Facebook Pixel Youth's mission: ‘Clever as serpents’ | Manila Bulletin - newspaper - Read this story on Magzter.com
Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD

Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD

Get unlimited access to 10,000+ magazines, newspapers and Premium stories for just

$149.99
 
$74.99/Year

Try GOLD - Free

Youth's mission: ‘Clever as serpents’

Manila Bulletin

|

September 25, 2025

When Cardinal Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), stood before the crowd at the EDSA People Power Monument last Sept. 21, 2025, he invoked an urgent reminder from Scripture: “Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).

His call was addressed in a special way to the Filipino youth upon whose shoulders now rest the onus of the unfinished mission of People Power. Their awesome task is to serve as the backbone of the resistance movement against corruption and plunder.

This exhortation did not come in isolation. Just days earlier, the CBCP issued its pastoral letter, Beyond Survival, a sobering document that calls attention to the urgency of undertaking three concrete lines of action: (1) reject patronage politics, (2) support an independent probe into the ghost flood control projects, and (3) demand justice, not impunity.

Taken together, these are not mere institutional reforms; they are moral imperatives. They are a summons to discipleship in the public square.

The biblical peg could not have been more apt. In Luke 19:5, Jesus calls Zaccheus, the tax collector, to come down from his perch. Long complicit in corrupt systems, he repents by pledging restitution. His story is proof that no one is beyond conversion, but also that authentic repentance must involve concrete acts of justice.

In Matthew’s gospel, we discern the call for balance. The followers of Christ must combine shrewdness with innocence—astute in recognizing the tactics of the corrupt, yet steadfast in moral integrity (Matthew 10:16). In a political landscape riddled with patronage and deception, this dual posture is precisely what the youth must cultivate. They cannot afford to be naive, but neither must they fall into the cynicism and compromise that have corrupted generations before them.

MORE STORIES FROM Manila Bulletin

Manila Bulletin

Manila Bulletin

The grace of a quiet Sunday: A reminder that we are more than our inboxes

There was a time when Sundays felt different.

time to read

2 mins

March 1, 2026

Manila Bulletin

Delfin Lee, 4 others acquitted in P6.6-billion estafa case

San Fernando City regional trial court (RTC) in Pampanga has acquitted Globe Asiatique (GA) founder Delfin S. Lee and four others in an estafa case for alleged use of \"ghost borrowers\" to get P6.6 billion in housing loans from the Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-IBIG fund, from 2008 to 2011.

time to read

2 mins

March 1, 2026

Manila Bulletin

Manila Bulletin

300 Afghan forces killed in airstrikes

Pakistan’s military, backed by artillery and air power, struck more Afghan military installations deep inside Afghanistan overnight and into early Saturday, killing over 300 Afghan forces in days-long border clashes, a government spokesman and officials said.

time to read

2 mins

March 1, 2026

Manila Bulletin

Manila Bulletin

Marcos ‘well, healthy’ – Palace

Malacañang dismissed rumors that President Marcos had been rushed to a hospital, saying the Chief Executive was in a private meeting and continuing to work over the weekend.

time to read

1 min

March 1, 2026

Manila Bulletin

Office sector enters era of 'sustained stability'

The Philippine office sector is entering a phase of sustained stability following a robust recovery in 2025, as a surge in leasing activity and a tightening supply pipeline begin to reshape the commercial landscape.

time to read

2 mins

February 28, 2026

Manila Bulletin

An auspicious meal

Post Valentine, post Chinese New Year, our bon vivant Benjie issued a call to arms: Let’s do lunch at Red Jade!

time to read

1 mins

February 28, 2026

Manila Bulletin

Fuel prices set to rise for 9th straight week

Domestic fuel prices are set to rise for the ninth consecutive time next week as escalating Middle Eastern tensions and shifting Asian trade dynamics outweigh more optimistic global supply forecasts.

time to read

1 mins

February 28, 2026

Manila Bulletin

BSP shifts to 'vigilant' stance on policy rates

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is likely at the finish line of its monetary easing cycle following last week’s quarter-point reduction, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., though persistent slump in economic growth could force policymakers back to the table.

time to read

1 mins

February 28, 2026

Manila Bulletin

South Korean President Lee to visit PH on March 3-4

Malacañang announced that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will undertake a state visit to the Philippines from March 3 to 4 upon the invitation of President Marcos.

time to read

3 mins

February 28, 2026

Manila Bulletin

Killings continued under Marcos admin; Palace open to probe

In an attempt to prove that the exit of former president Rodrigo Duterte from power did not stop the killings, defense counsel Nicholas Kaufman argued that deaths under the hands of state agents continued under the Marcos administration.

time to read

2 mins

February 28, 2026

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size