Cardinal Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines鈥擧ypocrites be damned.
Not exactly the way Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said it but he nonetheless urged Catholics not to be hypocrites in his Ash Wednesday homily to usher in the season of Lent.
According to a report from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, Tagle said that people should engage in activities such as almsgiving, prayer, and fasting for God and not to 鈥減ut themselves up.鈥�
鈥淲hat does Jesus call those people? Hypocrites,鈥� Tagle said at the Arzobispado de Manila. 鈥淓ngaging in religious activities not in order to return to God but to be full of self.鈥�
鈥淭hat is not holiness. That is definitely not a way to return to God. That is hypocrisy.鈥�
Cardinal Tagle said that politicians who promote themselves through the guise of charity are not genuinely helping and their actions are solely for themselves.
鈥淚f I鈥檓 a politician, people will vote for me because of my charity work,鈥� Tagle said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not for God but for one鈥檚 self.鈥�
He added that fasting during the Lenten season should have an 鈥渆lement of self-discipline鈥� as to return ones self to God and not just for the purpose of losing weight.
RELATED STORY
It鈥檚 Ash Wednesday; season of Lent starts