Bishops ask Filipino Catholics to pray
‘Oratio Imperata’ for National Elections 2004

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has called on all the Catholic faithful in the country to pray an “Oratio Imperata for the National Elections 2004” beginning February 25, Ash Wednesday.

The prayer which was prepared by the Episcopal Commission on Liturgy specifically asks God the Holy Spirit to enlighten the Filipino electorate to be “inspired by love of country and genuine concern for its future” and to regard the national elections as a timely opportunity to transform society by electing wise, capable and upright leaders who will lead the country to moral renewal and to lasting stability, prosperity and peace.

It also asks for protection and courage for the people against all forms of violence, coercion, coup attempt and anarchy so that the constitutional processes and the rule of law will be upheld.

The oratio imperata calls on the Holy Spirit to “make all citizens vigilant with watchfulnessness of the Holy Spirit, that the campaign period, electoral exercise, and counting of ballots may be marked by honesty, order, transparency, and true freedom.”

According to Fr. Genaro Diwa, director of the Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission of the Archdiocese of Manila, the “oratio imperata” (literally “obligatory prayer”) is an old tradition of the Church, where the bishop rallied the people in his community to unite in prayer for a special intention. In those times the intentions were related mostly to agricultural—good harvest, deliverance from calamities and pestilence, or for rain and freedom from draught.
Last year, Jaime L. Cardinal Sin asked the faithful of Manila to pray an “Oratio Imperata” on SARS.

The social dimension, Fr. Diwa points out, is the coming together of the people, raising their voices in collective prayer, united in a cause that promotes the common good and welfare.
In his circular endorsing the praying of the Oratio Imperata on the National Elections 2004, Archbishop Fernando Capalla of Davao, CBCP president, enjoined all the bishops of the Philippines to recite the prayer beginning Ash Wednesday on February 25 and in all the masses Sunday thereafter and during the entire week before election day.

The prayer is to be recited kneeling down (except during the Easter Season) before the “Prayer after Communion.”

Read complete text of prayer in English and Filipino.