"Spending Time with Mama Mary at Caleruega"
shared by:
Sherwin Dy
General Santos City
Caleruega Church, in Nasugbu Batangas, is a very popular place for retreats and weddings, often popular actors and actresses have their weddings here, and it is rumored that for a person to have his or her wedding at this church, he or she has to book one year in advance! So it was a lucky day for us, since I expected this place to be packed with people especially since the day was a weekend and a holiday at that. To my surprise, aside from us, only a group of youngsters having their retreat and two to three couples only were in the church. Hence, we had a very relaxing day in Caleruega, and especially seeing Mama Mary's statue in the courtyard, with a fine cloudy sunny sky as a backdrop while surrounded by beautiful flowers and plants, i couldn't resist having a photo taken with my family and taking pictures of them enjoying the scenery too. The 2 hour trip from manila was worth it even with traffic, as my mother being a devotee to Mama Mary, always try to find time to pray and make time even with her hectic day to day schedule. Since it was a weekend, there weren't many people in Caleruega that day, so we had a very solemn visit, to contemplate and pray to Mama Mary. Seeing that it was such a fine fine day and with the beautiful clouds in the background, i took this photo of my mother while she was praying to Mama Mary.
Recently, with the passing of my father, and the trials being encountered by our family, it has been a rough 3 to 4 months for us. One positive thing with my father's passing is it has brought me and my 3 other brothers and together with our mom together more closely. We seldom spend time together and already have our own families, but recently all that has changed. And luckily, a friend of mine recommended we go to Tagaytay to relax and while there, go to Caleruega since it is just a 20 minutes drive from tagaytay, at the entrance to Batangas itself. What a recommendation, as not only we can spend time and pray to God and Mama Mary, we could also relax and melt the stress away in a place of worship.
Back when I was a still little boy, Mama Mary was always in the center of our family's hearts and minds, since my mom was and is always a religious person, so it inspires me to submit this photo in honor of Mama Mary.