Sep 082014
 

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has set a day of prayer for peace in Iraq and Syria on Sunday, September 14.

CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said the CBCP Permanent Council declared September 14 a National Day of Prayer for Peace in Iraq and Syria.

“We request the Most Reverend Archbishops and Bishops to oblige all priests to celebrate all Masses that day for the special intentions of the persecuted Christians in Syria and Iraq. In all our Masses on the feast of the Holy Cross let us unite ourselves with our suffering brothers and sisters, commending to the God who is our hope their pains, their shattered lives and dreams, their bereavement and their loss,” Villegas said in a statement dated September 5 and which was posted online Sunday by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has set a day of prayer for peace in Iraq and Syria this coming Sunday, September 14.

CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said the CBCP Permanent Council declared Sept. 14 a “National Day of Prayer for Peace in Iraq and Syria.”

“We request the Most Reverend Archbishops and Bishops to oblige all priests to celebrate all Masses that day for the special intentions of the persecuted Christians in Syria and Iraq.

In all our Masses on the feast of the Holy Cross let us unite ourselves with our suffering brothers and sisters, commending to the God who is our hope their pains, their shattered lives and dreams, their bereavement and their loss,” Villegas said in a statement dated Sept. 5, which was posted online Sunday by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.

“We pray that even as many of them now see no way out of the misery that has been visited on them, the God who opens paths through the sea and ways in the desert, may make a way for them to the future that can only be His gift!” Villegas added.

September 14 is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.

Also, Villegas urged bishops and priests to call for a charity collection on September 14 for the victims in Iraq and Syria.

Collections must be remitted to the CBCP Secretariat by September 30, and the CBCP will transmit the charity aid to the Apostolic Nunciatures in Iraq and Syria.

“It is Christ in Iraq and Syria who has been evicted from his home. Places of worship—many of them, thousands of years old—have been razed to the ground by a godless rage with which no genuine religion can ever identify!” Villegas said.

“For many, the food and drink that sustain life are daily issues. They rise from sleep each day to struggle just to keep themselves alive. We must be generous, and the fact that we have our own needs here in the Philippines does not excuse us from the Christian obligation of sharing with our suffering brothers and sisters in Iraq and Syria from our own need,” he added.

“We pray that even as many of them now see no way out of the misery that has been visited on them, the God who opens paths through the sea and ways in the desert, may make a way for them to the future that can only be His gift!” Villegas said. Joel Locsin/NB, GMA News

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