SAYING that next year’s national election is crucial in the life of the nation, the Catholic Church’s leadership has urged the Filipino faithful to prepare spiritually for it by praying the act of consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
“As we conclude the year of St. Paul which the Holy Father inaugurated on June 29, 2008, we invite the Filipino faithful to start preparing spiritually for another crucial transition in the life of our nation—namely, the elections in May 2010,” Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said.
In a pastoral exhortation, the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo declared June 2009 to June 2010 as a year of Prayer and Work for Peace-building and Lay Participation in Social Change, dedicating it to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Peace building
The prelate called on everyone to actively participate in peace building, saying that from the wounded heart of Jesus come grace of healing and reconciliation.
“Let this grace flow through us, the community of Christ’s disciples, into the bloodstream of our nation. Let it find a concrete expression in serious advocacies for peace and dialogue, healing and reconciliation amidst conflict-situations in all possible circumstances of life,” he said.
Lagdameo asked all church entities across the country “to establish and form groups that can effectively focus their ministry or apostolate on peace-building and genuine reconciliation through dialogue, drawing encouragement especially from St. Paul’s profound insights on these topics.”
“Let us consciously lay the moral foundations on which we can build a more stable, more mature Philippine society. Let this foundation be not just a change of leaders or a change of social and political structures, but above all, a radical change of heart, commending ourselves to Jesus and his Blessed Mother as we entreat them to ‘…make our hearts so like to (theirs) that we may holy be!’ ” said the prelate.
Laity’s role in social change
The archbishop stressed the role of the laity in working for the “moral regeneration” of the country, even as he challenged them to take the lead in the pursuit of moral leadership to steer the country forward.
“We challenge our Catholic laity, in particular, to take the lead in the task of moral renewal towards a deeper and more lasting change in the Philippine society,” he said.
Lagdameo said that as pastors, bishops exercise spiritual and moral leadership as regards communal and ecclesial life in parishes and dioceses throughout the country.
But that kind of leadership, the prelate explained, cannot be extended to politics and similar endeavors lest religious leaders be accused of power play or expanding their influence beyond what their office calls for.
He said the participation of the laity is crucial in this aspect, since they can penetrate and exercise moral leadership in the realm of politics and governance, business and economics, sciences and mass media, where religious leaders cannot.
“The participation of the laity in moral leadership pertaining to every specific discipline and institution in the Philippine society is most essential, if we want the Gospel and the social teachings of the Church to have a tangible and positive impact at all on our life as a nation,” Lagdameo stressed.
Calling on all lay faithful involved in various spheres of influence, he challenged them all to exercise their God-given talents for the common good and give a “concrete expression to Christian discipleship through responsible citizenship.”
“We challenge the laity involved in legislation to unite themselves and consciously allow their actions to be guided by the truth of the Gospel and the Christian faith. We urge the Catholic lay people involved in legitimate business to organize themselves and consciously practice their trade with a strong sense of corporate social responsibility informed by the social teachings of the Church. We enjoin all Catholic law enforcers to form associations among themselves that consciously renounce violence, respect basic human rights, and truly work for the preservation of peace and social order. We call upon the Catholic laity involved in social communications and the modern mass media to form networks among themselves that can articulate a genuinely Christian ethics in their practice of their profession,” Lagdameo exhorted.
The “Year of prayer” will formally begin on the feast days of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (June 19) and the Immaculate Heart of Mary (June 20) and end with the feasts of Two Hearts on June 2010.
Lagdameo urged the faithful to recite the prayer to the Two Hearts every Sunday after Communion.
“May we ask that we start praying the following prayer at least every Sunday after communion in all Catholic churches and chapels all over the country from June 2009 to June 2010,” he said.
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