Governor Calvo replaced his weekly address (supposed to be released next Monday) with this special address about the election of the new Pope.
VIDEO: Click here to watch the Governor’s weekly address. See this and other videos on the Governor’s YouTube channel,www.youtube.com/
TEXT: The text of the address follows:
Servus Tuus
By Eddie Baza Calvo
Good morning, my fellow Guamanians,
…and congratulations to the Catholic faithful of our island and the world. Part of the central mission of our administration is the fight against poverty. Through policy and action we have sought a better quality of life for all. We engaged in education reform, affordable housing, payment of tax refunds… all toward reversing social decay.
There is a saying, that it is not the destination that matters as much as it is the journey. The moments that have touched my heart the most are in this journey to uplift the poor. We’ve all been in this journey. Either we’ve struggled to get by. Or we helped someone else through a tough time. Our hearts sink at the sight of homeless children… or in the conditions many families live through.
Yet no matter where I have gone on this island… no matter the condition of their lives or their homes… the poor have smiled through their suffering… laughed through their grief… asked God to bless me with good counsel. Just a few minutes ago I was at the Front Lawn for my wife’s Easter Egg Hunt for children with disabilities. And though there must be challenges for families who live with disabilities, all I saw were joy and smiles.
Whether you are a Christian or not — Pope Francis gives all of us hope along this journey… That as he tends to his flock he will rally us all to uplift the poor and the suffering. The name he chose is telling. St. Francis of Assisi was a man who cast away as much as he could live without… to live a life of poverty and prayer. He loved animals, slept on the ground, and sacrificed with charity. He said, “Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received — only what you have given.”
Pope Francis’s new Papacy is a call for all of us to reach down into the depths of our hearts… to do even more for others… to be our brothers and sisters’ keepers… to work harder… and to love stronger. This is the message for our time… a time that is fast changing… with poverty growing and social injustice climbing. This is a season of renewal for us all. For many who have fallen to drugs, or depression, or anger, revenge, or grief… let us be uplifted by this reminder from the Heavens that we can let go from these shackles. In our poverty we can find happiness and strength by putting others before ourselves… by putting God before us.
Let us rejoice and together lift up those who struggle and those who weep. Let us wipe the tears from the grief of drug addiction, guilt, poverty, and suffering… So we can march forward together as a new island, in a new season of peace.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen
By Eddie Baza Calvo
Good morning, my fellow Guamanians,
…and congratulations to the Catholic faithful of our island and the world. Part of the central mission of our administration is the fight against poverty. Through policy and action we have sought a better quality of life for all. We engaged in education reform, affordable housing, payment of tax refunds… all toward reversing social decay.
There is a saying, that it is not the destination that matters as much as it is the journey. The moments that have touched my heart the most are in this journey to uplift the poor. We’ve all been in this journey. Either we’ve struggled to get by. Or we helped someone else through a tough time. Our hearts sink at the sight of homeless children… or in the conditions many families live through.
Yet no matter where I have gone on this island… no matter the condition of their lives or their homes… the poor have smiled through their suffering… laughed through their grief… asked God to bless me with good counsel. Just a few minutes ago I was at the Front Lawn for my wife’s Easter Egg Hunt for children with disabilities. And though there must be challenges for families who live with disabilities, all I saw were joy and smiles.
Whether you are a Christian or not — Pope Francis gives all of us hope along this journey… That as he tends to his flock he will rally us all to uplift the poor and the suffering. The name he chose is telling. St. Francis of Assisi was a man who cast away as much as he could live without… to live a life of poverty and prayer. He loved animals, slept on the ground, and sacrificed with charity. He said, “Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received — only what you have given.”
Pope Francis’s new Papacy is a call for all of us to reach down into the depths of our hearts… to do even more for others… to be our brothers and sisters’ keepers… to work harder… and to love stronger. This is the message for our time… a time that is fast changing… with poverty growing and social injustice climbing. This is a season of renewal for us all. For many who have fallen to drugs, or depression, or anger, revenge, or grief… let us be uplifted by this reminder from the Heavens that we can let go from these shackles. In our poverty we can find happiness and strength by putting others before ourselves… by putting God before us.
Let us rejoice and together lift up those who struggle and those who weep. Let us wipe the tears from the grief of drug addiction, guilt, poverty, and suffering… So we can march forward together as a new island, in a new season of peace.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen