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More than just candles and prayers
My assignment to write an article about Sinulog took me to a place where I recollected certain issues of my past.
I owe my childhood memories to Sr. Santo Niño. Each time I got sick, my grandmother would always place a small image of Santo Niño near my head and whispered a healing prayer. By the time I was back on my feet, mother and grandmother would take me to the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño for a sinug. This goes on until my last years of grade school. From then on, I would visit the Basilica on special occasions.
Since then, I got busy with problems popping here and there. I began to search for new meanings and significant answers. I have to go back to where my heart feels comfortableÂ… and my heart leads me back to the Basilica.
As I stepped into the portals of the Basilica, I began asking myself… what would I pray for? There were lots of things to pray for. I could not make my priority. My grandmother and my mother were religious but never was I. I am afraid to pray. I feel silly when I pray. So I ended up sitting on a bench near the gate staring at the old ladies making sinug for a few people. From a distance, an old lady with a handful of candles captured my attention. She was not smiling but her facial expression was consoling. I stood up, approached her and asked her to help me pray. Then she asked me. “ Do you intend to pray or seek refuge and find answers to your problems?
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