A Lamentation
Intercessory Prayer for Compassionate Release of Ernesto Jude Cantero Rimando, Jr. and Antonio Molina, Political Prisoners terminally ill and suffering under detention
Response: O God of Compassion, hear our cry!
We come before You, our God, whose character of compassion bends Your ear to hear our cries. We love and are loved by a Caring Creator, who stays with us even at the hour of darkness and death. O God of Compassion, hear our cry!
Our beloved country is replete with suffering, oozing with death-dealing experiences, and drained of its strength to see light and savor joy. O God of Compassion hear our cry!
This nation’s leaders have left us to suffer hunger, both of our bodies and our spirits. They have left many in tatters and pieces, as needed public services were sacrificed to their whims and hunger for power. They have sown fear and terror, injustice, and oppression to advance their greed. O God of Compassion, hear our cry!
We bring to you as an oblation, an offering: two people person, in need of rescue and intercession. Your church, your spirit, your light on this troubled earth, has seen their suffering and their service. Ernesto and Antonio, two lives that have given much, so much so that all strength has left their bodies. Their lives are valued; their relationships revered. O God of Compassion, hear our cry!
We bring to you 55-year-old Ernesto, a peasant organizer of sugar workers, loved by his people, arbitrarily arrested and detained in the Metro Manila District Jail, Lower Bicutan. Ernesto, now ravaged by complications of liver cirrhosis, lung and blood vessel diseases, needs utmost care. O God of Compassion, hear our cry!
We bring to you 66-year-old Antonio, human rights defender. Detained on the island of Palawan, suffering from blood, prostate and spine problems as well as an aggressive, malignant cancer of the connective tissues. Antonio, too, needs utmost care. O God of Compassion, hear our cry!
O God of Life, Ernesto and Antonio have given their lives to serve Your people. We carry their bodies, suffering from terminal illnesses; we carry them in our hearts and bring them to the foot of Jesus’ Cross. We bring them to You for healing, for reprieve from their daily pain, and we ask You to help us MAKE AN APPEAL to the authorities for their COMPASSIONATE RELEASE. For only in Compassionate Release, will they realize the special care and treatment needed by terminally ill political prisoners. Transform the hearts of the authorities, O God, from hearts of wrath to hearts of love; from “a heart of stone to a heart of flesh.”
O God of Compassion, hear our cry!
