Cardinal Désiré Tzarahazana, essentially the most senior Roman Catholic in Madagascar, has called upon believers in Jesus to set an example of their day by day lives at a time of instability within the country.
Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need, he said that failure to achieve this would only speed up societal decline within the country.
He spoke of the importance of a faith that’s deep, authentic and settled upon a solid mental and spiritual formation.
“We cannot serve Jesus Christ in church, and the devil outside,” he said.
“Why is our country sinking, sinking, sinking? There should be an issue with our faith.”
Madagascar is fighting increasing levels of poverty, corruption and insecurity, and that Christians and the Church only bring about meaningful change in the event that they lead by example,
The cardinal warned of the risks of a superficial faith that lacked conviction and was merely a matter of routine or maintaining appearances.
“Do we pray simply because everybody prays?” he said.
He added that clergymen should be properly trained and taught to avoid the risks of spiritual arrogance: “It is important to provide an excellent mental and spiritual formation to [seminarians], in order that the honour related to being a priest doesn’t spoil them.”
Madagascar stays an incredibly under-developed nation. Many Christian communities are effectively isolated as a consequence of a scarcity of roads. Even the roads that do exist will not be all the time protected as a consequence of security concerns, with gang crime becoming an increasing problem on the island.
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