Tagle likens calamity victims to Jesus Christ

Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle on Monday likened the victims of last year’s calamities to Jesus Christ, saying that their prayers echoed that of God’s son.

“Ilang ulit mong narinig ang pagtangis, ang pagluha, ang pagtatanong ng mga nawalan ng pamilya, hanapbuhay, tahanan at pangarap (You’ve heard many times the wailing, the weeping, the questions of those who lost their families, their livelihood, their homes and their dreams),” Tagle said in his prayer, during an interfaith meeting at Malacanan Palace.

“Sa kanilang tinig narinig mong muli ang umalingawngaw na panalangin sa Kalbaryo ng iyong anak.

‘Diyos ko, Diyos ko bakit mo kami pinabayaan?’ (It is in their voices that you again hear an echo of your Son’s prayer at Calvary, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’)” he added.

He said it does not mean that the people are admonishing or questioning God. Instead, it means they are saying they only have God to turn to.

Tagle is among the religious leaders who joined President Benigno Aquino III during the “One Nation in Prayer” event at the Palace grounds.

Like the other leaders, he prayed for guidance and for the country to get back on its feet after suffering a number of tragedies last year.

Other personalities who spoke at the event were Police Superintendent Imam Ebra Moxsir of the Imam Council of the Philippines, Commissioner Zenaida Pawid of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Isaias Samson of Iglesia ni Cristo and Bishop Jonel Milan of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches.

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