GLOBALIZATION DEFINED:

I think the topic before me is as big as the world itself, so I had to make researches on its origin, its meaning and implications to the mission of the Church. What is globalization? Where did it all begin? What are its good sides and its bad sides? How do we deal with globalization? How do we do the mission of the Church in the context of today’s globalization?

Globalization is defined as “the ever-expanding awareness of an ever-shrinking world,” the common experience of the reality that we, both as nations and as individuals, are member, one of another, across the world, which is our global village. Globalization is also an international system, with its rules, logic and tools---a system that is directly or indirectly influencing the politics, environment, geopolitics and economics of virtually every country in the world.

BIBLICAL ROOTS OF GLOBALIZATION

In the Episcopal Church, the sources or pillars of our faith-understanding  are described as the three-legged stool of Scriptures, Tradition and Reason. So when I study globalization, the first source of my research is the Bible itself, the revealed Word of God, the scriptures that contain all things necessary for salvation.

The first biblical reference to globalization is right there in the Book of Genesis. In the Creation story, we learned that the first created beings---Adam and Eve---were commanded by God to “go and multiply and to subdue the earth. “ Globalization reached its apex in the increase of population and the building of the Tower of Babel. There was the dynamism of human ambition to be like God, the homogenization of the world’s population by having only one universal language, and the entrepreneurship and engineering creativity, and the synergy and cooperation of the people to build a “tower that reaches to the heavens. “

This first biblical globalization was stopped by God by confusing their language and creating what is now known as “the Babel of tongues.” Now there are many interpretations why God stopped this early globalization but one that is favored by  contemporary theologians such as Rabbi Tzvi Marx,  is that this idealized globalization would not only make the people proud but would ultimately dehumanize them.  This perfect universalism would deny their individual uniqueness and the particularity of their human experience.

Like the flowers and the fruits, the natural order of creation is one of diversity and uniqueness and God’s action of stopping the tower and making people speak different languages was both a punishment and a restoration of the original order of creation.

The second biblical reference to globalization is the experience of the Hebrews; their escape from the pharaoh of Egypt and their subsequent development from being a band of nomadic tribes into “the kingdom of David” that seeks to extend to the “ends of the world,” as they knew it. Again that globalization was stopped by God because of Israel had fallen into disobedience and “became like one of the nations” that they fought against. Something which the godly intimacy of David and the wisdom of one of his sons, Solomon, were not able to grasp: the wrath of God that visit the sins of the fathers up to the third and fourth generations. Israel would later became again “captives and exiles in strange and foreign lands.”

The third biblical reference to globalization was on the Day of Pentecost when the Church of Jesus Christ was born in Jerusalem among the plurality of races, cultures, languages and nations.  The Bible counted the number to around three thousand souls receiving baptism in the name of Christ from the hand of the apostles. Devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship and breaking of the bread and prayers (Acts 2:42), these post-resurrection disciples grew from a primitive communal Jewish society to a church that became kath’holou (catholic), extending to the ends of the earth as Christians obeyed the Great Commission to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 29:19-end)

In the biblical reading, therefore, globalization and catholicity are closely intertwined especially if we understand that the roots of contemporary globalization are connected to the expansion of Western civilization which began in largely Christianized countries in Europe and the United States.

GLOBALIZATION IN MODERN HISTORY

I was in Trinity College in 1970’s when the era of student activism in the Philippines had its debut. We took to the streets in the evening demonstrating against Marcos and against imperialism and slept in the morning. I was staying in the home of Bishop Porfirio Dela Cruz at that time and one afternoon he told me that “if revolution would come in the morning, I was going to miss it.”

From my activism days, I learned that the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist theory is that peoples’ movement evolve from primitive communal society, to feudal society, to capitalist society, to socialist society and to capitalist society. The world at that time was largely semi-feudal, semi-capitalist so if the masses of the world unite, they can hasten the “heaven on earth,” which is communism. Fortunately or unfortunately, (depending on your persuasion), communism collapsed with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. Even the cultural revolution under Mao Tse Tung regime is now discredited as a shame in Chinese history.

So the word “globalization” has been largely attributed now to Western capitalism, which seemed to emerge the winner in the struggle for ideological hegemony in the post-Cold War era.

Thomas Friedman, author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree and the Flat World is a journalist from New York Times who has studied the impact of contemporary globalization. Friedman traces the origin and development of globalization and explained it in three stages or eras, which he called “Globalizations 1, 2 and 3.”

