The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines is calling for a “National Day of Prayer and Public Repentance” on October 7, citing the country’s continued struggles with calamities and corruption issues.
In a letter to dioceses, CBCP president Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David urged parishes, chapels, schools, families and church organizations to join the observance, which will coincide with the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.
“In the spirit of the prophetic exhortation of Baruch (Bar 1:15–22), which is a prayer of national confession and contrition, and in the context of the calamities that continue to afflict our land, we call for a National Day of Prayer and Public Repentance,” David said.
He asked that a special prayer be recited beginning Tuesday and on the succeeding Sundays leading up to the Feast of Christ the King on Nov. 23 as a “sustained supplication for mercy and renewal.”
The prayer, titled “A National Cry for Mercy and Renewal” is asking God to hear the voices of the people “as we walk in the valley of darkness”.
Like “a stray sheep that has fallen from the cliff,” the prayer said Filipinos are “clinging desperately to a brittle branch, crying out for rescue.”
The cardinal said the observance is also part of the Church’s synodal journey.
“This act of national contrition is also a step in our journey of synodality—walking together as God’s people, listening to the Spirit and to one another, in humility and hope,” he said.