Pope Francis Homily in Quirino Grandstand Philippines January 2015

By: Tax ad Accounting Center, Inc.

On the context of faith, we put God in every thing we do. Please allow us to go beyond business articles (tax, accounting, and etc.) and share our moment of joy with the blessing of Pope Francis visit from January 15-19, 2015. Seeing him strengthened our faith, reminded us of the true meaning of humility, compassion, and love of others.

Hearing his homily in the concluding mass at Quirino Grandstand, Metro Manila, Philippines participated by a crowd estimated to be aroung 6-7 million Filipinos  last January 18, 2015 would strengthen our faith and admiration of the Lord Jesus . Below is the full text of the Homily of Pope Francis in Quirino Grandstand, Philippines last January 18, 2015 as interpreted by Msgr. Mark Gerald Miles in English and lifted from GMA.

“A child is born to us, a son is given us” (Is 9:5). It is special joy for me to celebrate Santo Nino Sunday with you. The image of the Holy Child Jesus accompanied the spread of Gospel in this country from the beginning. Dressed in robes of a king, crowned and holding the scepter, the globe and the cross he continues to remind us of the link between God’s Kingdom and the mystery of spiritual childhood. He tells us this in today’s Gospel: “Whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it” (Mk 10:15). The Santo Nino continues to proclaim to us that the light of God’s grace has shone upon a world dwelling in darkness, bringing the Good News of our freedom from slavery, and guiding us in -paths of peace, right and justice. The Santo Nino also reminds us of our call to spread the reign of Christ throughout the world.

 

In these days, throughout my visit, I have listened to you sing the song “We are all God’s children”. That is what the Santo Nino tells us. He reminds us of our deepest identity. All of us are God’s children, members of God’s family. Today Saint Paul has told us that in Christ we have become God’s adopted children, brothers and sisters in Christ. This is who we are. This is our identity. We saw a beautiful expression of this when Filipinos rallied around our brothers and sisters affected by the typhoon.

 

The Apostle tells us that because God chose us, we have been richly blessed! God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens” (Eph 1:3). These words have a special resonance in the Philippines, for it is Philippines, for it is the foremost Catholic country in Asia; this is itself a special gift of God, a blessing. But it is also a vocation. Filipinos are called to be outstanding missionaries of the faith in Asia.

 

God chose and blessed us for a purpose: to be holy and blameless in His sight. He chose us, each of us to be witnessed of His truth and His justice in this world. He created the world as a beautiful garden and asked us to care for it. But through sin, man has disfigured that natural beauty; through sin, man has also destroyed the unity and beauty of our human family, creating social structures which perpetuate poverty, ignorance and corruption.

 

Sometimes, we see the troubles, difficulties and wrongs all around us; we are tempted to give up. It seems that the promises of the Gospel do not apply; they are unreal. But the Bible tells us that the great threat to God’s plan for us is, and always has been, the lie.

 

The devil is the father of all lies. Often he hides his snares behind the appearance of sophistication, the allure of being “modern”, “like everyone else”. He distracts us with the promise of ephemeral pleasures, superficial pastimes. And so we squander our God-given gifts by tinkering with gadgets; we squander our money on gambling and drink; we turn in on ourselves. We forget to remain focused on the things that really matter.

 

We forget to remain, at heart, children of God. That is sin: to forget at heart that we are children of God. For children, as the Lord tells us, have their own wisdom, which is not the wisdom of the world. That is why the message of the Santo Nino is so important. He speaks powerfully to all of us. He reminds us our deepest identity, of what we are called to be as God’s family.

 

The Santo Nino also reminds us that this identity must be protected. The Christ is the protector of this great country. When He came into the world, His very life was threatened by the corrupt king. Jesus himself needed to be protected. He had an earthly protector: Saint Joseph. He had an earthly family, the Holy family of Nazareth. So He reminds us of the importance of protecting our families, and those larger families which are the Church, God’s family, and the world, our human family. Sadly, in our day, the family all too often needs to be protected against insidious attacks and programs contrary to all that we hold true and scared, all that is most beautiful and noble in our culture. In the Gospel, Jesus welcomes children, he embraces them and blessed them (Mk 10:16). We need to protect, guide and encourage our young people, helping them to build a society worthy of their great spiritual and cultural heritage. Specifically, we need to see each child as a gift to be welcomed, cherished, and protected. And we need to care for our young people, not allowing them to be robbed and condemned to life on the streets.

 

It was a frail child, in need of protection, who brought God’s goodness, mercy and justice into the world. He resisted the dishonesty and corruption which are the legacy of sin, and he triumphed over them by the power of his cross. Now, at the end of my visit to the Philippines, I commend you to Him, to Jesus who came among us as a child. May he enable all the beloved people of this country to work together, protecting one another, beginning with your families and communities, in building a world of justice, integrity and peace. May the Santo Nino continue to bless the Philippines and to sustain the Christians of this great nation of their vocation to be witnessed and missionaries of the joy of the Gospel, in Asia and in the world.

And please, don’t forget to pray for me! God bless you all!

Let us all live by the words and wisdom of Pope Francis during his visit in the Philippines. Let us internalize his words of faith in our daily lives.

Thank You So Much Pope Francis!

Mabuhay Pope Francis!

Disclaimer: The above text is not taken form any official text of the homily and is taken only as a simple reference to look back and internalize. For the genuine text, please coordinate with the Roman Catholic church or other genuine sources. For comments, you may please send mail at 

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