The faith that heals

Excerpts of the Homily of Most Rev. Romulo Valles, D.D., Archbishop of Davao, during the fiesta of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Fatima Street, Davao City on October 13, 2019.

In our Gospel today, a line says “Rise and go. Your faith has made you well.”

My brothers and sisters, this fiesta is Filipino style. We have different types of celebrating feasts but in the Philippines, we celebrate fiesta in a really different color and sound.

Probably all fiestas in the world celebrate fiestas with the celebration of the Holy Mass, but here, we have unique add-ons.

We have features that are truly our own.

This way, we have a wonderful way of expressing our faith which our Gospel mentions today.

We all know that October 13 is the first in the series of apparitions. This is the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima.

The last one is on May 13, hence some celebrate the feast of the Our Lady of Fatima on this day or any day in between.

We are always reminded that this parish is the lone parish in the Archdiocese of Davao that bears this title.

It is my hope to make this the shrine of the Our Lady of Fatima in our Archdiocese.

The bishops as the successors of the apostles

As your Archbishop, with the words from the Nuncio, I am among the successors of the apostles.

It is a chain that connects from the beginning. It is not seen as a privilege or a power. Rather, I see it as a huge responsibility because being the successors of the apostles, we have the responsibility to keep the teachings and actions of the church be part of the chain that connects to the beginning.