Cooperative in God’s Plan
Homily on Saturday, 4th Week of Lent, 21 Mar 2026, BOSCOop 20th Anniversary
I am happy and honoured to be invited to preside this Holy Mass on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of BOSCOop. It’s so amazing – 20 years of uninterrupted service to all of us, Salesians and lay people alike; a LEGACY of SOLIDARITY!
We’re so glad to see the founders and initiators of BOSCOop here with us today, Fr Julius Sanchez – he was the FIS Provincial 20 years ago – Dr Leah Samson, Mr Tata Camacho and Mr Bob Taboada. We also honor the late fr George Militante, the FIS Provincial Economer at that time.
Having successfully reached 20 years is a remarkable achievement. From a humble beginning of a few thousands to a nine-million-peso strong cooperative, BOSCOop has indeed grown beyond proportion, comparable to the mustard seed that grew to be the largest of shrubs as narrated by Jesus in his gospel parable. I, therefore, thank each and every one of you for your continuing trust and commitment through these years. No doubt you have made this day a milestone in BOSCOop’s history as a rising star in the world of cooperatives.
It’s so timely that today’s gospel shows the centrality of Christ shining in the history of salvation. As Jesus preached the Good News through various cities, towns and villages, more and more people were being drawn to believe in him either as the long awaited Messiah or simply as a great prophet.
On the other hand, a good number of them were in total denial. They could not believe Jesus to be the promised Messiah, because that man did not fit in their narrow idea of who the Messiah should be. All they knew about Jesus was that he came from a lowly town of Nazareth, while the Messiah should come from Bethlehem, from the land and from the family of the great King David.
The question is, where is Christ in our life? Where is he in our BOSCOoperative? Is Christ at the very center of our personal lives? Is he at the very center of this rising cooperative? A cooperative does not really have to be Christ-centered. But if the members are Christ-centered you can imagine what it can accomplish.
Come to think of it. BOSCOop had faced huge trials and terrible crises in the past, threatening its stability and capacity to serve the needs of its members. And yet it has surpassed the bumpy road behind… and had withstood the most powerful storms and typhoons. And today we see BOSCOop still shining brightly through its 20 years of triumph and success. Why? I guess and I believe because it has always been Christ-centered in its policies and practices and above all, its members are Christ-centered, and truly cooperative in God’s wonderful plan. This would sufficiently explain how it has successfully served for the past 20 years building a legacy of solidarity for all its members..
Today’s first reading (Jer 11:18-20) prophesied the trials that the promised Messiah would have to face – criticism, condemnation, death threats and assassination plots even from among the Jewish authorities and his very own people. Even the script of his opponents had already been prophesied by Jeremiah “Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more.” The good news is that even the prayer of the coming Messiah had already been prepared in the book of Psalms such as can be found in Ps 7 “O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.”
And so, when Jesus came as God’s promised Messiah, he was not spared from trials like criticism, rejection, condemnation, and finally crucifixion. Nevertheless, Jesus continued to remain calm, unperturbed and unaffected through all these. He probably kept praying “O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.” And he kept his focus on serving God and the people even if he had to die on the cross, because he knew that the good will ultimately triumph over evil. He knew that his crucifixion would be the only way to his glorious resurrection, the most powerful force that has overcome all evil today.
Therefore, we now realize that the terrible trials of BOSCOop in the past are merely stepping stones for its glorious triumph today and in the years ahead. And even if much greater trials await us in the future, particularly the rising fuels amidst the Middle East war, we now are assured that as long as we keep ourselves Christ-centered as Don Bosco himself was, we will always triumph with a Spirit-filled smashing success.
I now close with this commitment statement for all of us. No matter what happens in the future, we in BOSCOop will remain ever Christ-centered and cooperative in God’s wonderful plan. GiGsss!
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