It has always been my belief that entering a house of prayer or a religious temple for the first time goes with a lot of perks.  I am with the faithful belief that you can ask for three wishes if it is your first time to enter a church.  This of course is aside from the opulent opportunity to pray for your loved ones, express your heartfelt gratitude, catch-up with God and in a way save your soul.

simple yet powerful!

mystifying

But my first time visit to the church of Our Lady of Caysasay in Barangay Labac, Taal has more than what I expected.   I only knew through a brochure write-up of the hotel were we stayed in Taal that pilgrims and visitors of this church as decreed by Vatican may actually receive the rare and priceless plenary indulgence.  This means, if you visit and pray at Caysasay Shrine all your sins, wickedness and impiety will be washed away.  Upon knowing this, and since my wickedness is already up to the brim, I made sure that I and my friends must go there.

Aside from washing away all my evilness, I also got to meet one remarkable kid in Taal.  His name is Mark Vincent.  I actually met him right inside the church.  After saying a solemn prayer, this kid approached me and asked if I wanted to personally hold the image of Our Lady of Caysasay.  I of course agreed.  He then told me to follow him outside, led me to the back of the church and asked me to go up the stairs which leads me to the back of the high altar.

the angel and the wicked

our lady of caysasay

feeling blessed

When I reached the top floor, the main backdoor of the church was locked.  Mark Vincent noticed that I could not get in so he hurried downstairs and told the church’s personnel to open the door for me and my friends.  This is where the amazing and rare opportunity of touching the miraculous image, her vestment and even the hair of Our Lady of Caysasay happened.  This beautiful experience was indeed sublime and mystifying.

When I told Mark Vincent that he is supposed to be in school that Wednesday morning, he told us that his teacher ordered them to report halfday after lunch because it’s the feast day of St John the Baptist.  In Batangas province, part of its local tradition is to splash water to people passing by the streets from morning ‘til noontime during San Juan day.  The teacher then, as I supposed, must not want her students reporting at school in the morning all drenched wet.

I was expecting Marc Vincent to ask money from us upon making sure we experience what we experienced.  Usual Pinoy cunning and scheming kids would charge or ask tourists for money for the service they believe they’ve rendered.  But what is so remarkable about this kid is that he never asked anything from us.  He simply wanted us to have a deeper encounter with the Lady of Caysasay.  This is the point when I surmised that Mark Vincent, the genteel and well-mannered kid, must be some angel sent by heaven.  (I will write further about my encounter with this remarkable kid in the days to come…)

Sa wakas nahuhasan din.  Grabe. Ang linis linis ko. Hahaha!