Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, Archbishop Charles John Brown, stressed the need for Basic Ecclesiastical Communities (BEC) to put new ideas on drawing closer to the people and sharing God’s love into action.
Brown, who spoke at the closing Eucharistic Mass for the 5th BEC National Assembly at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City, on Friday, Nov. 24, told the participants from all over the country to put into action what they discussed and learned.
“Don’t just leave them as beautiful intentions or memories but make them concrete, put them into action and think about new ways in which your BEC can be close to people,” he said.
“We need to put into practice closeness, poverty, concreteness,” he said.
BECs are important because it’s the Church being close to people, he said.
“As you go back to your BECs all over the Philippines think about ways to be close to people,” he said, citing the need to visit those who are not going to mass or have fallen away from the faith.
BECs are also a way in which the Church can be a Church of the poor by drawing close to them, he said.
The BEC can serve the mission of Christ by being close to the poor by helping them materially and spiritually, he said.
That is how the BECs can exercise and a manifest the love of God for the poor, he said.
Brown also stressed concreteness, which means “moving from ideas to reality, not staying stuck in abstract ideas”.
Putting words and ideas discussed at the BEC national assembly into action is what concreteness means, he said.
“Allow your work to become fruitful to expand, allow your work to really witness to the love of God,” he said.*