1st of 2 parts
LIBONA, Bukidnon (MindaNews / 13 June 2026) – The name SacramTrees, a creative blend of “Sacrament” and “Trees,” was conceived by the Parish Pastoral Coordinating Council (PPCC) of Jesus Nazareno Parish (JNP) in Libona, Bukidnon, in August 2025. The initiative was officially launched on September 1, 2025, coinciding with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and the opening of the annual, global Catholic Season of Creation.
The JNP designed this catechism to guide parish leaders, catechists, families, and Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) in embracing the deep spiritual and ecological vision of the SacramenTreesProgram. By exploring the structural connection between ecological science, Sacred Scripture, Catholic liturgy, and indigenous wisdom, this catechism calls our community to transform our parish life according to the ecological vision of Laudato Si’. Through this initiative, every milestone of grace becomes a permanent monument of life in the soil of our Common Home.
1. The Reality of Deforestation
Our planet’s natural life-support systems are under severe stress due to unprecedented land transformation. Before the dawn of industrialization around 1750, Earth boasted completely intact global forest ecosystems. To maintain global climate stability, environmental scientists leading the Planetary Boundaries framework determined that humanity must preserve a minimum of 75% of original forest cover. Beginning 1988, we have severely overshot this baseline; today, only about 60% of original forests remain. This breach leaves the planet dangerously vulnerable to irreversible ecological damage.
Reflecting the acute severity of the global crisis, the rapid deforestation of primary forests in the Philippines highlights a massive ecological deficit. On one hand, it has been reported that, “As of the 2022 Philippine Forestry Statistics (PFS), the total national forest cover was estimated at 7.22 million hectares, or 24.07% of the country’s land mass.”[1] On the other hand, the DENR emphasizes that “forests should cover 54% of our land”[2] in order to maintain an ecologically sustainable and healthy country.
While national figures remain low, regional restoration efforts show some progress. According to PFS data, Mindanao held an estimated 2,338,723 hectares of forested area in 2020. This equals a 32.36% forest cover for the island’s total land area, marking a 5.29% increase between 2010 and 2020.[3]
Despite positive trends in Mindanao, local realities in provinces like Bukidnon reveal severe environmental degradation: “213,066 ha (or 23.5%) of natural forests remain within Bukidnon’s 906,686 ha land area, almost all of which is entirely found in the uplands (areas above 18% slope and having elevation in excess of 100m above sea level).”[4] This upland concentration highlights a stark historical loss. In 2010, uplands comprised about 59% of Bukidnon’s total land area, yet only 35% of those uplands remained forested. Consequently, 65% of the Bukidnon uplands had already been denuded.[5]
As of 2020, Libona retained 29% forest cover, which equals 8.3 kilohectares (kha) of natural forest. Global Forest Watch data reveals conflicting trends in the municipality’s forest dynamics: between 2001 and 2024, tree cover decreased by 2.0% (roughly 210 hectares), with 17 hectares of natural forest cleared in 2024 alone. Meanwhile, Libona achieved the province’s fifth-highest forest recovery rate by gaining 720 hectares of tree cover from 2000 to 2020. Nevertheless, total losses still exceeded reforestation efforts, resulting in a net tree cover loss of 0.61% during the 2000–2020 timeframe.[6]
2. The Value of Forest Ecosystem Services
Healthy landscapes provide vital environmental contributions. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the essential ecosystem services expected from a forest include: “the regulation of water regimes by intercepting rainfall and regulating its flow through the hydrological system; the maintenance of soil quality and the provision of organic materials through leaf and branch fall; the limiting of erosion and protection of soil from the direct impact of rainfall; modulating climate; and being key components of biodiversity both in themselves and as a habitat for other species.”[7]
A common public assumption is that severe deforestation directly triggers catastrophic landslides and flash floods. While popular belief dictates that forests inherently prevent these disasters, scientific research shows that this protective function is generally limited to small-scale catchments.
