8 January 2026
Dear School Heads, Administrators, and Fellow Educators of the Catholic Educational Association of Caceres and Libmanan,
Grace and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ!
What a joy it is to gather with you today for our General Assembly and Christmas Party! Some might whisper, “Isn’t this a little late?” My dear friends, not at all. We are still fully within the Christmas season, which extends until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Christmas is not a single day – it is a season of light piercing the darkness, a season of hope that refuses to be rushed or confined to December alone. So let us celebrate boldly, with hearts full of joy!
Today’s Gospel takes us to Nazareth, where Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returns home and enters the synagogue. He unrolls the scroll of Isaiah and reads: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then, in one of the most dramatic moments in Scripture, He rolls up the scroll, sits down, and declares: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
This is the inaugural address of Jesus’ public ministry – His job description, if you will. At the very start, He makes clear what His mission is: to bring hope to the poor, freedom to the oppressed, healing to the broken. And today, as we gather in assembly, we are invited to do the same: to revisit our own job description as Catholic educators. We are not merely administrators or managers of institutions; we are bearers of the same Spirit, called to proclaim the Lord’s favor in our schools.
Christmas, the feast we still celebrate, is precisely the celebration of hope amid hardship. The Child was born not in a palace but in a stable, to a family that would soon flee as refugees. Hope arrived in the midst of poverty, danger, and uncertainty. In the same way, we celebrate today despite the many problems we carry – in our families, in our schools, in our society. We have faced devastating floods in recent years, typhoons that displaced families and damaged communities. Let us be clear: these are not the wrath of God punishing us. No, they are a painful revelation of human evil – greed that destroys forests, corruption that weakens infrastructure, neglect that leaves the poor most vulnerable. Natural disasters become human tragedies when we fail to care for creation and for one another.
This revelation calls us to conversion. We cannot romanticize education as if it were a privilege reserved for the elite – a polished pathway only for those who can afford it. No! Catholic education is for all, especially for the poor. As Pope Leo XIV beautifully teaches in his recent Apostolic Letter Drawing New Maps of Hope, issued just months ago on the anniversary of Gravissimum Educationis, wherever access to education remains a privilege, the Church must “push open doors and invent new pathways,” because losing the poor is equivalent to losing the heart of the Gospel. And in his Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te on love for the poor, the Holy Father reminds us that true education is formation of the heart – formation to beat with the heart of Christ, who came for the least.
Dear friends, this is our sacred task: to form hearts that beat for the poor. In our classrooms and corridors, in our policies and programs, we are called to shape young people into good and responsible citizens – citizens who will build a nation where, as the Pope dreams, no one is so poor as to have nothing to give, and no one is so rich as to have nothing to need. A nation of solidarity, justice, and communion.
As members of CEACAL, we do not work alone. We are the mystical Body of Christ – when one part suffers, all suffer; when one rejoices, all rejoice. Let us move as one: sharing resources, supporting struggling schools, advocating for the marginalized, forming alliances that make quality Catholic education reach every child, especially the poorest.
Today, as we revisit our mission like Jesus in the synagogue, let us renew our “yes.” Let the Spirit anoint us anew to bring good news to the poor in our midst. Let our Christmas joy overflow into courageous action.
May the Child of Bethlehem fill our hearts with hope, and may Mary, Star of Evangelization, guide us in forming hearts that beat for the Kingdom.
Merry Christmas and a blessed year of mission ahead!