PARISHIONERS of Santisimo Rosario in UST were urged on Sunday to combat selfishness and temptation by praying the Holy Rosary.
“Each one of us has to battle every day against the forces of self-centeredness, self-absorption and self-righteousness,” Bishop Emeritus Florentino Cinense of Tarlac said during the celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.
Cinense, a UST Central Seminary alumnus, said the rosary gives protection against the challenges of faith.
“[W]hen the temptation comes, [w]e have a shield – the rosary – we have something to fight with. When you pray the rosary every day, may the mother of Jesus Christ bring you and give you the onslaughts of the devil who is very wise,” Cinense added.
The bishop also challenged the faithful to the end of “empty recitation” of praying the rosary.
“We too can find strength, encouragement and victory through this ancient prayer – the rosary. [I]t consists in the serene contemplation of all the most poignant moments from the life our Lord,” he said.
The Mass was also offered for the closing of the Diamond Jubilee Year of the parish.
A grand procession of the image of the Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario and Dominican saints and martyrs preceded the Mass.
The feast is celebrated every first Sunday of October to commemorate the victory of the Christian soldiers in 1571 at the Battle of Lepanto. J. C. S. de la Cruz
