Now more than ever, have a meaningful Easter

Happy Easter! I hope that even if the lockdown was extended up to April 30, your spirit remains hopeful and your faith strong.

Today, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ and the gift of our salvation.

In the spirit of Easter, I would like to take this opportunity to honor those who have translated their prayers into acts of charity, whatever their religion, literally helping feed many who are hungry after losing their jobs and income.

Caritas

Caritas, the social action arm of the Catholic church, has responded to the crisis through Project Ugnayan, a fundraising initiative led by top business groups in cooperation with the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation and Caritas Manila through Fr. Anton Pascual.

To date, Caritas distributed around P1 billion worth of assistance to  over 2.5 million individuals or over 514,000 families who were given gift certificates to purchase goods to get them through the quarantine period. Donations included those that came from the 10 dioceses of the Catholic church or 633 participating churches nationwide.

They are still accepting donations to reach the goal of helping 1.5 million families or 7.5 million individuals.

If you would like to donate, call 0905-4285001 or 0929-8343857. (See the end of this article for full details.) The first wave of donor companies in the Ugnayan Project are (in alphabetical order): Aboitiz Group, ABS-CBN Corp. and First Gen, Alliance Global Group and Megaworld, Ayala Corp. and the Zobel family, AY Foundation and RCBC, Bench/Suyen Corp, Century Pacific, Concepcion Industrial, DMCI Group of Companies, Gokongwei Group of Companies/Robinsons Retail Holdings, ICTSI, Jollibee, Leonio Group, Mercury Drug Corp., Metrobank, NutriAsia, Oishi/Liwayway Marketing Group, PLDT/Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Puregold, Ramon S. Ang & family, SM/BDO, Sunlife of Canada and Unilab.

Additional donors are: Alpha Land, Cebuana Lhuillier, Chito Madrigal Foundation, Coca Cola, Glorious Commercial Exports, Inc., Far Eastern University, First Life Financial Company, Focus Global, One Meralco Foundation, Penshoppe, PepsiCo/PepsiCo Foundation, Shang Properties, Inc., and TAO Corporation.

Dominus Est

Meanwhile, to feed the soul, there is Dominus Est, the digital evangelization arm of the Catholic Church.

DominusEst.PH is a website initiated by Fr. Jason Laguerta and launched by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle when he was still Archbishop of Manila. It has been sharing daily prayers, catechesis and live feeds of the masses of Pope Francis and Cardinal Tagle in Rome through their Facebook page (visit Facebook.com/DominusEstPH).

Dominus Est means “It is the Lord!,” the motto of Cardinal Tagle written on his seal as Manila Archbishop.

Therefore, the objective of the site is to help everyone see Christ day after day, in every way, even while on quarantine and amidst the struggles due to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Today, Easter Sunday, to help uplift everyone’s spirits, folk legend Noel Cabangon has generously volunteered to sing for everyone live from his home via the Dominus Est Facebook page (search Dominus Est PH—don’t forget the PH—or type the link Facebook.com/DominusEstPH). Catch this show at 4:30 p.m.

Cardinal Tagle says of this kind gesture from Noel Cabangon: “His songs and voice will certainly bring people to much needed trust in God and peace.”

You can also watch the following masses streamed live via the Dominus Est page: Bishop Pabillo live from the Manila Cathedral at 10 a.m., Cardinal Tagle live from the Pontificio Collegio Filippino in Rome at 2 p.m., and Pope Francis live from St. Peter’s Basilica at 6 p.m.

Easter Spirit

For our family, Easter has always been the highlight of the year.

Before, we would catch the Easter Sunrise service at Union Church of Manila followed by a hearty breakfast at whatever is open at 7 a.m. (we’d done the rounds of Intercon’s Jeepney Coffee Shop, Polo Club, the old Dulcinea in Greenbelt, the German Club, and finally—the best!—Pancake House).

I’m sure your family has an Easter tradition, too. Perhaps it includes steak or roast beef or turkey or some other splurge meal.

But I can’t bring myself to even think of splurging today as the nation goes through this crisis, with so many going hungry, not to mention the front-liners who risk their lives every day.

Maybe this Easter is meant to be more meaningful rather than a mere joyful one, with splurge eating transforming into splurge giving for a change. After all, generosity is delicious, too. It will also keep you filled for days.

May your soul be filled with the immeasurable love of Christ on this blessed Easter day and every day. INQ

For those who would like to donate to Caritas Manila Inc., they accept donations via the following banks, and you may send a copy of the deposit slip to [email protected]:

BPI S/A: 3063-5357-01

BDO S/A: 5600-45905

Metrobank S/A: 175-3-17506954-3

For more information, call Caritas via 0905-4285001 or 0929-8343857.

More from the author at margauxsalcedo.com. Follow @margauxsalcedo on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.