Globalization 1 was primarily “the globalization of countries” that began with Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan globalizing their countries and exploring the world on behalf of their countries. That era started in the 1400s and continued all the way - in its own way - right up to the invention of the steamship, the railroad and the telegraph, but ended with World War One. That era was characterized by the dynamism of aggressive countries globalizing for imperialistic or colonization reasons. According to Friedman, Globalization 1 shrank the world from a “Size Large” to a “Size Medium.”

Globalization 2 started from World War Two right up until the year 2000, until Y2K but really intensified from 1980 until 2000 because of the Internet and fiber optics. That era was really spearheaded by companies globalizing for markets and for labor. Coke and Pepsi, MacDonald and Walmart, Sony and General Motors, Honda and Hyundai have become global and transnational. American On Line employed Indians in their Customer Relations without Indians leaving India; Wal Mart getting its products from Manila to Timbukto to ship into their various branches worldwide at the click of the finger. Starbucks buying coffee from Brazil or Columbia and brewed them uniformly in their braches in various parts of the world. I was amazed to find a Starbucks shop inside China’s Forbidden City.    That period, according to Friedman, shrank the world from “Size Medium” to “Size Small.”

Globalization 3, believe it or not, started at post-911. Friedman said that while the world slept, “911” was being hatched, and when the Twin Towers of New York came tumbling down from terrorist planes, the world woke up and Globalization 3 begun. Globalization 3 is the  “intensification of everything that was invented in Globalization 2” - the bandwidths, the fiber-optics, the PCs, and the software capabilities that connected them – but intensified all of them to such a degree that it became a difference in kind.” 

And so if Globalization 1 shrank the world from “Size Large” to “Size Medium” and Globalization 2 shrank the world from a “Size Medium” to a “Size Small,” Globalization 3.0 shrank the world from a “Size Small” to a “Size Tiny.”  And if Globalization 1 is globalization of countries, Globalization 2 is globalization of companies; Globalization 3 is “globalization of individuals.”

PARADOX OF GLOBALIZATION

In 1975, I was a youth delegate of the IFI to the 5th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Nairobi, Kenya. Against the backdrop of modern Kenyatta Center, around 7,000 delegates gathered at Uhuru Park and had an open-air celebration of the Eucharist. The theme of the assembly was “Jesus Christ frees and unites.” Two of the many issues that WCC tackled that related to Globalization 2 was “dialogue with peoples of other faiths, cultures and ideologies” and “Structures of Injustice and Anti-Racism.” Discussions pointed to the ambiguity of Western colonialism that had created indelible marks, both good and bad, to the countries that have been both victims as well as beneficiaries of Western imperialism and colonialism.

One of the voices of balance was Dr. Kosuke Koyama, Japanese theologian and author of such Asian-sounding books like Waterbuffalo Theology, No Handle on the Cross and Pilgrim or Tourist, among others. In Singapore in 1980, I had the privilege of doing my Master’s in Theology thesis on the contextual theology of Kosuke Koyama and had wonderful moments of interacting with him.

In characteristic humor, Koyama declared in the WCC assembly of 1975:”If Western civilization were simply a demonic monster, then what we must do is to create a Programme to Combat Western Civilization. But Western civilization is not a demonic monster; it is am ambiguous monster.  It combines both gun and ointment. It has both wounding and healing powers on the other civilizations it comes in contact with.”

I  believe this is the same tenor that I would approach the issue of Globalization. Globalization is ambiguous, it is paradoxical, it is split-level, it is neutral. Globalization has its positive as well as negative impact on our lives and on our cultures. The tools of Globalization can be used for good and can be used for bad. Friedman said it this way:

“This “flat world”(globalization) is a friend of Infosys as well as
Al-Qaeda. It's a friend of IBM as well as Islamic jihad. “The (bad guys)
such as Al Caida are arly adopters. Criminals, terrorists – very early
adopters. The person who understands supply chains almost as well as
Sam Walton (of Walmart), is Osama Bin Laden. We have an issue there
 with the most frustrated and dangerous elements of the world using this
 flat planet in order to advance their goals, to recruit over the internet, to
inspire over the internet, and to transfer orders and raise money over the
internet. So they're using the flat world as much as anybody else. “

Friedman likened this ambiguity to the paradox of “The Lexus and the Olive Tree.” Lexus (like the state of the art luxury car), “represents the fundamental, age-old human drive---the drive for sustenance, improvement, prosperity and modernization---as it is played out in today’s globalization system. It represents all the burgeoning global markets, financial institutions and computer technologies with which we pursue higher living standards. “

Olive trees, on the other hand, “represent everything that roots us, anchors us,  identifies us and locates us in this world---whether it be belonging to a family, a community, a tribe, a nation, religion or, most of all, a place called home.”

