THE POWER OF PRAYER

Aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy

(Photo from Tambayan.ph)

The night after I heard about the news on the approaching super typhoon “Pepeng”, I received some text messages in the form of prayer from a former classmate in the high school and other anonymous text senders requesting me to forward them to as many friends as possible.

The prayer asked for divine intervention and implored the Almighty Father not to let the coming typhoon hit any of the islands in our country as our people from flood-affected areas have not recovered yet from Ondoy’s wrath.

The following day, the Philippine Daily Inquirer carried a news item on “Pepeng”. The news report said that, “As Pepeng moves toward Luzon, Auxiliary Bishop Lucio Quiambao of the Archdiocese of Legaspi encouraged Filipinos to pray the ‘Oratio Imperata For Deliverance From Calamities’”.

The powerful prayer was said to have helped spare the province of Albay from typhoons and disasters since a super typhoon struck some three years ago.

The prayer, as published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, read as follows:

“Almighty Father, we raise our hearts to You in gratitude for the wonders of creation of which we are part, for Your providence in sustaining us in our needs, and for Your wisdom that guides the course of the universe.

“We acknowledge our sins against You and the rest of creation.

“We have not been good stewards of Nature.

“We have confused Your command to subdue the Earth.

“The environment is made to suffer our wrongdoing, and now we reap the harvest of our abuse and indifference.

“Global warming is upon us. Typhoons, floods, volcanic eruption, and other natural calamities occur in increasing number and intensity.

“We turn to You, our loving Father, and beg forgiveness for our sins.

“We ask that we, our loved ones and our hard-earned possessions be spared from the threat of calamities, natural and man-made.

“We beseech You to inspire us all to grow into responsible stewards of Your creation, and generous neighbors to those in need.

“Amen.”

Filipinos are used to experiencing typhoons and floods. Our country is even referred to as storm laboratory since typhoons are formed in the area pretty close to it. But never before have I seen or heard our countrymen worry so much about typhoons and floods—not after Ondoy destroyed and devastated a big portion of the National Capital Region. The destruction and devastation caused by Ondoy were so great, the people just cannot afford another such deluge.

But I believe a great many people collectively prayed with all their hearts. And Metro Manila and other provinces surrounding the mega city were spared from “Pepeng”.

Indeed, “many things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”