The Philippines, which has the third highest number of Catholics in the world (after Brazil and Mexico) is on the brink of a watershed in the canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod.
Pope Benedict XVI last week promulgated a decree stating that the rapid recovery of a woman who suffered loss of oxygen in the brain a day after a successful heart surgery in 2003 was a miracle worked by God through the intercession of Blessed Pedro Calungsod, whom one of the woman’s doctors invoked.
That there will be a new saint in Calungsod sometime next year is a cause of celebration for the Church around the world.
By tradition, the Catholic Church assigns to a saint special patronage of a sphere of life (Saint John the Evangelist, celebrated yesterday, is the patron of publishers, editors and writers.)
The choice of Calungsod is especially relevant for Filipinos because of his personal circumstances.
He was a layman, like the first Filipino saint Lorenzo Ruiz, a youngster and a 17th century overseas foreign worker (OFW).
To paraphrase Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, there is no such thing as a hierarchy of the faithful when it comes to the quality of their discipleship. All Christians should be good Christians and better citizens.
Calungsod the teenager is a sign to the Filipino youth, who compromise around 25 percent of the country’s population, that a life lived with focus, passion and faith, no matter how short in years, can have a great impact that lasts beyond one’s lifetime.
The young man was killed by island natives while he accompanied his Jesuit superior doing mission work.
Generations of people in the island of Guam owe their faith to the sacrifice of Calungsod and Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores.
Finally, Calungsod as an expatriate is an inspiration to millions of Filipinos who live and work abroad. In the greater scheme of things, there is meaning to their migration far beyond economic sacrifice and displacement.
Not everyone is privileged to die for the faith like Calungsod, but every Christian is called to live for the faith like he did, says Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, lead advocate of Calungsod’s sainthood.
In this time of economic and social uncertainty, it’s a wise choice indeed to place Calungsod in the spotlight, making him a model of the best in the Catholic Filipino.