Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, an apostolic vicar of Phnom Penh, instructed the Cambodian Youth Group on how to connect with the planet like the Triune God, who is connected by love, at the World Youth Day Reflection Program, in Portugal, on August 2.
“This love is not for selfish gain, but for loving by loving, as Jesus loved us,” said the bishop at St. James Church Lisbon in Portugal on the formation of Environment Inclusive.
The bishop said, “Jesus is God, the Creator and Savior, and we are all like Him, so we are the Creator and Saviour of the world today with Him.”
“Service is not human nature because people are selfish, which leads to a cramped life,” he stated. And also, he mentioned four relationships so that we can take care of our common house.
He said that the first is a relationship with God, the source of life. If we have no relationship with anything divine or God, we die. And this relationship brings us to know that God created us, our brothers and sisters, and the environment.
Second, relationship with others through love, because God loves and created us and those brothers, we must love to help them grow in all sectors.
Third, our relationship with ourselves is self-love, which leads us to love others and the environment. Self-love is not selfish, one must be prepared, hygienic, strive to learn, and be well educated, in order to help oneself and others.
Last but not least, our relationship with the environment around us We have to watch out for Jesus’ point of view of love and care. The bishop said that we cannot live without nature, but nature can live without us.
World Youth Day is celebrated every four years, and this year the theme is “Mary arose and went with haste (Luke 1:39). This event is to bring together young Catholics from all over the world to reflect and share experiences about their faith, culture, traditions, and way of life.
A group of Cambodian youths, led by the bishops of the three dioceses, with a total of 45 priests, nuns and youths, travelled to Portugal to attend the 37th World Youth Day.
They left Cambodia on July 25 and will return on August 8.- RVA Khmer News Service
