CBCP head: There’s hope amid difficulties

DESPITE mounting problems of poverty and other social ills in Philippine society that can push any individual in a state of misery, the triumph of Easter joy brings renewed hope in the heart, said the head of the Catholic Bishops hierarchy.

CBCP president and Tandag Bishop Nereo Odchimar, said in his Easter message, that the radiant triumph of Jesus’ resurrection should prevail over feelings of doubt or hopelessness amid difficulties that the country is facing.

“However dark the horizon may seem, today we celebrate the radiant triumph of Easter joy. We are now children of resurrection! Let no one yield to dismay and lack of trust! We hold in our hearts the very foundation of Hope,” the CBCP president said.

Odchimar noted how the current state of the country has left many Filipinos cynical on whether progress and development can possibly happen in the country.

“With the ascending rate of poverty, electoral deceit, crime and violence, graft and corruption, abuse of natural resources and other forms of social evil, naturally only a few can speak of hope for a better Philippines,” he said.

“Electoral processes are manipulated by some influential politicians. Suffrage is curtailed by vote-buying-and-selling, various forms of threat, and erratic understanding of Utang na loob,” added Odchimar.

With a big percentage of Filipinos living below poverty line, this poor segment of society fall easy prey to devious politicians who resort to vote-buying during election time.

The CBCP head also pointed out other social evils that the government has failed to address, like extrajudicial killings and destruction of environment that in the past have led to loss of lives and properties.

“These are but only some of the gruesome faces of evil leaving the nation in dire misery and hopelessness,” he said.

But with the risen Christ, “the journey through life gets brighter, not darker. People going through great crisis find comfort in His presence. He comes to us as answer to our tears over death,” Odchimar said.

Quoting the Pope’s Annual Easter message, Odchimar said: "By his rising, the Lord has not taken away suffering and evil from the world but has vanquished them at their roots by the superabundance of his grace.”

“By his death Jesus has crushed and triumphed over the iron-clad law of death, eliminating its poisonous root for ever,” said Odchimar.

He then urged the faithful to also “become rays of hope for the despairing, lighted candles amidst darkness, and show compassion [to] the abandoned” even as they experience themselves the same life-giving hope, light, and love from the Resurrected Christ.

“In this season of Easter, as we continue to contemplate the Lord’s resurrection, we let the Holy Spirit bring us to that glorious event where we may encounter the risen Lord again and relive the joyful hope of Easter,” he said.