PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF MANAOAG

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF MANAOAG
 
At the Closing Mass for the Second Synod of Lingayen Dagupan
held on September 9, 2017
at the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Manaoag at 3:00pm.
 
The past five working days of the Synod were days of blessings for me. For the years ahead, I will gratefully recall those memorable moments of grace. For five straight days, eight hours of those days, I sat beside Our Lady of Manaoag. It has never happened in my life to sit beside this revered image for five full days as during those days that I presided at the synod. Every now and then I wanted to look towards my right and look at her with tenderness. But at a certain moment during the synod, I found her radiant face not just through her ivory image beside me but through you my brothers and sisters in front of me. You have become the face of Our Lady for me during the synod.
 
I address this homily now to Our Lady even as I face you because the synod has shown me that you the Church and Apo Baket are one.
 
Apo Baket, Beautiful Virgin of Manaoag, you are the joy of our hearts, the mother of this Church, the voice who calls us to follow Jesus your Son, our Lord, our brother. We are here before your majestic presence to thank you and to lay before your feet the fruits of our work this whole week.
 
We are your children of the Second Synod of Lingayen Dagupan who have completed the task that Jesus your Son entrusted to us. We have listened together; we have studied together; we have debated passionately yet lovingly agreed together; we have walked together and above all, we loved one another.
 
You are the woman whose “yes” made possible the communio of the human and the divine. In your womb, God and man were united. In your womb, the promise and the fulfillment were joined. In your womb, the past and the future became present. Through your virgin womb, heaven came down to earth and earth entered the gates of heaven.
 
You are the Apo Baket of our pananabangan, you are the Ina of our bayanihan; you are the woman of our communio.
 
In our pananabangan of worship, when we eat the Body and drink the Blood of your Son, we proclaim that the Body of Christ came from your immaculate body. We affirm that the Blood of Christ that we drink came from your sinless blood. Indeed how can we share in the Body and Blood of Christ if you did not first lend Him your body and blood? The Body of Christ who is our communio is your body. Thank you for giving God your virgin body so that God in turn can give us His Immolated Body.
 
Royal Lady of Manaoag, you are the richest of all mothers because you gave birth to the source of all wealth and treasures—Jesus. Beyond that royalty and majesty, you have remained poor of heart and simple in spirit. In your poverty, we see the greatness of being simple and humble. Teach us communio with the poor by looking at poverty as a blessing not a curse. May our poverty in the things of this world make us generous in the things of heaven! Teach us courage to let go of our vanity and worldliness. Teach us courage to cling only to God who alone can make us happy as He also made you the cause of all our joys.
 
Ina ng bayanihan, teach us that true faith transforms, that nobody who believes in God and trusts in His love can even remain unchanged. You were troubled by the greeting of the angel. When you trusted in the angel’s word, you were changed. Make us ready to be troubled by our faith. May this disturbance that our faith brings, make us more like your Son. May our faith change us! May our faith change society. May our faith restore all things in Christ your Son!
 
Mother of our pananabangan, you carried the Gospel in your womb for nine months but you carry the Gospel eternally in your heart. We who cannot carry Jesus in our wombs can surely give Him dwelling in our souls. We know that it is where all evangelization begins—when we allow Jesus to live in us, we can share Jesus with all we meet. Apo Baket, Star of the New Evangelization, give us Jesus and teach us how to share Him with all.
 
Mother of the Magnificat, from your lips proclaiming the greatness of the Lord, we profess our faith in God who exalts the lowly and casts the mighty from their thrones. The Gospel has power to change us; it has power to change the entire cosmos. Make us truly a Church that is socially engaged without fear or hesitation. Jesus your Son cannot be truly the salt of the earth and the light the world unless we allow Him to change us and unless we accept his mission to “ Go and teach!” As you stood beneath the Cross, give us courage to stand for the rights of the oppressed and to seek those who have been forgotten and ignored and bring the Good News to them.
 
You, the handmaid of the Lord, are the mother of all our ministries and apostolates. Teach us that the minister is more important than the ministry. The apostle is more important than the apostolate. Jesus who continues to wash our feet is the same Jesus whose body you washed as an infant. Jesus must have learned how to wash feet tenderly from the washings He received from you. What great teacher in feet washing you are dear Lady. What a great handmaid of the Lord you are. Breathe on us your obedience without conditions. Set our hearts aglow with the fire of your humility. Keep our minds pure and simple as we keep on trying to imitate your servant-son.
 
Virgin of Manaoag, Apo Baket, Lady of our Communio, the Church in Lingayen Dagupan is all yours. Our hearts are yours. Our minds are yours. Our souls are yours.
 
We are all yours. We know that in entrusting ourselves to you, you will consecrate us to the heart of Jesus your Son, the God who calls us to be one, the Lord who sends us forth as one.
 
Amen.