Rev. Fr. Abbot Tarcisio Narciso, OSB - Abbot of Our Lady of Montserrat, Manila.  Very Rev. Fr. Aloysius Maranan, OSB Rector-President, San Beda College Manila.  Administrators, professors from San Beda College Manila, Rizal and Alabang, Alumni and friends. The religious Sisters of the different Congregations and Schools.  Senator Butch Aquino; Mrs Ballsy Cruz; Miss Viel Dee – representatives of the Aquino family.  Our generous donor Mr Carlos Ortoll and family. The italian painter Maestro Francesco Giannini and his wife Anita; distinguished guests, brothers & sisters in Christ.

 

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We are gathered in faith today to thank God as we celebrate the feast of our school’s patron Saint Bede (San Beda) and to welcome the new Academic Year 2012-2013.  Our liturgical celebration also coincides with the inauguration and blessing of the newly installed paintings on our church’s rear wall.  The masterpiece, in seven panels and a stained glass window, entitled “Benedictine Story in the Philippine Islands” is the work of Maestro Francesco Giannini.

 

Today therefore, our liturgical celebration is remarkably significant because as a Christian community we cherish God’s infinite wisdom by honoring Saint Bede.  As a Bedan community molded in the Benedictine tradition & values, we welcome with eagerness and pride in our worship the additional sacred paintings that will undoubtedly touch the heart and spirit of every believers.

 

In our gospel today, Jesus tells us, his disciples, of our responsibility in society and in the world. The focus of Gods’ action is the world -- not simply the Church or Christians. ”You are the salt of the earth; … you are the light of the world,” Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew. 

 

First and foremost, Christians are called to be the salt of the earth. When we wish to highlight a person’s worth we often say that he or she is the salt of the earth. In the ancient world, salt was highly valued. Salt performs two important functions. It is the commonest of all preservatives and it keeps things from going bad. Secondly, salt gives taste and flavor to food. Food without salt is insipid.

 

The Christian’s mission is to be the salt of society, preserving, reconciling, adding taste, giving meaning where there is no meaning, giving hope where there is no hope. It is about the quality of life.

 

Therefore it is fitting and timely that the church of the Abbey of Our Lady Montserrat has finally crossed path with an Italian artist, and like salt his exceptional God given talent has added color, life, meaning and inspiration to the empty rear wall of the church which was bare for the past 70 years.  The church bare wall carries now the breathtaking masterpiece of Francesco Giannini entitled  “Benedictine Story in the Philippine Islands.” This narrative painting visually portrayed the Benedictine story in our country; our mission, evangelization and heritage for the past 100 years of our presence in our archipelago.  Maestro Giannini stunningly captured in paintings the Benedictine response to the Gospel -- our monastic life and educational apostolate.  He colorfully recounted the Benedictine origin of the Subiaco Congregation, their mission in Asia and their contribution to the Philippine society in particular.

 

But what makes the narrative painting on “Benedictine Story in the Philippine Islands” interesting and inspiring is its threefold significance: the painter’s spiritual awakening, the faith story of the Benedictine monks in Philippines, and the social and religious impression the sacred masterpiece make on us (who see and judge it).

 

First, the power to recreate or imitate the beauty of God’s creation is a gift we received from God. At an early age Francesco has been gifted by God with hands that give soul and life to the images he sketch and paint.  However it was only in 2006, in the midst of his personal crisis, that he began to venture into sacred paintings. That time he offered his service to the Benedictine nuns in Assisi to restore the ruined frescos of their monastery. It was also on that fateful year that I asked him to correct the homilies in Italian language I preached to the nuns. It was during these exchanges of assistance that Francesco steadily deepened his interest in God’s word, which led to his spiritual awakening. His spiritual thirst and conversion brought him further into religious arts and, eventually, led him to paint the “Benedictine Story in the Philippines Islands” which we will bless after the mass. Indeed, Francesco has proven himself to be the salt among the Bedan community by sharing with us his God given ability.

