MANILA — For more than five decades, the Grotto Shrine of the Our Lady of Lourdes in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan has been the sanctuary for the faithful especially during the Lenten Season.
Today, Filipinos still flock at the miraculous site not only to ask for favors but to express gratitude as well.
Lolita Layda, a devotee to the pilgrimage site, brings her family along every year to offer prayers and worship to the Lord after her child was healed of polio seven years back.
“Naging tradisyon na namin na gawin ito at masaya kaming ginagawa ito dahil ito ay pagbabalik puri para sa Diyos sa lahat ng biyaya namin sa buhay (This has been a family tradition and we are happy doing this as this is our way to praise God for the blessings he poured upon us),” Layda said in an interview.
Apart from bringing families together, the Our Lady of Lourdes also gathers spiritual groups that dedicate their healing powers to the divinities.
Apo, who is now 63, is said to have started his faithful journey at 19.
“Pinaginipan ko talaga ‘to, nakita ko si Mama Mary at sinabi nya na dito ako pumunta. Taun-taon pumupunta ako dito at kung kailan ako bakante upang magpasalamat at purihin sya (Mother Mary made me dream of this place as a child, and so I make it a habit to visit this place every year and whenever I am free to thank and praise her glory),” Apo said in an interview at the 14th station of the cross that is also on the site.
Apo also reminded other Catholics to never lose sight of the goodness of Jesus Christ who is “our way to the Heavenly Father”.
On Feb. 11, 1965, Anito Guanzon led the inauguration of the Lourdes Shrine Complex at Barrio Gaya-gaya, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
It was after almost four years of hard, back-breaking work, that the exact replica of the Grotto at Lourdes, France, Anita’s testament of faith was completed in the Philippines.
Marietta Guanzon Holmgren, recounts the story of her mother who in 1961 was diagnosed with terminal disease and given only six months more to live.
“When the doctors could see no sign of hope for my mother, she went to Lourdes in France on a pilgrimage and miraculously, thankfully, she was declared cured of her cancer upon her return from Lourdes,” Holmgren said in an interview, adding that it was the first among many miracles that took place at the Grotto Shrine.
The pilgrimage site is continuously visited by thousands of Catholic devotees each year and as the time passes by, more structures and items for the church are donated by the faithful who have claimed to receive their miracle from God.
“The place is very blessed because the people who go here are also proud and expressive of their belief. After all, the divine power that heals is also only as strong as a person’s faith and trust in God,” Holmgren added.