Brothers and Sisters, this is the PASTORAL LETTER FORCHRISTMAS 2011 of His Excellency, Most Reverend GilbertA. Garcera. This is posted here for our prayer andreflection. Thank you very much and God bless!

THE INCARNATE WORD – GOD’S GREATEST GIFT TOHUMANITY!

Dear People of God in the Diocese of Daet:

Once again the spirit of Christmas is upon us! I take this opportunity to inviteyou to reminisce the story of Christmas and rediscover its true meaning.

 The real Christmas story is the story of God becoming man in the Person of   Jesus Christ. With this, God has gifted humanity. Why did God do such athing? The Gospel of St. Johnanswers the question directly by saying that“ForGod so loved the world He gave His only Son!”(John 3:16). That is why, everytime we celebrate Christmas, we re-enact this incredible act of love. Out of gratitude for what God did for us, we remember His birth by giving eachother gifts, worshipping Him, and being especially conscious and responsiveto the needs of the poor and less fortunate.

Generous Giving to the Church: Reciprocating the Gifts of God 

We, who love and follow Jesus,give gifts to reciprocate the true "Gift" givenby the Father. Wetook this idea of gift giving at Christmas based on theScripture account about theThree Magi (wise men) giving gifts to Jesus:"When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, theysaw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipedhim. Then, they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of goldand of incense and of myrrh"(Matthew 2:10-11).

Focusing on the wonderful gift of salvation the Lord has given us (Isaiah 9:6),giving becomes a natural expression of gratitude. Giving and receiving giftscan be part of fulfilling what St. Paul says about giving when he writes in 2Corinthians 8:7-8: "But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, inknowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that youalso excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want totest the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others." St. Paul was talking to the churches who were giving him gifts(financial) so that he could keep on in the ministry. We can apply this samelesson to our own lives by giving to the Church and to others, not just atChristmas, but year round!

 

God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7)

Recently, we received feelers that some of our faithful struggle with theissue of giving for the needs of the Church or the so-called “donationfatigue”. Some have purposely asked to be spared from any monetarycontributionsasked by the Church community. Are they already tired inmaking offerings to the Church? Isn’t giving intended to be a joy and ablessing, and not asa burden?

St. Paul teaches us to listen to our hearts as far as giving is concerned:“Eachman should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly orunder compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to give youmore than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselvesand more than enough for every good cause” (2 Cor 9: 7-8).The practice of our giving, coming from the heart, would cause us to be moved bycompassion (cfr. Eph 4:28). Every Christian,therefore,should diligently prayand seek God’s wisdom in the matter of participating in giving and/or howmuch to give (James 1:5). Above all, all tithes and offerings should be givenwith pure motives and an attitude of worship to God and service to the bodyof Christ. Thus, every time we donate to the Church, we express to God ourlove for Him and the work that He has entrusted to us.

The Duty and Rightof Every Faithful to Provide for the Needs of theChurch

 The Church, despite not having a purpose of a political, social and economicnature, does need human resources to achieve its mission (LG 8). Inparticular, it should have at its disposal those temporal goods needed for theworthy celebration of divine worship, for the honest sustenance of itsministers and for other ends inherent to it, primarily, works of apostolate andof charity. To provide for the needs of the people of God is not only a duty of the faithful, but also a right, which means that the faithful have the right inthe Church to undertake initiatives to contribute in order to meetHerneeds.

 The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that among the precepts of the Church, the faithful have the duty of providing for the material needs of the Church, each according to his abilities (n. 2043). Likewise, the 1983Code of Canon Law provides that: “The Christian faithful are obliged to assistwith the needs of the Church so that the Church has what is necessary fordivine worship, for the works of the apostolate and of charity, and for thedecent support of ministers” (Can. 222, §1).

 

 This obligation of the faithful to provide for the needs of the Church derivesnot only from the “inherent right of the Church to require from the faithfulwhatever is necessary for its proper objectives”(Can. 1260), but even moreradically, from the shared responsibility of the baptized in the single missionof the Church – that of announcing to all peoples, at all times and in allplaces the salvation that God has wrought in Jesus Christ. Thus, no oneshould fail to take note of the material needs which the achievement of thismission entails. Each one needs to contribute in order to satisfy the needs of the Church generously according to the extent of one’s own particularpossibilities and resources.

Further, the Christian faithful have a true obligation to ensure the priests donot lack the means to live decently and with dignity (PO 20). The assistancegiven by the faithful is meant to provide for the appropriate support of theministers, as they completely render service to God and the Gospel. “For thelaborer deserves his wages”(Lk 10:7), and “the Lord commanded that theywho proclaim the Gospel should obtain their living by the Gospel “(1 Cor9:14).

 The faithful can satisfy their duty to provide for the needs of the Church inmultiple ways: from donations (alms, contributions, wills, etc.) which aregiven spontaneously. This obligation extends not only through monetaryofferings but personal services as well.

Some Practical Considerations

In order to affirm the right and every duty of the faithful to provide for theneeds of the Church and to avoid any misunderstanding on the practice of giving donations to the Church, I deem it opportune to give some practicalpastoral guidelines for the entire diocese, to wit:

1. To design and implement a formation program on stewardship that willhelp both priests and laity discover and live out the differentevangelical values especially those that deal with the material goods of the earth;

2. To establish finance council in each parish so that the priests especiallyparish priests will have collaborators in taking care of the materialresources that are entrusted to them and

3. To reorient and revitalize the parish pastoral councils, the barangaypastoral councils and members of the different religious organizationsso that they will also encourage more people especially those who livein the periphery of the Church to take a more active part in thebuilding up of the Kingdom of God here on earth.

Conclusion

 

 To end, I go back to what I have said at the beginning of this letter. OnChristmas day, God has gifted us with His Only Son, Jesus Christ. Indeed,Christmas will always be the best gift of God to humankind. For this reason,we are filled with joy! Moreover, Christ dwelling among us is an expression par excellence of God’s love: “For God so loved the world He gave His onlySon!”(John 3:16). For this, we are also called to radiate this love. Thus, if wewant Jesus to be born today, it must be through our love!

Let us then reciprocate God’s gift of love with our own ways of gifting,“excelled in the grace of giving”(cf. 2 Cor 8:7-8); “not reluctantly or undercompulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver”(2 Cor 9: 7).Mabiyayang Pasko posa lahat!

Most Rev. GILBERT A. GARCERA, D.D.Bishop of Daet

December 25, 2011