Since we are travellers and pilgrims in the world, let us ever ponder on the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our roadway is our home (St Columban, 8th sermon).
Showing posts with label University of the East (UE). Show all posts
Showing posts with label University of the East (UE). Show all posts
I came across the video above last week while looking for a version of the hymn O, Sacrament Most Holy to include in an article I was editing for MISYONonline.com, the Columban magazine here in the Philippines of which I am editor.
In the article, Saving the Blessed Sacrament, a young Filipino, John Lambert Minimo, tells how he was able to take the Blessed Sacrament to a safe place after a fire at University of the East (UE) Manila, from which he had just graduated, had badly damaged the chapel.
I presume the video above was made somewhere in North America, though most of the scouts are clearly of East Asian ancestry.
There's a scene at 0:13 that reminds me of something that happened to me shortly after my First Holy Communion in 1950. It was probably a First Friday, when we would be brought to the semi-public chapel pf the Irish Sisters of Charity, Stanhope Street, Dublin, for confession. Fr Henry Cunningham, one of four curates (assistant priests) in our parish, Holy Family, Aughrim Street, was usually the priest who heard our confessions.
Most of the boys had already gone back to our classroom and only five or six of us were left. When we were leaving the chapel, for some reason I genuflected towards the door, not towards the tabernacle. As we were walking back to the classroom the other boys told me that they would report me to Sister Stanislaus, the principal of the Boys' Kindergarten School. She had prepared us for our First Confession and First Holy Communion. Not wishing to be reported, I went back to the chapel and genuflected to the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle.
I had learned an important lesson.
In the video a young scout coming from the direction of the altar sits down on the pew without genuflecting. His companion says something to him and the youngster then genuflects before they exchange places. I take it that the older one said to him, You forgot to genuflect!
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, UE chapel before fire
I have noticed over the years that fewer and fewer people bother to genuflect even some who go to daily Mass. The General Instruction on the Roman Missal describes genuflection this way:A genuflection, made by bending the right knee to the ground, signifies adoration, and therefore it is reserved for the Most Blessed Sacrament, as well as for the Holy Cross from the solemn adoration during the liturgical celebration on Good Friday until the beginning of the Easter Vigil (No 274).
But it is the centuries-old practice in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, to which most of us belong, to genuflect when we come into a church or chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is present, and to genuflect when we leave. This is an act of adoration, a profound expression of faith in the presence of Jesus the Risen Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. (In Japan, in some other countries and in the Cistercian Order a profound bow is made instead of a genuflection.)
When the crowds found out about it, they followed Jesus; and he welcomed
them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed
to be cured.
The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said,
“Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and
countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.” But
he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more
than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these
people.” For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his
disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” They did so and
made them all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he
looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples
to set before the crowd. And all ate and were filled. What was left over
was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
In countries where Corpus Christi is observed as a
holyday of obligation on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday
Corpus Christi. Responsorial Psalm (NAB Lectionary; Philippines, USA)
Chapel at the University of the East, Manila
Before fire on 1 April 2016
After
fire
At 9:00 am on 1 April John Lambert Minimo, a 20-year-old student at the
University of the East (UE), Manila, where he is the Overall Student
Responsible in Campus Ministry, got a phone-call from a fire volunteer friend,
John Paul Justin Aquino.UE is on fire, John Paul said. The first and only thought that
came into Lambert’s mind was the Blessed Sacrament in the chapelbecause it is the True Body of
Christ, as he later wrote.
Lambert rushed to university but the campus guards wouldn’t let
him in. He contacted Fr Bernard Martin, the UE chaplain, at the Columban house
but told him not to come as the fire was still raging. Fr Martin turned 85 that
day. There were no classes as the academic year had ended a week or two before.
The young man, who prepared everything for Mass each day, felt a certain
helplessness but prayed as he waited at the gate, Lord, I will save you
no matter what happens.
By noon the fire
was out but John Lambert’s cellphone was dead by then and he had no money to
buy lunch. He still waited. It was three in the afternoon before he was able to
get to the chapel as a clearance was needed from the Bureau of Fire Protection. And not
everyone seemed to understand why he was so anxious to save the Blessed
Sacrament. A number of people told him to go home.
Crucifix and tabernacle after the fire
Finally, at 3:00 pm Lambert, accompanied by a school official and a
security guard, was able to enter the chapel, which had been badly damaged. But
the crucifix behind the altar hadn’t even been charred and the tabernacle was
safe.
