VIVA LA VIRGEN! VIVA ! The resounding echo of more than 300 years of devotion to INA, Our Lady of Peñafrancia, is just one of the greatest symbols of a people’s love and fervent veneration to a beloved mother. The word “Ina” evokes vision of nurturing, caring, guidance. So it is with our Ina who provides a safe harbor in stormy seas, a haven for tired souls, a sanctuary for those who seek peace.
It was 571 years ago when Simon Vela and his five companions found the image of the virgin in Monte de Francia in Spain. It was also in the time that the first miracles did not stop happening up to this day. Some people might say that this is not the time for miracles but how to measure the people’s faith?
Faith in Ina is manifested in various ways. In the past, people lived a more simpl life and their faith is may also be simple. They turn to Ina for consolation, guidance and protection. The Bikol Region is a calamity prone area and when the inevitable natural disaster strikes the people turn to Ina for protection and security. But it is really the Bikolanos religiously and piety that make them such staunch, faithful devotees of Our Lady.
The thousand of pilgrims during Traslacion all eager to join the once in a year procession that will take Ina back to the Naga Cathedral is a manifestation of their faith. The teeming mass of voyadores in different colored shirts who push and pull and tumble overhead in seeming near hysteria to get close and touch Ina precariously swaying in her andas is a way of showing their faith. Devotees who wait patiently during the fluvial procession that will take back to the Basilica lining up the riverbank, waving white and yellow flags and holding lighted candles at dusk presenting a sight to raise goose bumps and not to mention those who jump in the river to get cured, get close or just to submerge themselves in water that Ina has passed manifests their faith.
The Peñafrancia festivities keep getting bigger every year together with the activities and people. The Peñafrancia celebrations abound in the month of September not only locally in Bikol and neighboring regions but internationally as far as the United States. Whenever Bikolanos and devotees of Ina get together and congregate to celebrate their faith.
On the other hand, there is the flurry of civic activities that tend to overwhelm the religious activities prompting Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legaspi, O.P., D.D. to gently remind the people that the focus of the Peñafrancia festivities should be to show honor and devotion to our beloved Ina not to become a venue for blatant materialism. After all the Peñafrancia festivities, both religious and civic, all generated from the Bikolanos’ desire to revere our patroness.
Faith is not inorganic nor inanimate but rather constant and growing. It says in the heart of the people in whatever time or situation they might find themselves in.
Faith serves as anchor that keeps people from being swept away in the undertow of greed, materialism and corruption that is today’s reality. Faith also gives much needed relief that soothes and drives away day to day problems and stress.
Faith in Ina is very much present and alive in the Bikolanos and the people. It is a fire burning hot and bright in their hearts. What is important is not to lose sight of the true essence of our devotion. When people see Ina in her resplendent finery and bejeweled crown, think of the simple wooden image underneath and what it represents. It is not material wealth and riches that is important but rekindling the faith, keeping it simple and having it as a beacon of light in this life.