Baclayon church, oldest coral church in the region, one of the oldest in Asia, and among the best-preserved Jesuit-built church in the Philippines before the earthquake. Centuries-old icons in a damp dimly-lit room awaiting church restoration. The famed 1824 baroque pipe organ of Baclayon, restored in 2008, the only one of its kind and one of the oldest in the entire country, survived the 2013 earthquake, but had to be disassembled to make way for repairs.
Maribojoc church. Zingzing Ramos poses beside ancient bells
Maribojoc church, without roof or walls to this day. (April 2016).
Message from the Vatican
Immediately after the earthquake, discerning the role of Our Lady of Fatima, Pope Francis dispatched her statue to the earthquake area, which subsequently reached Samar and Leyte, which were devastated by Yolanda (Hainan). This is a Papal message of hope from Our Lady of Fatima for the survivors of these two mega-disasters.
A Wake-up Call
Why would the Lord destroy a dozen of the oldest and most culturally-precious of our churches? A Bolhanon friend says the Lord must be very angry because of the thriving flesh trade in our tourism centers in Bohol and Cebu? That is one theory. Have we somehow desecrated His houses of prayer that He has chosen to destroy them? Why was the Santo Nino church in Cebu City, a pilgrimage center drawing millions of devotees nationwide, destroyed?
Does the Lord’s message go something like this “Bato lang yang mga simbahang sinira Ko. Gusto Ko ang puso at dasal niyo, hindi ang mga gusaling pang-dasal.” (The many churches I destroyed are nothing to Me. They are mere stones. I want your hearts and prayers, not your buildings of prayer.) The Bohol message brings to mind the Biblical Tower of Babel and Sodom and Gomorrah, destruction of edifices and cities.
A Message of Hope
In the town of Loon, where the church was completely razed to the ground, a Marian devotee, citing that the statue of Our Lady of Light (Nuestra Senora de la Luz) was intact (see photo), said that the people saw that it was a ‘message of light’ from Our Lady – do not be afraid; recover your faith. The people saw God’s mercy rather than His wrath.
Loon church. Nuestra Senora de la Luz (Our Lady of Light) untouched by the earthquake.
Loon church. Earthquake icon remnants.
Loon church. Totally ravaged, but restored quickly.
In the town of Albuquerque, the church of Sta. Monica escaped the wrath of the earthquake. The dozens of ancient crude wooden posts one-foot in diameter, holding the entire ceiling, withstood the tremor (see photos.) I asked the guide what kind of wood it was. “No one knows”, he said, “not even the priests or historians I asked”. The Romanesque archs were also perfectly done that they did not crumble. Perhaps it is the mysterious dignum wood, reported by friars of old to be a protector from disaster, revered in folklore as a powerful amulet (anting-anting), a wood so strong that nails bend and saws are useless. (More on dignum – inquirer-article / dignum-krus). Sta. Monica is famous for intricate altar carvings and ancient ceiling paintings.
Sta. Monica church. Earthquake-proof pillars made of mysterious hardwood.
Sta. Monica church. Intricate antique wood carvings adorn Mary Immaculate.
Sta. Monica church. Restoration artisan.
Sta. Monica. Wood carving close up.
Sta. Monica. Last Supper in wood.
In April 2016, in response to the Papal call, endorsed by Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, a small Marian group from Manila, which requested anonymity, distributed 12,000 rosaries to six of the ten parishes of the most devastated churches through the Catholic Women’s League (CWL). The rosaries were distributed through the mothers of families. The goal was to promote the family rosary to avert future disasters. The Marian group has given some 40,000 rosaries, the first batches personally blest by Pope Francis during his visit here, to disaster areas in Samar, Leyte, and Batanes. Clearly, Our Lady is talking to us thru Pope Francis and Cardinal Tagle and the disasters, to the people of Bohol and to the entire nation. For we are the only Christian nation in Asia, the beacon of Marian devotion, which relays her messages of light and of darkness to the entire chaotic planet.
Bernie V. Lopez, eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com
******************************************* THE FATIMA 100-YEAR ANNIVERSARY SERIES Volume 1 The-Enmity-Between-the-Blessed-Virgin-and-Satan Volume 2 Yolanda-Miracles-Fulfill-Fatima-Prophecy Volume 3 Bohol-Earthquake-a-Fatima-Message Unpublished – Volume 4 Rose-Petal Images from Our Lady of Fatima Volume 5 Our Lady of Poonbato and of Guadalupe – Parallelism Volume 6 Global Cataclysms as Fatima Messages ********************************************* Prayer for Peace Lord, teach us and our enemies to break the vicious cycle of hate and vengeance. Inside all of us, a battle rages between good and evil, between love and hate. Help us make good win over evil. Lord, grant us peace in our troubled world. Teach us Your gentleness and forgiveness. Amen. THE GOD OF MERCY return to Me with your whole heart with fasting and weeping and mourning rend your hearts not your garments return to Me your Lord your God for gracious and merciful am I, slow to anger rich in kindness, relenting in punishment Joel 2:12-13 THE GOD OF WRATH there will be blood and fire and columns of smoke the sun will be turned into darkness, the moon into blood at My coming, on that great and terrible day all who call on My name shall be saved in Mount Zion, there will be remnants in Jerusalem survivors of My choosing Joel 3:1-5 amdg
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