5 LOAVES AND TWO FISH:

A REFLECTION ON THE 500 YEARS OF

CHRISTIANITY IN THE PHILIPPINES
FRAY AMIEL A. ALVAREZ,OSA
GROUPINGS

count off 1- 5
go to your respective groups
YELL MAKING

Choose a Biblical name for your group

Choose your servant leader to facilitate the group
this group will serve as your small groups where sharing
will be facilitated
In 5 minutes, make a 2 minute yell for your group
everybody should sing and dance, no KJ please…
each group will come in front to present their group
PRESENTATION:
SMALL GROUP SHARING:
(5 MINUTES)

How did you feel after?

What were the significant feelings that surfaced while
watching the video?
What do you think is the connection between being gifted
(receiving) and giving?
BIG GROUP SHARING

choose 2 representatives each group to share here in front

A. “GIFTED TO
GIVE”
 INTRINSIC CONNECTION BETWEEN RECEIVING
AND GIVING
- WE SEE THAT GIFTS ARE GIVEN TO US NOT FOR
OUR OWN BENEFITS ALONE
The purpose of being given something is
already stated in the theme: to give.
“We were gifted TO GIVE.”
B. IN JESUS, WE
RECEIVED
GIFTS
IN JESUS, HUMANITY RECEIVED
THE LOVE OF GOD

-When he called the lost, the least and the last; when he
healed the sick, when he liberated those who were captives
of different forms of oppression; when he liberated the
people from the power of Satan; when he brought the Good
News to the people; When he fed them with bread; When
he taught us the values of the Kingdom of God; When he
gave himself up in obedience to the Father’s will, so that we
may be redeemed; we see that humanity has at last received
something great, something important.
to be loved and to love
WHAT DOES IT
MEAN TO
LOVE?
QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

CAN YOU RECALL YOUR EARLIEST

EXPERIENCE OF WHAT IT IS TO BE
LOVED BY OTHERS?
WHO WERE THESE PEOPLE?
HOW DID YOU EXPERIENCE LOVE
FROM THEM?
JESUS DID NOT
ONLY GIVE US AN
EXPERIENCE OF
WHAT IT IS TO BE
LOVED.
HE CHALLENGES
US TO SHOW THE
SAME LOVE TO
OTHERS.
JESUS WANTS US TO WILL THE
GOOD OF OUR NEIGHBOR

- Jesus did not only will and desire what is good for us. He
also wants us to will the good of our neighbor.

- greatest commandments
- story of the Good Samaritan
JOHN: FEEDING OF THE FIVE
THOUSAND

“Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.

A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he
was performing on the sick.
Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with
his disciples.
The Jewish feast of Passover was near.
When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was
coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy
enough food for them to eat?”
He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he
was going to do.
Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of
food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.”
One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter,
said to him,
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two
fish; but what good are these for so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great
deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five
thousand in number.
Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to
those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they
wanted.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the
fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.”
So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with
fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than
they could eat.
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This
is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.”
Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry
him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the
mountain alone.”
The story of the feeding of the five thousand is practically
present in all the four canonical Gospels.
What are the canonical Gospels?
We have to remember here that the Gospels were
written in different times.
Mark as the first among the Gospels 70 AD;
Matthew between 80-90 AD; Luke between 85-90 AD
John probably written around 100- 110 AD.
SYNOPTICS AND THE “Q” (QUELLE)


MARK

MATTHEW LUK
E

“Q
”
This could possibly mean that historically speaking, Jesus
really fed five thousand people. It must have really
happened and…
The story must have a very powerful impact on the
disciples and the Gospel writers that they all seemed to
have agreed to include them in their Gospel accounts.
Although present in all the four
gospels, there is a particular
detail in the Gospel of John
that stands out, that is different
from the synoptic Gospels.
What is it?
But what can we get from this very particular detail from
the Gospel of John? What does it teach us?
How do we relate this to our theme: Gifted to give?
UNKNOWN GIVER

What’s the boy’s name?

THE GIVER IS POOR

What kind of bread did the boy give?Where did it come

from?
THREE THINGS:

anyone can help

you can help even in anonimity
you can help even in your poverty
WHAT ABOUT THE FIVE
THOUSAND? THERE WERE ONLY 5
LOAVES AND TWO FISH?

He took the loaves and fish, said the blessing and distributed it to
others.
Gifts that pass through the
hands of a generous person
multiplies
THESE ARE THE SAME ACTIONS IN THE
EUCHARIST
In the Eucharist, God gives no less than His very self to
us…
1. What are my five loaves and two fish?
2. Am I willing to give or to share with my neighbor the five
loaves and two fish that I have received?

a. Am I generous enough to share?

