Pauline Family Jubilee: Finding Hope in the Triumph of the Cross

Members of the Pauline Family from the Greater Metro Manila Area gathered at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish on September 14, 2025, for a Jubilee Pilgrimage in celebration of the Jubilee Year of Hope. Following the itinerary set by the Major Superiors of the Pauline Family, the pilgrimage was held in a designated Jubilee church. Our Lady of Sorrows Parish was chosen because it serves as a Jubilee Church for Persons Deprived of Liberty and their families, and it remains the only parish in the Philippines administered by the priests and brothers of the Society of St. Paul.

The liturgy unfolded in four distinct stations. It began with an opening prayer in the respective communities, followed by the passing through the Jubilee Door at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish. This was then followed by the exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and concluded with Benediction.

The pilgrimage culminated in a Eucharistic Celebration presided over by Fr. Norman Melchor Peña, Jr., SSP of the Pauline Family Spirituality Equipe with Msgr. Gerry Santos of the Archdiocese of Manila delivering the homily. Reflecting on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, Msgr. Santos encouraged participants to “put on Christ” and, in doing so, to perceive the social, political, and economic realities affecting the Philippines—just as the Crucified Jesus bore the suffering of the world on the Cross. He reminded the faithful that in the “foolishness” and apparent hopelessness of the Cross lies true hope—and that each Christian is called to be a bearer of that hope.

Msgr. Santos also highlighted the “four crosses” of Blessed James Alberione, which fortified his vocation: the cross of frail health, the cross of misunderstanding in community, the cross of poverty of resources for sustaining the congregations and institutes, and the loss of his closest collaborators, Fr. Timothy Giaccardo and Mother Tecla Merlo.

The celebration concluded with a simple agape shared by representatives from the different congregations and institutes of the Pauline Family: the Society of St. Paul (SSP), Daughters of St. Paul (FSP), Pious Disciples of the Divine Master (PDDM), Sisters of Jesus Good Shepherd (SJBP), the institutes of Our Lady of the Annunciation (IMSA), St. Gabriel the Archangel (ISGA), Holy Family (ISF), and the Association of Pauline Cooperators (APC).