Church calls on public to participate in ‘Lord Heal Our Land Sunday’

As the Church ended its 40-days of mourning period for the victims of extrajudicial killings (EJK), the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) together with multisectoral groups urged the public Saturday to join activities on Sunday to call for the nation’s healing.

Former Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro called on the people from all walks of life to join the series of Church-led activities dubbed as “Lord Heal Our Land Sunday.”

READ: CBCP calls on Filipinos to join ‘heal the nation’ Edsa march

“Ang ating bayan ay maraming pinagdaanan, at marami pang pagsubok na hinaharap. Alam naman nating lahat at ng bawat sektor na malalim ang mga sugat na ating dinadama ngayon,” Luistro said in a press conference in Quezon City.

(Our nation has gone through a lot and we will face more challenges in the future. We and the different sectors all know that the wounds we are experiencing now is deep.)

“Ang panawagan po ng simbahan magdasal tayo, magsama-sama at ialay natin ang ating mga pagsubok para ating maumpisahan na ang panahon ng paghilom sa ating bayan,” he added.

(The Church’s call is for us to pray, come together and offer our sacrifices so we could start the healing in our country.)

“Lord Heal our Land Sunday” would start with a Mass at the Edsa Shrine at 3 p.m. After which, the participants would carry the image of the Our Lady of Fatima, the same image brought by devotees during the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, in a short procession to the People Power Monument.

The activity will launch the 33-day period of church activities for the “continued healing” of the nation, and will culminate on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Concepcion, the patroness of the Philippines.

Within the 33-day period, the CBCP urged the Filipinos to pray the Prayer of John Paul II and the Holy Rosary, receive Holy Communion, pray for the nation’s healing and for the peace of the souls of all those killed.

Luistro said healing starts with accepting the truth and demanding for accountability.

“Healing starts by embracing those truths, however painful they are. And the inconvenient truth is for the past one and a half years, 13,000 have been killed,” Luistro explained.

“EJK is not just a word. EJK is not just a government program. EJK is about people, it’s about names, nameless and faceless people that in fact, we have all forgot,” he added.

Civic-oriented group TindigPilipinas spokesperson Karina Constantino-David refuted claims that their alliance is out to destabilize the government. She explained that actions they take are part of the democratic process.

“Hindi po kami destabilizer, hindi po kami nananawagan ng overthrow ng pamahaalaan, hindi po kami nananawagan galing sa galit, nananawagan po kami galing sa malasakit,” David said.

(We are not destabilizers, we are not calling to overthrow the government, we are not calling for hate, we are calling for compassion.)

“Nanggagaling po kami doon sa panawagan na hindi maghihilom ang ating bansa kung hindi natin sama-samang tutugunan ang suliranin, sino man ang may gawa,” she added.

(We are coming from the call that our nation would not heal if we will not address the problem altogether, whoever caused it.) /jpv