Amid killings, Cebu bishop tells people: Don’t lose hope, pray

PHOTO/WENCESLAO “JUNJIE” H. MENDOZA, JR.

CEBU CITY — Keep praying.

Amid the series of killings on the island, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma urged the people never to lose hope and to continue seeking divine intervention.

“We believe we can’t end the killings by ourselves. We need God’s grace,” he said after presiding over the 6 a.m. Mass at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral on Saturday.

At dawn, around a thousand young people joined the “Walk for Life” from Fuente Osmeña Rotunda to the cathedral—a distance of about two kilometers—as part of the activities of the Year of the Youth.

Palma said the spate of murders in Cebu must not stop the people from praying.

“Many (people) are killed and yet we should not waver in seeking God’s help. Let us continue praying,” he said.

PHOTO/WENCESLAO “JUNJIE” H. MENDOZA, JR.

Last August, the 68-year-old prelate issued an Oratio Imperata for an “end to the spate of killings in Cebu.”

An Oratio Imperata is a traditional Catholic invocation where the bishop leads the community in prayer for a special intention.

In previous years, it was used in Cebu to seek divine protection for peaceful elections, peace in the Middle East, safety from typhoons, and from various diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, bird flu virus, dengue, the influenza A (H1N1) virus, and the success of the 2007 Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Summit hosted in Cebu./lzb