5 ways to change the world, according to Cardinal Quevedo

MANILA – Listen up, young ones who want to change the world! During one of the biggest Catholic youth events in the Philippines this year, Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo gave five ways to concretely change the world one day at a time, one person at a time.Speaking at the National Youth Day (NYD) 2017 commissioning and send-off Mass at the RT Lim Boulevard, Zamboanga City, he said there are nearly half a dozen areas where young people can naturally shine because of the specific stage of life they are in and because of their passion and energy.Love and friendship Transform friendship into a deeper, profound love, said the prelate to thousands of young people who had spent close to a week learning about social issues, undergoing formation, and meeting new friends. According to Quevedo, true friendship is possible when one recognizes that your friend is a person whom God created, and that your friendship is based on this. Friendship has to be transformed, because you learned today how to walk with God, with love, he added.Environment. Talking about inter-generational justice, he then encouraged the youth to be conscious of the little things that impact the environment, one that will be inherited by future generations. We need to leave a planet that is worth cultivating and be a resident of. Proclamation of the Gospel. You can’t share what you don’t have. This is basically Quevedo’s reminder to the young who wish to spread the Gospel. First of all, know what the Gospel is about, the good newsand the liberation of ourselves from sinfulness. He also called on millennials to use their being tech savvy to share the Gospel online. As millennials, yours is the digital language, you understand the language of computers, social media. …Use your cellphones to proclaim the Gospel of God, he said.The challenge of youth itself. The prelate also asked the youth to reach out to more young people and to help change [their] mentality … so that idealism and energy of young people be used for the good. According to Quevedo, this can be done by simply shunning gossip and refusing to be what he called gossip terrorists. Bearers of peace in our world. Lastly, he asked the youth to foster peace in the world and in others by first having it within because of God. Peace comes from God, you receive peace because of God. … [Have] peace in the mind and heart. If there is peace within people it is God’s love that [binds] two people together, he said.With reports from Chrixy Paguirigan / CBCPNews