In 1521, Christianity took root in our native land. After 500 years, we can see how the Catholic faith has had a profound and enduring impact on the Filipino people.

The influence of the Christian faith on Filipino culture has been pervasive. Jeepney drivers and passengers routinely make the sign of the cross when passing a church. Shopping malls provide people venues for Sunday Mass on weekends. Catholic churches abound in every city where the cathedral often sits within a stone’s throw of the city hall. Marian shrines in every province honor the Blessed Virgin Mary and attract hundreds of pilgrimages throughout the year.

More than 86 percent of the Philippine population is Roman Catholic. The single most significant force in transforming the Philippines into the only predominantly Christian nation in Asia has been education – specifically, Catholic education. The most prestigious colleges and universities in the Philippines were, in fact, started by religious orders. Asia’s oldest university, the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas, was established in the Philippines as early as 1611 by Archbishop Miguel de Benavides of the Dominican Order. The University of Santo Tomas also holds the distinction of being the largest Catholic university in the world in terms of population.

The legacy of 500 years of Catholic faith, formed and nurtured in the Filipino family and reinforced by Catholic education, has developed in the Filipino people core values that have distinguished Filipinos wherever they are: God-fearing, hard-working, and family-oriented: a people known throughout the world for their politeness, optimism, friendliness, and – what has become their hallmark — joy.

When Pope Francis celebrated Mass at the Vatican last March 14 to mark five centuries of Christianity in the Philippines, he underscored this special Filipino trait in his homily. He said: “Dear brothers and sisters, five hundred years have passed since the Christian message first arrived in the Philippines. You received the joy of the Gospel… And this joy is evident in your people. We see it in your eyes, on your faces, in your songs and in your prayers… in the joy with which you bring your faith to other lands.”

When Pope Francis extolled the joy with which Filipinos bring their faith to other lands, he alluded to the OFW or Overseas Filipino Worker phenomenon. With over 10 million Filipinos working abroad, the Philippines ranks as one of the world’s top exporters of labor. Through the practice of his faith, the OFW unwittingly shares with those he works and lives with in foreign lands the fruits of the same evangelization that his ancestors received. 

Pope Francis confirms: “I have often said that here in Rome, Filipino women are ‘smugglers’ of faith! Because wherever they go to work, they sow the faith. It is part of your genes, a blessed ‘infectiousness’ that I urge you to preserve.”

A few years ago, we heard of the touching story of Mary Jane Soriano, a Filipina domestic worker in Hong Kong. Her simple but sublime testimony of daily prayer, work ethic and kindness toward others made a great impression on her employer. Edified by her example, her employer and his family eventually embraced the Catholic faith. While remarkable, Mary Jane’s story is not the only testimony to a Christian faith lived and shared with others.

Since we Filipinos are family-oriented, it is normal for our individual concerns to become part of our family affairs, which, in turn, become the concerns of the community we belong to. Thus, it is not surprising that in this time of dire need for most of our people, a spontaneous generous act of a young lady entrepreneur and the overwhelming response of the community has turned into a collective mission, like the boy who gave “five loaves and two fish” that Jesus multiplied to feed the five thousand in the Gospel. The outpouring of generosity and compassion we had witnessed during the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, we are witnessing again, now, in the Community Pantry phenomenon that has spread like wildfire in our country. One revolutionary thing worth mentioning in the community pantries is the element of reciprocity, expressed in a very catchy phrase written on a cardboard sign, “Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan” (Give according to your means, take according to your need). As Ana Patricia Non, initiator of the Maginhawa Community Pantry in Quezon City, explained in an interview: “This is mutual aid. We are helping one another.”

Unwittingly, by her gesture of kindness, Patreng (as she is fondly called by friends), has communicated a unique but essential character of our faith. Christianity is communitarian; it is a faith lived together with others. In the community pantries, we see a reflection of the communal life lived by the first Christians where both rich and poor give what they have to the needy members of the community. No one gives reluctantly or under compulsion. On the contrary, everyone freely gives and gives joyfully (Cf. 2 Cor 9:7). In this quincentenary year of Christianity in the Philippines, the more than 6,000 community pantries at present have emerged as shining rays of hope in these dark and desperate times. They are a concrete sign of a genuine Christian lifestyle, and a fruit of the faith lived by a people whose love for God is shown concretely in how they care for one another.