Put reflections into practice, says bishop

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas urged the faithful this Easter to put meditation done during the Holy Week into action.

“Love is a verb, not a noun. Easter is a mission not just an event. We can only share in the glory of this greatest of days by making love reign supreme,” he said.   

He noted that the faithful filled parishes during the Holy Week to observe the Catholic rites but it would be in vain if prayers do not translate to actions that contribute to improving society.

“But what use is meditation if it does not increase our love?” Villegas said. “Among those who valiantly fasted and offered mortifications during these pious days, how many really poured love into our suffering world and made our world a little better than when we began our Lenten exercises?”

He then challenged the faithful to make Easter Sunday an occasion to be more involved in society. 

“The risen Lord pricks us to get involved in politics and make it a liberating, not a corrupting kind of politics. The risen Lord urges us to bring Christian ethics to economics and put charity not profit as its overriding principle,” he said.

“If love has indeed fully possessed us, then we must break out of our protective shells of our insensitivity and heartlessness,” he added.

During the Chrism Mass at the St. John’s cathedral in the city on Holy Thursday, Villegas also paid tribute to the parents of the priests in his diocese.

“Before we heard the voice of God to follow him, we had only our parents. In the natural order of things, before we knew the Chruch, we first knew our family,” he said.

“We push farther than on our ordination day and remember the mother who gave us birth and the father who provided for us. The first church is the family. The first priest is the father at home. The church’s motherhood comes only after our mother’s selfless love,” he added.                                             

 In their Easter messages, two ranking officials of the Catholic Church reiterated their call to the faithful to join their opposition to the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

“Let us work for lasting peace that lasts and justice that enhances human condition. Let us not be selfish as to deprive others of their right to live. Let us not be too clever as to deceive others to our own advantage,” said CBCP president Nereo Odchimar.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales said Christ’s resurrection on Easter, being a symbol of new life, should be a reminder that to start a new life, a person must give up his selfish and pleasure-seeking ways.