In response to escalating tensions in the West Philippine Sea, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Monday, July 22 issued an “oratio imperata” for peace, urging the faithful to join in fervent petition for calm and resolution in the region.
CBCP said the prayer will be recited daily from July 25, 2024, to Jan. 1, 2025.
The full text of the Oratio Imperata for Peace reads as follows:
“God our Heavenly Father, Lord of peace and justice, we humbly come before you during this time of escalating geopolitical tensions in our part of the world.
Through the years you have sustained our faith in you as a nation. It is our faith in Your Divine providence that has made us survive the countless natural and human-caused calamities that have come our way in our history as a people. Spare us, Lord, from the horrors of war. Hear our pleas as we cry out to You. Have mercy on us, Lord; rescue us from the malevolent forces that influence world leaders. For we believe, that “...our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12).
We pray for our leaders entrusted with making crucial decisions for our nation. We place all our hopes in You, seeking Your forgiveness and mercy for the times when our fears and suspicions have tainted our perceptions with ethnic biases and prejudices verging on racism.
We earnestly pray Lord, that you “make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred let us bring love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there's despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy.”
Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.
Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us.
St Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us St. Lorenzo Ruiz, pray for us.
St. Pedro Calungsod, pray for us.
(Diocesan patron)..., pray for us.
Following the conclusion of the 128th CBCP Plenary Assembly on July 8, CBCP President and Diocese of Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David announced that the Church would issue an oratio imperata—an obligatory prayer specifically on peace.
“It will be a prayer for peace, an oratio imperata for peace in the context of what is happening in our country, amidst the geopolitical tension that we are experiencing,” he said.
“We really have to not only work for peace but also pray for peace,” he added.
