Pope Francis preaches during a penance service at St. Peter’s Basilica, March 28, 2014. / Lauren Cater/CNA.
Zamboanga City, Philippines, Aug 26, 2021 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
A Philippines bishop has announced 40 days of fasting and penitence as a way to share in the sufferings of others and heal from the spiritual damage of the coronavirus pandemic. Such penitence and self-reflection, he said, will help the faithful “encounter Christ in the fullness of his generosity and love especially amidst this ongoing pandemic crisis.”
“The pandemic has revealed that we are not only vulnerable to this biological threat of COVID-19, but also to the contagion of hopelessness, depression, selfishness, the abuse of power, the lack of transparency and accountability, and the preoccupation to personal privileges to the detriment of those who continuously suffer,” Auxiliary Bishop Moises M. Cuevas of Zamboanga said in an Aug. 24 pastoral letter “Not by Bread Alone.”
Cuevas is serving as the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Zamboanga, on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, while the sitting archbishop Romulo de la Cruz recovers from a stroke.
He has declared Forty Days of Fasting and Penitence, to begin Oct. 13 and to end on Nov. 21, Christ the King Sunday. Observing these days would be actions “in solidarity with those who suffer readily the effects of the pandemic,” he said. Such a practice aims “to evoke the fasting and time of preparation of Christ in the wilderness.”
To help prepare the Catholic faithful in the months before these forty days, parishes should hold a catechesis in the months before, he said.
“Parishes shall readily make available the Sacrament of Reconciliation for those who wish to engage in a spiritual and moral renewal in this period,” said the bishop.
“I make an appeal to each of you to receive upon your hearts Christ as the word of life, provider and shepherd of us all,” he said. “It is Christ who remains faithful to us in his truth, compassion, and wisdom amidst this ongoing pandemic crisis in the city and elsewhere.”
Cuevas’ pastoral letter reflected on the coronavirus epidemic in light of Christ’s temptation in the desert, where the devil asked him to turn stones into bread.
“The desert experience has subjected Jesus to an extreme examination of his identity, reducing the trappings of his divinity and exaltedness,” said the bishop. “The pandemic crisis has also subjected us to an examination of the threshold of our charity, whether it would remain consistent or altogether fall apart. Jesus refused to change the stones into bread in the desert, even when tempted to do so, telling the tempter that man cannot indeed live on mere bread alone even amidst one’s desolation.”
“Through this crisis, Jesus shares with us what it means to be hungry, isolated, vulnerable,” the bishop said. “As in Christ’s temptation, the devil too presents attractive alternatives to our Christian mission and purpose: the lure of power, invulnerability, and influence to easily bring our notions of God’s Kingdom upon this mortal world – to save humanity from its self-destructive tendencies by choosing the most convenient and gainful promise of domination over a great many.”
The threat of the COVID-19 epidemic continues to “derail” the normalcy of daily life and puts at risk the most vulnerable, said the bishop.
“As a community we are still traversing on the verge of the unknown and most uncertain, while we precariously hold on to our emotional stability and the assurance that we are not left helpless in these present circumstances,” he said.
Close to 1 million people live in Zamboanga City.
The Philippines has had about 1.9 million reported cases and 32,700 deaths, according to Reuters. New infections reported average about 15,000 per day, and less than 15% of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated.
According to Cuevas, Zamboanga City is “greatly blessed” to have people who live “not by bread alone” but seek “the ‘eternal food’ of selfless service and witnessing to the call of communion and solidarity with those who can be left behind and struggle most amidst this crisis.” He specifically mentioned doctors, nurses, essential workers, volunteers, clergy and men and women religious, as well as parents, elders and family members who seek to stabilize their communities and their households.
“They understood that no one is saved alone,” said the bishop, citing Pope Francis’ December 2020 apostolic letter on St. Joseph, Patris Corde.
He stressed the need for true charity, not a false charity that is “manipulated as an affection or sentiment,” or is not “an authentic encounter or engagement with the other.” This is the kind of false charity that attempts to “live on bread alone.”
“As a Church, we encounter Christ as the life-giving word from the Eternal Father and the Bread that gives life in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist,” said the bishop. “But the encounter must begin with our personal journey in confronting ourselves to what makes us cling to our raw instincts for personal survival and selfish gain.”
“Whenever we refuse to come out of ourselves, comfortable in the cocoons of our own satisfaction and privilege, Christ cannot come to us—and we cannot come to one another,” he added. “Our vicious obsession for self-preservation gives us this illusion of contentment and achievement that effectively cuts us off from the rest of struggling, barely-surviving humanity. Only in our willful and sustained encounter with Jesus can we realize what it means to share our lives and give the best of ourselves for others in a similar manner to His willful self-giving for humankind.”
