Thursday, May 31, 2007 Wenceslao: Out there in Simala By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
I DIDN'T know what was in Simala, Sibonga when my family went there with relatives of my wife Edizza. I heard them talk about a shrine but I was more interested in the trip considering my usual home-office-home routine. I also thought it would give me time to visit a former City Central School classmate now living in Sibonga proper.
I was in for a surprise, of course. Out there in Upper Lindogon, Simala was a sight I only see on television and in feature films, like the Lino Brocka-Nora Aunor classic “Himala.” We arrived there on a hot noon but that did not deter tens of people from entering the “sanctuary” and walking to the edifice housing the icon of Mama Mary.
Many of the pilgrims were from Cebu City and its neighboring areas, some of them renting buses and passenger jeepneys for the trip. I felt this was getting bigger with the construction going on in the place. The crowd was smaller, though, than those who went to the Theotokos Center in Perrelos, Carcar for the “dancing sun” issue.
The Mother Mary shrine in Simala is being run by Marian monks, the first time I heard that a group like this exists. I would have wanted to interview Brother Martin, the man wearing a garb woven from flour sacks (sako sa harina). But I was there for a different reason, so I let the journalist’s urge pass. I concentrated on the ritual instead.
In Upper Lindogon, the shrine can be considered an anomaly being the only concrete structure there, and it was perched atop one of the hills to boot. Inside, the line of people moving towards the Mother Mary statue was long, reminding one of a similar sight at the Basilica del Sto. Niño. I espied two wheelchair-bound women in that line.
Pilgrim sites, though, are not only about pilgrims but also about those who feed off pilgrimages. Eateries have sprouted near the shrine’s gate and behind these a vacant lot surrounded by coconut trees was transformed into a pay parking area. One can also find there cottages rented at P100 each. There we ate our lunch and whiled away the time.
The biggest pull of the Marian shrine in Simala is, of course, the icon’s reported healing power. Brother Martin interrupted the rosary to allow a woman to narrate her battle with a breast ailment that fortunately was not cancer. She attributed her healing to her faith in the Blessed Virgin. Indeed, faith. For those who believe, faith is enough.
