The powerful prayer that can protect our nation

IF a single prayer could spare the Philippines from war and extremism, how many millions of Filipinos do you think would join the plea to heaven?

Well, according to news reports, little than 5,000 gathered at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park last Friday morning for the 6 a.m. Mass and Consecration Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Yet going by events of the past century alone, consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary helped end World War 2 and spared all Europe from war twice. One country, Por

even if next-door neighbor Spain was engulfed in civil war.

The Philippines escaped grave threats, too. Yet most Filipino Catholics, even Church leaders, don’t know this.

Hence, the poor attendance at the Friday Mass commemorating the 400th anniversary of the arrival in the country of the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel from Mexico. Indeed, just a dozen prelates attended, according to Radio Veritas, the Church station.

What Mary has done for us

Today and next Sunday we address this widespread lack of awareness about the power and blessings of Marian prayer and consecration. This article will recount how Marian devotion

dangers of drugs, terrorism, and war from the Philippines. Next Sunday we look at global events.

So, what did Mary done for our nation?

First, restoring democracy. In 1984, amid the national crisis after the 1983 assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr., the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) heeded then-Pope St. John Paul II and dedicated 1985 to Mary —

the only national congregation in the worldwide Church to do so.

Shortly after the Marian year ended in December 1985, President Ferdinand Marcos, wielding authoritarian power since 1972, called a snap presidential election.

Two months later, amid massive protests over election fraud, including marches led by priests and nuns, and bearing religious images, the

Fast- forward to 2013: Under President Benigno Aquino 3rd, the Philippines saw three grave threats emerge: lawlessness, terrorism and

Crime and contraband tripled, with crime incidence crossing the milliona-year mark by 2013, from 324,083 in 2010. Smuggling surged to $26.6 billion in 2014, from $7.9 billion in 2009, based on International Monetary Fund data. In his 2013 address

of guns and drugs from abroad, but never investigated it.

Next threat: terrorism, growing in Muslim rebel enclaves. For sure, the danger would have become entrenched if Aquino established an even more autonomous Bangsamoro region, dominated by the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Threat No. 3 was the planned massive deployment of American forces, under Washington’s Pivot To Asia plan to move 60 percent of naval assets to the region. The US would have had access to our military bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

If the EDCA proceeded, China and North Korea would have targeted

the Philippines as a strategic threat for hosting the nuclear-armed Seventh Fleet, which can strike most of China and all its shipping, including 80 percent of its oil imports, from our country.

Three threats and a Blessed Virgin

So, how did the Virgin Mary

stop these three threats? Answer: With Church and State.

In June 2013, the CBCP consecrated the Philippines to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And in the following months and years, the Aquino administration’s plan to stay in power and continue its policies for six more years, got derailed.

The month after the conse-

cration, the pork barrel scam erupted, followed by the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) scandal in August.

Then came three calamities in a row, showing Aquino’s incompetence: the rebel siege of Zamboanga City in September, the Bohol earthquake in October, and Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in November.

December 2013 saw the unanimous Supreme Court decision declaring pork barrel unconstitutional. Half a year later, the same thing happened to the P157-billion DAP. And when the administration floated the idea of Aquino running for reelection, most Filipinos opposed it.

In January 2015, a week after he falsely claimed before visiting Pope Francis that Filipino bishops criticizing him were silent in the past regime, the Mamasapano Massacre of 44 police commandos plunged Aquino into his worst crisis and stopped the Bangsamoro train.

Come the May 2016 presidential race, the most unlikely winner was a mayor from faraway Mindanao with no mammoth war chest and nationwide political network.

President Duterte then cracked down on crime, drugs and terrorism, recast the Bangsamoro pact, crushed Islamic State rebels in Marawi, and stalled the EDCA, plus: reconciled with China.

Now, drug lords, terrorists, corrupt and traitorous politicians, and EDCA lovers want him out or dead.

He should now complete this deliverance story by consecrating the Philippines to Mary, as his own daughter Sara did for Davao City.

As we pray and wait for our leader to consecrate our nation, the Filipino faithful can do our own consecrations.

In the boxed text is the consecration prayer recited last Friday in Luneta. Say it for nation, and with some changes, for family, community, company, school and any other entity.

Pray for protection in the name of Mary. Amen.