'Siete Palabras' in Calubian shrine

CEBU, Philippines - Hundreds of people gathered to listen to the “Siete Palabras”, or the Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ on the Cross, at the Saint Therese of the Child Jesus Shrine in barangay Obispo, Calubian town the other day. The reenactment was led by members of the media and the private sector in the province of Leyte.

Bishop Filomeno Bactol of Naval declared on October 1, 2001 the said shrine as a Diocesan shrine and now celebrates Holy Mass there every first Saturday of the month.

As a place of pilgrimage, the shrine serves the whole Diocese of Naval being the center of devotion to Saint Therese of Lisieux.

St. Therese, known adoringly as “The Little Flower of Jesus”, was born Marie Francoise Therese Martin in Alencon, France on the night of January 2, 1873 to Louis Martin, a watchmaker by trade, and Zelie Marie Guerin, a lace maker. Soon after her mother’s death, the family moved to Lisieux, France.

Therese was raised in a home full of comfort and love. She had developed a habit of mental prayer when she was only 11 years old. At 15, she was admitted to the Carmelite convent that both her sisters had already joined with the help of the Vicar General in their place. In the convent, she was able to do great deeds in her own little way.

She died on September 30, 1897 at the age of 24, from tuberculosis. Pope Benedict XV, in 1921, opened the way for the process of beatification. In 1923, she was beatified, and then canonized on May 17, 1925 by Pope Pius XI or 28 years after her death. — Johanna T. Natavio/MEEV   (THE FREEMAN)