Universidad de Sta.

Isabel Graduate
School
Elias Angeles Street usi_gs@yahoo.com
4400 Naga City, Philippines (63) (054) 473-84-17 loc.114
Website: www.usi.edu.ph Fax: (63) (054) 472-28-71

Name: Charmae O. Binaohan Course: MAN – MS Date of Submission: 12-08-2020

Professor: Dr. Fe Prado Subject: Vincentian Studies

500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines: Gifted to Give

Questions for reflection:

1. What struck/caught your attention from the talk/s?

As I finished the video presentation, I was stirred by the fact that in the midst of this
pandemic and series of natural disasters we are still lucky that we are still alive and enjoying
the gift of our faith. As of today, there are 63.8 Million cases of Covid around the world,
1.49 million of that case died. In this trying times, we feel helpless, we feel that there is little
hope for recovery, how we wish things could have been different, how we wish we could
have our old jobs back, how we wish that this covid-19 virus never enter in our human
history, but no, God has a better story and plan, He wants us to find renewal. This pandemic
brought us renewal and brought us closer to Him and taught us the value of prayer. This
covid-19 ended our selfishness, it taught us to appreciate what we have, the importance of
time and made us realize that everything is temporary and most importantly, it taught us
how to give.

2. What feelings surfaced in you as you listened and watched?

The Church and Christianity is an integral part of Philippine history and culture. It is for
this reason that the 5th centenary celebration is not just a Church celebration, but deserves
the recognition and appreciation of the State and the nation. Broadly speaking, it is not just
an ecclesial celebration, but also a celebration of who we are as a people and nation. For
better or for worse, without the arrival of Magellan and the Spanish missionaries to our
shores, there would have been no Philippines. Probably, we would have continued being
separate islands and isolated barangays or part of an expanded sultanate of Sulu or of
 Indonesia. So, let us count and give thanks for the blessings without forgetting the dark side
of the past that continues to haunt the present.

3. What convictions/truths about our faith and mission are evoked in you?
The Christian faith was a gift which was handed to us by the Spanish missionaries
headed by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. Our ancestors treasured the gift of faith they had
received and desired to share this gift with others as to follow the word of the Lord “What
you have received as a gift, give as a gift” (Mt 10:8). This is a challenge to both celebrate our
faith and be vigorously motivated to go and share this precious gift with others.

4. What gift/s have you received which you can share to people as we celebrate and journey
with Jesus the 500 years of Christianity in our country?
500 years ago, we are given this gift of faith and individually, the gift of life. Now it’s
time to give back what we have received, in our own little way, using the God-given talents,
and the light that we bear throughout these years.
“God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive
them.”– St. Augustine. It’s so much easier to be given an expectation than to be told, “give
as much you can.” If you see the world with a bountiful eye, if you believe that God is
generous and intimately involved in caring and providing for you, you will share what you
have. You won’t feel the need to hoard and hide it. You know there’s enough to go around.
God doesn’t want us to give out of fear or guilt, he wants us to live charitably out of faith.