DAY TWO:

MISA de GALLO
17 December 2016
and the night before (Simbang Gabi)
Gen. 49: 2-10
Mt. 1: 1-17

INTRODUCTION:
Every year since 2011 we have
a focus for the year until 2021
the 500 years of our
Christianization as a people.
Last year 2016 on the occasion
of the Jubilee of Mercy, Pope
Francis made the whole wide
world to focus on Mercy.

INTRODUCTION:
In addition to this
worldwide focus, the CBCP
in view of the 51st IEC held
in Cebu in January 20-31
and the last two Synods of
Rome on the Family, led the
whole Country to add the
Eucharist and the Family
as its focus as well.

INTRODUCTION:
This year 2017 from the 1st
Sunday of Advent, 27 Nov.
2016, our focus in the
Philippines is The Parish
as a Communion of
Communities: Forming
BECs as agents of
Communion, Participation,
and Mission.

INTRODUCTION:

What is the
story of the
Parish and BEC
in the
Philippines?
How are

1 Just like any institution, even

those with lofty purpose as

intended by The Creator,
parishes and BECs are
tinged with an interplay of
the human and the divine,
of good and evil so that God
through his Spirit somehow

So Pope Francis
insists that the
Parish
is not

an outdated
institution and can
possess great
flexibility still,
depending on the
openness and
missionary
The
for
creativity
of same
the

2 The Church is a
mystery of
communion flowing
from the Triune
God: Father, Son,
Holy Spirit and
overflowing into all
of humanity sharing
a common faith,

2 This Communion, made possible

by the Passion, Death, and
Resurrection of Jesus, always has
a double dimension:
a vertical communion
with God
and a horizontal
communion with our
brothers and sisters.

The Church in the

Philippines is a part of
the communion of
churches so that
belonging to a
communion is never
simply particular
but by its very nature

3 The Parish is an experience of

the reality that a person has a
Christian (universal) Family (the
Church) of which each and every
one will always
A Christian
may bebea a part.
part of a parish in a
remote area but his/her
belongingness is to the
whole Church.

3The

parish gives
attention also to
the concerns and
issues of the
Universal Church,
issues raised by
the Pope and the
priests regularly

The
Parish
becomes
3
a live-wire
community
providing light and
enlightenment,
flowing with mercy
and compassion and
serving as a
sanctuary for the lost
and the lonely, the

CONCLUSION:
What is your experience of the Church of
your parish?
Do you experience Christ in your Church, in
It parish?
is never an
your

experience of either
good or evil, of either
divine or only human
but always both and!

END