 Olive trees are what give s the warmth of family, the joy of individuality,
 the intimacy of personal rituals, the depths of private relationships, as
 well as the confidence and security to reach out and encounter others.
 We fight so intensely at times over our olive trees because at their best,
 they provide the feelings of self-esteem and belonging that are essential
 for human survival as food in the belly. Indeed, one reason why the
nation-state will never disappear, even if it does weaken, is because
it is the ultimate olive tree---the ultimate expression of whom we belong
to---linguistically, geographically and historically. You can be a rich
person alone. You can be a smart person alone. But you can not be a
complete person alone. For that you msut be a part of, and rooted in,
an olive tree.

The concern for the welfare of our  olive trees, the concern for our nations, our cultures, our peoples,  is what we fear from the Lexus. If Lexus is made to run amok, unbridled and lacking moral and ethical framework, what would happen to our olive trees? Would it be like Cain murdering Abel, and when asked where his brother was would respond, “Why, amI my brother’s keeper?”

So we must be wary from the bad effects of globalization. Even in the two countries---China and India--that are riding on the crest of globalization, there is a continued widening gap between the numerous who have become rich and the voluminous who remain poor. I was in Shanghai admiring the skyscrapers and the energy that the new supercompetitive Chinese billionaires are being made everyday only to learn behind the scenes that the large majority of peasants in the farms are being left so far behind. I learned of the same widening gap between the super rich and the super poor in India. In many other countries where globalization are being implemented for the sake globalization, many cultures, traditions and way of life are trampled upon as large multinational  corporations are destroying cultural landmarks and creating havocs in natural resources due to pollution. Mark Thirwell in Rethinking Globalization: A Critique (Yaleglobal, September 17,2007)  wrote: 

 (The) environmental consequencies of feeding the growing appetites
 of the Chinese dragon and Indian elephant also make the developed
 world jumpy. With global warming now seen as pressing policy issue
 by a growing shar of rich-country voters, the role of both economies
 as major new polluters receives greater attention. So while the
 overall level of carbon in the atmosphere is overwhelmingly a legacy
 of the rich world’s own industrialization, the rapid rise of developing
 countries has not been missed, especially given recent estimates that
 China has overtaken the US as the world’s grreatest emitter of
 greenhouse gases.

The statement from the IFI with regards to how the Philippines become victimized by the bad effects of globalization was articulated by Fr. Terry Rebollido in his presentation on “Catholicity and Globalization Conference” last week in General Theological Seminary in New York City. Fr. Rebullido said in reference to economic Globalization:

“The essence of economic globalization being propagated by multi-national companies and affluent countries is based on profit, consumption, influence and power. It also preaches the idea of bringing people tighter but propagates this on different set of values. It encourages individualism rather than community, competition rather than cooperation, consumerism rather than sustainability, values leading to fragmentation, divisiveness, dominance and superiority.”

Globalization indeed feeds on competition and drive for power and dominance. The former Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Frank Griswold wrote that the current globalization, especially its econonomic and political aspects are “a form of domination whereby others are made to bear the burden of our greed” Griswold acknowledged that globalization is indeed “a highly ambiguous reality which is perceived as both a blessing and a curse.” (ENS, May 200 and July 2002)

MISSION OF THE CHURCH IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION

Last November 6-11, 2006 upon the invitation of The Most Rev. Dr. Joris Vercammen, archbishop of Utrecht and president of the International Bishops Conference of the Union of Utrecht, a commission of five theologians from the IFI, the TEC, the Old Catholic Churches gathered in The Netherlands to formulate a common statement on “Catholicity and Globalization.”  Issuing a Report “dedicated to the memory of The Most Rev. Alberto B. Ramento, ninth Obispo Maximo of the IFI who was martyred on October 3, 2006 in the Philippines for his fight for social justice, the theologians attempted to conceptualize globalization as “a multi-faceted historical process of benign origins…ideologically driven political and economic domination leading variously to increasing gaps between the rich and the poor, to a sole concentration on marketethics, to environmental devastation, tonunlimited competition, etc…”

The theologians likewise agreed on the “profound ambiguities” in globalization and on the fact that all people today are inescapably part of it. The report further said:

 There is no safe space outside of globalization…from which one can
 attack or defend it. The churches and their members, whether they
 like it or not, are all participants in globalization, linked by networks
 of technology, communication, language, education, conceptual
understanding and travel as well as by economic forces.

