An estimated 6,000 people attend Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle’s annual Pentecost recollection at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, June 4, 2017. JESCOM
QUEZON City – Sometimes, it’s a given that people love and serve those closest to them through their gifts and talents, this is why there’s a need to go out and serve total strangers.
This is what Manila Archbishop Cardinal Tagle told some 6,000 people at Jesuit Communication (JesCom)’s annual Pentecost recollection on Sunday, which carried the theme “One Body in Christ” at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in this city.
Expounding on why gifted people should “make sure that [their] gifts will be used by the common good,” the prelate called on the faithful, for example, who are good cooks to share their gift with more people.
Go out and share
“Don’t just cook for yourself or for your family. Cook for Hapag-asa. Why don’t you volunteer once a week or so? … Why don’t you go and share your gift?” asked Tagle, stressing the need to share one’s talents to the bigger Church.
The prelate shared how, as a young priest in the U.S., he was asked to cook for 60 people during a feeding program. Despite it being his first time to cook for so many, he admitted in Filipino, “It feels so good to cook for others.”
Similarly, Tagle urged people who sing well to go beyond their comfort zones.
“Why don’t you visit orphanages, infants who need to hear lullabies or go to the home for the aged, [for those] who want to remember some of those songs?” “Don’t just sing in the shower!” he added with a laugh.
Church’s ‘birthday’
Celebrating what many consider to be the “birthday” of the Catholic Church, Pentecost, Tagle noted that the Catholic Church continues to stand by the rest of humanity, offering its many gifts.
“Today, we celebrate being one, one body with so many needs, one humanity with so many wounds and needs, but we should be signs of hope,” he said.
“If we can only recognize … [that] the Church has not abandoned humanity The Spirit gives us gifts, if only we recognize those gifts and offer those gifts for the common good.”
JesCom also organizes Tagle’s annual Easter and Advent recollections, which are open to the public. Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz
