I feel so blessed... I kept on thanking Jesus for giving me the opportunity to do Visita Iglesia this Lenten Season, because I believe I may not be able to do this in the future...
1 Our first stop was San Pascual Baylon, or popularly known as the Obando Church.
San Pascual, Saint Claire, and Our Lady of Salambao are the three focal points of this church. For the men who wants to have a wife, they dance and pray to San Pascual, for Ladies who wants to have a husband, they dance and pray to Saint Claire, and for couples who are asking for children, they pray to Virgen de Salambao... We were also fortunate to see some men in Penitence, who were re-enacting the sufferings of Jesus Christ.
2 Our second stop is the Parish Church of Our Lady of St. Carmel, or popularly known as the Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan.
The church was the scene of the proclamation of Independence and where Pres. Joseph Estrada took his oath.
3 Next stop is St. John The Baptist Church in Calumpit, Bulacan.
Built in 1572, this is the oldest church in Bulacan. Constructed under the supervision of Augustinian priest Fr. Diego Vivar-Ordoñez, the church had been witness to the Filipino’s struggle against Spanish, American and Japanese rule. Inside the church is a tunnel that, according to history, was used by priests during the Spanish regime to keep gold, religious statues, and ornate jewelry hidden from the sight of treasure hunters. Likewise, it is in this tunnel where revolutionaries and Spaniards were buried during the war. This was also Gen. Tanaka’s (Japanese Imperial Army) last battlefield.
4 Fourth is the National Shrine of St. Anne in Hagonoy, Bulacan.
As Mama Mary's mother, St. Anne's Church looked very neat, clean, feminine, and pink to me. This is the only church that shows the relics of the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary - St. Anne and St. Joaquim.
5 Fifth is Parokya ng San Juan,
6 followed by (Sixth) Parokya ng San Jose,
both churches in Hagonoy, Province of Bulacan.
7 And finally, our last stop, the Seventh Church is the Church of San Guillermo in Bacolor, Pampanga.
The church was originally constructed by the Agustinian Friars in 1576 - also the town's founding - with Fr. Diego De Ochoa, OSA, as the town's first parish priest.having been installed as such two years after.
In 1880, the church was destroyed by an earthquake only to be rebuilt by Fr. Eugenio Alvarez in 1886. On September 3, 1995, lahar flow from the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo which erupted into world notice on June 15, 1991, buried the church at half its 12 meter height. But in spite of this, the Church is still being used as a place of worship, hence, inviting more people to visit the province of Pampanga. This church was also used by ABS-CBN's religious soap opera, May Bukas Pa, which ended last February of 2010.
Somewhere along the way, we asked ourselves, where are we heading at? Is this the right way? Did we do the right thing? How long are we gonna sit in the car? Never ending doubts and what if's...
But our goal has clearly reminded us - To focus on the journey, and not the destination... That's what we did... And then later on, everything else was perfect...
I encourage each and everyone to do the same...
Credits:
Bulacan Tourism
