NAGA CITY, Dec. 26, 2009— The tumultuous events that swept the country this year have left many people wondering what the incoming year 2010 would bring in their lives.

In his Christmas Message to the Catholic faithful in the Bicol region, Caceres Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legazpi, OP noted how turbulent the year has been and said “we cannot help but brace ourselves for an unknown year to come.”

“Would it be a year of more blessings or more chaos? Will we have better leaders or the same old ones? Will there be more strong typhoons or some few ones next year?” the prelate asked.

In the face of these uncertainties the birth of Jesus brings hope to the heart and the courage to face what is yet to come, he said.

God does not want us to run from away from this world but to transform it, he added.

“This is to message of the Incarnation,” he said. “With the help of God’s grace we have the power to transform evil into good.”

“[Through] a change of our hearts, from selfishness to love, we can truly find hope alive within us,” he further explained.

Legazpi said God could have “invented a back door for us to escape from our worries.” But God chose to be one with us, he added.

“He became like us” as Jesus constantly assures us: “I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you (Jn 13:18),” the prelate said.

He said people may opt for a silent solitude away from the yearly grind and the unnecessary rush and hustle-bustle which the season demands. But “the real spirit of Christmas prevents us from doing so.”

The prelate urged the faithful to entrust themselves to the mother of God.

“Our Ina, Our Lady of Peñafrancia,[should] be our Stella Maris, our guide towards Jesus in this sea of uncertainty as we enter an entirely new year,” he said. (Melo M. Acuna)