 

Second, the mural we are about to inaugurate and bless, visually illustrates the religious activity and faith journey of the Benedictine monks in the Philippines.  The fact remains that the first Benedictines monks from Barcelona, Spain arrived in the Philippines in 1895.  We already celebrated our 100th years as Benedictine community in 1995.  The mural paintings, therefore, narrate in images the Benedictine response to the gospel via community or cenobitical life.  What we see in the mural is not history per se but our story as Benedictines monastic’s in the Philippines. Through work of art, we wish to tell our story not only to remind ourselves of our roots (in the rule of Saint Benedict) but also to make the story of our lives an agent, a salt that will inspire others to live the gospel in the Benedictine way. 

 

At the uppermost center of the mural, the resurrected Christ is depicted with the two angels; one contemplates the Lord’s face, while the other with Asian features reverently gazes the pierced side of Jesus.  Christ is actually embracing the globe in the form of a Saint Benedict medal to signify the presence of the Benedictines all over the world.  The resurrection event reminds us of the beginning of the church. By the turn of 4th century, monastic life became the radical way to follow and live the gospel.  In the west, Saint Benedict of Nursia became known as the father of Western Monasticism.

 

 

Saint Benedict first lived as a hermit in Subiaco (Sacro Speco) at the end of the 5th century.  Because of his holiness, he gained disciples and became the Abbot of a group of monks.  To guide his monks he wrote a rule and became the standard rule of life by the monks until the middle ages.  His rule spread all over Europe and the Spanish monastic community sprang up in Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain – the Abbey of Our Montserrat Barcelona.

 

In 1895 fourteen Benedictine monks from Montserrat, Barcelona boarded a boat for an expedition to the Philippines and they ended up in Siargao Island. To commemorate the monks’ arrival in the country Siargao Island and the church where they used to work is represented in the mural.  Since they arrived in the country at the height of Filipino uprising against Spanish government, they ended up in Manila and founded Colegio di San Beda in 1901 to counteract Protestantism. Thus we depicted the church of the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat Manila whose monks runs San Beda College.

 

“You are the salt of the earth; … you are the light of the world,” our Lord Jesus said.  On the lower left panel of the mural facing back the altar, 18 Benedictine monks were martyred between 1936-1939 during Spanish Civil War in Spain. The Civil War became notable for the passion and political division it inspired. Tens of thousands of civilians on both sides were killed for their political or religious views.  Three of those martyred monks were monks of Montserrat, Manila – Santiago Pardo Lopez (1905-1925), Domingo Caballe Bru (1921-1926) and Bro Eugenio Erasquin (1920-1922).  The three bamboo crosses with the sun in the background suggest the Asian ties of the three martyrs depicted at the center of the panel. Indeed, they have shed their blood in faith and become salt of the earth.

 

To be the salt of society means that we are deeply concerned with its wellbeing. We preserve cultural values and moral principles and make a contribution to the development of cultural and social life. We add color to the common life. And so we find at the lower center panel the 14 pioneer monks who brought with them the image of the Madonna of Montserrat.  Together in the panel are the Abbots of the Abbey for the past one hundred years. Together, the pioneers and the Abbots, they pass on the cultural values and moral principles that continue to guide our social life and religious upbringing. For more than one hundred years in the Philippines, the Benedictine monastic’s and school administrators continue to give witness to the Benedictine values they apply in the community and in their apostolate.

 

We are also called to be the light of the world. It means we are to be light in all aspects of the world’s life. The martyrdom of Saint Maximilian Kolbe is itself a light to the world. His selfless sacrifice is thus commemorated in the mural via the Mass he celebrated in our Abbey church in 1936. With him celebrating the mass are the Filipino martyrs (San Lorenzo Ruiz and Pedro Calungsod), religious founders in the Philippines, common Filipino people, our alumnus Ninoy Aquino and his wife Corazon. 

 

Now that we have told our story, may these mural paintings done by Maestro Francesco Giannini inspire each one of you to become truly salt and light of the world. As Christians, as followers of Christ, may we be an active agent of change, an ambassador of goodwill, giving witness to our Christian faith in order to bring life, love and joy to our fellow men and women. That in all things God may be Glorified.

 

(Fr. Aelred Nilo, OSB)