Homily of +Ruperto Cruz Santos, DD Bishop of Balanga and WACOM Asia Coordinator at the concluding Holy Mass of the World Apostolic Congress on Mercy at the Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bagac, Bataan on Friday, 20th of January 2017

Mercy is our Mission, our Message

His Excellence Most Reverend Archbishops and Bishops, His Honorable Albert Garcia, Provincial Governor of Bataan, His Honorable Jose Enrique Garcia, Congressman of the Second District of Bataan, Her Honorable Geraldine Roman, Congresswoman of the First District of Bataan, My dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, Our beloved devotees of Divine Mercy.

On behalf of the Diocese of Balanga let me express our profound gratitude and sincere appreciation for your coming. You have blessed our historic province of Bataan with your gracious presence. Your active participation here is indeed God’s mercy in action.

Whenever they say or we invoke, “Lord have mercy”, God’s answer is your companion who are with us today. We are truly God’s mercy in person for one another.

Let us see what is all around us. Let us look at sea and its water. Let observe the wind and feel the heat of the sun. Let us look at the houses which are old yet still strong and useful. Just across on the further right side is church, unfinished. Yes, but it is the Cathedral of Balanga after the war, during the historic Fall of Bataan. It is reconstructed, and it will be. And we are like that. We may fall or fail. But our hope is not lost. Our will does not diminish. We stand up straight.

Today the province of Bataan, the Diocese of Balanga has risen to this grace-filled World Apostolic Congress on Mercy. “Tuloy po kayo so Bataan!” (Welcome to Bataan).

Everything is beautiful. Everything is calm and peaceful. Indeed we can affirm what the Book of Genesis affirms, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good”; (1, 31). And with you. it is the best, and most blessed event and celebration. Even “mahirap at mabigat”, yes it is difficult and even expensive, we did not give in nor give up. “Sa awa ng Diyos tayo ay makakaraos” yes with God’s mercy we have made it!

Let us look back five hundred years ago. It was during 1521, the first year and first time that Catholic faith has come to this country. The long voyage of the Spanish missionaries, also in this Pacific Ocean, surely was not like today’s very good and very friendly weather. The journey at that time was long and very tiring. They could have encountered storms, and have braved dangerous winds and violent waves. Yet they endured everything. And they came. They arrived with a purpose, with a mission. It was to preach the Gospel, to bring Jesus to the farthest ends of the earth, to share God’s love to all.

Likewise your coming here, like the early missionaries, there were also some hardships. There were also difficulties. You did sacrifices. And you are here. In spite of everything God makes sure that you will be safe, sound and our World Apostolic Congress on Mercy, a success.

It is not accidental that you are here. God calls you here. There is also a purpose, for a cause, that God brought you to our country. It is mercy, everything is because of God’s mercy.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, with this God’s mercy, He calls and chose us today for two essential tasks. What are these, you may ask?

First, our mission is mercy. And we are now the new missionaries of God’s mercy. Second, our message is mercy. And we are now the messengers of God’s mercy.

First. We have prayer to perform. We have lectures to live by. We have work to share. That is now our mission. Our mission is mercy. So from here we have to bring and spread mercy to your country and to the world.

What is this mercy? Mercy is Jesus. And He says, “I have come that they may have life, life in all its fullness” (John 10,10). Anyone who is devoted to mercy must defend life. Anyone who loves mercy is he who promotes and protects life. Anyone who shares mercy propagates and respects life. Remember we are now new missionaries of mercy, from the Philippines to Asia, from Asia to Europe.

Here in today’s gospel those who brought the woman to Jesus were after her summary execution, extra judicial. They presented her to Jesus not out of fraternal charity. It was not to save her, not to rescue her from her shameful past and sinful life. They wanted her to be punished. And not just to punish, but to die a very violent death.

There was no sympathy or pity from the crowd. No one is there to defend her. No one is there to protect her. All they wanted was her blood. There is no compassion. No one is merciful.

Jesus was silent. He was silent because He was ashamed of the attitudes of His people. Jesus could not accept nor understand why His very own people were happy and demanding for the death of this helpless woman.

How can one rejoice with death penalty? How can one pride himself of killing in the name of God or because of religion beliefs? How can we not be ashamed of our corruption and destruction of environment for money and profit? How can one be glad with the spilling of innocent blood, of destruction of lives because of human trafficking?

Jesus was silent. He was silent because He feels the fear, the anxiety of the woman. Jesus shares with her humiliation and brokenness. And Jesus bent down. He “writes on the ground with his finger” (v6).

