A priest from the Philippines once said that if you want to understand Filipino Catholics, you need to understand their love for Mary. Part of that can be attributed to their strong sense of family, where affection toward their own mothers is so important. It’s natural to consider “Mama Mary” (as Filipinos lovingly address her) as their spiritual mother. Mary’s faith in God and her “Fiat”—her humble obedience to God’s will—is another source of devotion and inspiration.
A group of Filipino-Americans in Philadelphia took Mary’s “Fiat” to be their association’s name: Filipinos in America Today (FIAT). FIAT’s inception was the outgrowth of a Life in the Spirit Seminar that began in the parish of St. John Chrysostom in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, in 1993. To “keep the fire burning,” they held weekly Bible Studies, annual retreats, and monthly Healing Masses with Adoration every First Friday. Their spirituality is decidedly Marian-humble obedience to God’s will and caring for those in need.
Along with outreach to a poor urban community in Malabon, Philippines, FIAT banded together under Fr. Efren Esmilla, current pastor at Our Lady of Hope in Philadelphia, to build the Shrine of Our Lady of FIAT. This shrine is a sacred space of prayer where “our Blessed Mother keeps all these things in her heart.”
Ruby Kirkup has experienced Mary’s love first-hand. Her mother had a great devotion to the Blessed Mother and the Miraculous Medal, and that love was embedded in Ruby, as well. When Ruby’s daughter was pregnant, she discovered she had a disease of the placenta, and the twin boys she was carrying might not live.
Ruby visited various shrines in Philadelphia, and when she came to the Shrine, she prayed to Mary to intercede for her grandsons. Both boys were premature, but, defying the negative prognosis, they were alive and had no irreparable health conditions. Since then, Ruby has been a regular at the Shrine, and when she learned about the new shrine to Our Lady of FIAT, she felt compelled to act. “We’re drawn to our devotions,” she says, “I totally believe that.”