Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle opened the Great Pilgrimage of Hope in Penang with a compelling call for Asia’s Church to become “renewed pilgrims of hope,” reminding the faithful that true hope is grounded not in optimism but in God’s grace and the transforming story of Jesus, a message now brought in full to Asian audiences by RVA.
At the outset, I would like to thank the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), especially its Office of Evangelization, for organizing this pilgrimage of hope for the peoples of Asia on this Jubilee Year of 2025. When I informed His Holiness Pope Leo XIV of my coming to this assembly, he said, “Greetings and blessings to all!” I also bring you warm greetings from the Dicastery for Evangelization, the Section for First Evangelization and the Young Particular Churches.
It is a grace, a blessing for me to be invited to deliver the first keynote address in this synodal gathering. In 2006, at the First Asian Mission Congress in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I was asked to deliver the keynote address titled “Mission in Asia: Telling the Story of Jesus.” I was a much younger bishop then, and a nervous wreck as I delivered my address. Who would not tremble before the outgoing Prefect of the then Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, and the incoming Prefect, Cardinal Ivan Dias, who were both in attendance? Now standing before you, I am still nervous or maybe more nervous. But in whatever circumstance, we continue telling the story of Jesus to Asia and to the world. We will never get tired of telling His story. Jesus is both the storyteller and the story who transforms the stories of persons, communities, sinners, the outcast, indeed of the world.
The title of the address assigned to me today is: “Going a Different Way as Renewed Pilgrims of Hope.” It follows through the general theme of the FABC 50 General Conference held in Bangkok in 2022 which was “Journeying Together as Peoples of Asia…and they went a different way” (Matthew 2:12). The biblical text from Matthew refers to the return of the Magi to their country after seeing and adoring Jesus the new King. But prompted by a dream, they took a different way, instead of returning to Herod. Like the Magi, the peoples of Asia are invited to go a different way as pilgrims of Hope. But we should do so prompted by holy dreams, not by a desire to escape.
There are two parts to my address, corresponding to the two sections of the topic assigned to me.
The First part. Let us first reflect on the second section of the title: “Renewed Pilgrims of Hope”. To become authentic pilgrims of hope we should be bearers of the story of Jesus. Through our Christian speech, actions, relationships, and persons, we become living stories of hope in Jesus. We would manifest how the story of Jesus has redirected our lives, and has written new stories of faith, hope and love.
Let me remind all of us that we are dealing with Christian hope. It is not just optimism or believing that things would turn out well. It is not wishful thinking nor a denial of difficulties. It is definitely not an escape from the harsh realities and trials of life. I notice a semantic confusion when we use “hope” when we mean “wish”. Some of you might be thinking now, “I hope we have wine for dinner tonight.” But it might be more proper to say, “I wish that we have wine for dinner tonight.” Fra Christian hope is a theological virtue, infused by God’s grace in us and has God as its object. Its object is not something but Someone, God incarnate in Jesus Christ. Going back to our semantic exercise, I think, instead of consoling a sick person with the words, “I hope you get well soon,” it would be more proper to say, “I hope in God for your healing.” The beauty of Christian hope is that because God in Jesus is both its origin and goal, it is profoundly human and humanizing. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1818, describes the Christian virtue of hope this way: “The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every person; it takes up the hopes that inspire human activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps us from discouragement; it sustains us during times of abandonment; it opens up our heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, we are preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.”
So Christian hope builds upon, purifies and orders the three human aspirations to happiness, to perseverance in times of trials and to authentic charity. Many people are misled by false images of happiness often connected to accumulation of money, expensive clothing, houses, jewelry and gadgets. Unfortunately some students complete academic requirements, not by patient study but by cheating. During electoral campaigns, some candidates offer various types of assistance to voters, not out of love but to gain their votes. So it is not charity but selfishness hiding behind externally good acts. These examples all lead to emptiness and despair. To determine if I am living the virtue of hope, I should ask the following questions: what gives me happiness? What is the source of my perseverance? How pure is my love? How is my life’s journey or pilgrimage fueled by hope and aimed at hope? Are they directed to Jesus and His Kingdom?
The Second part. Let us now turn to the first section of the title of my address: “going a different way”, an important aspect of the pilgrimage of the Magi, of their pilgrimage of hope.
