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I'm Fr. Harold Geers
a Franciscan friar from the Cincinnati Province
and I've been working in the,
our Philippine mission for some fifty one years
in the rural part of the country.
We were, our mission was on Biliran Island,
that was an island. Now part of Biliran Island was a smaller island.
The island was a parish.
I was there for six years and during that time my mother died.
And in those days
there were no cell phones this kind of communication we have today. We only,
we had a Telegraph operator the dash-dot
you know, dot, dot, dot... At that time,
he was in the city following up his salary.
His salary didn't show so he went to the city for three or four days.
the meantime my mother had died
and they sent a telegram. And, of course,
I didn't get it till he came back four or five days later,
by then everything was finished. I
couldn't really do too much then.
Things like that happen you know
But I think I went to the Philippines with With that original idea you know that
as a missionary, you bring something to the people.
You want to uplift them, teach them,
you know. But
today it's a totally different
approach. I believe that
to really inculturate as a missionary,
you have to spend some years there
learning the culture of the people. How can you inculturate
if you don't really know the people,
the thinking process, the relationship process,
of the people you're serving. I don't think in previous years that was ever take
into account.
We come to do our own thing
a kind of pre-package you might say.
And today missionary work is not that.
I believe we have to come in
and live simply
with the people.
Definitely learning their language, building relationships.
Just recently my brother died and I was able to
celebrate, we called it a celebration of
life, Christian life and death. And I like the words of Saint Paul
to the Romans, there.
In our dialect, Waray
dialect, is 'Kung buhi o
patay, Kanang
dyos kito.' That would mean that, 'If we're living
or dying, we belong to the Lord.' I think that's a beautiful statement.
That the value of our daily life,
you know, we're with the Lord, for the Lord,
living and dying, we belong to the Lord.
So I quoted that in my sermon,
My homily, at the mass. And so in conclusion,
I guess I will just say in the dialect and
'Bendisyonan unto kamong tanan
Han kyos nga makagarahum, ngan taga-an kamo sa dyos
Han iyang kalinaw.' That,
'I pray you be blessed by the Lord
and that he will give you his peace.'