Lambert wrote, I genuflected as a sign of reverence to the
Lord. I started to sing hymns we use at Mass. I went immediately to the
sacristy to get as many corporals as I could to wrap the pyx that contained the
Blessed Sacrament. I gave the Paschal Candle to the security guard. Wearing
my sotana, I approached the tabernacle. As I opened it, I sang “O
Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine.” I wrapped the pyx and placed it in my
pocket so that I could take it to the Columban house.
Before I left I looked up at the crucifix. It was as if the Lord
was saying to me, 'Lambert, anak (son). Don’t
worry, I am still here. I’m safe. You can take me. We conquered the fire, I
stood up and I am here.' That was a moment I will never forget. The Lord spoke
clearly to my heart.
O Sacrament Most Holy
A UE van took Lambert and his friend John Paul to the Columban
house. As we travelled, we started to pray and continuously sing 'O
Sacrament Most Holy'. I felt tired. My head continued to ache, I was very
hungry and my hands were shaking. But I continued to embrace the Blessed
Sacrament tightly. When they reached the Columban house at around 4:00pm Fr
Martin placed the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel there and Lambert and John
Paul then joined the birthday celebration.
Fr Bernard Martin with Lambert (r) and Beth Briones (l) at UE Campus Ministry
It was an experience that I will never forget, wrote Lambert. Out of my love for the Blessed Sacrament,
I would do anything for Him, even in the simplest way. Even in the toughest
moments the Lord is always there to remind me and call me anytime He needs my
help.
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, UE Chapel
Each time the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is
offered in the chapel of UE, as in every other church, the bread and wine
brought to the altar at the offertory become the Body and Blood of Christ.
They're not 'symbols' of this. Theyarethe Body and Blood of the Risen Lord
Jesus. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church, No 33, puts it, At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that,
by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ's
Body and Blood.
Fifty years ago, just after midnight 21/22 February 1966, a fire destroyed the official residence of Paul Comtois, the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, Canada, the official representative of Queen Elizabeth of Canada who lives in England, where she is also Queen. Lieutenant Governor Comtois had been given permission, reluctantly, by the Archbishop to have the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel in his residence. He prayed there every night
Like John Lambert Minimo, he immediately thought of the Blessed Sacrament when the fire broke out. Having made sure that others in the house were safe he went to the chapel, already in flames. He was able to rescue the Blessed Sacrament but didn't make it to safety. The pyx containing the Blessed Sacrament was found, untouched by the flames, under his charred body.
Canadian priest Fr Raymond de Souza wrote last March in National Post, one of Canada's dailies, Paul Comtois, the former lieutenant governor of Quebec, was a different kind of martyr. He was not killed by the hatred of others; rather, he was motivated by his own love of Christ. He might be considered a martyr for the Eucharist.
I might have missed it, but it didn’t seem as though anything was done last month, by either church or state, to mark the 50th anniversary of his death on Feb. 22, 1966. And his story is one that needs to be told.
Fr de Souza quotes from an article by Andrew Cusack in which a family friend, Mac Stearns, relates: His tremendous religious faith impressed me greatly and was no doubt instrumental in my embracing the Catholic faith some time after his death. Knowing his great fervor for the Blessed Sacrament, I have no doubt whatsoever that Paul would do all in his power to rescue the Holy Eucharist from the fire.
The reason for the death of Lieutenant General Comtois was ignored at the time not only by the secular press but by the Catholic press. Cusack quotes Sr Maureen Peckham RSCJ writing in 1988: Yet, Paul Comtois was a man of the world, a well-known socialite, one who had reached the heights of worldly glory; he was one whom the world could recognize as its own. Furthermore, his chivalrous and brave death should, even on the human and wordly level, have merited the title of hero. That he, who had been honored by the world during his lifetime, should have been ignored by the world at the moment of his death, can only be explained by the fact that he died for One Whom the world does not recognize and has ever refused to acknowledge.
I had never heard of Paul Comtois until quite recently when I came across his story on the internet. I'm sure that young Lambert had never heard of him either until I sent him a link the other evening to this wonderful story. God did not ask Lambert to give his life but he has given him a deep faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, as he did Paul Comtois. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church, No 1374, teaches: The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as 'the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend.' In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist 'the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.' 'This presence is called "real"- by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be "real" too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present. [Emphasis added.]
It is that Presence of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament that the Church celebrates today.
Corpus Christ Procession, Appenzell, Switzerland
[Thanks to Fr Oliver Quilab SVD on FB for photos]
Antiphona ad communionem Communion Antiphon John 6:57
