SOME 1,500 Catholic faithful and devotees joined a procession from Sacred Heart Shrine to the San Sebastian Cathedral for a mass which was intended to pray for healing, stop the killings in the country and pray for one's enemies.
The three Catholic priests who officiated the mass were Rev. Fr. Joy Jimera, the main celebrant; Rev. Fr. Jexon Davao, the homilist; and Rev. Fr. Roy Christian Gesugon who read the Gospel.
During the procession, the image of the Santo Entierro, or dead Jesus Christ, was included in the procession with the Catholic faithful and devotees composed of lay organization members and students from the Catholic schools in Bacolod City who walked side by side with the image of Santo Entierro.
There was a banner held by four Catholics which bore a message: “Diocese of Bacolod: Adlaw sang Paghinulsol kag Paglalaw. Stop the killings, Pray for Healing."
Fr. Davao in his homily used STUPID as an acronym for "our God is sincere, truthful, understanding, patient, intelligent and delightful."
"We are using this negative word stupid with a positive note. But of course, everyone is praying for our President who said that our God is stupid. But if his God is perfect, such perfection should have reflected on his being, his ways and words," he said.
When he asked the churchgoers if indeed God was stupid, they all replied in words and even in action that He is not.
"With all the things that have happened, it should be forgiveness that will prevail in the hearts of our people instead of hatred. Hatred is not the ways of the Lord and forgiveness is His way. I emphasized the words of the Lord that your ways are not my ways and your thoughts are not your thoughts.
Secondly, it is a prayerful and peaceful response to what has been said against God as we stand firm in our mission and that is the proclamation of the good news no matter what it takes," he said.
He said that “we, as a priest and even the religious congregation, we are very clear from our mission.”
The corresponding letters in the STUPID were the positive attributes of God, he said.
“Let peace prevail amidst all these things. We should live in peace and harmony. The Church will continue to pray for the President that he can indeed lead the nation and uplift the living condition of the poor. The real root cause of everything is poverty,” he said.