On the National Thanksgiving Day

Not being a member of any church organization, I’m not involved in the preparation for the forthcoming National Thanksgiving Mass in honor of San Pedro Calungsod on Friday next week. But I must be there.

As a Cebuano I must be there. There’s no record that the new saint is a Cebuano. But one thing is sure — he was a Bisdak, and therefore one of us. That in itself is sufficient reason why every Bisaya, be he a Cebuano, a Boholano or a Negrense should feel a sense of affinity with him. A saint among his kind—what a great happening!

To be sure, there is San Lorenzo Ruiz who is the first Filipino to get a halo. But he was a Tagalog and Cebuanos seldom have a feeling of oneness with that ethnic group. Hence, even if San Lorenzo is recognized as a saint among Visayan Catholics, he is not a popular one. Proof of this is that there are very few churches or chapels where he is venerated as a patron saint.

With San Pedro Calungsod, the prevailing sentiment is different. Even before he was canonized his images and reboltos have been a common sight in many churches and chapels in Cebu. In fact there was already a parish named after him even when he was yet a beato. And there in the archbishop’s palace compound his shrine has long been a center of prayer and worship. In the next few years it would not be surprising if more and more churches or chapels would declare San Pedro as the center of veneration, or probably celebrate him as their segundo patron, And of course church- based organizations would proliferate and more faithful would be invoking his intercessions in their petitions.

This will happen because San Pedro Calungsod is a landmark event in the history of Cebuano Catholicism. In the last 500 years since Cebu was Christianized, its gathering of saints was dominated by Caucasian vintage of the Church’s holy personalities. Most of them are of Spanish origin, although some are from various areas in Europe and in other western countries. San Vicente, San Jose, San Juan, San Antonio, San Isidro, San Pablo, San Roque – these are some of the most common saints to whom Cebuanos look up for divine assistance. Nothing wrong with this, of course, because divine intervention knows no color of the skin. Yet who can say that the Calungsod fervor is similar to that invoked by his traditional counterparts?

Perhaps, one is tempted to say that this is happening because the local saint is new in the game of dispensing mercy and goodness. Or that he is all ears to supplications because he has to justify his newly acquired sainthood. Unkind observation, no doubt, because in the realm where the saints are time is of no moment just as God’s goodness is timeless. Besides who can accuse a saint of ego tripping?

Anyway, whatever the reason, the Calungsod fever will surely dominated the sensibilities of the pilgrims from all over the country come November 30. They will come from far and near. They will come in various states: The powerful (like the President and some politicians), the venerable (like the cardinals, bishops, and priest), the middle- income believers, and of course, the masa worshippers. There in the solemnity of the Eucharistic Celebration, the nation will savior a moment of unity and peace before the backdrop of Cebu’s hillsides, the very same landmark that has seen a lot of skirmishes and infightings among Cebu’s leaders.

San Pedro will therefore unify Cebu—even for a day only. And the country too. And as he does, this lesson is taught:  that even though how divergent our personal and political agenda are, we are all brothers and sisters under the fatherhood of God. And no matter how we disagree on socio-economic and political issues we are still a people with one country and one common tradition.

For this and other reasons, I will be there at SRP.