DIOCESE OF NOVALICHES

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4TH WORLD APOSTOLIC CONGRESS ON MERCY (WACOM 4)

CELEBRATION OF THE MOST HOLY EUCHARIST
DAY 4 - JANUARY 19, 2017 - THE NATIONAL SHRINE AND PARISH OF THE DIVINE MERCY
DIOCESE OF MALOLOS, BULACAN

Transcript of the Homily of

the Most Rev. Jose Oliveros, D.D.,
Bishop of Malolos

Although we are now in the fourth day of our celebration of the 4th Apostolic Congress on Mercy, I
would like to welcome you all in the name of our Diocese of Malolos, to our National Shrine of the
Divine Mercy here in the town of Marilao.

I would like to welcome, first and foremost, the Papal Legate, His Excellency Philippe Cardinal
Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, France, who, although he is not here with us this afternoon, he visited
me at my residence in Malolos this morning.

I would like also to greet and thank my dear brother bishops, headed by our presider, my good friend,
Bishop Martin [Uzoukwu, D.D.] of Nigeria as well as our brother priests and religious, and especially
you, my dear delegates, from all over the world, and from our own country, the Philippines.

We are happy that one of the venues of the congress is precisely here at the National Shrine of the
Divine Mercy.

Since its declaration as a national shrine 16 years ago, this holy place has really become a place of
prayer and pilgrimages where people gather to invoke and ask for favors from the Lord of Mercy. It has
also become a source and a place of conversion and re-commitment to our Catholic faith and
renewed enthusiasm to spread the devotion to Divine Mercy.

It has also become a place of healing and cure

from different sicknesses. I particularly know the
story of healing of a man who was about to lose
his sight and to get blind. He prayed here at the
Shrine of the Divine Mercy and he recovered his
sight.

The man is an architect by profession and the

first thing he did after he recovered his sight, in
thanksgiving for his healing, is to paint the picture of the Divine Mercy, together with the Pope at that
time, Pope Benedict XVI.

I brought the painting to Rome, and in a general papal audience, after the celebration of the 1st World
Congress on Mercy, I presented and gave the painting to Pope Benedict XVI, explaining the
extraordinary circumstance where it was painted. The man who recovered his sight painted a second
picture of the Divine Mercy, together withguess who?yours truly, the Bishop of Malolos.

We are celebrating this 4th World Apostolic Congress on Mercy almost immediately after the
celebration of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has instilled in us that
the name and nature of God is Mercy and that Jesus Christ is the face of the Fathers Mercy. Mercy
has become living and visible in Jesus of Nazareth reaching culmination in Him.

As Pope Francis pointed out at the Bull of Indiction, Misericordia Vultus, we need constantly to
contemplate the mystery of mercy. It is a wellspring of joy, serenity and peace. Our salvation depends
on it.

Mercy, the word reveals the very mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Mercy, the ultimate and supreme
act by which God comes to meet us. Mercy, the fundamental law that dwells in the heart of every
person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers and sisters on the path of life. Mercy, the
bridge that connects God and men, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our
sinfulness.

The Jubilee of Mercy ended on the feast of Christ the King last November. And yet the Holy Father is
quick to remind us that in spite of the end of the Jubilee of Mercy, Gods mercy never ends. It
continues without end and we are asked to be merciful like the Father. We are called all the time to
gaze even more attentively on Mercy so that we may become a more effective sign of the Fathers
action in our lives.

Our readings today are good reminders for us to continue being merciful, showing our mercy in action.
From the Letter of James in the First Reading, we are asked to show our faith in works. We are told if a
brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food and one of you says to them, Go in
peace, be warm and be filled and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use
is that? Even so faith, if it has no works is dead being by itself."

The Gospel also tells us about the story of the poor man Lazarus, begging at the gate of the merciless
rich man. He was not even allowed to eat the
crumbs falling from the rich merciless mans
table.

At the hour of death, the poor hungry man was

shown mercy by being carried by angels to
Abrahams bosom while the merciless rich man
was consigned to hell, where he suffered
intolerable torment because of his lack of mercy.
My dear brothers and sisters, let us put our faith into action. Let us always be merciful to the least of
our brothers and sisters. The servant of God, Fr. Hyacinth of the Order of Preachers, has this to tell us,
For the multitude of mercy shown and to us, God demands that we show mercy to others. It should
be our response to God for what He has given to us and His pledge of such mercies as we wish to
receive from Him.

