"Reborn the hope after typhoon"

Dear brothers of the small congregation of St. John Eudes :

I have been in the Phillipines for four years now trying to carry out the missionary dream of our founder who wanted to bring the Eudists to Asia four centuries ago. He could not, because maybe it was not the "hour of

God.".

This is a place I call "paradise" as I see it : it is a place full of flowers, lakes , seas , trees and tropical fruits. However, just like in paradise, Adam and Eve had problems because of the "snake" , in this paradise, the problems have to deal with "nature " .

In the Philippines , the Institute responsible for providing weather reports ( Pagasa ) , this year completed the alphabet to designate their own names for the typhoons (hurricanes ) . In fact, every year there are several if not " many typhoons " . These are happening throughout the year.

It's great to see how the Filipinos are reset to flooding . In general terms, one sees them in the stores, in gas stations , on the streets with cheerful faces despite the bad weather and the country's problems .

I think that Filipinos are very much like us Latin Americans for many reasons. There’s influence from Mexico , Spain and the United States.

The latest typhoon occurred just for my birthday . In Tagaytay, where I am , we felt it as on all over the Philippines : the sky turns cloudy , the wind begins to blow hard and driving rain and the umbrellas are not enough to stop the rain. Some years ago, when I got here, I was really scared because when something is new to someone, there is always some fear to stand with. However, as time passes, one learns to identify the extent of each typhoon.

In the latter , for example , it was predicted that it would be one "strong" because even the President of the

Republic issued a call for people to collaborate with the relevant authorities . However, many chose to stay to avoid risking to lose their properties because of the thieves. They, in some way had more fear to the thieves than to the storm. This time unfortunately , they lost properties but most specially their lives.

When they interviewed some of the victims , one can realize that some can not hold back the tears and even one as viewer ends up crying with them . A journalist these days was criticized because he cried when presenting a report about the tragedy . However, we know that the journalist or the priest , before being what they are, they are human beings and they also have feelings like Jesus that also wept for his friend Lazarus .

yesterday, they presented on news, a woman who gave birth at the airport in one of the most affected cities by the tragedy (Tacloban). The name she and her husband gave to the girl was " B. Joy " . Joy in English, we know that is related to gladness. I thought : "It is a miracle that Joy was born amid the debris. It is as if Jesus was born in this year amid the debris and not on a craddle as two thousand years ago. Jesus was born in the Philippines this year in rubble . It is the child who comes to bring hope in the midst of our pain.

But of course, it's a challenge to all pastors in the Philippines to preach in this Advent about Jesus in the midst of all these natural phenomena . However, it strikes me that it is also an opportunity very " timely " even though it is indeed a painful situation .

I say it's “appropriate” because during these days I am preparing a talk about Advent season. I could not find how to start it. John Eudes was always looking for the context of the "reality" of his listeners in his preachings. So, I took also the task of going to reality.

President Aquino announced the advent of a tragedy called " Yolanda " . The prophet Isaiah announced another different advent: “the coming of the Messiah” ( Isaiah 7:14 ) . The president's announcement alerted us . However, what came to mind of Filipinos were more or less these feelings : fear, panic , disaster , ruin, and death . It is a very negative and pessimistic outlook .

However, the advent announced by the prophets and evangelists is an advent in which there is a combination of feelings: peace, happiness, joy , light, liberation, prosperity and life.

Now the problem is how to announce a Jesus who is peace, joy, truth and life amid adversity ? It is a big challenge!. I think the key is to " be" with the people, to be " Emmanuel " with them , to be walking with them, to be listening to them but most especially, to love them. The face of Jesus in the Philippines at this time is a tired, overwhelmed and hopeless face . But it is a face that will be replenished slowly depending not so much on themselves but on our love and solidarity with them . " ... Give comfort , comfort my people, says the Lord ... " (Is 40:1 ) .

Being in the Philippines at this time gives us the opportunity to be heralds of a Jesus who is suffering with us step by step, side by side , who knows us , who comforts us , enduring hunger with us, crying with us and also praying with us before the Father as he did in the boat to calm the storm some time ago.

Anywhere in the world there are dangers. Anywhere we “can be taken away by the wind” " or even the earth can be opened near us. We can not seek the safest city in the world to hide to love not the brothers . Actually, the place is the Philippines, I’ts Colombia , it’s Togo , it’s France , it’s the United States, it’s Rome, it’s Brazil , it’s Ecuador ... it’s where we are working together for the mission.

In these four years I have learned a lot from the philipino culture , especially humility and it’s also worthy of highlight the respect they have toward priests and religious in general.

God bless the Philippine Islands and bless us all . A hug to all my eudist brothers.

José Angel, cjm

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