Rosary Brigades in the Philippines set to protect against Covid-19

Betty Lou Penera, an active alumna and chief publicist for the Centro Escolar University Alumni Foundation based in Manila, Philippines, reacted to a Philstar newspaper column on women’s lives under quarantine:

“One of the many agonizing moments of our lives under quarantine is being separated from the members of my family. My husband is a surgeon and so are my children–my daughter a hepato-pancreatico-biliary fellow and my son a neurosurgical resident. Ever since the pandemic my children have to isolate themselves from us for fear of contaminating us with the virus. Lately, my husband started scheduling operations so we have to sleep in separate rooms. Every time my children are tested for COVID, my heart goes haywire until the result is out!

True enough, God is the One holding me together! Praying that the Lord will protect them with His Most Precious Blood together with Mama Mary covering them with her mantle of protection!”

The same prayer for divine intervention during these difficult times drew members of the Centro Escolar University Alumni Foundation to do a Rosary Brigade from June 19th to July 10th. Led by the foundation president Dr. Paz Lucido, 17 volunteers in Manila, Sydney and California held a Rosary Brigade by ZOOM. Every day, a Rosary leader was assigned, along with five responders to each of the decades of the Rosary, and the participants sang spiritual songs, making the experience “alive and exciting,” Betty Lou says.

“The Rosary Brigade was held in response to Pope Francis’ plea for prayers, especially for people infected by the coronavirus around the globe… The Rosary Brigade,” she says, “gave us a needed respite from our activities and, better still, the much dreaded coronavirus gave us a ‘wake up call’ to go back to prayers, to ask God for His mercy and guidance.”

Adapted from article by Domini Torevillas for the Philippine Star, published June 8, 2020