CEBU CITY, Philippines - It was just a case of an elder priest blessing a younger confrere.But the sight of the Pope’s representative, an American archbishop, kneeling to receive the blessing of a 91-year-old Cebuano priest was an unexpected scene of humility to a Cebuano audience. Monsignor Gerardo Jumaoas of Cebu placed his hands on the head of Archbishop Edward James Adams on Monday in full view of guests at the launching of Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal's book. Adams bowed his head after he asked Cebu's oldest priest to bless him. Jumaoas later said the request was spontaneous. “The Cardinal (Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Vidal) told me ‘come here.’ He introduced me as our oldest priest in the diocese,” the monsignor reporters later. Jumaoas said his prayer was simply: “Lord may the Holy Spirit come down on you right now. And stay with you always. May you fulfill your duties as Papal Nuncio to the Philippines for the greater honor of God and for the benefit of the Church of the Philippines.” Jumaoas said the act of blessing a younger priest was not an unusual practice. He said he had experienced blessing Cardinal Vidal, his superior, at the prelate’s request. “After I celebrated my 90th birthday just last month, after the Mass, I said 'Your Eminence, will you kindly bless me?’ So I knelt down beside the altar. After that he said 'now it's your 90th birthday, it is your turn to bless me.' I did; I had to obey,” said Jumaoas, former chaplain of the Atlas Mining Corp. in Toledo City. In a separate interview, Monsignor Achilles Dakay, Cebu archdiocesan media liaison officer, described the blessing as an “act of humility.” “Any senior priest should bless the younger priest,” he said. “Monsignor Jumaoas is an icon to us priests. He is the eldest priest, the next one is Monsignor Pat Alcazaren.”
Jumaoas had to ask a reporter to speak louder because he had difficulty hearing in one ear. He said he was surprised to find reporters milling around him to ask about what he just did. He then explained that priests who bless other priests receive the same grace.
“It's mutuality. Sometimes, there are priests who ask me to bless them. (I say) now, it's your turn to bless me. They do. I think it is nice to be blessing one another,” he said. “Whatever graces he receives, I would receive also. That's the unity of life,” he added. Jumaoas has retired from parish work after serving the Lutopan parish for the past 24 years.
He now works with teachers of the La Salle school in Toledo City. Later, Adams told a gathering of more than 200 Cebu-based priests at the Grand Convention Center that it is the Church's obligation to explain its tenets regarding “life issues” on the population debate. “We should convince the people that the Church's stand (on family planning issues) is not irrational. We should respond with charity, love and information that we have a responsibility to give them,” he said. | 
