Pope urges Philippine Church to keep God in the centre of life

(February 18, 2011) Pope Benedict XVI on Friday urged the Catholics of the Philippines to build a personal relationship with Christ in order to meet the serious challenges from secularism, materialism, and consumerism that tend to eliminate God from life. The Pope’s exhortation came in an address to a group of 27 bishops from the Philippines who are on their so-called ‘ad limina’ visit to Rome which heads of dioceses make every 5 years or so to report on the state of their jurisdiction. Pope Benedict acknowledged that the nation is facing serious challenges related to economic development, but he insisted that challenges “inherent to the secularism, materialism, and consumerism of our times” are even more serious and subtle. “When self-sufficiency and freedom are severed from their dependence upon and completion in God,” the Pope pointed out, “the human person creates for himself a false destiny and loses sight of the eternal joy for which he has been made.” He said, “The path to rediscovering humanity’s true destiny can only be found in the re-establishment of the priority of God in the heart and mind of every person.” He urged the bishops to “keep God at the centre of the life of the faithful” and “to propose a personal relationship with Christ as key to complete fulfilment.” The Holy Father urged the bishops to particularly shepherd the basic ecclesial communities and lay organizations so ‘that the primacy of God may remain in the forefront,’ of life. The Holy Father particularly urged that youth be reminded “that the glamour of this world will not satisfy their natural desire for happiness.” In this regard he insisted on instructing the young people the importance of the sacraments, especially “the sacrament of matrimony, which sanctifies married life from its very beginning, so that God's presence may sustain young couples in their struggles.”