CALUBIAN, LEYTE, Philippines – The successful Duaw Sto. Niño in Biliran and Leyte brought unity among the faithful, including those at the St. Therese of the Child Jesus Shrine in this town that the Sr. Sto. Niño de Cebu visited.
Stories abound of political foes sitting side by side, young assisting the old and the physically unfit pilgrims, devotees from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao sharing meals, and common people helping one another from the procession to the smallest of things related to the event.
Of these remarkable acts of unity, among people who hardly know each other, however, one story stood above all others: The miracle of St. Therese a couple of years ago.
In 2009, while in the thick of preparation for the town’s St. Therese fiesta, Dr. Editha Henzon, president of the Naval State University, and the workers were putting on the finishing touches of the roof gutter of the St. Therese Shrine.
It was already late afternoon of Vesper’s Day when they realized that they forgot to bring a tin snips, a specialized scissors for cutting sheet metal like tin plate or galvanized iron.
The scissors (tin snips) was needed to cut the GI gutter to finish the works on the Shrine in time for the fiesta, the day after.
Getting the scissors was impractical though, considering the location of the shrine on top of a hill and the distance to the town proper.
With no option whatsoever and the sun started tilting westward to slumber, it was decided that the scissors must be produced, despite the pressure of time.
But when a worker was about to go and get the tool, a stray dog appeared and approached the chapel with a scissor in its mouth.
Determined not to be disturbed, much more by a canine, they tried to drive the dog away several times.
Each time though, the dog was unfazed and continued to go nearer instead of running away from them. The dog then dropped the scissor in front of them, casually left the site and vanished unnoticed.
Realizing the need for an alternative tool, one of the workers picked up the scissors, which Henzon decided to let them used it. After completing the cutting job and installing the gutters, they started talking about the dog.
Out of courtesy, one of them went towards the back of the Shrine to thank the nun or other residents living in the area who could have owned the dog or the scissors or both.
Every body denied owning a dog, much less the scissors. All of them were stunned when the volunteer workers learned about it. So where did the dog came from or the scissors?
They then realized that nobody from this town could have brought the dog and provided the direly needed tool to complete the work of the Shrine, except for St. Therese herself. It was a miracle with solid evidence.
Today, Henzon still has the scissors framed in her office to remind her of the wonderful thing that happened two years ago.
And during an exclusive interview with The Freeman, she repeatedly thanked Hilongos town Mayor Jose Emery Roble who built the Shrine.
Without Roble’s benevolence and sacrifices in building the Shrine, she could not have experienced first-hand the grace of God and the miracle of St. Therese, said Henzon. - THE FREEMAN