Myanmar Archbishop of Mandalay released guidelines to pray and overcome crises on January 8.
Archbishop Marco Tin Win of Mandalay invited priests, religious men, women, and laity to join him in prayer for the country and for all people to defeat crises of Covid-19, hunger, conflicts, and oppressions.
“Now is the time when our brothers and sisters are facing crises of Covid-19, starvation, outbreaks of war, and persecutions. For these reasons, may I call all priests and Catholic faithful to pray with me,” wrote Archbishop Tin Win.
The prelate said, “In prayer, you must have the right intention. Your life must be converted if it is in the wrong way. Then and only then, the effect of prayer will rapidly come to time.”
Sister Lucia Thandar Aung, a member of St. Joseph of Apparition (SJA), said, “I feel and believe that Archbishop constantly cares for the poor and suffering people, and he listens to the voice of the needy ones.”
The nun stated that “Because of pandemic (Covid) and also a political situation which we call in short ‘Ko Sit’ (meaning Brother War in Burmese), we have much apostolate work to be done since so many are facing life challenges.”
Sharing her experience, Sister Thandar Aung told RVA News that when approaching Archbishop for urgent needs, he responds with big help without hesitation, from which she can move on for the needy ones.
“We, the Sheep, need reminders and encouragements from the Shepherd time to time. Now Archbishop Marco urged the faithful in his Archdiocese via his circular letter to offer fervent prayer for Myanmar,” the nun said.
Father Augustine Win Myint, priest of St. Michael’s parish, said, “In Jesus’ life, prayer is a pillar of life. With His prayer life, Jesus lived and showed how to live by prayer as human beings.”
Father Win Myint recalled that the apostles also taught to pray unceasingly. The followers of Jesus succeeded by prayer. In the history of the Church, prayer saved her (Church).
“It is very good that Archbishop of Mandalay urges and leads to praying for current situation and difficulties because prayer is a powerful thing. Due to the prayer of Moses, God saved Israelites,” said Father Augustine.
The Parish priest of St. Michael’s church continues, “Praying for Myanmar is very rewarding. May I encourage all the faithful to actively participate in prayer.”
Rita Thet Su San, a parishioner, also comments that the guidelines of the Archbishop are truly good and noteworthy.
“The faithful also need spiritual strength for themselves during this time of pandemic and risks. We can acquire spiritual strength by Eucharistic adoration, hearing mass, and prayer,” encouraged Thet Su San.
She expresses her desire that “With strong faith, we are willing to try to comply with the guidelines of Archbishop for our intentions to be successful, our prayers to be answered, and our life to be lived in a right way.”
“We are ready to observe the guidelines of our Good Shepherd with right intentions and prayer,” said Rita.
The Archdiocese of Mandalay has about 21,346 Catholics in an overall population of about 1.5 million people with 30182.93 square miles.
Catholics are a minority among a Buddhist majority in the Mandalay Archdiocese.
Mandalay is the city where the Archdiocese is located is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after the capital, Yangon.
The Region of Mandalay is remarkable for being at the heart of Burmese- Buddhist and Burmese culture.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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