to be favored
with this visit which is officially hosted in the Philippines
by the Military Ordinariate that inaugurates the new Shrine
of St. Therese in Villamor Air Base, Pasay City. Most Rev.
Leopoldo Tumulak, the military bishop, facilitated this visit
to Bohol in the hope that the Boholanos will keep on with
the simple life and confidence in God amidst the growing threats
of materialism and secularism in our society today.
Bishop
Tumulak said, when the young grow up today believing in the
earthly power of science and technology, and adults shift
their values in favor of temporal goods, it is important that
St. Therese reminds us all that we are meant for God and eternity,
and the way to heaven is still attainable. Speaking further,
on the military, he says, if little ways of love can lead
us to heaven, how much more the sacrifice of soldiers who
give their lives to protect our people?
Most
Rev. Leonardo Medroso, bishop of Tagbilaran, invites all the
faithful, even non-Catholics, to this rare opportunity to
learn from St. Therese who has taught us her doctrine of Love.
As she had said, "the smallest act of love is more useful
than the sum of all works.
Yes,
we may not be great followers of Christ like John Paul II
or great instruments of His mercy like Teresa of Calcutta.
But we can all go to heaven like Therese, the Little Flower,
who simply did ordinary things in the extraordinary way of
Love.
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