The story of the Magi is actually the story of Jesus, who is the Light or Star, the Way or Path to Life. Jesus calls and gathers peoples from diverse countries and cultures, leads them to His person and His Kingdom. The Magi’s pilgrimage is a classic story of hope. It is a story of how Jesus’ light generates a pilgrimage made up of various stages, calling for discernment, patience and clarity of goal.
The story of the Magi with Jesus also unfolds in interaction with another story, that of Herod. Their stories are intertwined. Their stories reveal different types of pilgrimages: with or without Jesus, towards or against Jesus. Their stories present the contrast between a pilgrimage of hope and a pilgrimage of despair. I want to dwell on this intricate confluence between the story of the Magi with the story of Herod, within the story of Jesus. I should say that the Magi took a different way not only at the end but from the very beginning of their pilgrimage. From the start, the Magi have been taking a different path from that of Herod’s. The Magi chose the way of hope, totally different from Herod’s way of desperation. Let me indicate at least three elements of their stories.
First element: the Magi were from the East. The Jews numbered them among the Gentiles. Some experts say they belonged to a priestly caste, others say they were magicians who dealt with spirits and dreams, others say they were astrologers, experts in reading the heavens and the stars. They must have had some exposure to Jewish thought and teachings for them to know about the birth of a new King of the Jews. This “rudimentary” knowledge of the prophecy was complemented by their reading of the stars. Every person has a star, so the ancient believed. (This does not mean that every person is a star! Rather every person has a star!) Reading creation with some knowledge of scripture or God’s word spurred on their pilgrimage. Their destination was the new King whom they wanted to adore. They looked up to the stars, beyond themselves, listening to the echo, the whisper of prophets unknown to them.
How about Herod? There was no movement at all on his part. Why should he move? He had power. Power gave him weight, making it difficult for him to move. He did not need to move but he made other people move. He would keep his power stable and immovable. Searching for the new King would never cross his mind. After all, he was the king. If Herod were to engage in a pilgrimage, it would be a journey towards himself. But in truth that was not movement but stagnation, slow corruption towards death. Looking only to himself, he became blind to creation and deaf to scripture.
Sisters and brothers, do we still look at the stars, the heavens, the hills, the trees, the rivers and persons, at each other? Do we have time to look, see and listen? Do we even bother? Or are we fixated on our electronic devices and individual concerns? But even if we try to look at creation, will we still see stars or are they already dimmed by smog? Are there still trees and hills and rivers to behold? Or only monuments to false kingdoms that promise progress and prosperity but instead bring death through corruption? Without creation, how can we discern the presence of the true Creator and King of the Universe?
Second element. The Magi’s pilgrimage included an acceptance of their ignorance. Reading the stars and having sketchy prophetic pronouncements were not sufficient to complete the pilgrimage. So they went to inquire in Jerusalem, the holy destination of pilgrimages of devout Jews. The Magi’s pilgrimage of hope needed humility, the willingness to learn from others and to be taught by others. If their goal was to reach the new King that had been prophesied, there was no better place to inquire than in Jerusalem, the natural habitat of the chief priests, scribes and other religious movements like the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Magi, often called the wise men, were people of consultation and listening. True wisdom does not reside in those who pretend to already know everything. Friends, do you hear echoes of Synodality and Conversations in the Spirit?
How about Herod, his royal court and royal city? Herod was surrounded by experts who definitely knew the Law and the Prophets but were not affected by what they knew. What they knew of Scripture did not move them. This is another case of immovability. Herod’s stagnation was contagious. So what were these experts doing in the royal court? Were they mere decorations to enhance the glamor of royal power? What a waste of gifts and talents! Coming to our own time, we are fortunate to have training programs in pastoral management, inculcating transparency and accountability in the administration of goods and property. But often I wonder whether they also teach how to handle, as good stewards, the manifold gifts of the Holy Spirit in our communities. Gifts are wasted when they are ignored and undeveloped. But they are also wasted when they are not used for the purpose for which they were given by the Holy Spirit. In Herod’s story, he called the experts to share their knowledge only when the power structure was threatened. But the gifts of the Holy Spirit are meant to build up the whole Body by promoting the common good, not to prop up the career and ambition of Herod and his many clones.
