a day of fulfillment and holiness. my sister josephine a.k.a "jogar" invited me to join them visit Birhen sa Simala, that is in sibunga south of cebu, right after car car, an hour and a half or two by private drive depends on the traffic...at first i was hesitant. i'm not really fond of these kind of things.. you know apparition , miracles which i've heard from my brother, some friends and the news...i still am not convinced, half-hearted ika nga...but i thought what the heck i'll try but not to make any promises was my reply to my sis-bro. i shared the invitation to yul and same thing but there was an added point coz his brother was around then so convincing that we decided to go. why on the 13th? Virgin Mary usually makes apparition on this date, showing signs sometimes an image crying... my sis-bro informed us earlier to bring oil or efficascent for the priest to bless as sort of healing element, apparently, we ere only able to bring a 1/4 filled efficascent oil :-) anyways, we bought an olive oil in Simala.
the journey was fun and interesting, three from the group were ex-OFWs who shared their experiences working in Dubai...btw these 3 single women coincidently met and grouped because of their devotion to Virgin Mary particularly Simala. this have become their "panata" every 13th of the month, which they started on aug. this year.
was in awe when the two shared their bunch of experiences the good and not so good. how they struggled from the local bosses and from the kapwa pinoys, pero still happy to hear also daghan japung pinoy nga motabang (at least) ...from a a working visa holder to being a tnt. ...wow! these women are amazing, grabe ilang naagi-an.
when we reached Simala, soooooo many many people were there, traffic..some were on habal2, multicab, jeepneys, expensive vehicles from all walks of life. this is my first time to experience such homage. tungod sa kadaghan sa mga sakyanan, many were trapped and no choice but left their drivers and had to walk towards the church including us. super init but didn't hear any complaint from the people. the place is big, the church is like a palace, i had picture taken which will follow...this place started as a small chapel and later on, people (most of them are anonymous), were donating to make the place bigger and comfortable for all. the church is still undergoing beautification... people were lining up..1. a line towards the church to hear mass, 2. towards the virgin mary "sa mga mohalok sa altar," 3.towards the virgin mary still "katong iyang veil nga gihilakan", and the last 4. towards Birhen sa Fatima" and of course how can i forget the line towards the c.r. :-) sa babaye japun ang pinaka taas as useless....hehe... i can't imagine how i overcame that situation, people were bumping each other, huooooot kaayo, but hey it's worth it. the face of Virgin Mary was sad, her eyes were saying something like "believe in your faith my child." grabe limbawt akong balhibo...along the way you can see letters in a glass frame from people who were blessed and healed giving thanks to our Virgin Mother and to the monks who were also praying and you can see also scratches and wheelchairs that were also framed, left by those who were healed. grabe no! how miracles work! FAITH WORKS!
every 13th is also our "monthsary," :-) yul and i thought this maybe a good sign. we will try our best but won't make any promises to make this our panata every 13th of the month to visit Birhen sa Simala. thanks to my sis-bro and the people we're with during the trip...especially the OFWs we learn a lot from them. looking forward to this group next month. looking forward to meet you mama Mary :-)
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