Celebrating goodness in the midst of pandemic and death

An excerpt of the homily of the Most Rev. Romulo G. Valles, D.D., during the the Holy Mass on the occasion of the opening of the 35th Kadayawan sa Davao, in San Pedro Cathedral, August 10, 2020. (Part 2 of 2)

Today as we celebrate like this, I’d like to celebrate with gratitude to the Lord as an observer as it were. I’m not in the front line, I’m a citizen of Davao. In the parishes of Davao we always comply, we always advertise, we always spread the news of what we can do together in Davao spearheaded by our City Government. I’m confident that today in this mass we have something to thank the Lord for, basically in Davao we have hearts of people filled with goodness. Pandemic, death, medicine, hoping for a vaccine but we all know that right now somehow we are winning because people are willing to sacrifice with a lot of resource of goodness in their hearts, love and sacrifice in their hearts.

You know the saint for today, i-connect nato si St. Lawrence, a deacon, walay pandemic panahon niya but there was a widespread persecution. Ang virus, 7 days, 14 days, usa ka bulan ka masakit, panahon ni Lawrence dili one day, dili one week, putol dayon one minute patay ka, great persecution by Emperor Valerian. And Lawrence was one of those, one pope was killed, four deacons were killed, four days before he was killed. And you know how he was martyred, gibutang siya sa usa ka dako nga barbecuehan, gridiron, you can imagine expanding barbecuehan, daghang charcoal and didto siya gi-barbecue siya, gisunog. And difficult to imagine, Lawrence had great faith in the goodness of the Lord, in the life that the Lord offers to those willing to lose his life for the name, in the name of the Lord. He was there burning and he was able to tease, to joke, kantiyawan niya ang iyang persecutor, iyang killer, tormentor niya. And according to one narration of what happened, he told those who were doing the barbecueing if I may use that word, said “luto na ning diri, baliha na pud ko kay wala pa maluto diri”. And those doing the torturing they were taken aback, how this person can be so powerful, so enduring, so strong in his sacrifice because we know in his faith, Lawrence held into that good, the grace of God, the blessing of God in his heart.

I’d like to say as I said earlier, I’d like to believe that that goodness, that Kadayawan in the hearts of many, many people if not all of the people of the City of Davao. That is why even if no parades, no programs at night, no great number of tourists, still in this holy mass this afternoon I would offer, I would lead you to thank the Lord because we are still a people willing to die for others, to sacrifice for others for the Kadayawan sa tanan. Mga igsoon, I’m with you, I’m with Mayor, with the City Government of Davao and still believing that Davao people truly believe, convinced of the Kadayawan in the saying “Life is here in Davao”.