This week, we celebrate the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It’s amazing how so many Filipinos have developed such an intimate relationship with her through prayers and devotion. Perhaps it is because we live in a matriarchal society, and the image of a protective and loving mother is one we can relate to easily.
Radyo Veritas is holding its traditional Mary and Saints exhibit until Feb. 8 at the second floor of the Entertainment Center of SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, in which one of the items on display is the blood relic of Blessed John Paul II. This is the blood gathered during the operation of the pope after he was shot on May 13, 1981.
Thousands of devotees are expected to converge in Manila on Dec. 2, 4 p.m., when the Grand Marian Procession starts off at the Manila Cathedral, where the festivities have been celebrated for hundreds of years. The annual visual spectacle of carrozas adorned with colorful blooms will bring together close to 100 images of the Blessed Virgin Mary from all over the country.
Today (January 1) as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, I recall what Fr. Oliver Genuino told his parishioners in Our Lady of Fatima Church in Binakayan, Cavite in 1996.
OUR MEMORIES retain the Blessed Mother and the Infant Jesus in pictures captured by our mind. The Renaissance masters created the inspired graphic expressions and crafted visions conceived from dramatic scenarios from the Old and New Testaments.