Herald Malaysia
PENANG – “Greetings and blessings to all.” This was the Holy Father’s message to participants of the Great Pilgrimage of Hope 2025, conveyed when Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle informed Pope Leo of his participation.
With that blessing, Cardinal Tagle set the tone for his keynote address: a reminder that Jesus is both the storyteller and the story, the story that changed the whole world.
Drawing from the Gospel of Matthew, he reflected on the Magi who, after encountering the Christ Child, were prompted by a dream to take a different way home. “Their journey was transformed,” Cardinal Tagle said, “and so too must ours be as renewed pilgrims of hope.” This message resonates deeply with the 50th FABC Conference’s theme of journeying together. Like the Magi, the peoples of Asia are invited to discern new paths, not out of avoidance, but out of faith and transformation.
Cardinal Tagle reminded the faithful that Christian hope is not mere optimism or wishful thinking, nor an escape from life’s struggles. “Hope is a theological virtue infused by God’s grace, with God Himself as its final object. We do not simply wish for God; we hope in God.”
This hope, he explained, is profoundly human. “In Jesus, God entered the world to purify our aspirations and orient them toward the Kingdom of Heaven. Hope sustains believers in discouragement, strengthens them in abandonment, and allows them to find joy even in trials.” He added that authentic charity must flow from this hope, purifying human desires and directing them to God’s reign.
The Magi’s pilgrimage, Cardinal Tagle noted, is a classic story of hope, intertwined with the despair of Herod. Unlike Herod, who remained unmoved and blind to creation, the Magi looked to the stars, listened to prophecy, and humbly sought guidance. “Their openness led them to Bethlehem, where the Child welcomed them — Gentiles from afar — as honoured guests.”
Herod, by contrast, plotted destruction. “Hopelessness cannot tolerate the joy of others,” Cardinal Tagle warned, drawing parallels to modern times when reputations are torn down or service is refused where Christ calls. “Today it becomes so easy to ruin someone’s reputation online.”
“We need more Magi and fewer Herods,” Cardinal Tagle urged. “We need copilgrims who, like the Magi, are willing to take a different way, guided not by power or convenience but by humility, discernment, and faith.”
He shared a personal story from an interreligious gathering, where after losing his way, he encountered two women who sought his blessing. “In that moment, I realised I had not been lost at all, Jesus had led me there.”
Cardinal Tagle concluded with a powerful reminder that it was Jesus who went a different way. “He guided the Magi. He chose the path of humility over worldly power. Born in Bethlehem, with no place to lay His head, He taught the truth and revealed Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is our hope, and in Him, the Great Pilgrimage of Hope finds its meaning.” – Herald Malaysia