My own take, is that nothing, indeed, no one short of God, can stop globalization. To stop globalization is to stop the progressive development of society which started from a primitive communal village, to agricultural, industrialized, to technological global village. An atomic bomb dropped in New York City may become a major set-back to this progressive spiral process but it will not erase the internet data imbedded in many computers in the homes of geeks and nerds as well as ordinary citizens in the entire planet. Nothing short of God erasing the memories in our brains can stop the march to globalization. That would be the Tower of Babel Part Two. That would be the global village going back to stone age.

The theologians that gathered in The Netherlands, further agreed, that the churches’ solution to globalization “maybe found not in an attempt to condemn globalization as such but to transfrom it from within, using its own tools.”

One of the sources of such creativity comes from the new Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori. At her installation sermon as the first woman primate of the Anglican Communion, Bishop Schori implied using the tools of globalization to further the mission of the Church. While not negating the negative side of devastating effects of globalization on the life and cultures of many people, she also called for a world “in which all are fed, all our housed, all are healed in God’s own shalom. “

Using the tools of global technology, Schori adopted the United Nation’s Millenium Development Goals (MDG) to be the top priority of her leadership and administration.  MDG’s eight goals include cutting into half the world’s poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; reducing by two-thirds the child mortality; achieving by half the proportion of people having access to safe drinking water; eliminating gender disparity in education; reducing by three-quarters the maternal mortality ratio; halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and develoing an integrated partnership for development.

In her message to another set of theologians participating in the Asia-America Theological Exchange Forum organized by the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry, Anglican Global Relations and Church Divinity School of the Pacific last October 13-15, 2007 in Berkeley, California Schori reiterated the mission of the Church as set forth in scriptures and the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer is one of “reconciliation.” Commenting on the Forum’s theme on “Church as Agent of Reconciliation?,” Schori said:

Your theme on reconciliation strikes a deep chord among us because God
has entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation and the catechism
contained in our Book of Common Prayer, clearly states that the mission
of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in
Christ…We pursue the mission of reconciliation through prayer and
worship, proclaiming the Good News in Christ, promoting justice, peace
and love. In the Episcopal Church, we hold evangelism and social action
as two wings of our missionary enterprise. The proclamation of God’s
saving act in Christ characterizes our liturgical life and the pursuit of the
local and global actions on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
has become our first priority as a Church.

MISSIONARY STRATEGY OF “GLOCALIZATION”

“Global thinking and local action” seems to me to be the appropriate catch phrase for a pragmatic approach to mission in the era of globalization. From this dictum, “think globally and act locally,” was coined the word “glocalization.” How does glocalization in mission operate?

Let us glocalize the mission of the church. How do we do that? In October 3, 2006 when Bishop Ramento was killed in Tarlac, Philippines, I was in San Antonio, Texas speaking at a Latino gathering. Matthew Davis of the Episcopal News Service called from New York through my cell phone wanting to get a statement from me and inquiring more information about Bishop Ramento. A few hours later, the whole Episcopal Church world---and the entire Anglican Communion---and the World Council of Churches knew of the tragedy. Years ago, Fr. Ernesto Cimatu and I dreamt and set up of an online clergy forum, the picpecclergy@yahoogroups.com that would serve as a pipeline of information, news, theological thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc. for the clergy of the IFI and Episcopal Church in the Philippines (ECP). Fr. Dwight Dela Torre followed up the news articles from The Philippines’ Daily Inquirer and other major Manila dailies and passed it on to picpecclergy@yahoogroups.com.  I passed the information to the NaFFAAforum@yahoo.com to inform the National Federation of Filipino America Association which disseminated the information to Filipino-Americans nationwide.

The Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry has its own EAMNetwork@epicom.org  and it also circulated the news to its thousand e-mail addresses, which they in turn passed on to their friends and family. A few days later, as Manila was having funeral services for Bishop Ramento, Brian Grieves (Director of Peace and Justice of TEC) and I were sent by the outgoing Presiding Bishop Griswold and incoming Presiding Bishop Schori to lodge our protest to the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC and make a visit to the State Department. The news and photos of our visit was picked-up by the NaFFAA and sent to major dailies in Philippines. The letter from Presiding Bishop Schori to the Philippine government was carried by the newspapers and in such a short time, created pressure on the Arroyo government to make a response from the General Avelino Razon.

That was an example on how we can use the “tools of globalization” to make the world aware of the mission of the church and the sacrifices that Christians make to serve God’s mission. Years ago, it would have taken weeks or months before postal letters from Asia (e.g. “snail mails”) reach America.  A friend of mine who monitors the missionaries in Africa said that before it would take weeks before they receive a missionary report. Now the moment the missionaries stepped down on the plane in Nairobi, they either call or text from their cell phones or type out from their Blackberry their initial report.

In China, churches are growing because the government has rediscovered the important role of the Christian churches in promoting a “harmonious society.” The pragmatic Chinese government instituted SARA (Services of  Administration in Religious Affairs) to assist the churches belonging to the China Christian Council in planting churches as well as encouraging them to help in the ministry to the poor, such as the Amity Foundation.

I understand Thailand is one of the developing countries that have passed the Freedom of Information Act, a somewhat unnecessary law considering that it is hard to control the cyberspace and the information superhighway. At any rate, the Thais use this freedom act to monitor the graft and corruption in their country and to bring to nationwide attention corrupt public officials. I remember that one of the reasons why the Philippines got rid of presidency of Joseph Estrada was because of the text messages. The voice of President Gloria Arroyo taken from the so-called "Garci tapes" had also been imbedded in many Filipino cell phones that although not successful in deposing Arroyo, created at least high anxiety. EDSA revolutions can happen again simply by the use of the cell phones and text messages which Filipinos, especially the young are so capable of using.

So I think, that instead of fighting globalization, we should enter into it, being “wise as serpents and innocent as doves,” to use Jesus’ own words. Some of the “glocalized” mission imperatives would be in these questions:

1. How can we introduce an authentic Christian framework in the use of the tools of globalization such that they truly improve the quality of life for all instead of only a few? How can the use of technology open the door of opportunities for the majority, if not for all? We Filipinos have a problem of self-image. For instance, I could not understand why we make basketball as our national obsession when we know that because of height, we cannot excel in this sport of the tall. But when it comes to the use of computers and IT, we know we can excel. Do you remember that Pinoy hacker who introduced a computer virus that infected so many computer data and worried even the Pentagon? Now, if we can only help transform and inspire guys like these to work positively so we can compete in the globalized world.
   
   
2. What makes sense for the Philippines? When I was in high school in the ‘60’s, I learned that the Philippine exports were abaca, copra and rice. In college in the ‘70’s, I learned that the Philippines exports were abaca and copra, minus the rice. Instead of exporting rice, we began to import rice from Thailand. In the ‘80’s, we began to export human beings in the form of overseas workers. They are nurses and doctors and engineers but the great majority is domestic helpers and construction workers. If we must compete in the globalization arena, we must major in the development of excellence in the mind. India had prepared its people for the global market by developing excellence in computer engineering. So when Y2K happened, where did the U.S. turn for expertise? ---from India!
   
   
3. How can we use information technology to rid the country of graft and corruption and dismantle the structures of social and economic injustice? In Wall Street, they have a question: what is the difference between budding kleptocracy and full-pledged kleptocracy.  Kleptocracy is the term used to describe the rule of thieves in government. The story goes that two ministers of third world countries became friends. Minister#1 visited minister #2 and he was amazed at huge was his house, complete with state-of-the-art furniture. Minister #2 asked, “My friend, how were you able to obtain this huge house considering your modest income and the poverty of your country.” Minister 2 opened the window and said, “My friend, do you see that almost finished bridge over there?” Minister 2 said, “Yes, I see the bridge, almost done.” Minister 2, draw an imaginary figure and said, “My friend, 10%” (i.e., ten percent of the cost of the bridge went to his pocket). A few years later, it was the turn of Minister 2 to visit Minister 1 and he was astounded. If his house seemed like a mansion, his friend’s house looked like a palace. Minister 2 therefore asked, “And you, my friend, considering your modest income and the poverty of your country, how were you able to afford this huge house?” Minister 1 opened the window and showed his guest the open horizon. “My friend, do you see that bridge over there?” Minister 1 said, “Bridge, I see no bridge at all.” Minister 1, drew an imaginary figure with his finger and said, “My friend, 100%!”
   