He called anyone who had sinned against charity and justice to repent and make reparation:
“to those who have obsessively consumed and hoarded bread for themselves, those who have taken more than what they can collect, I say to them: return that which is stolen, remit that which needs accounting, in the name of charity and justice.”
He also sought the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Pillar, saying her first encounter with God’s word “led her to wholeheartedly embrace her vocation as the Mother of the Redeemer and of the redeemed as well.”
“In our personal encounter with Christ in his word, who also shepherds and provides for us during this pandemic, we imitate and honor Mary’s humility and openness to charity and service for others,” he said. He cited Mary’s words from the Gospel of Luke: “Let it be done unto me according to your word.”
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I am happy to see that some bishops are finally starting to confront the lockdown mentality simply by refusing to cooperate. I pray that this trend will continue.
BRAVO!!! FINALLY!!!! An Archbishop with a spine. So good to see. Maybe his courage can be exported to Catholic Dioceses in other states. It’s needed badly!! Maybe they have finally realized the State is not interested in the general health of their citizens. They ARE interested in suppressing and eliminating the influence of the church TOTALLY. Finances are ruined, people are not returning to church, etc. I hope Kurtz sticks with his guns. The state is already destroying families with its orders that limit crowd size in private homes and most of all by making the population hysterical over covid, which has a better than 99% recovery rate. Hysterical enough that they dont want to see their own family members.The church is also a target, it could not be clearer.
People who have recovered from COVID 19 say “you must protect yourself from the virus”. The serious nature of this most debilitating virus is still not fully understood”. Scientists reveal that serious side effects from the virus may be life threatening with life long ailments.
Car crashes also cause life long “ailments,” but most people drive a car to Mass.
An absurd analogy. My Mother had to walk.
In point of fact, I had covid in April. At age 66 I am not young, but neither am I health compromised. In my case while I spent 2 weeks in bed feeling weak, I came nowhere near needing hospitalization and had no breathing difficulty. I am ( and have been throughout) unwilling to live what remains of my life in fear, hiding in a hole. That is not living to me. I welcome the idea of the vaccine. I have been distressed at the OTHER damage inflicted by the shut downs, which are now well known. People dying from addiction, abuse, suicide, other untreated maladies, mental illness, etc. There are varied physical reaction to this virus, depending upon the person. The media acts to stress hysteria, an unhelpful thing to do with a disease which has a better than 99% recovery rate. AS far as church is concerned, I think the Bishops in their rush to be helpful in fact did major damage to the church and their flocks.Those who are afraid should by all means avoid church. Those of us who wish to go, have a constitutional right to do so. Hopefully todays rebuke of Governor Cuomo of NY by the Supreme Court will put some perspective back into the issue for some of these power mad Governors.. personally it feels like a persecution of the church to me.
Well said lj and I agree with you 100%
Morgan,
Good morning to you! I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving.
I think you bring up a good point. I know an elderly lady in our parish who has still not fully recovered from Covid. She has some kind of neurological damage months later after the infection.
If the virus actually was tweaked in a Chinese lab there could be some uniquely creepy side effects, but we really don’t know. And what are the longterm side effects of any potentially lethal virus on an elderly person?
The facts appear to show that the overwhelming number of people who catch Covid will have milder symptoms with it. As we grow older, we need to be more concerned about it. And there are a number of younger people with diabetes and other conditions who need to take care also. Thats especially true where I live.
But we can’t shut down the whole nation and cause deaths from other sources to continue to rise.Suicides and drug overdoses are at terrible levels right now.
Nor should restrictions be made on our religious freedom. At some point vulnerable people need to shelter and the rest get on with their business.
For the sake of everyone else morgan, please stay home and self-quarantine from the rest of society – including the internet – until there are absolutely no risks whatsoever in contracting a virus either outside or online.
Were you in the unmasked crowd in attendance at the Rose Garden super spreader unmasked Trump rally? Trump’s good example for anyone to follow. Your vitriolic response tells me YOU may be in need of quarantining. Wear a mask to keep others safe! And, don’t minimize the raw fact that there are more than 1,000 infections per day contributing to the number of 260,000+ innocent souls who have died! You could call that loss of life criminal. Stay safe.
Pullleeze, get a life.
Well said.
Will the new 5-4 Supreme Court decision suspending New York’s discriminatory covid treatment of religious services render all state discrimination void?
They need to keep pushing back at these restrictions and we need more Bishops to stand up for their sheep. The surge does not nor has not come from our Masses.
Given the disastrous spike in COVID 19 in the US and with the loss of life of over 260,000 souls my Catholic concern is caution. With the holidays upon us the potential for a pandemic explosion is very real. Scientists report that the COVID virus is out of control here. Our hospitals and staff are stretched beyond their ability to properly attend to other seriously ill patients, (heart attacks, strokes, cancer, etc). How can we dismiss their plight? It is interesting that our hierarchy call on us to protect all life. How can they say that ignorance of the hundreds of deaths is not sinful?
