Reaching out to God through His mother

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, during their 87th Plenary Assembly, held at Betania Retreat House from July 5 through July 7, voted unanimously that – for the remaining months of this Year of the Rosary – every decade should be prayed with a particular intention.

The Year of the Rosary will end on October 31, 2003. This is also the Year of the Family, so it becomes the Year of the Family Rosary. The Bishops chose five intentions, all of them for peace and for evangelization.

Though we, who live in this country, are not too conscious of it, the Philippines is a prayerful nation. During the Fourth World Meeting of Families, with which this year began, the delegates from all over the world were deeply impressed by the way that Filipino families prayed together – gathering every evening to say the rosary together, on their knees. And Father Patrick Peyton, the founder of the Family Rosary Crusade, felt that the people of the Philippines had a deeper devotion to the Virgin Mary than any other nation in the world.

The five intentions, chosen by the Bishops, are these:

First Decade – For Asia

Through the intercession of Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, may the young people of Asia strive to contribute to the building of a new world founded on the power of Jesus’ love and forgiveness; and in their search for the ideal may they accept the challenge to become saints of the new millennium.

Second Decade – For America

Through the intercession of Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, may the Church in the Americas rise above the challenging situation of consumerism, secularism and modernism, and lead the world in a new season of courageous witness, active solidarity and generous commitment to the service of the Gospel.

Third Decade – For Europe

Through the intercession of Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, may Europe, the first daughter of the Church, take upon herself again the evangelizing strength of proclaiming the Truth without compromise, which gave birth to the many churches, and offer to a changing world a genuine progress.

Fourth Decade – For Oceania

Through the intercession of Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, may the continent of Oceania share the benefits of wealth and peace to those who suffer from poverty, lack of respect for their dignity, and are tried by war, so that the name of Christ be known and adored in the land.

Fifth Decade – For Africa

Through the intercession of Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, may Africa continue to bear witness to the Gospel message of reconciliation and solidarity, and became a sign of hope and a promise of humanity reborn and renewed in the grace of CHRIST.

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The Archdiocese of Manila – in line with the efforts of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference to strengthen and enrich the celebration of the Year of the Rosary – will present a Rosary and Marian Exhibit from August 15, the Feast of the Assumption, until August 30, 2003. The exhibit will be mounted and staged at the Gallery of the Philippine National Bank, in the beautiful new Financial Center of the Philippine National Bank on the Macapagal Highway in Pasay City.

There will be the traditional display of materials, but the Family Rosary Crusade will highlight its exhibit with Story Telling. Young adults, teenagers, and pre-teenagers will tell the story of Father Patrick Peyton’s life, work, and mission. They will use language that can be easily understood by children. And they will bring their narration to life with a video presentation.

Father Peyton came from a poor Irish family. And the Irish are amazingly like the Filipinos – farmers and fishermen, very simple and unpretentious, deeply devout, prayerful, emotional, affectionate. And even in their po-verty and hardship, they are joyous. They have a strong, cheerful love of living. And they love their country.

One poet wrote:

The great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men whom God made mad,
For all their wars are merry
And all their songs are sad.

Patrick Peyton came to the United States as a young man, where he worked in a Catholic Church as a sacristan. He entered the seminary, and – before ordination to the priesthood – almost died of tuberculosis. The doctors gave him up. But he prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, promising to consecrate his life to her, and to the Family Rosary, if he recovered. Immediately, dramatically, he recovered. His religious Superiors in the Congregation of the Holy Cross honored his promise to the Virgin. And that is how he came to the Philippines with the Family Rosary Crusade.

* * *

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, and the Archdiocese of Manila, are reaching out to God through his Mother, the Virgin Mary. And the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, have a special devotion to her. The Ateneo basketball teams – from the very beginning, from the days of Ambrosio Padilla and the Berlin Olympics – have been known as "The Hail Mary Team." When they are seventeen points behind, they kneel down on the floor of the basketball court, and pray. Then they come out strong and smiling, shouting their battle cry "Animo Ateneo!" as if they thought they were going to win, and sometimes they do.

A team of young Jesuits will give a seminar on vocations, tomorrow, Sunday, July 20, 2003, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Loyola House of Studies on the campus of the Ateneo de Manila in Loyola Heights, Quezon City. It is for gentlemen only – college students or young professionals. Even for those who are not so young, so long as they are reaching out to God.

They will discuss both priests and brothers, their training, the jobs that they do, and . . . "How do you find out if God is really calling you?" Life, these days, is like a twelve-ring circus. How do you discover where God wants you to be?

Anyone who is interested can get all the details by phone: 426-6101, local 3408; or by E-mail: [email protected] or even by website: www.ignaciana.org.

When you reach out to God, God reaches out to you. It is like the picture of Adam and God that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. With all your faults and failures and weakness and sins, God needs you.