What does it mean of Being a Filipino?
Pinoy Life: Classic Filipino Traits and Characteristics
•Hospitality. This is one of the most popular qualities of Filipinos. ...
•Respect. This is often observed—not just by younger people—but
also by people of all ages. ...
•Strong Family Ties and Religions.
•Generosity and Helpfulness. Filipinos are generous people. ...
•Strong Work Ethic.
•Love and Caring.
Foundation of our Identity
• As a Filipino
1. Family Oriented
2. Meal Oriented
3. Kundiman Oriented
4. Bayani Oriented
5. Spirit Oriented
The Filipino Way
In accepting Jesus Christ as
responding to these essential
Filipino traits has historically
come about and continued in a
typical “Filipino” manner. The
outstanding characteristic of
the Church in the Philippines is
to be a “pueblo amante de
Maria”. (A people in love with
Mary)
The typically “Filipino” approach
to Christ, therefore, is with and through
Mary. Devotion to Mary has always
been intimately intertwined with
Christ. The two central mysteries of our
Faith in Christ: the mystery of the
Incarnation celebrated at Christmas,
and of Redemption celebrated during
Holy Week, are deeply marked by the
veneration of Mary
From this Marian approach to the
series of five Filipino characteristics inter-
related with essential traits of Jesus Christ, a
rough sketch of us Filipino Catholics can be
drawn
First of all family-centered Filipinos who can
easily talk to God the Father through His only begotten
Son-mademan, our Lord Jesus Christ. Our devotion to
the Sto. Niño and the Mahal na Birhen reveals
fundamental depths of our own self-identity.
Secondly, we find meaning in our lives and learn to face the hunger and poverty
around us in encountering Jesus as Eucharist in our parish community. “Around the table of
the Lord,” we Filipino Catholics are drawn by prayer to share our time, energy and very lives,
for the service of our needy brethren and for the building-up of truly Christian communities
of justice, love and healing.
Third, as Filipino Catholics, we have met Christ the
Suffering Servant in his Passion, we can pray about sin and
forgiveness, about justice and reconciliation, about the
suffering and Passion of our own Filipino people today. We
have the strength to offer ourselves as “bread broken for the
world,” together with Jesus, because we believe with
unshakeable hope that the Crucified One is Risen from the
dead, victorious over sin, death and the world
Fourth, we Catholic Filipinos, resilient as the bamboo
(kawayan) and sturdy as the narra, commit ourselves to Christ,
our hero-king, in deep gratitude for the gift of faith and for
being Filipino.
Lastly, our world vision as Catholic Filipinos is gradually transformed by Christ’s
Spirit-in-the-world in our Church community.
In the depths of the Filipino
spirit is a longing for kaayusan, for
order out of chaos, a longing for the
life that the creative Spirit of Jesus
gives as a gift, a gift which is likewise
a challenge (cf. PCP II 257). Through
sacramental encounters with the
Risen Lord, we experience his Spirit’s
healing and strengthening power.
In Christ’s Spirit, we Catholic Filipinos, inspired by Mary, the Holy Virgin, our
Mother, are confirmed in our witness to Jesus by our service of our brethren, and our
persevering prayer for our beloved dead.
We Filipinos are
followers of Christ,
his disciples. To trace his
footsteps in our times means
to utter his word to others, to
love with his love, to live with
his life; . .. To cease following
him is to betray our very
identity.
(PCP II
