A million roses grand prayer rally at the Big Dome tomorrow
MANILA, Philippines - A multitude of Catholics, including clergy, religious communities, lay leaders, students from public and private schools and Catholic religious organizations are poised to stage a “Grand Prayer Rally” to celebrate 200 days of seeking world peace one rosary a day at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tomorrow, June 25.
“One Million Roses for the World,” which was launched in October 2011, is a prayer campaign to spur the faithful to pray for one nation a day until May 30. This campaign, spearheaded by the Family Rosary Crusade, is aimed at having at least one million pledges to pray the rosary for the multitude of concerns besetting the world today. The campaign included the more than 3,600 parishes of the Philippines and even spread out to different parts of the world.
“Besides receiving pledges from the schools and institutions, we also received prayer pledges from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Dubai,” said Fr. Roque d’ Costa of the Family Rosary Crusade.
Archbishop Soc Villegas added: “The entire Philippine Church responded. The Bishops Conference endorsed the AMROW to all the dioceses and their parishes. Although we collected only 200,000 signed pledges, you can do the math. Two hundred thousand Filipinos were praying the rosary every day, at 50 roses each. This means we were sending 10 million roses to heaven every day for one nation. The beautiful thing was that Filipinos in every country were joining us in prayer for their host country together with their nationals.”
“Economic, social, political, moral and spiritual problems abound in the world. The Philippines’ greatest asset is not our beaches but our faith. Through prayer of the rosary, we are sharing this asset with the rest of the world,” Villegas said. He added that even Pope Benedict XVI has acknowledged and thanked the Filipinos for praying for him at a time when he needed it most. “The Holy Father is now asking the faithful all over the world to pray the rosary with him each day, at 6:45 p.m. Rome time,” said Villegas.
AMROW chairperson Loudette Banson adds, “We wanted to target the youth. Not too many of the youth are interested in praying the rosary these days. If we could revive this practice and make them believe in the promise of Our Lady, then we have made a difference in the world.”
The celebration tomorrow will kick off at 1 p.m. with a motorcade bearing the image of Our Lady of La Naval from Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish Church in Cubao. From there, a group of more than 200 caracol dancers will join the motorcade and escort the image to the Big Dome where more youth representatives and faithful will welcome them.
Banson added, “We want the youth to know that their singing and dancing can be a form of prayer. The youth will praise in their language — cheering, dancing, and singing.” Dancers from the Assumption College will interpret the theme song composed by Archbishop Socrates Villegas and maestro Ryan Cayabyab. Dyords Javier will host the program. Other highlights include reflections on the mysteries by Fatima Soriano, Tita Lazaro representing the urban poor sector, Msgr. Dan Santamaria and other representatives from the youth and indigenous sectors. The rosary will be led by endorsers Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez, Tweetie de Leon-Gonzalez, Christine Jacob and her family, Manny V. Pangilinan, and Judy Araneta-Roxas.
