Tagle to youth: Sorry for ‘darkened, toxic world’
Credit to Author: CATHERINE A. MODESTO| Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2018 16:12:32 +0000
TWO of the country’s top Catholic clerics, who have been the subjects of President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-Church tirades, rued a prevailing darkness in the country in separate, uncharacteristic Christmas messages to their flock.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle on Christmas Eve urged Filipinos to renew humanity and society in the light of Christ’s love, as he sought pardon from the youth on behalf of their elders for a darkened and toxic world.
“My prayer and wish for all Filipinos and for the whole of humankind, especially for our beloved young people, is for us to welcome and live the joy and peace of the Child Jesus, who is God’s pure love, tenderness and gentleness,” the Manila archbishop said in his Christmas message.
“To the youth, we elders ask pardon if the world we are bequeathing to you is darkened by toxic falsehood, violence, bullying, vices, greed and corruption,” he added.
“Please do not swallow or inhale this toxicity. Jesus Christ is with you. With him, renew humanity, society, religions and creation with love’s pure light, tenderness and gentleness. Christmas is for you,” he said.
Reflecting on the 200th anniversary of the Christmas carol, “Silent Night,” first sang in an Austrian village, Tagle lamented that some nights have become “moments of ominous silence,” during which crimes and evil deeds are plotted or executed.
“The Child Jesus transformed eerie silent nights into holy nights by pouring on us ‘love’s pure light,’” the prelate said.
Last week, Duterte said he did not threaten Tagle, after the latter’s homily on the first of nine Simbang Gabi or dawn Masses in which the cardinal condemned those who use their lofty offices and power to bully others.
Early this month, Duterte said Catholic bishops critical of his war on drugs were “useless” and should be killed, but Malacañang clarified that the remarks were only for “dramatic effect.”
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, issued a fiery message seemingly directed at the President’s recent remarks, urging Catholics to stand up against violence and vulgarity.
“It is Christmas. We are happy and we have hope in spite of the darkness we see. This darkness is not godly. This is the same darkness that rejected Christ when he was born two thousand years ago,” Villegas said in his Christmas message, posted on Facebook.
“How long must we endure these? What is Christmas for? Is this what we have become as a Catholic nation? The answer must be NO! We must resist the spread of vulgarity and the contagion of violence. There is no Christmas hope for the cowards and the timid. Christmas demands that we stand up bravely for the Lord!”
“Christmas is a feast of joy. It must also be a feast of courage — courage to stand up for Jesus and defend what He taught us through the Christmas story. Let us stand up against vulgarity with the powerful innocence of the Christ Child. Let us defend human life by siding with Jesus and not applauding Herod. Let us stand up for womanhood best taught us by the purity of the Virgin Mary,” Villegas said.
Pope: ‘Church is true family’
At the Vatican, Pope Francis reflected on the importance of families being together at Christmas, but said he understood that “many people do not have this possibility, for different reasons.”
“Our heavenly Father does not forget you and does not abandon you. If you are a Christian, I wish you to find in the Church a true family, where you can experience the warmth of fraternal love,” he said after his Angelus prayer on December 23.
Woth a reports from CAN
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