b. What kind of hands do I have? Are these hands, hands
that are only willing to receive but not willing to give?
3. As a Catechist, what are the gifts that I have received? What
are the gifts that I am willing to share to AVT?
Small group sharing
Big group sharing: 3 sharers per group
THE LOVE WHICH WE CHRISTIANS
RECEIVED FROM THE LORD IS THE SAME
LOVE THAT THE FIRST MISSIONARIES
BROUGHT TO THE ISLANDS 500 YEARS AGO.
THE SPANISH
CHURCH
16th Century- siglo de oro of Spain
inspired by messianic mission
Long before Luther, Spanish Cardinal Jimenez de
Cisneros
Religious Orders
CHRISTIANITY
COMES TO THE
PHILIPPINES:
1521 AND 1565
FERNANDO
MAGALLANES
1521
MIGUEL LOPEZ
DE LEGAZPI AND
THE
AUGUSTINIANS
1565
Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese in the service of the
Spanish crown arrived in Cebu on April 1521. Juan
Sebastian de Elcano, the master of ship "Concepcion" took
over the command of the expedition after the death of
Magellan and captained the ship "Victoria" back to Spain.
SY (1996)

-citing Pigafetta, that Ferdinand Magellan was in search for

a route to the Moluccas islands when they reached the
Philippines soil on April 7, 1521. There he baptized the
Cebuanos with their chief Humabon (named Carlos)
together with their queen named Juana to whom Magellan
gave an image of the Child Jesus. Accordingly, on April 27,
1521, Magellan met his untimely demise at the hands of
Lapu Lapu in the Battle of Mactan.
After a number of expeditions sent to conquer the
Philippines, King Philip II of Spain commissioned Fray
Andres de Urdaneta,OSA to be the official cosmographer of
the expedition headed by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. It was
the same expedition which brought the Augustinians to the
Philippines. The Royal Commission of 1559 penned by
King Philip II of Spain states:
I have been informed that, while still a layman, you sailed with
Loayza, crossed the Magellan straits, and went on to the islands
of the spices, where you were stationed for eight years in my
service. Now, I have directed Don Luis de Velasco, my Viceroy
in Nueva España, to send two ships to the discovery of the
Western islands near the Moluccas with specific instructions as
to their conduct; and since according to my information, you are
an excellent cosmographer entirely familiar with that area, it
would be most convenient as regards both the navigation and
God’s service and my own, that you sail with the said ships. I
order you, therefore, to join this expedition and do as my Viceroy
instructs you, for in this you will be greatly serving God and
me.”
Borre(2015) would claim that there were three expeditions
after Magellan in which the third expedition was that which
was led by Legaspi, accompanied by the first five
Augustinians.
Sy(1996) on the other hand would claim that there were
four more expeditions sent after Magellan in which the
fourth had Legaspi as its commander, accompanied by five
Augustinians.
RELIGIOUS ORDERS THAT CAME TO
THE PHILIPPINES:
ORDO SANCTI AGUSTINI (OSA)
AUGUSTINIANS
Fray Andres de Urdaneta,OSA and his fellow Augustinians
were given a specific order of their superiors: the
conversion of those people while Legazpi was instructed of
the purpose of their voyage: to bring the natives of those
regions to knowledge of the catholic faith, to find a return
route to New Spain, and to obtain spices and other riches of
those lands for purposes of trade.
LUCIO GUTIERREZ,OP (1999)

“Most of them had passed through the hall of the best

Universities in Spain and Europe, especially Paris,
Salamanca and Alcala. To abandon Europe and sail for the
Orient, crossing uncharted seas, demanded spiritual
generosity. Some of them, like Urdaneta, were mariners and
cosmographers; others like Martin de Rada, mathematicians
and astronomers. Most of them were theologians, men of
the Renaissance, masters of the best knowledge of the age”
ALVAREZ (2017)

Their arrival has indeed ushered in a new age in the country

through their missionary and evangelizing efforts. In fact,
records would show that before the Philippine Revolution
of 1896, four hundred towns, schools, and churches in the
islands have been established and administered to by the
Augustinians.
ORDO FRATRUM MINORUM- OFM
FRANCISCANS
ORDO PRAEDICATORUM- OP
DOMINICANS
SOCIETAS JESU- SJ
JESUITS
THESE PEOPLE, FIRED WITH THE ZEAL
TO BRING OTHERS TO GOD RISK THEIR
LIVES, LEFT THEIR HOME, SECURITY
AND COMFORT
STRUGGLES OF
THE CHURCH
IN THE
PHILIPPINES
- STRUGGLES FROM
THE OUTSIDE
-STRUGGLES FROM
WITHIN
WHAT ARE THE
CHALLENGES
THAT WE
CATECHIST
ARE FACING
NOW?
SUMMARY

1. In Jesus, we have received the love of

God for us in his words, actions and deeds.
2. Jesus does not want us to keep whatever it
is that he had given his disciples. He asked
them to share with their neighbor whatever
good they have received from him.
3. The Eucharist is an anamnesis: it is a
remembrance. In the Eucharist, we do not just
look at a remote past. What we actually do in
the Eucharist is that we make present the love
of God for us expressed through the
selflessness and self- sacrifice of Jesus Christ
on the cross.
4. In the Eucharist, we received gifts: gift of
faith, hope and love; gifts of our daily bread;
the prayers granted. In the Eucharist, we
receive
5. The Eucharist also compels us to share with
others as we go forth as the mass is ended: to
share with our neighbors whatever good that we
have received from God.
6. Our willingness to give depends upon our
capacity to remember the good things we have
received from God.
7. The generosity of God which the Spanish
missionaries received is what brought them to
these lands.
What do you think are the challenges that the Philippine
church is facing right now?
As a catechist, how can you help to face those challenges?
THANK YOU!!!