Message for all seasons

Inspired by no less than Christ himself, the 2014 Lenten Message of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), through its President, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, is meant to be lived for all seasons by all of us who really claim to be Christ’s disciples, and not just during Lent.  It is entitled “Poverty that Dehumanizes, Poverty that Sanctifies,” and since it is a bit long, I felt inspired to summarize it in this column, with the hope that more people would be able to read it.

Moreover, our beloved Pope Francis himself had already proclaimed early on in his papacy that a primary goal in his service as Pope was to work for “a poor church for the poor.”  The CBCP message quoted him as saying:  “Poverty in the world is a scandal.  In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor persons.  Poverty today is a cry . . . . No to an economy of exclusion and inequality!”

Archbishop Villegas strongly stated that poverty that dehumanizes is a No-No in God’s plan for humanity.  No to material destitution.  No to moral destitution.  No to spiritual destitution.

Poverty that dehumanizes

1. No to Material Destitution.  So many individual and families are suffering an exclusion  from the basic needs of life, starting with adequate food supply.  The other faces of this economy of exclusion are as follows:  exclusion from gainful livelihood, sufficient shelter, rural development, adequate health care, quality education, and others.  Moreover, the global influence of consumerism is tragic.  The CBCP message quoted Pope Francis:  “The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience.”

2. No to Moral Destitution.  An increasing number of individuals in families fall into vices like alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, premarital sex, etc.  Over and above all this is the societal  moral problem of corruption.  On the pork barrel issue, last year’s CBCP Pastoral Statement was quoted in part:  “Our protests should not just emanate from the bad feeling that we have been personally or communally, transgressed, violated, or duped.  It should come rather from the realization that God has been offended and we have become less holy as a people because of this. . . We are not just victims of a corrupt system.  We have all, in one way or another, contributed to this worsening social cancer — through our indifferent silence or through our cooperation when we were benefiting from the sweet cake of graft and corruption.”

3. No to Spiritual Destitution.  This threatens the core of our relationship with God.  Many

people are hungry for love, and thus are hungry for God, for God is LOVE.  But at times, this comes out as religious intolerance.  For instance, some Catholics are prejudiced against the Iglesia ni Cristo, and vice-versa, some members of the Iglesia ni Cristo are prejudiced against Catholics.  Religious intolerance.  On the international level, according to the CBCP Lenten message, this spiritual destitution comes out as relativism and the loss of a sense of transcendence.

Poverty that humanizes and sanctifies

1. Yes to Simplicity of Life.  As the CBCP message emphasizes, “all are called to live lives

that are marked by a consistent and liberating detachment from such worldly goods as material possessions, resources, power, and social status --- a detachment that allows us to be sensitive and to respond to those with less possessions, less resources, less power, lower status.”  In my own ministry for couples and families, I have been guiding them to live the SSS lifestyle:  Stewardship that leads to Simplicity, which in turn leads to Sharing.  We are not owners but God’s stewards of all that we are and all that we have, from our lives to our time, talents, and treasures.

2. Yes to a Commitment to the Good, the Just and the True.  The centerpoint of this is  social justice.  As Filipinos, let us double our efforts in living “moral poverty by strengthening our resolve to practice solidarity with the neglected and to denounce injustice and all forms of radical inequality.”  A more equitable distribution of God’s resources.  If translated politically, this 2014 CBCP Lenten Message is more Christian Socialism, and not Capitalism nor Communism.  I hope and pray that in due time, our country would actually move to this socio-economic system. 

3. Yes to a Surrender to God.  Christ showed us the way and invites us to be “poor in  Spirit.”  This means “to oppose degrading and dehumanizing poverty and to embrace humanizing and sanctifying poverty.  In other words, he invites us to imitate his example.  We fight poverty with poverty only because Christ has shown us the way.”  The human-divine Christ came to serve and not to be served.  Moreover, out of compassion and love, he came for all mankind and not just for selected groups.

Our CBCP Lenten Message ends with the words of Pope Francis:  “We may be sure that none of  our acts of love for God will be lost, nor any of our acts of sincere concern for others.  No single act of love for God will be lost, no generous effort is meaningless, no painful endurance is wasted.” (From Evangelii Gandium, 279).