200k join procession, Mass for Divine Mercy in Misamis Oriental

This was more than double the 70,000 who went to the shrine last year, GMA Northern Mindanao reported Monday.

 

"Ang kanilang tantya last year 70,000 to 80,000. Ngayon, nag-multiply ito ng ikatlo. Elbow to elbow na nga ang mga tao," said Msgr. Elmer Abacahin, parish priest of Alubijid.

 

The Feast of Divine Mercy is celebrated on the Sunday after Easter. Liturgical texts for the day concern the sacrament of Penance (confession).

 

Catholic site EWTN.com said Divine Mercy Sunday is "a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that mankind will experience in the years to come."

 

One of the devotees who went to the shrine Sunday, Virgilio Montella, came all the way from Agusan del Norte, to pray for his health.

 

Montella had suffered a stroke twice. "Ipinagdarasal ko na gumaling ako," he said.

 

Devotees carrying candles also took part in a procession that started 3 a.m. Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma then led a Mass.

 

"By sharing the mercy of the Lord with one another. To be able to forgive, to ask for reconciliation, to have the courage, to say that we too are in need of God's mercy, and that we in turn can share that mercy of God with one another," Ledesma said.

 

After the Mass, two rosary-themed balloons were released into the air.

 

Meanwhile, police secured the area with bomb squads and K-9 units. Sunday's event ended peacefully. —Joel Locsin/KG, GMA News