We can lay up treasures of Divine Mercy for ourselves by practicing mercy to our neighbors, no less
than by practicing hope and fear of God. The practice of mercy will free us more and more from our
faults and punishment.

St. Maria Faustina, whose memorial we are celebrating today at this Mass, has given us a beautiful
prayer for the grace to be merciful to others. I asked one of our liturgists to distribute some copies to
you. I do not have enough copies for all, I only have about 1,000 or more copies in English and Filipino.

And here is the prayer for the grace to be merciful to others, according to St. Faustina: Oh Most Holy
Trinity, as many times as I breathe, as many times as my heart beats, as many times as my blood
pulsates through my body, so many thousand times do I want to glorify Your mercy. I want to be
completely transformed into Your mercy and to be Your living reflection. Oh Lord, may the greatest of
all Divine attributes, that of Your unfathomable mercy, pass through my heart and soul to my
neighbor.

My brothers and sisters, on the fourth day of our 4th World Apostolic Congress on Mercy, we asked to
share with you the works of mercy that we are doing here at the Diocese of Malolos. We asked you,
especially our foreign guests, our foreign delegates, to visit our houses of mercy within the Diocese of
Malolos. We asked you to share your love and concern and be merciful to them as the Father is
merciful like Jesus, the merciful Son of God.

As you know, we have 15 houses of mercy and they were established even before the celebration of
the Jubilee of Mercy. We have several orphanages, some homes for the aged and the elderly, we have
one home for the care of girls abused in their homes. We have a center for our IPs--the indigenous
people--the Dumagats, a rehab center for those addicted to drugs. Even before Duterte became our
President, we already have a rehabilitation program in our Diocese. We also have two hospices for the
mentally incapacitated, one for men and another for women.

I try to visit these houses of mercy as often as I can, sometimes once a month. I enjoy visiting the
orphans who are hungry for love and the elderly who appreciate someone talking with them.

One time, I visited our hospicio for the mentally

incapacitated. Before I left, I asked them to come
together and to pray. We prayed a very simple
prayer which they know, the Our Father.

As we were praying, one patient was going

around our circle shouting, Ako si Satanas! Ako
si Satanas! I am Satan! I am Satan!
One patient, who was beside me, started to stop him, saying, Huwag kang maingay, nagdarasal. Do
not be noisy, we are praying. And I said to myself, here is at least a sane one.

But after the prayer, the same guy at my side, who was stopping the other one, shouted, Ako si
Hesus! Ako si Hesus! I am Jesus! I am Jesus! and I thought he was okay.

But later on, upon further reflection, I thought he was telling me something. He was telling me that
the Lord was present. For did not the Lord say, Whatever you do you to the least of my brothers and
sisters you do to Me? The Lord was present and I failed to recognize His presence.

I would like to end with a personal note. I came to appreciate the Divine Mercy somewhat later in my
life. During the Year of God the Father, prior to the celebration of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, I
was tasked by my bishop to explain to the people about God the Father. As a source of my talks, I
used the encyclical of Pope John Paul IIs Dives in Misericordia, Rich in Mercy.

As I thought and reflected about God the Father and His mercy, I realized how merciful God has been
to me. The next year, Year of the Great Jubilee, the Holy Father appointed me as a bishop, in spite of
my unworthiness and my sinfulness.

As my episcopal motto, I chose Confido In Misericordia Dei. "I Trust In The Mercy Of God, taken from
Psalm 52 where it says, I am like a growing olive tree in the house of the Lord and I trust in the mercy
of God forever and ever.

As I prostrated myself during my episcopal ordination at the floor of San Diego de Alcala Cathedral in
Gumaca, Quezon, which was then my diocese, I could not stop tears welling from my eyes as we
prayed, "Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have
mercy.

In my ministry as a bishop--I had been 16 years as a bishop--especially at difficult moments, I would

pray and say, "Confido in misericordia Dei."

Lately, the Lord is asking me to trust more in His mercy. You know I am not feeling well. Thats why I
was not present in the first three days of our Congress. And even now, as we start the Mass, I feel so
weak. But I trust in Gods mercy.

Next week, we will start a new round of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Please pray for me. I
trust in the mercy of God. Confido in
misericordia Dei! Let us all trust in the mercy of
God. Amen.

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