On the occasion of our Independence Day, we wish to join the just and legitimate aspira-tions of our people in our efforts to create a better society, a better Philippines, founded on democratic principles of liberty, justice and common efforts for progress and material wellbeing. One of the most respected festivals of each nation is that which concerns the National Day,which commemorates the search of freedom and the realization of the people being the authors of their own destiny. The Nation is a complex value, a common heritage, of which every human being should benefit and be willing to promote, cultivate and pass on to others.Our ancestors have fought for independence against the Spanish colonial rule. We have to cherish this freedom, otherwise we fall into another kind of captivity, this time not against a foreign power, but against the dictatorship of our own. We have had experience of this in the recent past. We have to protect our democratic way of life, we have to protect the basic fundamental rights. For this reason, to commemorate the National Day is to bring together the past, present and future of the nation. It means celebrating the continuous efforts of citizens in building a national community united in brotherhood,
respect for the dignity of the person and the willingness to work together. We honor the basic Filipino value which is the family. The Philippines is based on the family where family love and harmony reigns.
Almost all of you are here because of the family, so that your families can benefit from your sacri-fices. It was the cohesion of the family values that saved us in difficult times of our own his-tory. Our modern society, which is charged up with hopes and tensions needs the firm com-mitment of all of us to draw out of own heri-tage new energies of solidarity, of attentive application to current challenges, of orienta-tion, of support for young generations, and of work and perseverance in their good intentions. National Day in the Philippines should also be a celebration of family values.
We have just celebrated our national elections, this exercise has always been in our past a source of unity and at the same time of conflict and discord, especially during the electoral campaign and a source of dishonesty… Today we thank God because this time the democratic exercise is over in peace and hopefully in har-mony. Some say democracy has many effects, we know it has many failures, but still it is the best system of expressing the political will of all the people. We thank God for peace and harmony, and in places in our country where there are still tensions, we offer our prayers to God, so that everywhere in the Philippines will come a climate of peace and reconciliation.
Today‘s readings bring us a very personal mes-sage. The sinfulness of David in the first read-ing- the story about David and Batheseba – how King David stole the wife of his army officer and then had him killed in battle is long and detailed – but the conclusion is short – because King David asks a pardon for his sins, He is forgiven by God.
The Gospel gives us another setting – of a sin-ner – a prostitute, someone of so low a reputa-tion that the people avoided her – they were afraid her sinfulness will rub off on them. She was spiritually ―unclean‖: - however she was – Jesus forgave her. She was clean before the eyes of God.
The lesson of the Gospel is that Jesus does the same also for us. Each of us could look to our lives and be overwhelmed by the sheer malice of our sins and the enormity of God‘s mercy. Perhaps we weren‘t as evil as David. Maybe we didn‘t have the reputation of the woman in the Gospel, but there are still many incidents of darkness we know in our lives that we would rather remain hidden. But we could not dwell on our pasts. Because God don‘t want us bogged down in the past. He wants us to recog-nize His Grace, Mercy and Forgiveness and bring this love we have received to others.
As we ask forgiveness, we also need to forgive others. Quite often we hear stories about people who would rather die than to forgive someone. Maybe there is someone in each of our pasts who has hurt us and sought forgiveness and whom we have walked away from rather than be reconciled to. We have an exigency to forgive.
Jesus gives life. Hatred kills. He has forgiven us, and offered His life. We need to ac-cept His life and forgive others. ―Forgive us our trespasses, our sins, as we forgive those who trespass, sin against us, is more than a rote con-clusion to the Our Father. Those words contain the fundamental action of the Christian: Forgive and love for we have been forgiven and loved.
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord called us the ―Light of the World‖. There are so many people who are living in darkness. Many of us have lived in darkness ourselves. The Lord‘s Light dispels the darkness, the darkness in our lives, in the lives of those who have hurt us and in the lives of those who are seeking guidance from the abyss of immorality. We pray today that we might be people of Mercy, people of Forgiveness, people of Light. Amen.
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