The fiesta of Cagayan de Oro (2)

Fr. Leo Pabayo .

THE fiesta is basically is an act of thanksgiving to God for the blessings that we receive from him particularly for giving us dominion or making us stewards over the things of creation. Having dominion or stewardship means that we are somewhat co-creator with God in making the world better by working on it. The first work that we read about that starts making the world better is the other one that we read about is in the Book Genesis. This was done by Abel, the second son of Adam and Eve.

The first son of Adam and Eve was Cain who was into planting. The second son was Abel. Abel was into herding sheep. Abel thanked God for his work and for being successful in his work. As an act of thanksgiving Abel made an offering to God. We do not read that Cain thanked God for his work. The story also implies that God was displeased with Cain. Cain was envious with Abel for his success and killed him. This story about Cain and Abel gives us a commentary on how the work that man is looked upon by God. If it is an honest to goodness work then God blesses it and accept the act of thanksgiving that man makes for his work. If the work is done for a bad purpose it will bear bad fruits  and will not be blessed by God. This must have been the case with Cain. This resulted in envy in his brother Abel ad made him kill Abel.

Perhaps all the crimes and corruption in the world are the bad fruits of this envy.

Cain was not totally rejected by God who provided Cain  with the means by which will be helped by God not to be also killed by others. Perhaps from this story that God inspired the first one who narrated and wrote in the Book of Genesis we can understand why the practice of capital punishment would regarded as anathema in the eyes of God.

The practice of making an offering of thanks giving for the good work that man does is also done in other in other religions that have a good image of God that they believed in. It is certainly true that this was the usual practice of the holy people of the Bible.

In the Bible the common act of thanksgiving consisted of the offering or sacrificing of the first fruits of the work of the holy people of God. Celebrations are also done in the various feasts in the Old Testament such as the Passover, the Feast of the Tabernacle, the New Moon, The Feast of the Unseavened Bread, etc…. The most significant celebrations are probably those about the saving acts of God that the Chosen people experienced, especially for being saved from their enemies. Central to this and the one that the Old Testament part of the Bible is mainly about is the liberation from the Holy People from slavery in Egypt. This was led by Moses who came to know  God most intimately and  along with the prophet Elijaj would be considered to be the most  significant prophets of the Old Testament. We as a nation have our own experienced of being oppressed and enslaved, the experiences of which we celebrate in various occasions.

In ordinary times since time immemorial it would seem from archaeological findings that man’s thanks giving would be for the success in their usual work of planting and harvesting as well as in their tending of animals. There were also bizzare prayers and thanks giving to idols that man did by offering some members of their people particularly children by offering them as holocaust. In the Bible the act of thanksgiving for the success in the work of the holy people of God seemed to be usually in the form of the the offering of the first harvests and that of the first born sheep that they slaughtered and burnt and ate. This would take the place of the offering of the first born child.

Christians, especially us Catholics are familiar with the celebration as an act of thanksgiving for God’s creation and for the saving acts of Christ in the various mysteries of His Life. Particularly known to us are the celebration of the Mysteries of Christ’s life that we meditate on and celebrate with the reading of the story of our salvation in Christ especially along with the celebration Mass and other festive Sacraments , like Christmas, Easter, the Feasts in honor of the Blessed Mother and of the saints who have been honored and canonized by the Church to intercede for us and serve as models of life in Christ.

The saint that we give especial honor to serve as model of Christian life in our City of Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro is that of St. Augustine of Hippo. St. ustine was the founder of the  Religious order, the Augustinian Recoletos, who were the first to preach the Gospel and established the Church community in Cagayan de Oro.