Stop Praying for Rain, Cardinal Tells Faithful
Sept 09, 2007
This was the comment of the faithful after heavy rains inundated Manila and parts of Luzon since early August. The rains were caused by series of typhoons that hit the Philippines the past three weeks, killing scores of people, rendering tens of thousands homeless and causing damage to properties amounting to millions of pesos.
(manilamaildc.net, September 07 2007) After asking the Catholic faithful late last month to pray for rain because of the crisis brought about by the long drought, Manila Arcbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales two weeks later again called on the faithful not to continue praying for rain but to stop the rain.
Rosales, in a circular dated Aug. 15, directed all parish priests, rectors, chaplains and school directors in Archdiocese of Manila to lift the prayer to request for rain, or the Oratio Imperata Ad Petendam Pluviam, as the weather bureau announced the end of the dry spell in some areas of Luzon. The directive came as the country experienced rains last week brought by typhoons “Egay,” “Chedeng” and “Dodong,” which also rendered areas flooded, caused landslides and destroyed crops.
“The rains have come and the Philippine weather agency has pronounced the end to the dry spell. We thank God for this blessing, a sign of His providence and love for us," Rosales said.
At the time, Rosales said the relief will come from nature and that the faithful should implore God, “at whose command the winds and the seas obey, to send us rain."
He urged the faithful to continue to pray for people’s enlightenment to protect the environment. “The floods and landslides are not all the result of too much rain, most of these come because of the denudation of our forests, the silting of our rivers, the clogging of our creeks and waterways with non-biodegradable waste and other harmful practices," the cardinal noted.
“We cannot continue to test God’s mercy and kindness with our destructive actions towards nature and the environment He has provided us for our habitat, our home," Rosales said.
“In this time of gratitude for the rains, let us acknowledge our offenses against our beautiful land and habitat. Let us be truly sorry for them and promise not to commit them again," he added. According to Dagupan-Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz, there are no formal prayers to request for the rains to stop. “There is only a devotional practice of giving eggs to the Sisters of St. Clare in their convent to pray for the rains to stop or for not to rain," he told reporters.
Rosales’ predecessor, the late Jaime Sin, also issued a similar prayer in 1998 at the height of the El Ni±o phenomenon plaguing the country.
Fortunately, Egay, which had winds of up to 220 km an hour, skirted the northern Philippines and hit Taiwan before moving to China.
The series of storms have brought torrential rains which paralyzed Metro Manila and parts of Luzon, flooding roads and forcing the closure of schools and government offices. ‘After two weeks of heavy rains and floods caused by three successive typhoons, the country can now expect improving weather conditions, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said, adding no tropical cyclone is expected to develop within and outside the Philippine area of responsibility soon.
Stop Praying for Rain, Cardinal Tells Faithful