Gearing Up for the International Eucharistic Congress 2016 in Cebu City

The IEC 2016 app which can be used by all the participants.

Today is exactly 31 weeks and 5 days before the kick-off of the much-awaited 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) set here in Cebu City on January 24-31, 2016. The last time the IEC was held in the country was on February 3-7, 1937 in Manila, a good 79 years ago. The theme for IEC 2016 is, "Christ in You, our Hope of Glory," from the letter of St. Paul to the Colossians, chapter 1, verse 27.

The Holy Eucharist, Christ with us in sacramental form i.e. in the form of bread, is suffering from neglect and disrespect, committed by people who do not know what our faith teaches us about the sacrament. We can look into what we know about our Catholic doctrine and perhaps review a bit more about the extreme value the Holy Eucharist has.When we receive Holy Communion, after having gone for a good confession --- the tribunal of mercy and compassion --- we receive the Author of Grace Himself --- God. He grants us profound peace which only the person who experiences it can understand.

There are a lot of initiatives surrounding the preparations for the IEC 2016 here in Cebu. By just visiting their website, one will be led to get the pertinent details of the event. Whether or not one will participate actively in this big celebration, not just here in the Philippines but in the entire Christian world, I think only one thing is needed. Our Lord wants to see how attentive we are to what He wants to tell us. He wants to tell us
something through His words in Sacred Scriptures. He wants to tell us something through the events that He allows to happen in our lives. He wants to tell us something in the spiritual advice we seek from those who are truly concerned about our welfare. He wants to tell us something through our relationships with family and friends.

With the last visit of the Holy Father in January this year, I think the Lord only wants to tell us one message that ought to resound and ring continuously in our interior life.

He wants to tell us that He Himself is Love. For that reason, we ought to be the protagonists and catalysts of love in our own families, our circle of friends, our place of work, and in our communities.