The planet is experiencing its greatest health crisis of the last hundred years. During the months of facing the novel coronavirus, thousands of people are, through prayer, looking for a reconcilation with the Sacred. Faith, prayer, and meditation were some of the most frequently looked up topics on the Internet lately, with a significant growth after the month of March, coinciding with the greatest period of worsening of COVID-19 cases in the world.
Mother Maria Inés de San José, nun of the Grace Mercy Order (GMO), analyses the fact as follows: “starting with the great health crisis we are experiencing, we were able to realize, as a humanity, each to their own degree of depth, that the material life we have is very fragile, and that in some situations, the goods we acquire and the riches we accumulate lose their value; so we begin to search within for what really enriches us.”
The nun also emphasizes that “prayer is a path through which we can come to an inner peace, and with that peace, we find the strength to deal with the most difficult situations, and most of all, help those who still have not found that important tool that unites us with God and His Source of Peace.”
The increase in hardship has drawn people closer to faith, hope, and, irrespective of their tradition, culture or religion, all are looking for a greater closeness with God.
Mother Maria Inés points out that the number of participants in the transmissions of the daily prayers and the monthly transmissions of the channels of Misericordia María TV and Prayers for Peace in the Nations (PPN) have been growing. “These channels transmit messages of faith that look to lift the spirit and bring closeness to the Sacred. Both have an important role in this period we are going through, for they carry peace and hope through prayer and teachings to thousands of homes all over the world, via the Internet,” she adds.
Caio Azevedo, a member of the PPN, tells us that since April 17, when the Novena to the Archangel Saint Raphael was started, they saw the number of subscriptions to the channel increase considerably and they had close to 1,500 new subscribers, an increase of approximately 30% in the number of followers only in the last three months, “a surprising result,” he emphasizes.
Through the PPN channel, thousands of people pray daily the Mysteries of the Rosary for peace in different nations and with different intentions. The prayers are transmitted live and are led by people who live also in different countries, who get together in support of a common purpose: to cry out for the good of the planet.
“In the face of the current scenario, we are instructed every month to pray a novena to Saint Raphael the Archangel for planetary healing, with the intent of bring harmony to the hearts that are immersed in fear and to draw protection to all those who are dealing directly with the virus, such as the health professionals,” explains the Mother.
Roner Moura, also a member of the group, explains that one of the reasons the novena is dedicate to Saint Raphael is that the archangel is the holder of Divine Science and “cures and heals everything that has been created.”
Mother María Inés concludes: “we believe that people are having the chance to turn inward, and this causes many questions to come up. The questions impel us to seek for answers and to look for the paths that will lead us into finding those answers.”
