Thousands of couples renew their marriage vows during a Mass to celebrate the “Marriage is Beautiful” event at the SMX Convention Center on Feb. 14, 2016. (Photo: Nirva Delacruz)
PASAY City, Feb. 16, 2016 – What does it mean to be like God? It means to live in a loving community.
This was the message of newly-installed Caloocan Bishop Pablo David to some 2, 628 married couples, their children, and other attendees of the “Marriage is Beautiful” event on Feb. 14 at the SMX Convention Center.
“The God revealed to us by Jesus Christ is Trinity, a community, a communion of persons and so if we want to grow as an image and likeness of this communitarian God, we need to grow as community, communities that are able to grow families,” said the prelate, the former head of the Diocese of San Fernando in Pampanga.
God is not alone
According to him, community is what builds “our humanity into God’s image and likeness.”
The prelate added during the Mass, which opened the event: “God himself is not alone… God is a community of persons.”
This is also the reason why, David explained, the devil is bent on stopping the faithful from building true community.
“[The devil] knows that our dignity lies in our becoming like God in the true sense… And it means becoming community,” said the prelate.
David said because the opposite of community are “selfishness” and “self-delusion” the enemy will “do everything to massage our egos” and “he’ll do everything to stop us from building community.”
Spiritual warfare
The chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Biblical Apostolate said every Christian should be vigilant and protective of their relationships.
“The devil will do all he can to stop us from discovering what it truly means to be like God by destroying our sense of community, our sense of solidarity, our mercy, our compassion, our sense of unconditional love.”
For a Christian to take this call seriously, David said, is not easy it means engaging in all-out war.
“We are in a spirutual warfare… As I said, the worst enemy is inside ourselves,” he stressed.
The event, organized by Couples for Christ as a timely proclamation of the unique beauty of marriage, also featured concurrent workshops on leaving a genuine legacy; sexuality in the senior years; relating with in-laws, how to raise children of character, a workshop for teens; and Kids’ Academy, among others. (Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz / CBCP News)
