Dear People for God:
The 5th Philippine Visit of the Pilgrim Relics of St. Therese of the Child Jesus could not have been planned in a most opportune time. The joyful and much anticipated celebration of the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines, though darkened by the Covid pandemic that scourged the world, still brought joy and inspiration to the Filipino people.
The Catholic Faith, receied half a millennia ago, and that has survived wars and colonization, is the same Faith held on by our People as we continue to pass through the new health challenges and the age old problems daily as a family, a community, and as Church.
Today, as the Catholic Church in the Philippines aligns itself with the whole Church in heeding the Holy Father’s call towards a Synodal Church, we ask our familiar friend and sister, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, to accompany us, “Lakbay tayo, St. Therese! Ka-Alagad, Kaibigan, Ka-Misyon.”
From January to April 2023, her Pilgrim Relics will visit 53 Archdioceses and Dioceses and AFP/PNP military camps of the Philippines.
As she makes her 5th Philippine pilgrimage, just as she desirerd “to travel over the whole earth to preach [God’s] Name… even to the most remote isles,” it is our fervent hope that St. Therese will find welcoming homes, open hearts and eagerly taking her hand to be our companion and guide.
[signed]
MOST REV. OSCAR JAIME J. FLORENCIO, DD, SThD
Military Bishop
Military Ordinariate of the Philippines
