The looming canonization of Bl. Pedro Calungsod is an encouragement to young Filipinos to stand firm in their faith, even in exchange for their lives.
According to Fr. Conegundo Garganta, the teenage boy, who was a 17-year-old sacristan and catechist who was killed in Guam while accompanying his Jesuit superior in doing missionary work, gives Filipino youth a model worthy of emulation.
Garganta, the executive secretary of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Youth, said Calungsod’s martyrdom inspires young people “not to give in to fear and give everything up for God.”
“The life of Blessed Pedro Calungsod gives us the hope that young people are capable of surrendering their life to God and standing firm in their faith,” he said.
Calungsod’s sacrifice, which benefitted generations of people in Guam, is a fitting example to the Filipino youth, who comprise a major percentage of the country’s population.
“His life makes a fitting example for the young to assess how they witness to their faith and respond to the challenges it entails,” he added.
Late last year, the Pope announced that it is elevating the status of Calungsod and six others from Italy, France, Spain, Germany and America to sainthood this year. There is no date yet set for the canonization but spectators expect it to be done either in spring or autumn in Vatican City. (YouthPinoy)
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