On March 19, Francis I was formally installed as our new Pope. This day is also the feast-day of St. Joseph. And in his homily, Pope Francis pointed out our mission in whatever station in life we may be to be like St. Joseph as a "protector" of life, of God's creation, our families and children, and everything under our care and responsibility.
Writing about Magarao always, Luis Cabalquinto, in a sense, really never left home. But if we reckon by geographical distance, then the poet has been away and will be home this March from the United States.
As with any homecoming, two feasts await Cabalquinto. On March 22, at 1pm, his book Tignarakol, will be launched by the Ateneo de Naga University Press. Venue of the launch is the Arrupe Convention of the Ateneo de Naga University. This is Cabalquinto’s first collection in Bikol and his seventh book.
Resigning as pope could well be Benedict XVI's greatest legacy. It is also his supreme witnessing. He had it all, as it were, and could have stayed on until death. But he gave it up so someone else could takeover to fulfill the mission.
Indeed, it is the mission that counts the most -- proclaiming the Gospel to all the ends of the earth. The call, through God's Word, to enter into an intimate relationship with God.