of devotion and havaianas

 

we went up to antipolo over the weekend to help mum fulfill her yearly panata for my kuya, which is to visit the church of our lady of peace and good voyage at least once a year during this month.

here’s the thing kasi. when my kuya was much younger, he fell from the wall of a school while watching basketball. that accident made him walk with a limp. mum took him to a lot of doctors but they couldn’t do much to make my kuya well. the doctors’ findings even revealed that his condition is much like that of a polio vicitm (umigsi na yung thigh niya). naturally mum got so worried about kuya’s predicament that she reverted to pamamanata. she promised that once my kuya is able to be on his two feet again, she’ll never miss going to antipolo every year during its feast month.

so after the 6am mass, we proceeded to the adoration chapel like we always did. in the anteroom, we took our shoes off, placed it in the pigeonholes then we silently went inside and knelt. we said our prayers and settled down first since mum’s not yet finished with her intentions. then I noticed some of the devotees were carrying their sandals and flipflops with them. curious, I eyeballed it – – –  they were all havaianas pala! 

so it made me think: why did they bother to handcarry it inside the adoration chapel when clearly, there is a designated place for it? were they so attached to the smell of rubber and the cachichas of their feet… or was there a recent case of havies being stolen here?!

makes you conclude that yes, maybe even in the holiest of places, there are “fashion victims”.

sad 😦

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