CATHOLIC Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President and Lingayen, Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas on Wednesday stressed that “more than the season’s trimmings, the gifts and parties, Christmas calls us to cross over to where God wants us to be, where our brothers and sisters are.”
Villegas said Christmas is “reaching out to others in charity.”
“From where we are at present, we also need to cross many more rivers, many more seas, many more mountains. We also need to cross over and find each one, showing everyone that we are all brothers and sisters,” Villegas said in a recent video message posted on the CBCP web site.
Explaining the meaning of “pasko” or “pesach,” Villegas said it means “passover” or to “cross over”.
“The meaning of Christmas is God has crossed over. The challenge of Christmas is that we, too, cross over,” he said.
Villegas, who is part of the Central Committee for Papal Visit 2015, also delved on the amazing reality of Christ’s incarnation.
“From heaven, God crossed over to where we are. God has crossed over to our side and lived among us, and became like us and ate our food and walked on our earth. That is how much God loves us,” he said.
Making a similar plea to Catholics as Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle did with his request to the clergy to share their Noche Buena dinner with poor families, Villegas asked the faithful to “make a meaningful Christmas, by crossing over, by reaching out.”
“[A] reaching hand is also a sharing hand, and a sharing hand is the hand of Jesus for us,” Tagle said.