Bishop Lee encourages believers to resist consumerism

Macau Bishop Stephen Lee has conveyed the annual traditional Christmas message, encouraging the public to stay away from consumerism and materialism, as previously conveyed by Pope Francis.

The Pope often reminds the public to live a simple life, not a culture of profligacy and abandonment.

“Since the market tends to promote extreme consumerism in an effort to sell its products, people can easily get caught up in a whirlwind of needless buying and spending,” the Pope has said, as cited in the second encyclical of Pope Francis. “Indeed, if we do not correct our mindset and allow consumerism and materialism to spread, people will become even more possessive.”

Building on this idea, Bishop Lee further remarked that the public needs to understand that the meaning of life is not only in material possessions, but also love, which is the bread of life, quoting a bible verse.

For the Bishop, the key to changing this unhealthy culture cannot be based on technology alone, but rather “should come from a change in man. Otherwise, it will only cure the symptoms and not the root cause.”

He also referenced Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, whom he said “asks us to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, and asceticism which entails learning to give, and not simply to give up.”

“In this Christmas season, I encourage you to imitate Jesus in the manger and approach the people around you with a simple, warm heart and attitude. Let us first give more time to infect our family and friends around us with the spirit of joy, gratitude and care,” the Bishop said.

“I would also like to remind everyone that the spiritual value of the universal Christmas celebration is the most important and worthy of repeated emphasis,” he added.

Further, Pope Francis also delivered a message on Christmas Eve about the essence of Christmas. He called for the believers to remember to do good to their neighbors and the Church.

The Pope frequently emphasizes his call for “personal conversion” in his reform-
minded papacy, believing that true reform cannot be imposed from high, but discerned from within. LV