EVERY human soul must be nurtured and treasured, Archbishop Charles John Brown, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, said during the closing Mass of the second day of the 12th Philippine Conference on New Evangelization (PCNE) on Saturday, July 25 at the Quadricentennial Pavilion.
In his homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Brown reflected on the Gospel of Matthew and likened all human souls to pearls, discovered by Jesus, the treasure, even in times of worthlessness.
“But the Lord sees you in your weakness, in your littleness, as the pearl of great price. So we put these two ideas together. Jesus is the treasure. He has found you. The treasure has discovered you,” he said.
The nuncio emphasized how every devotee, even when abandoned, is still loved by the Lord without limits.
“That is the work of evangelization: to recognize that and then to put into practice what the Lord wants us to do,” Brown added.
“Everything changes in our lives. We can’t live our lives as we used to live them because we realize that we have been purchased at a great price—the price of the Blood of the Lamb.”
He urged the conference delegates to live out their faith in God and to manifest it to their neighbors, especially those who are lost and weary.
San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza and Sorsogon Bishop Jose Alan Dialogo concelebrated the Mass.
The second day of the PCNE was marked with a Laudato Si’ prayer led by Fr. Lino Redoblado, O.F.M., minister provincial of the Philippine Province of San Pedro Bautista.
Delegates took part in 12 concurrent seminar sessions at various conference halls in the University, covering an array of topics about safeguarding of minors, living in the digital culture, integral ecology, responsible citizenship and Magnifica humanitas, Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, among others.
For the first time in PCNE, a dedicated day for the youth will be held on Sunday, July 26, with the opening Mass presided by Balanga Bishop Rufino Sescon Jr. Enzo Miguel D. Mejia
