Embracing change

Pope Francis, in his Christmas message this year, advocated for Christians to embrace change. “Christian life is a journey, a pilgrimage. The history of the Bible is a journey, marked by constantly new beginnings,” he said.

The Pope delved on the need for change in the Curia in keeping with the realities of the times. He emphasized that “development and growth are a characteristic of earthly and human existence, while in the eyes of the believer, the stability of God is at the center of everything.”

He noted that “We are no longer living in a Christian world, because faith — especially in Europe, but also in a large part of the West — is no longer an evident presupposition of social life; indeed, faith is often rejected, derided, marginalized and ridiculed.”

An example of change that was introduced concerned “the Church’s first and most important duty: evangelization.” A mega-division dedicated to evangelization, the Dicastery of the Evangelization of Peoples, has been created to address changes in demographics within the Church and emerging technologies.

The Pope spoke of the present as not one of linear evolution, but of “epochal” changes that “entails decisions that rapidly transform our ways of living, of relating to one another, of communicating and thinking, of how different generations relate to one another and how we understand and experience faith and science.”

Family

The emphasis on change for the 2,000-year-old institution that is the Roman Catholic Church is not an isolated case. We, too, in our secular lives are besieged by the many changes that are happening around us.

We are a growing community of Filipinos who choose to live in other countries, often driven by the desire to secure a better future for our families through jobs that provide higher wages, or simply want to expand personal horizons and take advantage of globalization.

This has put a strain on the social and cultural fiber of the country, where many children have had to adapt to homes where only one parent is physically present, or sometimes where other family members have to become surrogates of both parents who are working abroad.

Over five decades of this Filipino diaspora may have also tested the bonds of husbands and wives whose relationships needed to adjust to the physical separation that an overseas job entailed. 

But even for families that physically stay together, the many distractions that modern living — such as career development, networking, acquiring a house and a car, and many more — has created barriers that affect the quality of relationships among family members.

Still, if the Christmas traffic and the shopping frenzies can be used as gauge, December becomes the month of the year where Filipinos drop everything to focus on family.

From my family to yours, allow me extend our warmest greeting of Christmas cheer. May we be able to embrace change in whatever form it comes, and to look forward to stronger ties with one another.

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