This is June Keithley Castro.
My personal conversion began with
the events that brought people power
to the attention of the world in 1986.
Born and raised a Catholic,
I had rebelled against my faith
years before.
But in 1985, by some quirk of fate,
I found myself at Lunetta
for the commemoration of
the end of the Marian year.
My son had been one of those chosen to lead,
alongside cardinal sin,
an act of entrustment to the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
Though I no longer believed
in these expressions of Catholic piety,
as a mother I found myself
echoing my son's words,
and thus consecrated myself to
Mary's immaculate heart.
She then led me to total surrender
on the night when Raggio Bandido
emerged as a voice of hope
from the deafening silence
of the airwaves of fear.
Fifteen years later,
the children of the people
who were the spiritual warriors of 1986
emerged and poured into EDSA
by the hundreds of thousands.
As I stood on that stage
on the night of January 17, 2001,
and looked down at their eager faces,
I realized with a great sense of awe
that God was again moving in our land.
There, underneath our mother's mantle,
we were one with the saints
by our witness on Epifanio de
los Santos Avenue,
Edsa 1 and 2.
And so, with the rest of
our nation and our people,
I too echo our mother's words.
My soul magnifies the
greatness of the Lord,
an d my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For he who is mighty
has done great things for me,
and holy is His name.
Amen.
It's a time of joy, a time of peace,
a time when hearts are then set free,
a time to heal the wounds of division.
It's a time of grace, a time of hope,
a time of sharing the gifts we have,
a time to build a world that is one.
It's the time to give thanks
to the Father, Son, and Spirit,
and with Mary, our mother,
we sing this song.
Open your hearts to the Lord
and begin to see the mystery
that we are all togeth
er as one family.
No more walls, no more chains,
no more selfishness and closed doors,
For we are in the fullness of God's time
It's the time of the great
jubilee
It's a time of prayer, a time of grace
A time to lift our hands to God
A time to recall all our graces
It's a time to touch, a time to reach
Those hearts that often wander
A time to bring them back to
God's embrace
It's the time to give thanks
To the Father, Son, and Spirit
And with Mary, our mother,
we sing this song.
We sing this song.
Open your hearts to the Lord
and begin to see the mystery
that we are all together as one family.
No more walls, no more chains,
no more selfishness and closed doors.
For we are in the fullness
of God's time.
Open your hearts to the Lord
And begin to see the mystery
That we are all together
as one family.
No more walls, no more chains
No more selfishness and closed doors
For we are in the fullness
of God's song
It's the time of the great jubilee
Open your hearts to the Lord
It's time of the great jubilee!