Philippines: Archbishop Villegas calls for conversion on Good Friday

By Fr. Mark Robin Destura, RCJ 

On Good Friday, “What happened? They killed God. And before killing God, they mocked God. And before mocking God, they insulted God and stripped God," Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in his reflection on Christ’s Passion, calling the faithful to examine their lives and return to God.

In his Good Friday message, the Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan began by recalling the biblical image of creation, when light first emerged from darkness.

“Before God created the sun and the moon and stars, there was darkness. There was no light. There was total darkness. And then the Lord commanded, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light,” he said.

Yet, he pointed to another moment in history when darkness once again covered the earth—on Good Friday.

On Good Friday, he said, “There was darkness. Are we living in the darkness or are we living in the light? Since that mockery, since that insult, since that murder of God two thousand years ago, there will always be darkness until we proclaim truly this is the Son of God.”

A world still in darkness

Archbishop Villegas warned that the darkness of Good Friday is not only a past event but a present reality.

“We still live in the darkness of Good Friday,” he said, noting that God continues to be mocked, insulted, and rejected in today’s world. He expressed concern over the growing normalization of blasphemy and indifference toward faith.

“We have heard God being mocked… and people clapping and laughing,” he said, adding that even the Church and its leaders continue to face ridicule for proclaiming the Gospel of peace and love. For the Archbishop, this ongoing rejection of God reveals a deeper spiritual darkness that persists in society.    

A call to repentance

In response, he called the faithful to humility and sincere repentance. “What should be done is only one thing: to bow down our heads and accept that the Lord is Lord,” he said.

He urged believers to acknowledge their own participation in sin, whether through actions, indifference, or silence.

“Accept that we have mocked the Lord and we have contributed to that mockery. Accept that we have insulted the Lord and we have laughed as He was being insulted,” he said.

This act of humility, he explained, opens the way for God’s mercy and restoration.

From darkness to light

The Archbishop emphasized that true conversion leads to renewed life in Christ.

“The Lord will embrace you back. Bring back the light of your life, and the darkness will be gone again because the Lord has risen in your life,” he said.

However, he stressed that conversion requires concrete change.

“The blasphemies have to end. The lying has to end. The vulgarity has to end. And the murders have to end. And support for murders, support for vulgarity, and support for lying must end,” he said, calling for a rejection of all forms of sin and injustice.

A renewed Easter hope

Concluding his reflection, Archbishop Villegas reminded the faithful that Good Friday ultimately leads to the hope of Easter.

The Archbishop reiterated, “If you stand up for the Lord, there is only one thing waiting for you: a new life, a new light, a new Easter.”