For large-scale catchments, underlying environmental dynamics function differently. Notably, there “appears to be no scientific evidence for a connection” between upland deforestation and massive lowland flooding. Accordingly, the widespread “sponge theory” of infinite forest absorption has been dismissed because it “fails the test of close scientific scrutiny.” The reality relies on soil saturation: under prolonged and intense rainfall, the ground becomes entirely waterlogged, ensuring that “water no longer filters into the soil but instead runs off along the soil surface.”[8]
Ultimately, regulating a catastrophic, large-scale flood is a macro-environmental event that goes beyond the natural ecosystem services of forests.
3. The Tree and Wood of Salvation
While forests alone cannot stop macro-level flooding, individual trees on a local scale can become physical instruments of survival. On December 16, 2011, a large mango tree in Isla de Oro earned the nickname “Tree of Life” after it reportedly saved the lives of more than 50 residents during the unprecedented flooding caused by Tropical Storm Sendong. The powerful storm triggered massive flash floods that swept through the community, leaving many stranded and in danger. Residents said they clung to the sturdy branches of the mango tree, which provided a safe refuge amid the rising waters.
Scripturally, we can elevate this physical rescue into a profound symbol of divine salvation. Throughout the New Testament, the instrument of Christ’s crucifixion is frequently identified not as mere structural lumber, but explicitly as a living tree. For instance, 1 Peter 2:24 states that “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness,” while Acts 5:30 declares, “The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.” Acts 10:39 reinforces this imagery, noting that “They put him [Jesus] to death by hanging him on a tree.” This botanical framing transforms an instrument of execution into a vehicle of victory, because as 1 Corinthians 1:18 notes, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
Consequently, the cross emerges as the New Testament Tree of Life. While Adam and Eve were barred from the original tree in Genesis, the cross reopens access to eternal life, fulfilling the promise of Revelation 2:7 to give the victor “the right to eat from the tree of life that is in the garden of God.” This restoration culminates in Revelation 22:2, which envisions a healed creation where “on the other side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month; the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations.”
Christian tradition explicitly contrasts the wood of the cross with the tree in the Garden of Eden: whereas sin and death entered humanity through a tree, life and salvation were restored through the cross. This profound theology is vividly enacted in Catholic liturgy. During the Good Friday service, the priest or deacon progressively unveils a crucifix while chanting, “Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the salvation of the world,” prompting the congregation to respond, “Come, let us adore.”
This theological thread is woven throughout other liturgical celebrations as well. In the Antiphon for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Church prays, “We adore your Cross, O Lord, we praise and glorify your holy Resurrection, for behold, because of the wood of a tree joy has come to the whole world.” Similarly, the Preface of the Triumph of the Cross proclaims, “For you placed the salvation of the human race on the wood of the Cross, so that, where death arose, life might again spring forth and the evil one, who conquered on a tree, might likewise on a tree be conquered…” Even seasonal blessings mirror this Christocentric focus; the Rite of Blessing of a Christmas Tree declares, “By the tree of the cross the whole world has been redeemed, and therefore, with great joy we celebrate the glory of this tree.”
4. The Diverse Meanings of Sacrament
The English word “sacrament” traces its biblical roots back to the Greek mysterion, which the New Testament authors used to describe God’s hidden plan of salvation now revealed to the believers through Jesus Christ. This theological concept anchors several pivotal New Testament texts. For instance, Paul writes in Ephesians 5:32, “This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church,” and explains in Colossians 1:26–27 that it is “The mystery hidden from ages and from generations past. But now it has been manifested to his holy ones, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles.” Furthermore, Ephesians 1:9–10 underscores that “He has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of time…”
Historically, this Greek concept underwent a pivotal shift when Saint Jerome translated the Bible into Latin. In the Vulgate, he often translated mysterion as sacramentum—a term that originally denoted a Roman soldier’s solemn oath of loyalty to the emperor. Jerome intentionally paired these words because they both conveyed a deep sense of sacred obligation and initiation. This linguistic evolution continues to enrich Christian theology today, framing the sacraments—especially Baptism and Confirmation—as a definitive pledge of fidelity to Christ and initiation into a new life within the Church.
