‘Help not only with what is extra for us’ — Manila bishop

A Catholic bishop has told people on Sunday to help others because they mean it, not because they have extra things to spare.

In his homily for World Day of the Poor, Manila archdiocese’s administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo said that help should be sincere and not self-serving.

“We help not only with what is extra for us, but even with what we need, because others are more in need,” Pabillo said at the Malate Church.

The bishop made the call in the wake of disasters that struck the country in recent weeks.

He said the calamities, which affected over two million people in Luzon, “calls for us to help another”.

“In all of these, we are being challenged to stand up together and put our resources together and help,” Pabillo said.

The Catholic Church has celebrated the World Day of the Poor on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time since 2017.

Pope Francis instituted the day in his apostolic letter, Misericordia et Misera, to mark the end of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2016.

The observance dovetails locally with the Philippine Catholic Church’s “Alay Kapwa Sunday”, which is usually observed during Lent.

The campaign is a fundraising program of the Church for social services to the poor, especially during calamities.

The observance was delayed this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Pabillo earlier said the Church is aware of the financial difficulties that people are experiencing now because of the crisis.

“But we can still appeal to their generosity and make them aware that the funds collected for Alay Kapwa are used to respond to the needs of those in need,” he said. (CBCP News)

A version of this article was first published on CBCP News.