We arrived in Cebu very late yesterday. And since our work as translators started early in the morning, we did not get much sleep. Despite that, our first day of the Eucharistic Congress was incredible. Today, the Theological Symposium began, which will last three days offering conferences in the morning and workshops in the afternoon, all about the Eucharist, Hope and Liturgy. The day ended with the Holy Mass, attended by 1,500 participants.
The conferences today were very inspiring. The first one was given by a Dominican Priest who presented the witness of the Christians that live in Iraq. In the midst of suffering and atrocities, these people teach us what really means to trust in God, especially remaining in their home land, praying, gathering for the Eucharist, serving the needed, and educating the youth. In situations like this we can have clear picture of the difference between human optimism and the theological virtue of hope.
The next conference was a Biblical exegesis on the Gospel of John, Chapter 13, the narrative of the last supper. The speaker wanted to point out to us how Jesus showed his love to the end, by washing the disciples feet and sharing the morsel with Judas, acts of love and intimacy with disciples who were about to reject and even betray him. That is how God unconditionally loves us in the Eucharist.
In the afternoon I participated in a workshop about the Eucharist and interreligious dialogue. The speaker was a priest who founded a movement that promotes dialogue between Christians and Muslims. It is amazing to see how to able to gather together Muslims and Christian under same cause of building bridges of respect and peace.
We closed the evening with a typical Philippine dinner of seafood and rice, lots of rice! By the way, they eat rice here even for breakfast! See you tomorrow!
