Treat God’s creations as your brothers, sisters—Catholic Bishop
If Catholics consider God’s creations as their brothers and sisters, peace will prevail among mankind and the world will be preserved for the future.
This was the challenge of Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani at the Eucharistic celebration for the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi at the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help last Oct. 4.
Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani encourages Catholics to take care of all God's creations in his homily at the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Photo by Christine C. Fabro
“[K]apag [ang] tingin mo sa mundo ay bigay ng ating Ama at kapatid mo, tulad [ng ginawa] ni St. Francis, iingatan [mo] ang kapwa tao [at] iingatan [mo] ang mundo at pagagandahin pa ito,” he said.
Bacani said Catholics must show appreciation to the fairness of God’s creation.
“Kung kapatid ninyo ang kapwa tao, tanong ko sa inyo, papatayin ba ninyo? Matutuwa ba kayo kung pinapatay? […] Kung kapatid natin itong mundo, ito ba’y sisirain natin? Pahahalagahan ba natin?” he said.
Bacani condemned the unpleasant behavior of Catholics dubbed as “Kristiyanong pansimba” from another country.
“[D]oon daw sa bansang iyon, ang mga Kristiyano [ay] Kristiyanong pansimba. Magsisimba, magdarasal [pero] kapag lumabas na, wala nang pakialam,” he said.
Bacani said peace will prevail if Catholics will give respect to the importance of God’s creations.
“Magkakaroon ng kapayapaan kung tototohanin ninyo [at kung gayon] bawat isa sa inyo ay magiging ilaw ng liwanag [at] bawat isa sa inyo ay magiging butil ng asin na pang-preserve sa mundong ito,” he said.
The Eucharistic celebration also served as the closing liturgy of the Season of Creation that started last Sept. 1.
Blessing of the pets also took place at the church patio.
Laudato Si’ pledge
The Laudato Si’ pledge campaign was launched globally to mark the second anniversary of Pope Francis’ historic encyclical released on June 18, 2015 and to keep the Pope’s message alive and encourage the Catholics to address the climate crisis.
The formal kickoff event of the campaign in Manila happened last June 17.
The campaign runs for three years with the goal of engaging at least one million Catholics in the encyclical’s message.
Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM)-Philippines is creating more efficient ways of advocating every Filipino Catholic to not just sign the Laudato Si pledge, but also to live accordingly to it, GCCM-Philippines national coordinator, John Din told The Spiral Journal. Christine C. Fabro