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky…
“The Sunday obligation for Catholics to attend Mass, however, is still suspended in the state. Catholics do not have to attend Mass on Sunday if they think it is imprudent or unsafe to do so.” Jewish and Catholic services being cherished by all faithful parishioners. Their sacred duty should be carefully addressed.
President elect Biden says we should “heal our democracy. We are all in this together”.
Your post, as usual, is peppered with falsehoods and reflects irresponsible and uninformed fear-mongering. There is no explosion of cases, our hospitals are not stretched beyond capacity, and the deep ignorance of your post is sinful. And you are either profoundly ignorant or profoundly malevolent if you think Biden is going to unify the country.
That is actually not entirely true about hospitals not being over run. Depends on locale. A friend’s cousin works at a large hospital in an urban area. She is assigned double the patients because the administration refuses to hire more nurses–supposedly they cannot afford to hire more. The surgery floor is now a Covid floor–there are no surgeries (knee, hip replacements) because people are postponing them.
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Some areas are still delaying cancer treatments, or so people have claimed on FB.
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Covid is crowding out more lucrative procedures, but that seems to be all there exists right now. The medical profession has itself in a real pickle.
Ditto
Ignorance of reality? Me? Your vitriol sheds light on your intent to confuse. It is quite obvious that you hold no respect for the facts. Enlighten yourself!
Not-yet-and-by-God’s-grace-perhaps-never-to-be-President-elect Biden is perfectly fine with babies being butchered, so I don’t think he’s at all interested in saving human lives.
Also it would be easier to “heal” if he hadn’t spent the last considerable time calling half the country Nazis.
If we lived in a democracy instead of a Constitutional republic, mob rule would prevent you from posting nonsense on the internet, morgan.
Not sure what you point is? Are you supporting the Bishop, because you do point out that we are still dispensed at our own judgement. That is the best. If you don’t feel safe stay home. The arbitrary classification of essential businesses is not scientific to put it mildly. And as for your praise of the most pro abortion ticket in history bringing unity, you are delusional.
To Biden: “Physician, heal thyself.”
There have been 1825 COVID deaths in Kentucky; 36 yesterday (Nov. 25).
Attendees at mass should understand the risk to which they are exposing themselves and which the church is encouraging.
In our parish the demographic at mass tends toward the most at-risk groups.
Goodness, people in Kentucky must be more resilient than in our state. We’ve had close to 6,500 deaths attributed to Covid. We’re not closing down churches here.
Folks who have vulnerabilities due to age or chronic illness should protect themselves. Our parish broadcasts the Mass outside on a PA system and we can attend that way or inside the church. And receive Communion.
There are close to 5 MILLION people in Kentucky. Given that fact, while any death is sad, the deaths of less than 2000 people over almost a year cannot be used to justify the draconian disruption of human lives, the economy and our social order on so many levels. My bet would be they have lost more folks in that time to cancer or heart disease. In NY, when our churches were “allowed” to reopen, our pastor had duct tape put in places on the pews where people were not allowed to sit in order to social distance, and much sanitizing of hands is done before communion by the priest and the EMs. Our church can hold 800 people under ordinary seating situations. Its absurd to be limited to 10 people in a church that size. Our demographic, like most Catholic churches, also skews older. If you are not comfortable going to Mass, dont. Those people though, should have NO right to shut down religious services for others. That what we have a constitution for. How nice that at least 5 of our Supreme Court judges know that. As for the other 4 judges, I can only say , “pathetic”.
Bravo to Archbp. Kurtz.
Are we seeing the beginnings of a movement?
They do understand the risks, and as responsible adults they can take the necessary precautions. There is no justification for the government’s attempts to violate citizens’ first amendment rights to the free exercise of religion.
Many people actually say no such thing. I know several people who were mildly sick for a few days and then went on with their normal lives without any long term complications. More dishonesty and fear-mongering on your part. The science has clearly indicated that people with additional health issues are most vulnerable. They need to take precautions while the rest of us get back to living productive lives. Stop lecturing people morganb.
Note that this is a REQUEST. Granted that it does take some modicum of backbone to refuse to acquiesce to the request, but it is not the same thing as “disobeying” an unjust “law.”
What would have happened if it was an order? Would you have a few policemen show up during the service and command to disband? Then perhaps people would be unlawfully arrested if nothing happened? If this scenario played out, it would be justified for the congregation to violently resist unlawful arrest and assist those who were being put under unlawful arrest.
Recovery rate >99%.
If you are afraid…stay home. Caesar wants you to be afraid.
I will not live my life in fear. TYVM.