Develop ‘culture of truth’ in 2016, Tagle urges Filipinos

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle. FILE PHOTO

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle has called on Filipinos to foster a culture of truth in 2016 to enjoy a meaningful life in the new year.

In his New Year message, Tagle warned that a proliferation of lies instead of truth would hinder Filipinos from seeing the true presence of Christ in the society.

“Sa panahon natin ngayon, ang hirap, hindi mo malaman kung ano ang totoo, kung ano ang hindi totoo. ‘Yung totoo napamumukhang mali, ‘yung mali napamumukhang totoo,” Tagle said.

(In this day and age, you don’t know what is true, what is not true. What is true can be made to seem untrue, what is false can be made to seem true.)

“That’s dangerous if a lie is protected as truth… Your heart will become so used to distortion that you yourself will not be able to recognize the true God in your midst,” he added.

Tagle also urged couples to be faithful and loyal to one another so that the culture of truth will start in the family.

“Kaya mga husbands, kapag tinanong kayo ng mga misis n’yo ‘saan ka galling?’ Sabihin agad ang totoo. Pagpractice na ‘yan ng truthfulness; huwag na yang deceit. Wives ‘pag tinanong kayo ng husbands n’yo ‘nag-shopping ka ba?’ Sabihin agad ang totoo: ‘Marami. Naka-charge sa iyo.’ We need to develop a culture of truth,” Tagle said.

(That’s why, husbands, if your wives asks you ‘where have you been?’ Tell the truth immediately. That is a practice in truthfulness; banish deceit. Wives, when your husbands ask you ‘have you been shopping?’ Tell the truth immediately: ‘A lot. All charged to you.’ We need to develop a culture of truth.)

The cardinal likewise appealed to aspirants in the upcoming national elections to be truthful in their campaigns instead of misleading the voting public with empty promises.

“Sana ngayong mag-e-eleksyon, sana makita natin ang katotohanan, pero ang hirap maghanap ng katotohanan. Sana dumating yung punto na pati yung mga kandidato aaminin yung katotohanan na ‘magaling po yung kalaban ko, tama ho siya ako ang mali, siya ho ang magaling’,” Tagle said.

(Hopefully, now that the elections are approaching, let’s hope we can see the truth, but the truth is hard to find. Hopefully a time will come when even the candidates would admit the truth that ‘my rival is competent, he is right and I am wrong, he’s the competent one’.)

“If I live in lies, in falsehood, how can I detect the true God? No wonder many people are worshiping false gods because we have become accustomed to live in the company of the false, in falsehood. Kaya naging expert sa pag-detect ng false (That’s why we become experts in detecting falsehood),” he added.

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