by MATTHEW DAVE JUCOM
A DOMINICAN priest reminded Thomasians to be conscious when giving a ‘yes’ as this simple word could either make or break the entire humanity.
The word “yes” may lead to one’s destruction if given to a wrong person or used for a wrong purpose, yet it could also be an agent of creation or renewal, Rev. Fr. Hilario Sicat, Jr. said during the mass for the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception last Tuesday.
“‘’Yes’ might be a three-letter word but proves to be a powerful word. Kingdoms either have risen or have fallen from the ‘yes’ of a monarch. Relationships are built or strengthened or destroyed [from the] yes of a lover to her beloved,” Sicat said.
He noted that in the history of salvation, Eve’s giving of a ‘yes’ to the serpent by eating the fruit from the forbidden tree led to the suffering of future generations.
However, the ‘faithful yes’ Mary gave to God saved humanity as she allowed herself to bear Jesus Christ, the promise of salvation, Sicat said.
“It is a faithful yes to God, far from the disobedient yes of Adam and Eve. The yes of Mary signaled the beginning of the fulfillment of the good news, first announced to Adam and Eve. It is a yes that brought out of the darkness of sin and death, a yes that brought to us the light,” he added.
Although salvation was being attested to the entire humanity, Sicat said everyone must still share the promise of light to those who are struggling in the darkness.
“This is how we participate in the realization of the yes of God to man–by giving our yes and imparting the light we receive,” he said.
The Immaculate Conception is a Catholic dogma which states that Mary is conceived without original sin. The papal bull Ineffabilis Deus by Pope Pius IX proclaimed that the Blessed Virgin Mary, “at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of God…was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin.”
Catholics honor the feast of the Immaculate Conception every Dec. 8. The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is honored as the principal patroness of predominantly Catholic Philippines. F
