Archbishop Charles John Brown, papal nuncio to the Philippines, reminded the religious of their “mission” to “fight lies” as “sons and daughters of the light and truth.”
The archbishop made the call on the occasion of the World Day of Consecrated Life on February 2.
“We, the consecrated people, need to fight the small and big lies that are both in us and around us,” said Archbishop Brown. “Everything that we say should be true,” he added.
The prelate presided over the Eucharistic celebration marking the 25th World Day of Consecrated Life in Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City.
Archbishop Brown noted that the human family is now “living in an age in which we are struggling between truth and error,” adding that many kinds of stories are “half-true and half-false.”
“We live in an age, in which lying has become very very common… We need to love the truth,” he said.
He reminded religious men and women that “truth is not abstract” and that “truth has a name and a face – the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ.”
In 1997, Saint John Paul II instituted the observance of the World Day of Consecrated Life during the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.
Archbishop Brown said the celebration aims to help the Church to “appreciate the witness of the religious people.”