To write is to think, to take time. It is to recall, to remember. And Jesus remembers His foster father, Joseph. Yes, there was a time when Joseph was confronted with a woman betrothed to him but found to be with a child. Yet Joseph did not condemn. He accepted. He took Mary as his wife.

Jesus was now in the shoes of his father, Joseph. And Jesus was merciful like His father. Jesus gave her another chance to rise from her shattered life. For Jesus that woman could still make a fresh start with her life. There was still hope. That contrite woman could still reform and recreate her life.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, be silent and take time to write with your fingers like what Jesus did. And we will remember that there was a time, or even more than once, in our lives, at the hour of violent death, or in the danger of incurable disease, or at the moment of impending shame, God did not cast first stone on us. And instead God delivers us from evil, gave us our daily bread, and turn our water into wine. Yes God has saved us.

God is indeed merciful. God grants that woman His mercy. Jesus is mercy. Jesus is her mercy. And mercy is life. The woman receives her life back. She continues to live.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, reflecting deeper the common denominator of the seven corporal acts of mercy is to about life. It is to sustain life, not to make it suffer. It is to prolong life, not to suppress it. It is to maintain life, not to murder it. Remember the seventh commandment, “thou shall not kill” (Exodus 20.15).

Now mercy is now our mission. Mercy is life. And this is our mission as you go back to home and to our communities. Whenever we encounter a migrant or a refugee, remember he is a person and he has a life to live. Even if anyone has shameful or scandalous past, remember that person can still be redeemed and renew his life. Even if he is the worst sinner he can still be sorry and correct his life. There is hope. There is still help. And there is still healing. It is because our God, is God of mercy.

Our mercy is not to take matters into our hands. Our mercy is not to cast the first stone. It is our mercy to open our hands, hold them tight and help them live with dignity and without recriminations.

Second. We sit and we listened. We stand and we moved around. And when we return to our country and to our Churches, we have to speak and share what we witnessed, learned and experienced here.

Mercy is our message. Our word is mercy. And mercy is Jesus, the Word made flesh. In the gospel of Saint John Peter professed, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal “ (6,68).

Anyone who is merciful speaks the Word of God. The word from our lips inspire, not dehumanizing; polite, and not offensive; encouraging and not hurting. Anyone who is a devotee of mercy pronounces forgiving words. Anyone who us a disciple of mercy imparts saving words. Remember mercy is our message. Our word is mercy. We are now messengers of mercy to the whole world.

Here in today’s gospel those who brought the woman to Jesus spoke of accusing and abusive words. Their words were to trap Jesus and undermine His teachings on love and forgiveness. Their words were to discredit Jesus and to destroy the woman. And yet the words of Jesus are mercy and compassion. With His merciful love, Jesus considered her as a person to be saved. He did not condemn nor condone her. Jesus gave her a second chance for better life. He offered her a fresh opportunity to repent and to return to God. Jesus opened her eyes and her heart to the sublime life with and of God. And the life of God is mercy. Thus the verdict of Jesus for that woman was compassion. The sentence is forgiveness. The word is mercy as Jesus said to her ‘neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on do not sin anymore” (v11).

My brothers and sisters in Christ, reflecting deeper the common denominator of the seven spiritual acts of mercy is about words. And they are words which are truthful and liberating. They are words which build up the characters and improve human relationships. Those are words which renew the person and uplift our spirits.

Fake news and trolls are not mercy. They are lies. Bullying and internet bashing are not mercy. They are offensive and violent. Verbal abuse and gossiping are not mercy. They are character assassinations.

As we go back and return to our respective places, we may encounter that nameless woman in today’s gospel. Or people with hidden motives and for personal interest may bring to us that kind of woman in our presence. Let us remember what we learned today, that you and I are messengers of mercy. Mercy is our word. Our message is mercy.

Confronted with that situation we should be like merciful Jesus. Jesus was not preoccupied with public image. He was not concerned with social acceptability and popularity ratings. Jesus rejected the idea of revenge. He set aside the notion of self-satisfaction. He projected the mission and message of compassion. When Jesus said, “let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her”; (v7), He was telling His listeners to examine their right to judge. Did they have the right and duty to judge and to condemn? What they have done in the first place to help and to heal the woman? Remember always your mission here on earth. Jesus was asking them, have they been gentle and understanding towards the woman’s humiliating situation? Or did they aggravate her condition? Remember then the message you are imparting.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are about to conclude this blessed World Apostolic Congress on Mercy Jesus is telling and sending as missionaries and messengers of mercy. Mercy is our mission. Our message is mercy. And we go back home as missionaries and messengers of the mercy of God, we will experience and encounter His ocean of mercy.

+Ruperto Cruz Santos, DD Bishop of Balanga and WACOM Asia Coordinator