Third element. From the chief priests and scribes, Herod and the Magi learned that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea, as written in the prophet Micah (5:2). The Magi acted promptly on the information. They resumed their pilgrimage, with an assurance from the prophetic word, but still guided by the Star. Upon entering the place where the Child King was, they rejoiced, worshipped him, and gave him the gifts suited for a Messiah King who will suffer. The Magi became prophets themselves. Their study and effort culminated in Jesus. Through their worship and homage, they affirmed that Jesus was God’s gift to all peoples. He is the joy and consolation of God to all. He welcomes all. The Magi can testify to the open arms of the new King.
How about Herod? It must have shocked Herod to learn that in fact a new King of the Jews had been born. Maybe equally shocking was that he was born in Bethlehem, not in royal Jerusalem! Instead of receiving with joy the fulfillment of the prophecy, Herod and Jerusalem got troubled. A threat to their being the center and the focus now existed. So Herod plotted a strategy that would have implicated the Magi as a source of verification of the existence of the boy king in Bethlehem. But his intention was clear: to kill the new king. Herod’s insecurity, anxiety, fear built a community of conspirators in the death of infant and young boys in Bethlehem and surrounding villages. The hearts of their mothers were also pierced by the brutal end their sons met. The goal of all this was to preserve Herod’s hold on his Kingdom, his Jerusalem. Also in our contemporary world, despair or desperation leads to murder even of innocent people, children, mothers and villages. Social media and digital technology, which have great potential for education, communion and social transformation, are being used by desperate people to ruin the reputation of others, to steal identities, to spread falsehood, to sow chaos and to advance self-serving interests. Hopeless people are not joyful. They do not spread joy and will not tolerate joy in others. We invite Herod and his contemporary cohorts: go out of your illusionary Jerusalems. There is much wisdom and joy in the poor Bethlehems that you have ignored or even despised .
I now conclude with a question: how many Magi were there? We usually say three. But the gospel of Matthew does not say so. There were three gifts. There could have been 2 magi only. But I sincerely think that there were more than three of them. I dream that in every age there would be hundreds, thousands, millions and countless Magi, including the delegates here and the communities we serve, as numerous as the stars! We need more Magi, less Herod’s as pilgrims in our world.
A few months ago, I attended an inter-religious event in a country which I will not name. Most of us participants were billeted in a huge hotel. On the morning of the second day, the organizers informed me that I would be part of a delegation to meet the head of state in the presidential palace, and that I should be ready in the lobby at a certain hour to be collected by a private car. Caught off guard, I prepared hurriedly in my room and rushed down to the lobby. In my rush I took one wrong turn after another. It felt like I was getting farther away from the lobby. Then as I was walking briskly on one corridor with shops, I heard a woman’s voice, “Oh my God! Oh my God!” She sounded hurt, so I stopped, turned to the direction of her voice and asked, “Are you all right, madam?” She looked at me, saying, “Oh my God. Is it you? Cardinal Tagle?” Now frightened, I said, “Yes. I am looking for the lobby.” She said, “Oh my. I see you only on YouTube. Now I see you in person! Due to my work, I cannot go to Mass every Sunday. But I watch and listen to your meditations on the readings to help me pray. Thank you Cardinal. Can you bless me?” I agreed. She was from the Philippines. She cried profusely as I prayed over her. When the prayer was over she said, “May I have a selfie with you?” I agreed. Then she added, “May I call the other woman from the Philippines so you can bless her too?” Okay. While this was going on, I realized that I did not get lost. Jesus led me to this path. I met Him in those two great women, migrant workers of perseverance and hope. In fact I forgot the visit to the head of state. A different path has been opened.
I said earlier that the story of the Magi was fundamentally the story of Jesus. It was Jesus who went a different way. It was Jesus who guided the Magi to go a different way. Jesus chose a way different from that of Herod. He, the Son of God, emptied Himself to embrace human frailty. He was born king as a poor child in a manger. He was a teacher who had nowhere to lay His head. He chose disciples who would not be accepted by any rabbi. He taught the truth but was the subject of lies and false testimony. He was enthroned on a cross accused of being an impostor king. He continues to live in the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the prisoners, the strangers. Yes, He takes a different way. But remember, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the Star. He is our goal. He is our hope! Come and join Jesus’ pilgrimage!
