PASTORAL LETTER
“Let us Turn Our Minds
and Hearts to mary”
September 18, 1976
To my dear People of God in the Archdiocese of Manila:
In a few day’s
time, October will once again be with us. October, as you all know, is the
month of Our Lady and, all over the country, her devotees will be saying special
prayers to her, asking for her help and intercession, and thanking her for
favors received.
In thousands of homes, the
nightly rosary will be said with increased fervor. And, in many churches in
Metro Manila and elsewhere, novenas will be prayed and special processions
held.
It is only fitttng
and proper that all these should be done. For Our Lady, after all, is the
patroness of the Philippines and our history is full of instances when the
Blessed Virgin Mary came to our aid in a very special way.
Who among us, for example,
can forget the glorious story of La Naval? When the Philippine-Spanish forces
sailed out to do battle with the invading Dutch fleet, they knew they were
outnumbered and the odds were against them. But, just before the battle started,
they went down on their knees and prayed the rosary.
They asked the Virgin for courage and for strength, and they beseeched her
to grant them victory. Our Lady heard their prayers, and the Dutch fleet was
routed.
This is the reason why, to
this day, the Feast of La Naval de Manila, centering at the Santo Domingo Church, remains one of our most notable and best-attended feasts.
It is a constant and eloquent reminder of Mary’s boundless powers as an intercessor.
And yet, despite our traditional
closeness to Mary, there seems to be a tendency, particularly noticeable among
the young people, to drift away from her. There is also an increasing reluctance
to pray the rosary because — in the words of some young people I talked to
— “it is monotonous and repetitious. Besides, what is the point in praying
to Mary at all when we can pray directly to God?”
My dear brothers and sisters,
all we need to do to answer this is to reflect on our own experience. When
we were children, did we not often run to our mother when we needed anything
from our father? And didn’t we always get what we wanted when she was there
to intercede for us?
It is so hard to believe, therefore,
that the Blessed Virgin Mary can do the same for us when we want anything
from our Father in Heaven?
And there is so much that we
have to ask these days. There are so many problems confronting us — problems
that, no matter how hard we try, we cannot solve without divine assistance.
Perhaps unlike in those days
of La Naval, we are now faced with more complicated problems both in the spiritual
and material orders — the permissiveness in our society especially among
our younger people — the emphasis on the material well-being of man brought
about by the advances of science and technology. We cannot overlook also the
danger of external aggression with an ideology diametrically opposed to our
Christian Faith. We mention also the great number of our brethren who are
suffering today — the Mindanao victims, the flood victims and others.
Who can overcome these dangers,
solve these problems, satisfy the spiritual and material
needs of our people? Only God. And who can reach
Him fastest but MARY, the woman whom He deemed to be a worthy receptable for His only-begotten Son?
This coming month of October,
therefore — and for all the months to come, I ask you, my dear People of God,
to turn your minds and your hearts to Mary, the fountainhead of all
blessings, the mediatrix
of all graces. She can help us as nobody else can.
Let us pray to her, and let
us say the prayer she loves best, the Rosary. Let it be our song of love to
her, and let us rest assured that she will return our love in manifold measure.
God bless you. And remember,
I love you all very dearly.
Devotedly yours in Christ through Mary,
(Sgd.) + Jaime L. Cardinal Sin, D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
September 18, 1976
