LMI CELEBRATES MOONCAKE FESTIVAL

On June 26, 2026 the Lorenzo Mission Institute celebrated the Chinese Mooncake Festival with the families of the seminarians, the LMI Community, and the LMI priests. The Chinese Mooncake Festival is an important celebration in Lorenzo Mission Institute because of its cultural overtones. It has been celebrated since the establishment of the seminary in 1987 and continues to linger as one of the important Chinese cultural activities until today. The celebration of the Chinese Mooncake Festival is one of the ways to appreciate the elements found in the Chinese culture as well as to prepare each seminarian towards inculturation through appreciation of the Chinese practices and activities. The mooncake festival was celebrated by the families of seminarians with the dice games which elicited fun and camaraderie. All formators and seminarians joined the celebration as a sign of cohesion and communion. In the Chinese calendar, the Mooncake Festival is also known as the celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

EVENTS

LRMS AND THE DEVOTION TO OUR LADY OF CHINA

The promotion of popular devotions has been important in the history of missions. Popular religiosity have been part of the evangelization process in the history of the Church. The Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Society as well as the Lorenzo Mission Institute kept the devotion to foster oneness in mission and the appreciation of culture and the contexts the local church has been experiencing. To be imbued with the sense of history, popular religiosity plays an important part in the formation of seminarians and for the missionary activity of the priests. There are elements that links popular religiosity with mission.

1) Popular Religiosity predisposes the People to the Liturgy- Popular religiosity and the Liturgy are important venues for the expression of the Christian faith. Through the Liturgy and Popular religiosity, the faith of the people are promoted. Therefore, the promotion of popular religiosity should be inseparable to the celebration of the Liturgy because both are not at odds with each other. The Directory on Popular Piety and Liturgy issued by the Congregation on Divine Worship and the Discipline on the Sacraments in 2001 comments: "Genuine forms of popular piety, expressed in a multitude of different ways, derives from the faith and, therefore, must be valued and promoted. Such authentic expressions of popular piety are not at odds with the centrality of the Sacred Liturgy. Rather, in promoting the faith of the people, who regard popular piety as a natural religious expression, they predispose the people for the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries." The Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Society promotes the devotion to Our Lady of China in order to lead the people toward the celebration of the Liturgy.

2) Popular Religiosity Needs Proper Catechesis- As the Church is concerned about the value and importance of popular religiosity, it is also the mission of the Church to provide the corresponding catechesis in order for the people to see the value of their cultural expressions of faith through these devotions and its inroad towards the celebration of the liturgy which is the summit of the Christian life. The Directory continues to say: "The correct relationship between these two expressions of faith must be based on certain firm principles, the first of which recognises that the Liturgy is the centre of the Church's life and cannot be substituted by, or placed on a par with, any other form of religious expression. Moreover, it is important to reaffirm that popular religiosity, even if not always evident, naturally culminates in the celebration of the Liturgy towards which it should ideally be oriented. This should be made clear through suitable catechesis." It is the mission of the Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Society to promote the devotion to Our Lady of China since it is part of culture yet it is also its mission to provide proper catechesis to build a true relationship between the local church and popular piety.

3) Popular Religiosity is Important in Priestly Formation- The promotion of popular religiosity is the promotion of culture. As missionaries to the nations, the Church acknowledges that "popular piety varies according to country and local traditions. Thus, popular piety is linked to a people and culture. It is of paramount importance that popular piety and its relation to the Church's mission should be part of seminary formation as well as the formation among priests. The Directory continues to say that "popular piety can neither be ignored nor treated with indifference or disrespect because of its richness and because in itself it represents an religious attitude in relation to God. However, it has to be continually evangelized, so that the faith which it expresses may become more mature and authentic. The pious exercises of the Christian people and other forms of devotion can be accepted and recommended provided that they do not become substitutes for the Liturgy or integrated into the Liturgical celebrations. An authentic pastoral promotion of the liturgy, will know how to build on the riches of popular piety, purify them and direct them towards the Liturgy as an offering of the people." 

4) Popular Religiosity Promotes Missio ad Gentes- When popular piety is promoted, the local church is assisted in missio ad gentes because shrines and venues of these devotions are places where the proclamation of the Gospel is made possible. The Directory says: "Many shrines are effective places for the proclamation of the Gospel: in the most varied of ways the message of Christ is transmitted to the faithful as a call to conversion and an invitation to follow Christ, as an exhortation to perseverance, as a reminder of the demands of justice, as a word of consolation and peace. The fact should not be overlooked that many shrines support the missions ad gentes in various ways and fulfil an important role of evangelization in the Church."