A really warm welcome – from the National Shrine of Baclaran to Tagaytay …

We have just left Tokyo, with all its efficiency and perfection, and its rituals that punctuate not only the day, but also the delicate and refined Japanese soul. ‘The Japanese absorb everything with their hearts’, commented Maria Voce at the airport, concluding these days spent in the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’. The welcome from the Filipinos is, on the other hand, overwhelming, catching. The heart is certainly protagonist here as well but in a completely different way.

There was a surprise immediately on arrival at Ninoy Aquino airport – a VIP reception! We were whisked through customs and given a police escort to escape the chaotic Manila traffic that is often blocked for hours. The weather is different too – we have definitely landed in the tropics! But the heat is bearable at this time of year and there is always a strong breeze.

Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti start their visit to the Philippines at one of the essential places to see, a place synonymous with National identity, which here means Christianity. This is the Shrine of Baclaran, dedicated to ‘Our Mother of Perpetual Help’ who is venerated throughout Asia with this name. The Church has never closed since the day of its consecration in 1958 and constant streams of people flow through the central nave to the altar of the Madonna, often on their knees. Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti place a bouquet of flowers in front of the icon of Mary asking that ‘the presence of the Risen One amongst us might also be “perpetual”.’

The Church is crowded with members of the Focolare and many other devotees. A real ‘people’s celebration’ as one of the leaders of the Movement here calls it.

Accompanied by our police escort we head for Tagaytay, which is about seventy kilometres from the capital. This is where the small Focolare town of Tagaytay is situated overlooking Lake Taal, which is of volcanic origin. Even in the last century there have been several eruptions, but the beauty of the place is enthralling. Everyone is there to welcome the delegation from Rome – the members of the Focolare, the local people, and the children from the Bukas Palad project, which has been working here for social development for many years.

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Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti get out of their car a few hundred metres from the entrance and walk amid two columns of the crowd, greeting everyone and shaking hands. A woman, who has a fruit stall by the road, spontaneously presents a bunch of bananas as a present – a gesture emblematic of the joy and generosity of this people – and just one of many scenes of this kind.

Japan and the Philippines, two worlds apparently poles apart. And yet, notwithstanding the differences, this is still Asia – a real kaleidoscope of beauty.

Roberto Catalano