Time for service & love
We always have a choice. We can focus on our fears and anxieties, not knowing what tomorrow brings, or we can take this opportunity to be transformed into better human beings.
Both Pope Francis, in his Palm Sunday message, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, heralded service and love in their messages.
“We are in the garden of Gethsemane with the disciples and our faith is being badly shaken,” Cardinal Tagle said in his Easter message to Caritas International, of which he is president. “Many of us are suffering and are tempted to feel that we have nowhere to turn, as science, our governments and the knowledge we have developed to this point in history offer us no solutions.
“In the midst of loss, uncertainty and suffering, something incredible is happening: we are noticing the bonds which form our human family. We need other people and other people need us, too.
“My deepest thanks go to Caritas workers and volunteers and all those who are by the side of people who have fallen sick or who are vulnerable and isolated in the midst of this crisis. I feel immense gratitude towards all those who trustingly open their hearts and give themselves fully to bring the lights of love and hope into people’s lives at this dark time.
“Caritas christi urget nos — the love of Christ urges us on (2 Corinthians 5:14). This love, seen in small and large gestures of hope and solidarity, is calling us to a new future and a new way of living. COVID-19 knows no borders but neither do faith, hope and love,” he concluded.
Last Palm Sunday, which was also the 35th World Youth Day, in an empty St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis in his homily highlighted how Jesus showed us his great love through service.
“God saved us by serving us,” the pope said. “We often think we are the ones who serve God. No, He is the one who freely chose to serve us, for He loved us first. It is difficult to love and not be loved in return. And it is even more difficult to serve if we do not let ourselves be served by God.
“The Lord served us to the point of experiencing the most painful situations of those who love: betrayal and abandonment. Jesus experienced total abandonment in a situation He had never before experienced in order to be one with us in everything. He did it for me, for you, for all of us. That is the extent to which Jesus served us: He descended into the abyss of our most bitter sufferings, culminating in betrayal and abandonment,” he continued.
“Today, in the tragedy of a pandemic, in the face of the many false securities that have now crumbled, in the face of so many hopes betrayed, in the sense of abandonment that weighs upon our hearts, Jesus says to each one of us: ‘Courage, open your heart to my love. You will feel the consolation of God who sustains you,’” Pope Francis reminded us.
“We were put in this world to love him and our neighbors. Everything else passes away; only this remains. The tragedy we are experiencing at this time summons us to take seriously the things that are serious, and not to be caught up in those that matter less, to rediscover that life is of no use if not used to serve others. For life is measured by love,” he added.
Pope Francis ended his homily addressing the youth: “Dear friends, look at the real heroes who come to light in these days: they are not famous, rich and successful people; rather, they are those who are giving themselves in order to serve others. Feel called yourselves to put your lives on the line.
“Do not be afraid to devote your life to God and to others; it pays!
For life is a gift we receive only when we give ourselves away, and our deepest joy comes from saying yes to love, without ifs and buts. To truly say yes to love, without ifs and buts. As Jesus did for us,” he concluded.
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Post me a note at mylene@goldsgym.com.ph or mylenedayrit@gmail.com.
