JARO, Iloilo, June 10, 2013—The Archdiocese of Jaro joined the other archdioceses and dioceses across the country in simultaneously consecrating the country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary during a Mass celebrated at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Candles on June 8.
Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo presided the Holy Mass that started at 9 am with Auxiliary Bishop Gerardo Alminaza and other priests of the archdiocese.
The simultaneous consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was done in all 93 parishes throughout Iloilo.
In the homily Lagdameo urged all the faithful in his archdiocese to heed the call of Our Lady of Fatima to entrust themselves to the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The Marian Associations Movements and Organizations (MAMO) of the Archdiocese of Jaro spearheaded the preparations for the Consecration in the Archdiocese.
The people in Iloilo have constantly demonstrated that they truly are a “Pueblo Amante de Maria”. Devotion to the Blessed Mother is very manifest especially by the huge number of pilgrims that seek recourse to Our Lady of Candles.
Lagdameo, a year earlier, has urged the Iloilo faithful to make an act of entrustment to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the height of various calamities happening in the country.
On December 8, 2012, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, he urged people to pray the Total Consecration by St. Louis Grignon de Montfort in the midst of natural calamities that affected the country and the moves in Congress to rush the passing of the controversial Reproductive Health Bill.
Due to the urgency and importance of the Act of Consecration, Lagdameo encouraged those who were unable to join the simultaneous act of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at 10 a.m. on June 8, to do it on any other Mass celebrated on the same day. (Fr. Mickey Cardenas with reports from Kristal Joy Badayos)
