BY CARLA P. GOMEZ
Bacolod Bishop Patricio Buzon launched “A 40-Day Diocese-Wide Communal Reflection in this Time of Covid-19” yesterday.
During the 40-day period, the Diocese of Bacolod will go through a process of making sense in faith of the COVID-19 experience, the bishop said.
The COVID-19 pandemic should not be viewed solely as a crisis, but also as an opportunity for renewal, he said.
This 40-day communal reflection aims at forming renewed Christians, families and communities, the bishop said.
He also said the Diocese has devised this communal activity of inviting everyone to enter into a process of renewal using the eyes of faith. “By participating in this exercise, one hopes to discover God’s message in this trying time, and consequently, respond in faith,” he said.
The Diocese sees it providential that this process of renewal should happen as the Church celebrates the “Season of Creation”, which is opportune time by which “we are called to renew our relationship with God and all creation, through repentance and rejoicing together in prayer and in action for our common home,” he added.
Since September 1 was declared by Pope Francis as “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation” and the start of the yearly observance of the “Season of Creation”, the Diocese joins the Universal Church in answering the Holy Father’s call for renewal, he said.
It is our hope as a Diocese that this 40-day program will truly be a time for prayerful reflection and action among our parishes and chaplaincies, the bishop said.
“Just as the number 40 symbolizes a moment or a period of formation in the Bible, so will it be for us who are giving ourselves a sufficient amount of time to purify, to prepare and to renew ourselves as new persons, as new families and as a new people,” he added.
The 40-day exercise is also geared to forming new habits towards integral formation through daily and weekly prayers, fasting and almsgiving, he said.
This activity further reinforces the pastoral program of the Diocese of Bacolod which calls on the faithful to live a “Spirituality of Stewardship”, he added.*
