On 3 April under the hot glaring sun, 50 faithful gathered at the grotto for prayers to begin the pilgrimage. It was timely that the pilgrimage was held in the final week of Passiontide, a time for us to grow closer to the Passion and Death of our Lord.
By CBSL
LABUAN — In October 2019, in conjunction with the extraordinary month of Mission with the theme “Baptised and Sent”, the parish organized pilgrimages to follow the footsteps of Msgr Don Carlos Cuarteron, our first Prefect Apostolic. A great number of faithful participated in this simple yet meaningful journey of faith.
Since then, the parish has plans to continue every year during the month of April, to commemorate the landing of Msgr Cuarteron in Labuan on 14 April 1857. The Catholic Church in Borneo today is that dream of Msgr Cuarteron and that of the Mill Hill Missionaries come true.
In 2020 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the planned parish pilgrimages were temporarily halted. In fact, many if not all of the parish activities were suspended.
Nonetheless, the parish kept the missionary zeal of our founding father alive with the simple initiative of launching the “sail boat” in 2020, a symbolic gesture of Msgr Don Carlos’ landing, and personal pilgrimages in 2021 since large gatherings were not allowed.
This year, which marks 165 years of the erection of the Prefecture of Labuan by Pope Pius IX, coincides with two other important milestones in the history of our local Church, namely, 45th anniversary of the erection of the Diocese of Kota Kinabalu when the late Bishop Simon Fung was installed as bishop in 1977, and the Silver Jubilee of our Diocesan Vision with the launching of the DOPP on 16 September, 1997.
“To Remember, To Celebrate, To Become” is what the pilgrimage is all about. Unless we remember with gratitude what our founding fathers have done for us, how they have toiled and suffered, we cannot possibly emulate their examples and carry on their missionary zeal.
As St John Paul II said: “Let us remember the past with gratitude, live the present with enthusiasm, and look forward to the future with confidence.”
What we celebrate in faith today is the fruit of their labour and what we will BECOME will be our gesture of love and appreciation to them.
On 3 April under the hot glaring sun, 50 faithful gathered at the grotto for prayers to begin the pilgrimage. It was timely that the pilgrimage was held in the final week of Passiontide, a time for us to grow closer to the Passion and Death of our Lord.
The journey will not only help us to REMEMBER the sacrifices and sufferings of our founding fathers but will bring to mind the sacrifices, sufferings and rejection of Christ our Lord.
In each station (three stations in all), though nothing physical for us to view but with eyes of faith and the mind of researched knowledge done to indicate the locations, we stopped to reflect and call to mind the historical events that took place at that point in time. Each station has a story to tell and its own CELEBRATION.
At the first station, the site where Msgr Cuarteron and his team landed and celebrated the first Holy Mass, we thanked the Lord for the gift of the Eucharist brought to our land by the missionaries.
At the second station, it was believed the first house for priest was located here and a chapel built not too far away. We were inspired by the missionaries’ courage and commitment to face the most trying challenges and obstacles. Here we prayed and asked for their intercessions.
The third station, where a chapel built by the Catholic soldiers and Msgr Cuarteron celebrated Mass every Sunday, we prayed for protection as how our Lord Jesus protected our ancestors from all mortal dangers from sea and land.
