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Manila will be the venue for the Fourth World Meeting of Families. This is the first time this gathering is held in Asia. It is the first to be held in the Philippines. We are in a period of spiritual preparation to welcome the families of the world to the Philippines. Yet it is sad that while we have been honored by the Pope as the cradle of families in Asia, we see symptoms that lead us to conclude that many of our countrymen are not proud of the Filipino family and want it destroyed. The silent cry now seems to destroy the family.
When Mother Teresa was asked by a New York congressman how she intended to feed the millions of hungry and homeless of New York because there were just too many and the number was simply overwhelming, she said, “How do you eat an elephant? Piece by piece.” The size of the elephant might be overwhelming, the number of hungry people might be astounding, but if we just feed one by one and bite piece by piece, we can get to our goal.
Unfortunately, it is not only the good people who eat piece by piece or go at things one by one. Here, the enemies of family life are also doing it piece by piece, one by one. The symptoms are right in front of us. And the acronym is DEATH.
D is for divorce. There is no divorce in our country but our congressmen, overlooking more pressing needs of the people, are more concerned with passing divorce bills rather than feeding the hungry. In divorce, it is not only the wife or the husband who become victims of broken relationships. Children of broken homes also end up broken-hearted. If we consult psychologists and psychiatrists, we will be told that children of broken homes also end up being broken fathers and mothers in the future. I do not know why we cannot put to rest this divorce bill.
E is for euthanasia. It is killing people who are useless because we begin by looking at babies as burdens to society. We end up killing old people because they too are burdens to society. When people get there they just have to depend on pension. They cannot work; they cannot produce goods anymore. They become burdens from the point of view of a materialistic person. Therefore, to diminish the number of mouths to feed, mercy killing is the solution.
A is for abortion. There is a debate going on in Congress on abortion but euphemistically called, sugarcoated as “taking care of the health of the mother.” It is ongoing. It is being debated in Congress. While there is so much corruption in government, while there are so many homeless people and children in the streets without education, they are wasting our taxpayers’ money debating about foolish things.
T is for total birth control. Total birth control is the proposed solution because every baby is only one more mouth to feed. Total birth control is to be practiced because a baby is a burden to society as much as old people. Total birth control. We are neither saying that we should have twenty more children like Ramon Revilla nor are we saying that babies are burdens to society. We are saying that every human life is a gift and every human life is a blessing from God. Total birth control leads to abortion. Abortion is snuffing out life. Murder.
H is for homosexual marriages. Men and men living together, marrying each other and then adopting a dog or a cat for a baby. Piece by piece, one by one. Perhaps in our age, in this generation, we might not see any law about divorce, euthanasia, abortion, total birth control, or homosexual marriages. But our young people are getting more and more desensitized. They are not bothered by any of the issues. I am afraid that because we are not talking to our youth about the evils of DEATH, when their turn comes to be leaders of our society, they will not have any shame, they will not hesitate, they will not even be afraid. They will just say yes to divorce, yes to mercy killing, yes to abortion, yes to total birth control, yes to gay marriages.
Piece by piece, one by one. How shall we face them? HOPE.
H is for heroism. We need heroes. You have heard me say this time and again and it will not hurt by saying it tonight once more. In the 20th century, we produced many heroes: namely Bonifacio, Aguinaldo, del Pilar, and so on. Now, we are running out of heroes but we have a superabundance of celebrities. The hero shows the best in the Filipino; the celebrity shows the best in the mass media. But how long can we sustain? Our rosary bank project was conceptualized so that we can bring images and pictures of our Lady to our poor communities.
When we went to visit the dwellers under the bridge and other poor communities or poor homes, we did not see any images of the Sacred Heart there. We saw pictures of Judy Ann Santos, Hollywood stars, and celebrities. Ask them about heroes and they can hardly recall who these are. They can’t recall inspiring role models for their lives.
O is for openness, openness of mind and heart to share and to give.
P is for prayer. We must overcome this evil, not simply relying on ourselves but on the power of God. This tepidity is not the will of God for us. The will of God for us is fullness of life.
E is for expansion. We have to extend our arms more to go beyond the confines, the limits of family living and be aware of our neighbor. We are a community. We are a nation. There are environments, an entire world, a neighbor for whom to care. What we do affects others. What we don’t do hurts others also.
I do not mean to discourage anyone or to frighten anyone or to bring down anyone’s spirits. I only present to you the truth, hoping that face to face with the truth, we may be more vigilant because we cannot take DEATH for granted. If and when we do, WE will be the victim.
DEATH AND HOPE
Fourth World Meeting of Families
Love Like Jesus
