CBCP consecrates June to ‘Sacred Heart of Jesus’

MANILA, June 16, 2014 — The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Pentecost Sunday consecrated the month of June this Year of the Laity to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, focusing on the renewal of the lay faithful’s devotion to the Divine Mercy.

“Urged by the example of Pope Francis, as well as by the recent canonization of Saint John Paul II, who created the Divine Mercy feast, we would like to focus this month of renewed Sacred Heart devotion to the Divine Mercy—as incarnated, embodied, symbolized in the Pierced Heart of Jesus, the crucified and risen Lord,” the CBCP said in a statement signed by its president Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas.

Echoing Pope Francis

Taking off from the Holy Father’s insistent preaching on “God’s constant and untiring mercy and on the primacy of the Church’s mission of mercy and compassion,” the CBCP emphasized the need for mercy to battle the prevailing secularism in today’s world.

“Mercy—both divine and human—is so much needed today in a troubled, confused, and divided world, with so much brokenness, sin and injustice, with a secularized culture that has no place for God,” the statement read.

Echoing the words of Pope Francis, the CBCP said: “It is Jesus who shows us this merciful patience of the loving and forgiving God…It is there, in the wounds of Jesus, that…we encounter the boundless love of His Heart.”

Church of Mercy

The bishops called on the lay faithful to live out the Lord’s compassion and mercy, becoming a “Church of Mercy” that cares for the welfare of those in poverty, suffering, loneliness, brokenness, difficulty and despair.

“This must necessarily involve a renewal and intensification of prayer and devotion in faith and interior life, yes, but it will also call for ongoing earnest, self-sacrificing deeds of love, justice and compassion toward our brothers and sisters,” the Conference said.

There is a need, the statement said, for the faithful to leave ”comfort-zones” and give themselves to the “poor” through acts of charity and sharing.

The CBCP called on the Catholic faithful to “earnestly ask the Hearts of Jesus and Mary to change us…to the likeness of their own hearts, through prayer and devotion, and through deeds of self-giving mercy, compassion, justice and self-sacrifice.”

“We are called to consecrate ourselves and our lives anew to the Pierced Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary; earnestly to return to the Eucharist and the sacramental life, and the practice of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy,” it said. (Jennifer M. Orillaza)