MANILA -- For the first time, churches in Metro Manila have been closed since last month due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), but Filipino Catholics still observed Good Friday with the same solemnity at home tuning to their television sets and internet to listen to the Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ.
GMA Channel 7 carried live the preaching of the Seven Last Words to viewers at the comfort of their homes from 12 noon to 3 p.m.
Every Good Friday, Catholic churches all over the country are filled to the brim, but are empty this year as they have been locked down due to the global outbreak of Covid-19.
During the preaching of the Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ, preachers in their homily asked the people to continue praying to God to stop the deadly virus.
The Covid-19 outbreak continued to contaminate people around the world during the Holy Week 2020 observance.
The rapid spread globally of the deadly Covid-19 virtually caught off guard the human race, and can be likened to the story of the great deluge during Noah’s time when God punished man for his sinfulness.
This was pointed out by Rev. Fr. Omer Prieto of the Parish of Fatima in the Diocese of Cubao, Quezon City during an exclusive interview on the Covid-19 breakout.
However, Prieto said that unlike the great flood as related in the Old Testament, “the coronavirus (disease 2019) in perspective is about health and faith… (and) of the human ego to purify us”.
Initially, he said, it was a simple infection that went haywire that even giant pharmaceutical companies did not read the “sign”, just “like the time of Noah when the people were caught unaware of the coming flood”.
Prieto said it is about time that the people around the world should discern and heed the call of God for repentance.
“What is God telling us in this situation of ours is an indication to listen to God what the Lord is telling us,” he said. (PNA)
