Happy Sacerdotal Anniversary from the Diocese of Baguio

Homily during Requiem Mass for ANDRES ACOP COSALAN (1927-2013)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

My Mama, my two brothers and two sisters and their families present here,

My cousins and their families, relatives and friends of the family,

Bishop Carlito Cenzon and my Brother-priests:

            We have brought the body of my Dad from our residence at Aurora Hill to the Baguio Cathedral for the Requiem Mass, because this church was significant for him.  From 1940 to 1944 (Those were the years of World War II.), my Dad stayed with the Belgian Fathers (or as we call them today, the CICM) as their convent boy, sacristan and altar server.  In exchange for his services, he said, the Belgian Fathers supported his high school education.  He cleaned their convent and accompanied them in their missionary reach-out to the nearby barrios around Baguio. 

One priest he was fond of was Fr. Leo Declerq, whom he considered his spiritual father.  They would travel together on horseback as far as Nangalisan, a barrio down Asin Road, for the Mass of the people.  (After the War, Fr. Leo Declerq went back to his native Belgium and joined the Trappist monks.  I had the privilege to meet him in the 1980’s in the course of my studies in Rome.) 

My Dad said that, with the other convent boys of his age and the Belgian Sisters from St. Louis Center, he would scrub this church regularly.  It was hard work, according to him, moving all those pews (you are sitting).  He would also wake up at 5 in the morning to serve in the daily Masses.  (There were boys in the city who sometimes paired with him, one of whom was the late Mr. Johnny Dimalanta.)  In the evening, he would come to this church at 8 P.M. to ring the bells for the Animas, a custom at that time of praying for the souls in purgatory.  He said that he often got scared, entering a dark church and going up the choir loft at the back to ring mournful bells for the dead.  My Dad too said that he planted a couple of trees around the Cathedral.  (I guess that if there are trees left around the Cathedral of some 70 years old, they may have been the ones he planted.)

Dear Brothers and Sisters, as we reflect on the Word of God, particularly our passage from the Gospel according to John (14:1-6), we hear Jesus saying, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You have faith in God; have faith also in me.  In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places… I am going to prepare a place for you.”   The background of these words of Jesus was his approaching arrest by the authorities in Jerusalem, his passion and death on the cross.  Jesus was saying “good-bye” to his apostles, but, at the same time, assuring them that they will all be together again.  But, when will this be realized?  How?  It must have been very difficult for the apostles to believe in these words of Jesus.  However, Jesus reiterated, “Have faith in me!”          

It will only be in the light of faith that the apostles would eventually accept the promise of Jesus.  It will only be in the light of faith that their horizons would be expanded and come to understand the ways of God.  It will only be in the light of faith that they would realize that Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life.”  It will only be in the light of faith that they would finally encounter the Risen Christ!

My Dad was a man of reason.  Talking with him, he would sometimes demand that one be clear and logical.  But, being a man of reason, he sometimes found faith to be difficult.  He would struggle with faith.  When my brother died last February of this year, for example, he experienced a crisis of faith (even questioning the existence of God)! 

There are experiences in life in which reason alone cannot comprehend.  Faith is necessary.  The ways of God cannot always be within the radar of human reason.  In truth, both reason and faith are necessary.  In the words of Blessed John Paul II, faith and reason strengthen each other! 

I asked people at home how my Dad spent his last day before that fateful early Monday morning when he had a heart attack.  They told me that that Sunday evening, he walked to the nearby parish church in Quezon City to attend the 7 P.M. Mass.  I would like to picture an old man of 86, a little bent, walking alone slowly to church, and there, sitting or perhaps standing in a crowded church, not understanding the prayers and the homily for he was a little deaf; then after the Mass, I would picture him walking slowly back home through the darkened streets and, upon reaching the house, take his supper and be with my mother.  I thank God (I really thank God!) that my Dad went to the Holy Mass that Sunday evening before he died.  For me, this is a great sign that he had faith!  He had not lost it. This is also a sign of assurance that he can now “enter into the Father’s house!”

I guess that his stay here at the Baguio Cathedral during those War years, laid deep the foundations of his faith.  Thanks to the Belgian Fathers, thanks to his friends then, among whom were three seminarians who later became priests, Bishop Sebastian Dalis, Bishop Emiliano Madangeng and Fr. Mauricio Lidwino (All deceased now). 

As we offer this Eucharistic Sacrifice for the repose of his soul, we praise and thank God for his mysterious yet wonderful ways!  We also pray, “Lord, increase our faith!”  Amen.        

                                                                         Fr. Andres M. Cosalan, Jr.