NEW YEAR MESSAGE Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Tagle

Our greetings of a Happy and Blessed New Year come as a message of hope in
the midst of the ruins surrounding us. We express once more our communion with
people whose lives were reduced to rubble by typhoon Sendong and human
irresponsibility. But how can we forget the multitudes whose lives are ruined daily by
poverty, disease, corruption, lack of employment, inadequate services and abuse of
creation? They are very much present in our thoughts and prayer.

Some people might think that mentioning the ruins of life does not belong to a
New Year message that purports to center on hope. But in the bible, hope arises and
becomes truer in absurd and difficult situations. Christian hope does not consist in
wishes or in the denial of truth but in an unwavering trust in God. God is our hope. God
declared to John, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). If we eliminate God in
the promotion of life and the construction of society, we will find ourselves buried in
ruins of our making. Pride and false self-sufficiency destroy; they never build a world fit
for human beings. We should know by now that God is not an extraneous factor in
genuine development. The Psalmist aptly said, “Unless the Lord build the house, they
labor in vain who build” (Ps. 127:1). A Blessed 2012 will come only if we place our
hope in God.

(signed)
+ Luis Antonio G. Tagle
Archbishop of Manila