The coming Christmas should give Filipinos the strength to uphold the poor by fighting evils such as child abuse, trafficking and new forms of slavery, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said Monday.
In his Christmas message, Tagle said Christmas was also a time to shed illusions of grandeur, pretensions to self-importance, and the wickedness of self-interest.
“Christmas is never truly Christmas if we do not practice Jesus’ solidarity with the poor, the weak, and the neglected. Christmas is a season to see our own poverty, to see a companion in every person who suffers and to see Jesus in a needy brother or sister,” he said.
Also, Tagle said Christmas frees the poor from inhumanity and degradation, and proclaims the good news that the poor are loved by God.
He added the poor also possess the dignity sourced in God, and they could take their rightful place in shaping society as protagonists.
“May Christmas 2014 give us greater zeal to combat trafficking in human persons, new forms of slavery, neglect and abuse of children and violence against the helpless!” he said.
Year of the Poor, papal visit
For the Philippine Church, Tagle said November 2014 to November 2015 had been designated as the Year of the Poor.
Thus, he said Christmas 2014 fell within this most important event centered on the poor of the land and of the world.
He added that Jesus Christ, even if he was the Son of God, emptied himself of his glory and prerogatives and became human, “one of us.”
“This is the mystery of Christmas: God becomes poor and lowly so that we could become rich in God’s life. By becoming human, Jesus has identified himself with every human being, especially the poor whose only strength is God. Christmas is never truly Christmas if we do not accept and imitate Jesus’ self-emptying poverty,” he said.
