APOSTOLIC Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Charles Brown called on Catholics to dedicate time to praying the Holy Rosary for an end to the Covid-19 pandemic, during the enthronement Mass for the image of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary on Sept. 23.
“He [Pope Francis] is always asking us to pray the rosary more, especially in this time of Covid-19 pandemic so that this scourge will speedily depart from us and we can return to normal life in society and Church,” he said in his homily at the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church.
“Let me make an appeal to those of you who are not yet praying the rosary. Pray the rosary every day. Make that a proposition for yourselves. If you do that, I know that Our Lady will reveal things to you that otherwise you would not be able to receive and comprehend,” Brown added.
The faithful were also called to emulate the Blessed Mother’s “trust and confidence” in God.
“Be like Mary, always trusting and confident in God’s love for us. [L]et us ask her for the grace to be faithful to prayer and to be filled with humility, ” Brown said
The Pope’s envoy emphasized that the rosary is a “beautiful prayer of humility.”
“Kings, nuncios, popes, Dominican theologians or philosophers can pray that prayer. And the simplest people of any city in the world, including Manila, can pray that prayer,” he said.
“We are all the same. We are all children of Mary, living our vocation to holiness in different ways. The same gift has come to us because of this young woman who said yes to God and changed human history and the cosmos,” he added.
Brown also urged Dominicans to follow the example of Mary in preaching the Word of God.
“I am a Catholic today because of the Dominicans, with your great intellectual tradition. Dominicans [should] be filled with the wisdom of God and transmit that to a world desperately [i]n need of light and truth,” he said.
Brown said he was elated to celebrate Mass in front of Mary’s “beautiful and wonderful image” in the Dominican Church on the campus of UST.
With the theme, “Magnificat: Unending Praise to God for the Gift of Faith,” the enthronement rites marked the beginning of the 79th anniversary of the parish.
Novena Masses were set on Sept. 24 to Oct. 2, with fiesta Masses on Oct. 3 led by UST Parish priest Fr. Paul Talavera, O.P.
