12 Hours with Mary – A call to pray for the world and the nation

12 Hours with Mary – A call to pray for the world and the nation

MAJODI Centre – In an effort to gather all the faithful to turn the Lord in prayer especially during this pandemic, the Diocese of Malacca Johore under the guidance of Bishop Bernard Paul, organised an online time prayer entitled, “12 Hours with Mary” on the feast of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The events livestreaming begins with Bishop Bernard Paul at the Grotto of Our Lady, MAJODI Centre.

Bishop Bernard Paul opening speech

Bishop Bernard Paul officiated the 12-hour prayer with the Words of Scripture taken from 2 Chronicles 7: 14 which states “If My people. Who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” These words served as a reminder to all that we should not abandon God during this trying time but get closer to God through constant prayer and unwavering faith like Mother Mary, who trusted God with her very life from the very beginning. Bishop then proceeded the prayer by praying the rosary with the meditations based on the Glorious Mysteries.

The prayer was then continued by the different parishes which included the lay and religious within the Malacca Johore Diocese who continued the rosary in different languages such as English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil.

Parishioner’s session

Halfway through the prayer, Francisco Overee, one of the Youth Ministers in MAJODI Centre took over and led the participants in singing Marian hymns. He took this approach of singing the hymns after explaining briefly about the origin of the hymns that were of different languages which were focused on Mother Mary, asking for her intercession for all of us. Among the hymns sang were: Sing of Mary Pure and Lowly in English, Bersukalah Saudaraku, Santa Maria del Camino in Spanish, Dell Aurora Tu Sorgi Pui Bella in Italian, Mariang Inako in Filipino, Siara Mai Virgem Maria in Kristang and Wat De Toekomst Bregen Moge in Dutch.

The online prayer ended with the multilingual recitation of the rosary. Fr Alexuchelvam Mariasoosai ended with the whole event with an update on the upcoming event organised by the MJDYPN for the young adults which will be held in November 2021 in conjunction with the World Youth Day 2021. He hoped that through this event, many more people especially the young adults will step forward and take part in future activities carried out by MAJODI Centre.

Multi-lingual rosary prayer by MJD Young People’s Network