DAVAO CITY —- “Isn’t it the time for us to go to the church and pray because of the COVID-19 threat?” this was the question poised by Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles, in a mass he celebrated inside a empty room via live stream at the Bishop residence in Torres St. on Sunday afternoon.
Valles, who serves as the president of the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines during his homily said, it was his first time to hold a mass inside a room, but “We need to support the call of the government to avoid mass gathering of people and help prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
“It was a hard decision for us to suspend the regular holding of mass with the people,” Valles explained “We do not stop holding masses, we just suspend mass gathering inside the church but we continue to hold masses, we can hold mass and send it via live stream for people to attend it, we need to support the call to prevent the spread of the virus.”
For people who ask, Is the Lord in our midst or not? , Valles said “God is good and people should keep Praying that the virus will soon be gone and medicines be available.”
The mass which Valles celebrated was physically attended by three lay ministers and technical people from the Catholic-owned radio station DXGN which carried the live stream via Facebook.
The Archbishop said Sacrifice, act of charity and love, must reign in one’s heart as the world is faced with COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is our moral obligation to support the civil authority in the fight against spread of COVID-19, we are members of the society and we must cooperate,” says Fr. Paul A. Cuison – parish priest of St. Francis de Asisi in Maa.
Ricardo Solis, paid attention to the mass of Valles said “I felt I am alive and I am with God, it s so relieving.”
He added “the difference is only the physical Church but by father to God standstill.”-Editha Z. Caduaya/NewsLine
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