MANILA, Sept. 30, 2013— The Catholic Church today urged the faithful to join the candle lighting for peace in Mindanao on Tuesday, October 1.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, vice president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said people are invited to offer prayers so that peace will finally reign in the country’s long-troubled south.
He said that Mindanao bishops are calling for whole day of prayers, fasting and candle lighting for peace, culminating with candle lighting in silence simultaneously.
“Let’s join. Let us unite. No peace without God,” Villegas said.
According to Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles, it will be a solemn ceremony for peaceful end to conflict in Mindanao. “The crisis is still there,” he said.
“There will be no speeches. It will all be prayer in silence,” said Valles.
Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad also said that crisis in Zamboanga City, which was devastated by more than two weeks of skirmishes between the military and the Moro National Liberation Front, is not completely over.
“The crisis in Zamboanga is not totally finished. Through this ritual of lighting candles on Oct.1 at 6pm, we remind the people to continue praying for peace,” he said.
“October 1 is the Feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, patroness of the missions, and our primary mission is to become peacemakers,” Jumoad said. (CBCPNews)
