Manila (AsiaNews) – "Let us take care of ourselves," Mgr. Oscar Cruz, Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, writes in a letter to be read during mass in all the churches and chapels of his archdiocese this weekend.

In the letter Archbishop Cruz calls on the faithful to storm the heavens with prayers: "As poor people, Christ says that he loves us dearly. As poor people of God, our Father cannot but answer our prayers. As our Father, He cannot but give us our daily bread."

Filipinos are indeed in a dismal economic situation. Even President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo concedes that the country faces a "fiscal crisis." For this reason, her government has urged everyone to make some sacrifices.

The government's deficit is so high that politicians, including senators and members of Congress, have been asked to give up at least part of their "country-wide development funds", i.e. their "pork barrel" monies worth millions of pesos, to help the government reduce the national deficit. Then again, the president has not preached by example. Her presidential slush fund remains unknown, whilst her desire to raise new taxes are becoming more transparent.

The poor and the downward mobile middle class –"the new poor"– are the ones who are feeling the pinch of the economic crunch, not government officials, not politicians, i.e. not those who drive around in luxury cars, spend millions in casinos, or on young female companions.

In a country where official estimates put the number of Filipinos out of work at 5 million, the cost of basic necessities has risen, especially the cost of drugs and medicines. For their part, energy prices are increasing on an almost weekly basis.

Writing about this Sunday's Gospel, Archbishop Cruz reminds his flock of the special love Jesus had for the poor, for those "who are helpless and needy, [for those] who find it hard to make a living, [for those] who have little money to spend and few resources to count on. These [people] have the special love and concern of Christ. And today, in our country, most of us are these people."

"Salaries are practically stagnant while prices are still on the rise. And it is likely that things will get worse before they get better. We are already poor. And poorer still we will become in times ahead," the archbishop warns. Yet, he urges Filipinos to "never, never lose hope for [we] have endured harder times in the past, are doing so in the present and most probably will do so in the future."

Archbishop Cruz ends his letter with a call to prayer.  "May the Father bless us all! May the Son love us all! May the Holy Spirit protect us all!" (SE)