Photo by Sheridan Joy Delfino/ THE FLAME
THOMASIANS SHOULD refrain from promoting hate against those who possess different beliefs and continue living their faith even if they are despised for it, a Dominican priest said.
“We should be wary of hatred. Because in the modern world, hatred persists,” UST Central Seminary rector Fr. Clarence Victor Marquez, O.P. said in his homily during the last day of the triduum mass in honor of the Thomasian martyrs on Friday, Nov. 6.
“Even if it is challenging and difficult, even if people hate us, despise us, consider us as enemies, we should continue living and witnessing to our faith. And that means not hating, but loving,” he added.
Marquez explained that the causes for canonization of the Thomasian martyrs were considered after they were declared to be killed in odium fidei or “in hatred of the faith.”
The 17 Thomasian martyrs were students and academic staff members of the University who were persecuted in Japan, Vietnam and Spain between 1633 and 1936. Their feast day is celebrated every Nov. 6.
Doing the opposite of love, Marquez said, would mean detesting someone who is distant or who possesses a different belief. The hatred led to the killing of the Thomasian martyrs, he noted.
“They were martyred by hatred of the faith by people who consider them to be different. To be far. To be unlike them,” the seminary rector said.
Marquez urged Thomasians to take a bigger responsibility against promoting hatred. He also called on Thomasians to emulate the martyrs’ expression of faith and be prepared to offer their lives to God.
“Because after all, they are still our neighbors… We may have different views, different races, different beliefs and religions, they are still our neighbors,” he added.
“Those who are different. Those who are opposed to us. And we, as Christians, should not be full of hatred towards them.”
The triduum mass was held at the Santisimo Rosario Parish church. F – Sheridan Joy Delfino