To understand the nature of the ritual sacraments, Christian theology traces their roots back to two foundational source realities. First, Jesus Christ is recognized as the primordial sacrament—the original, real symbol of God’s self-communication to humanity. Because the invisible God became visible in the human person of Jesus, Christ stands as the primary, visible sign of an otherwise invisible divine grace. Second, the Church functions as the fundamental sacrament, acting as the “abiding presence” of Christ within human history.[9]
From this ecclesial source, the seven ritual sacraments function as “individual realizations” or “applications” of the Church’s own essential nature; they are the distinct moments where the Church’s broad sacramentality is directly applied. Contemporary theology defines an individual ritual sacrament as an efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, through which divine life is dispensed to us. As theologian Leonardo Boff beautifully captures, sacrament is “a visible deed of God, by means of which the divine salvific will is signified and rendered present in the historical dimension of human beings.”[10]
Far from limiting this grace to formal rituals, Boff expands his sacramental lens to include the entire natural world: “Creation is of the Trinity, comes from the Trinity, goes to the Trinity, reflects the Trinity, but is not the Trinity.”[11] From this perspective, the whole of creation stands as “a majestic sacrament of the Trinity.”[12] Every creature bears the marks of and points toward the triune God, acting as a living image and sacramental presence of the divine. Because the created cosmos receives God’s presence and functions as “the body of the Trinity,”[13] it is completely infused with the sacred. Ultimately, this reality is what allows simple material things—like water, oil, bread, and wine—to be elevated into tangible bearers of divine grace. It is within this profound theological framework that a tree becomes a sacrament of God’s presence for us—inspiring the vision behind SacramenTrees.
[1] Cited in Climate Change Commission, “Forests and Innovation: New Solution for a Better World” (March 21, 2024); online: https://climate.gov.ph/news/851#:~:text=As%20of%202022%20Philippine%20Forestry,we%20had%20back%20in%201934.
[2] Cited in “The Contemporary Philippines Situation,” in Acts and Decrees of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, 20 January — 17 February 1991, p. 277.
[3] Cited in Ivy Marie Mangadlao, “International Day of Forest: Mindanao’s Strides in Restoring Critical Ecosystems,” Climate Tracker Asia (March 21, 2024); online: https://climatetracker.asia/international-day-of-forest-mindanaos-strides-in-restoring-critical-ecosystems/.
[4] From the explanatory note of the 2018 Land Cover: Province of Bukidnon. See ESSC (2019), “Forest Change Drivers and Impacts: Policy Briefs for Bukidnon Province.”
[5] See Andres Ignacio, “The Bukidnon We Do not Know” (December 2017); available online: https://essc.org.ph/content/the-bukidnon-we-do-not-know/; (accessed: 14 September 2019).
[6] Global Forest Watch, “Libona, Bukidnon, Philippines Deforestation Rates & Statistics,” World Resources Institute, globalforestwatch.org.; accessed June 4, 2026.
[7] Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO], Ecotourism and Other Services from Forests in the Asia-Pacific Region: Outlook to 2010, Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No. 24 (October 1997). No page numbers.
[8] Thomas Enters and Patrick B. Durst, “Questioning Long-held Beliefs about Forests and Floods,” in Forests, Water, and Livelihood, edited by Willemine Brinkman, et al., (Bennekom: European Tropical Forest Research Network, 2005-2006), 16-19; 11-13.
[9] For a very good discussion, see Karl Rahner, The Church and the Sacraments, trans. W. J. O’Hara (New York: Herder and Herder, 1963), 11–18.
[10] Leonardo Boff, The Church as Sacrament within the Horizon of World Experience (Paderborn: Bonifacius, 1972), 250-57.
[11] Leonardo Boff, Trinity and Society, trans. Paul Burns (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988), 219.
[12] Boff, Trinity and Society, 219.
[13] Boff, Trinity and Society, 221.
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