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In this Facebook screenshot, Mission Dolores Basilica pastor Father Francis Garbo is seen praying the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary in a chapel at the San Francisco church at 9 p.m. March 19. He will pray the rosary every night at the same time on the Mission Dolores Facebook page. (Catholic San Francisco)
March 20, 2020
Catholic San Francisco
Mission Dolores Basilica pastor Father Francis Garbo joined Catholics around the world in praying the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary from a chapel in the San Francisco church at 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 19, and invited all to gather with him on Facebook at the same time each night.
Father Garbo told the Facebook audience that he was responding to a call by Pope Francis for worldwide prayer of the Luminous Mysteries, which St. Pope John Paul II added to the rosary in his 2002 apostolic letter “Rosarium Virginis Mariae” and urged that Catholics pray on Thursday of each week.
“Moving on from the infancy and the hidden life in Nazareth to the public life of Jesus, our contemplation brings us to those mysteries which may be called in a special way ‘mysteries of light,’” St. John Paul II wrote. “Certainly, the whole mystery of Christ is a mystery of light. He is the ‘light of the world’ (John 8:12).”
More than 800 viewers joined Father Garbo online as prayed the five decades of the Luminous Mysteries and implored Mary’s intercession for all affected by the growing coranavirus pandemic.
He prayed the first decade for first responders, chaplains, nurses and all those on the front lines of care for the suffering; the second for the recovery of people sick from the virus and for all those at risk; the third for the souls of those who have died and for grieving families; the fourth for the elderly, international travelers and all those who are vulnerable.
Father Garbo prayed the the fifth decade for churches, schools and communities and for people to return to normal "with a deepened love of God and their neighbor.”
The livestream of Father Garbo’s March 19 prayer may be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/missiondoloressf/videos/674369199964870/.
Father Garbo also invited the online community to livestreamed Sunday Masses from the basilica at 8 a.m. in English and 9 in Spanish.