Imperata ad Petendam Pluviam; INTERCESSORY PRAYERS FOR RAIN

TO: ALL PARISH PRIESTS/SHRINE RECTORS/CHAPLAINS AND SCHOOL DIRECTORS IN
THE ARCHDIOCESE OF MANILA

RE: ORATIO IMPERATA/INTERCESSORY PRAYERS FOR RAIN

Dear Brother-Priests,

People tasked with managing our water and power resources have warned us that we are experiencing drought and water shortage because of the El Niño phenomenon. Our relief will come from nature. And so we implore the Master of all creation, God, our Father, at whose command the winds and the seas obey, to send us rain and ease the drought.

Below are the intentions to be included into the Prayers of the Faithful of our daily and Sunday Masses:

a] Lord, hasten to send the rain we badly need so the damage to crops and other livelihood and impending power shortage may be averted, we pray…

b] Lord, inspire us in this time of crisis to share in the name of Jesus what we have and to take responsibility for one another and for the environment and resources that you have generously provided us, we pray...

Beginning February 28, 2010, the Second Sunday of Lent, let us start praying the Oratio Imperata ad Petendam Pluviam at all our Masses, after Communion before the Post Communion Prayer:

"God our loving Father, creator of our earth and of the universe, and all the wondrous elements of nature that sustain your living creatures, we humbly ask you to send us the rain that our country needs so badly at this time, to irrigate our fields, to stave off a power shortage, to provide water for our bodily health, and to refresh our parched lands. At your command the wind and the seas obey, raise your hand, Almighty God, to send us rain so that this crisis may be averted.

Merciful and generous God, open our eyes to the richness and beauty of your creation and instill in us a deep love for this earth and all that is in and around it. Teach us to be wise stewards of your creation so that we may always use them responsibly and protect them from abuse and exploitation. At this time of crisis, dear Lord, move us to share more and to love more.

Loving God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you entrusted the Filipino people to the special care of Mary our Mother, listen to the prayers that we bring up to her, our Blessed Mother, to intercede for us, for the protection of our land and our people, whom she loves.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.
Saint Rose of Lima, pray for us.
Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, pray for us."

Let us together storm heavens with our supplication, that God's mercy be upon us and send us the rain we need.

Thank you and God Bless!

Sincerely yours,
+ GAUDENCIO B. CARDINAL ROSALES
Archbishop of Manila

Beautiful on the Cross

2nd Sunday of Lent

February 28, 2010

Gospel: Lk. 9:28b-36

As we come closer to the holy week which celebrates the Paschal Mystery of Jesus, the figure looming larger and larger is that of Ebed Yahweh, the servant of the Lord. He is spoken of in the so-called Servant Songs in Deutero-Isaiah. He is often referred to as the “Suffering Servant” because of the fourth song (Is58:13—53:12) where we find one of the memorable passage like, “It was our infirmities that he bore , our suffering that he endured while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by god and afflicted . But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins. Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed” (Is.53:4-5). The Servant is probably too complex a figure to be fitted into a single category of an individual or group in israel. However, Christians see the servant as prefiguring Jesus Christ. When Christ came, he served himself heir to the prophecies about the servant . None except Christ was the fulfillment of the mysterious suffering servant of the Lord.

to see their “Rabbi” (means teacher) Jesus crucified would break the spirit of his disciples. It would demolish whatever “Honor” Jesus had enjoyed before them by the authority of his words and action, and by his miracles. Something more was needed to make them stick with him: a vision of who Jesus really was beyond his human appearance and solemn witnesses to God.

This is what we celebrate in the second Sunday of Lent. the long and difficult journey to Jerusalem is broken by a wonderful experience on the mountaintop. Jesus undergoes a metamorphosis, a change of form, a transfiguration. He is surrounded by heavenly splendor; he converses with Moses and Elijah, two prominent figures representing God’s Revelation: the law (Torah) and the Prophets. Then comes a voice “This is my Chosen Son” it is said in the servant of the Lord “here is my servant whom i uphold, my chosen one with whom i am well pleased ” (Is 42:1). Jesus is far superior to the servant: he is faithful to God’s house, not as a servant like Moses, but as a son. (Heb 3:6)

This experience on the mountain would not be enough to keep the apostle faithful to the very end. Although Luke would be more sympathetic than Mark or Matthew , Jesus’ intimate group would abandon him at his arrest at Gethsemane.Peter would deny Jesus three times. But the transfiguration would serve all the believers from then on. It was prelude to Jesus’ resurrection, his ultimate victory, and all his full entry to into the heavenly glory. The Transfiguration is a reminder of that Jesus’ suffering and and glorification are intertwined, that “it was necessary that the Messiah should suffer (these things)and enter to his glory” (Lk.24:26). This is what Luke means when he writes that Moses and Elijah were speaking of the exodus that Jesus was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. Through his suffering, Jesus will lead his people “out of their slavery” to sin and death “into the freedom” of God’s Children.

In the transfiguration, the disciples behold the glorious face of Jesus. He is the most beautiful of children of Man. He is “the splendor before which every other light pales, and the infinite beauty which alone can fully satisfy the human Heart” as the late John Paul II writes in Vita Consecrata (n 16) But in Christ, Beauty is forever joined to his face of sorrow. The Pope explains: “It is the precisely on the Cross that the one who in death appears in human eyes are disfigured and without beauty, so much so that the bystanders covers their face (Is 53:2-3) fully reveals the beauty of God’s Love” (Vita Consecrata n24)

Lenten Season; a time for penance and renewal

"Repent and believe in the Gospel!"

This invitation, which we find at the beginning of Jesus' preaching introduces us to the season of lent , a time dedicated in a special way to conversion and renewal, to prayer, fasting and to works of charity. In recalling the experience of the chosen people, we too set out as it were to retrace the journey that Israel made across to the promise land. We too will reach our goal ; after these weeks of penance, we will experience the joy of Easter. Our eyes, purified by prayer and penance, we will be able to behold with greater clarity the face of the living God to whom we make our own pilgrimage on the paths of earthly life.

A Blessed Lenten Season!