Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas,
President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) just
issued a pastoral message that opens 2015 as the Year of the Poor on the First
Sunday of Advent. As the Year of the Laity ends, the Philippine Church moves on
with its 9-year plan towards 2021 in preparing the faithful for the 500 years
commemoration of the Christianization of our country.
The
message is accompanied by an insightful logo: two disciples gazing at the crucified
Jesus; theirs is a loving look. The message is a disturbing evaluation of the
scandalous situation of our land and challenges our people, both the powerful
and the powerless; the pastors and the faithful, to a profound
self-examination. What touched me in this letter is the realization that the
poorest of the poor is Jesus Christ himself! “Jesus hangs from his Cross
stripped of his clothes, his dignity, his possession, his power, his strength.”
The greatest pain he felt was the thought that even God, His Father, had
abandoned him at the lowest point of his life: “My God, my God why have you
forsaken me?” (Mt 27:45). No one can be much poorer.
At the
opening of the Year of the Poor, our catholic leaders would like us to reflect
on poverty in the context of our faith in Jesus. Moreover we are to see Jesus
in the poor and work towards becoming a poor Church for the poor. Pope Francis
affirms that this is “how God works.” He does not reveal himself cloaked in worldly power and wealth but
rather in weakness and poverty. Jesus did not seek poverty for its own sake
but, as St. Paul says "that by
his poverty you might become rich."
We see poverty in the face every day. A child begs. Homeless
people sleep in street corners. Old women sell candles to earn few centavos. Entire
families live in shanties beside creeks and in the slums. The sight is common.
We think it is normal that it does not unsettle us anymore. We no longer cry at
the news when a child is sick and dies for lack of medicine. We are no longer
saddened when a person has nothing to eat. Government statistics tells us that
out of 100 million Filipinos, 29 million live below the poverty line. Yet we
don’t find this alarming. Is it an
indication that we are becoming heart-less? Have we become desensitized and “manhid” to
the cries and pains of poor? Or we simply shrug the thought and say: “we’re not
responsible for them anyway.”
Again Pope Francis reflects: “So what is this poverty by
which Christ frees us and enriches us? It is his way of loving us, his way of
being our neighbor, just as the Good Samaritan was neighbor to the man left
half dead by the side of the road (cf. Lk 10:25ff ). What gives us true freedom,
true salvation and true happiness is the compassion, tenderness and solidarity
of his love.”
In this Year
of the Poor we are challenged by Jesus to imitate his love by becoming
neighbors to one another. It is a love that teaches us to be sensitive towards
the poor and experience conversion in the way we see them. We are not simply to
become “good Samaritans” to so many helpless individuals in society. More than
just statistics, we should see them as our brothers and sisters, our
“kapamilya” in Jesus. The poor are not just people to whom we can give
something. They are disguises of Jesus for whom we can share God’s love
concretely.
In Calvary
the disfigured face of Jesus veiled his real identity. The spectators were
gazing at the sight of a poor and powerless King. His resurrection revealed the
splendor of his glory. But the dramatic “last judgment” of Mt 25:31-46 will
finally show His full majesty when He will separate the goats and the sheep on
the criterion of love. In the end, we will be judge by the measure of our love.
I know two
sisters who are identical twins. Both are very much the same in looks and in
ways. What distinguishes them is their health. One had a kidney malfunction
several years ago. Instead of having dialysis, the healthier sister donated one
of her kidneys to her twin. Today both continue to live their normal lives. Each
realizes they need to care for each other. Each realizes they need to share
both blessings and sufferings. Both realize they are responsible for each
other.
Unless we
realize we are all brothers and sisters, we will never create human solidarity.
It is only by love that we can swim against a throwaway culture and become true
neighbors for each other. We need to look at Jesus!
