MANILA, March 11, 2015— Archbishop Socrates Villegas has passed on some words of wisdom to the faithful on how to be humble: say “please, thanks and sorry”.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (Photo: CBCPNews)
In his webisode “The Light of Faith”, Villegas said to be “lowly of heart” is the only way “to see the face of God”.
“When we honour our Filipino saints, please ask them for the grace of humility to be able to say thank you, to be able to say please, and to be able to say I’m sorry without any hesitation and without any fear,” Villegas said.
However, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said, humility “is a very tricky issue”.
“If you know you’re honest and you say you’re honest, you’re honest. If you know you’re chaste, and you say you’re chaste, you’re chaste. But if you’re humble and you say you’re humble, you’re proud,” Villegas said. “So you’re humble not when you humble yourself but when you let others humiliate you and you bear it for Christ,” he added.
For the faithful to grow in humility and to see God, the archbishop said they must practice the expressions of courtesy, gratitude and contrition.
He encouraged the Filipinos to never feel too big to say “please”, not to be shy to say “I’m sorry”, and not to think it is unnecessary to say “thank you”.
According to him, saying please means you recognize that somebody is more powerful than you and that “you cannot look boastful and look down on anyone because you’re a person in need”.
Those who say “thank you”, he added, are humble and happy people because the “fruit of humility is happiness”.
“People who are proud will always be unhappy,” Villegas said.
Villegas pointed said only the humble can say “sorry” and ask for forgiveness.
“When you say I’m sorry it doesn’t mean that I am wrong and you are right. When you say I’m sorry it only means I value our relationship so much that I will not discuss anymore who is wrong and who is right. I want to hasten the restoration and healing of our relationships,” he added.
“As you celebrate your being Filipino, as you take pride that we are Filipinos, be humble because the humble will be able to see the face of God,” Villegas also said. (Roy Lagarde/CBCPNews)
