http://www.ucanews.com/news/filipinos-urged-to-not-only-pray-but-to-also-care-for-poor/77623
Filipinos urged to not only pray but to also care for poor Aid for the Church in Need foundation establishes office in Manila Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, president of the Philippine bishops' conference urges Catholics to care for the poor in his homily for the launch of Aid for the Church in Need in Manila on Nov. 15. (Photo by Angie de Silva) Joe Torres, Manila Philippines November 15, 2016 The head of the Philippine bishops' conference has urged Filipinos to not only pray but to also care for the poor if they want to go to heaven. "Prayer is very important but … if the only thing that you will do is pray and play blind to those who are poor, your prayers will not bring you to heaven," said Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan. In his homily during the celebration of a Mass for the launch of Aid for the Church in Need (ACN) in Manila on Nov. 15, the prelate said "the pathway to heaven is prayer with love … prayer with generosity." "You want to go to heaven? Help. You want to go to heaven? Reach out. You want to go to heaven? Care," he told supporters and guests at the event held at the Manila Cathedral. Archbishop Villegas said the launching of ACN in the Philippines offers an opportunity to Filipinos to be a blessing to others. "When we speak of the ACN, we don't speak about Syria and Africa. We don't only speak about Mindanao. We don't speak about the Middle East, we actually speak about ourselves," said the prelate. ACN is a Catholic aid foundation, established in 1947 for war refugees. It has been recognized as a papal foundation since 2011 and is dedicated to the service of persecuted Christians around the world. "The blessing of God come to us by helping those who are suffering," said Archbishop Villegas, adding that everybody is a "needy church" in need of God and mercy. "When we recognize that our suffering brothers and sisters are blessings for us, we recognize that the door to heaven … is not under the sky because the door to heaven is through the church in need," he said. Archbishop Villegas urged Filipinos to look for the poor "because they are our doors to life everlasting." He said "playing blind to the poor is playing blind to Christ." "Failure to love the poor is failure to love Christ," he added. The prelate described as a "historic moment" the establishment of ACN in the Philippines "because it begins a new chapter of bearing witness to the Lord in the Philippines." On Nov. 14, ACN, which has its headquarters in Germany, opened a national office in the Philippines, the latest addition to the 22 national fundraising offices all over the world.
