REALLY?
That's what many readers, even devout Filipino believers, would say about the headline. Is heaven truly saving the Philippines from the hell of war?
Let's have a history and faith lesson on how God may be intervening to block conflict and forge peace.
As recounted in past columns, world war was shortened or prevented after popes consecrated the Church and the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, one of two devotions for world peace that our Lord instructed through Our Lady of Fatima in 1917, along with the Five First Saturdays devotion, to obtain world peace.
Following the Oct. 31, 1942 rite by Pius XII, Allied forces won the Second World War in three years. A decade later, he consecrated Russia in writing, and dictator Josef Stalin's Europe invasion plan while the United States was fighting in Korea ended after he died of a brain hemorrhage in 1953.
In 1984, as Moscow plotted to take out US intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Europe able to nuke Russia sans retaliation, war was averted after devastating explosions on May 13, 1984 — the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima — destroyed most of the Russian Navy's armaments at its main base in Severomorsk.
The last consecration by Pope Francis on March 25, 2022, together with thousands of other Catholic bishops worldwide — following most closely the Fatima instruction to consecrate Russia by name — may also have prevented world war despite or indeed due to the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel.
After that globally televised Vatican rite at St. Peter's Basilica, Ukraine and Russia nearly forged a peace deal to end the weeks-old invasion in exchange for Ukrainian neutrality. But Washington and London blocked the Kyiv-Moscow accord and armed and funded Ukraine to keep fighting to "weaken" Russia, as US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after visiting Kyiv.
Well, God's peace plan was not to be stopped. After over two and a half years of war, Ukraine's army and the West's weapons stocks are greatly depleted, while Russia has mobilized 800,000 troops with massive weaponry — the most powerful forces in Europe since World War II.
Result: At this time, the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) can't beat and won't fight Russia, which it might have done if peace in March 2022 enabled Ukraine and the alliance to build up forces and armaments instead of expending them in fighting.
Oh, and the Gaza conflict since last October, plus American elections this November, have made Washington even more war-wary. ("Our Lord may have stopped world war — for now," http://tinyurl.com/4a4mhyhe).
Regime change?
What about the Philippines and Asia?
With Europe and the Middle East conflicts and US presidential elections, where wartime body bags could sink the ruling Democrats, President Joe Biden has taken steps to avoid hostilities with China, including restored military-to-military communications.
Thus, despite escalating China-Philippines incidents, America hasn't intervened. And we've avoided putting our ally on the spot by not invoking the Mutual Defense Treaty despite water cannoning, laser blinding, boat slashing and scraping, and even injuries to our seamen. Recently, we've agreed with Beijing to ease tensions, no doubt to Washington's relief and approval.
Hopefully, key prayers over the past year will continue to keep war away. Last September, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. received blessings for himself and the country from Fr. Chris Alar, who propagates the Divine Mercy and Mary Immaculate devotions. Then, in Mary's month of May this year, the President consecrated the Philippines to Our Lady of Guadalupe, our nation's secondary patron.
And as instructed by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), starting last month until January 1 — the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and World Day for Peace —Masses nationwide are intoning the Oratio Imperata for Peace, pleading: "Spare us, Lord, from the horrors of war."
Judging from past CBCP actions and their positive outcomes, the current ones would hopefully keep war away. Four decades ago, Philippine prelates heeded then-pope John Paul II's urging to dedicate the 1985 liturgical year to Mary — the only national congregation to do so, recounts Jesuit theologian Fr. Catalino Arevalo.
Soon after the 1985 liturgical year ended, then-president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. called snap elections for February 1986 — leading to the end of his strongman rule, the restoration of democracy and the stanching of insurgencies feeding on popular unrest.
In June 2013, the CBCP consecrated the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A succession of scandals, calamities and violent incidents eventually undercut the administration of then-president Benigno Aquino III. ("Divorce: God's warning to Marcos and Congress," https://tinyurl.com/3zhu548y).
That led to the surprise election victory of Rodrigo Duterte despite limited funds and party machinery. His rule stalled US military deployment under the Aquino-era Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). Otherwise, EDCA would have entrenched American might here by now, irreversibly making our country a colossal threat to China and a US military platform with forces too powerful to ever expel.
Today, we may again see leadership changes easing security risks. Both stepping down after elections in the coming months are President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fukio Kishida — the two leaders who got President Marcos into a triple alliance countering China with terrifying war risk for us.
Biden and Kishida's successors could cease or ease off moves to weaponize our country for America and Japan's possible battle with China over Taiwan.
Or not. Top US generals and security think tanks have argued that building up forces here is needed to offset China's undeniable advantage in nearby wars ("Imee reveals EDCA threats the US hides from us," https://tinyurl.com/3ffcyr9r). And Washington's arms buildup here could lead Beijing to invade Taiwan before US forces here make it too costly and bloody to stop the island's breakaway.
As tens of millions of Filipinos plead for peace at Masses nationwide, one cannot but ask: will heaven let Asia's Christian nation be dragged into and devastated in the hellhole of a horrifying nuclear superpower conflict, leading us to lose faith in God and turn to armies and armaments to save our nation?
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