Our greetings of a Happy and Blessed New Year come as a message of hope in the midst of the ruins surrounding us. We express once more our communion with people whose lives were reduced to rubble by typhoon Sendong and human irresponsibility. But how can we forget the multitudes whose lives are ruined daily by poverty, disease, corruption, lack of employment, inadequate services and abuse of creation? They are very much present in our thoughts and prayer.
Some people might think that mentioning the ruins of life does not belong to a New Year message that purports to center on hope. But in the Bible, hope arises and becomes truer in absurd and difficult situations. Christian hope does not consist in wishes or in the denial of truth but in an unwavering trust in God. God is our hope. God declared to John, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). If we eliminate God in the promotion of life and the construction of society, we will find ourselves buried in ruins of our making. Pride and false self-sufficiency destroy; they never build a world fit for human beings. We should know by now that God is not an extraneous factor in genuine development. The Psalmist aptly said, “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build” (Ps. 127:1). A Blessed 2012 will come only if we place our
hope in God.
(signed)
+ Luis Antonio G. Tagle
Archbishop of Manila
And from Katolikong Kabataan we wish you A Blessed New Year 2012!
And from Katolikong Kabataan we wish you A Blessed New Year 2012!
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