   
4. I would leave your fertile imagination to identify which countries the story referred to but suffice it to say that unless there is an honest, clean and conscientious leadership, globalization will not work to benefit the country. The Bible says, “Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to every people.” If graft and corruption exist in high places, they filter down and become a social cancer. The difference between corruption of the government officials and corruption of the common tao is this: the common tao becomes corrupt for his own survival; the government official becomes corrupt because of his greed. The common tao, when caught gets punished; the corrupt official, when caught, gets pardoned.
   
   
5. The most dynamic use of technology would be towards the catholicity of churches in addressing human sin in all its protean forms and in calling the world to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ---and to do this in great sensitivity to the diverse cultures in each local community. Glocalizing Christian mission respects the “olive tree” while advancing the “Lexus.” Cutting-off someone’s nose is not the right way to let one appreciate the fragrance of the rose.  D.T. Niles, a Sri Lankan theologian said, “evangelism is a beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” This catholicity, which takes the universality and particularity of authentic Christian experience, will become the instrument of transformation of the global village as we hear Jesus say, “What does it profit if you gain the whole world but loses your soul?”
   
   
6. On the practical level, we could expand the catholicity of our churches by using technology to share insights, programs and resources in growing our local churches. Through online studies and continuing education, we can share learning across the globe. At the EAM where I serve as director, we are visioning a Virtual Seminary, a virtual classroom, where people in the US can see and hear the Obispo Maximo from the Philippines speak about social justice and where people in the Philippines can see and hear the Presiding Bishop sharing the progress of the MDG. We can learn from one another how to plant and grow churches, and how to experience global spiritual renewal in the context of our local situations.
   
   
7. Finally, through the use of multimedia, we can expand the consciousness of these learning into our local congregations, so that everyone becomes a kind of global Christian, who is not isolated but connected to the other Christians in the world. This is what Paul would say in a global sense, in the inter-relatedness of the Body of Christ: “If one part of the body suffers, all suffer together; if one part of the body is honored, all rejoice together.”

CONCLUSION

I would like to end my reflection with a sharing of a personal experience. My life has always been one of explorations. As a child born in a small village in Iloilo, I always looked at the sea and asked, “what’s behind the horizon” and looked at the hills and asked, “what’s on the other side of the mountain.” At age 15, I stow away in a ship and explored Manila, the big city. At age 28, I became a priest along with my Kaisahan. I served the IFI for three years only because I wanted to explore more worlds. My wife and I left for Singapore in 1981 and explored Anglican Church. In 1986, we went to the USA and explored the Presbyterian Church and later The Episcopal Church. The poet T.S. Elliot said, “the end of our exploring is to go back to where you come from and discover it for the first time.”

That discovery came to me while I was in Lake Tahoe two years ago. Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada borders is a lake on top of the mountain. A friend of mine, told me, “Father Fred, there is a place I like you to see because it speaks about you ad about what you do.” He drove me to the highest peak of the lakeside, it was a rocky mountain side and he showed me the trees that are growing on the rocks. And he said to me, “Father Fred, these trees must have begun as seeds dropped by the birds and they found themselves into the crack of the rocks.” Marrero would say, “sumingit sila sa singit ng bato.” And they grew, they grew not on soft soil, which Jesus talked about but on the hard rock.  And because they had a hard life, they can withstand the rains and snow and strong winds on this mountain. And then he told me, “Father Fred, these trees that grown on the rocks are like the Filipinos. No matter how hard life is, they always manage to survive. And because they have a hard life, they can withstand the storms in their lives and even give hope to others.”

I like to share that with you, the IFI today. This church has had a hard life. Born out of the revolution of 1898, heated in the crucible of suffering, poverty, divisions and strife, you survived. You survived! By the grace of God, you survived. You have withstood the storms in your ecclesial life and you can teach other churches to do the same. I believe even in this era of globalization, you the IFI, will not only survive. By the grace of God, you will prevail! Alleluia, thank God Almighty, we will prevail! Amen.