Help ‘Yolanda’ survivors, Tagle exhorts faithful

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle called on Filipino Catholics to help survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” get back on their feet.

During a recent gathering of religious women, Tagle said volunteers should look at themselves as “partners with God” in the rebuilding and reconstruction of the typhoon-ravaged towns and cities in the Visayas.

In an article posted on the website of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Tagle said that “ultimately, it is the Lord our Justice who will truly build the house.”

“So it is not really our project, but God’s….we cannot outdo God in his desire to rebuild his people. So let God do God’s work. It would certainly be according to the plan of Divine Justice,” Tagle said.

Several representatives from various communities of religious women and members of Societies of Apostolic Life in the Archdiocese of Manila attended the recent annual Eucharistic celebration at the Arzobispado Chapel over which Cardinal Tagle presided.

Delivering his homily on the day’s readings, the cardinal reflected on the justice and righteousness of God, noting that “the fruit of the coming of the Lord our Justice is not just wise or good governance, but restoration.”

“I think this is an apt and timely message for us, as people here in the Philippines talk about reconstructing, recovery, rehabilitation, especially among the communities hard hit by the earthquake, the typhoon, even the problem in Zamboanga,” he said.

He talked about hope and the need to discern and “to cooperate with God’s wisdom and justice to be suitable partners in the reconstruction.”

Tagle said the coming of Jesus remains relevant, “not just to the people of that time but for us—humanity that continues to journey …under the shadow of injustice, of discrimination, of prejudice, and of bias.”