Wednesday, December 19, 2007 Vidal asks: for Christmas reach out to sick, needy
FOLLOWING his appeal to the Catholic faithful to live by the values of the Holy Family, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal urged them to reach out to the community.
In his third Misa de Gallo at the Sacred Heart Parish along Jakosalem St., Cebu City yesterday, Vidal challenged churchgoers to be like Jesus in dealing with “the needy, hungry, thirsty, poor, sick, and the prisoners.”
“Jesus saved us through humility of heart, goodness and mercy. I hope we will also be the same, like him in helping the less fortunate,” Vidal said in Cebuano.
Vidal also urged mass goers to contemplate on the image of Jesus in the Bible.
“Let us contemplate on the image of Jesus, who is named by Mary and Joseph, because he will save us from our sins. Let us learn from him as our savior-lessons to live by as devotees of his Sacred Heart,” he said.
This was one of the reasons he chose the Sacred Heart Parish for his third dawn mass.
The parish, too, is the first to be established in Cebu with the Sacred Heart of Jesus as its titular. Eighteen years after the Archdiocese of Cebu was instituted in 1934, the parish was built.
The next parish of the Sacred Heart was erected 44 years later, in 1996, in Pajac, Lapu-Lapu City.
Another one was constructed in 1998 in Po-og, Toledo City. Just last year, another Sacred Heart parish was built in Tangkong, Bantayan.
“But I chose you,” Vidal told the early risers, “because we are neighbors. My residence is just next to this parish. I am a parishioner here. Aircon pa gyud diri,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
“What we love to sing about these days is ‘Christ the Savior is born.’ Like Jesus, let us be meek and humble ourselves to ask: What is the savior for if we don’t want to be saved? What is the savior for if we don’t confess that we have sinned through our own fault, if we don’t call sin a sin?” he said.
The faithful also prayed for the country’s leaders that they might work for social justice.
They also prayed that Christians will observe moderation in food and drink as part of their spiritual preparation for Christmas.
Today, Vidal is scheduled to hold a dawn mass at the Alliance of Two Hearts in Banawa, Cebu City. (NRC)
