Let Us Go Up to the House of the Lord in Guadalupe

The Guadalupe Shrine. Monasterio de Guadalupe. San Agustin Seminary. Our Lady of Grace Parish. Those are the many names associated with that quiet haven right at the heart of Guadalupe Viejo, Makati City. The facade is familiar, especially to those TV fanatics. The church has been from time to time backdrop to numbers of advertisements aired on tvs. I remember Kris Aquino having a shooting inside the church for one of her movies and how the seminarians scampered for some photo opportunity with their idol. I could not forget that one particular incident as I was the one who took the picture. What I can't recall though is the one who had the copy of those photographs as well as those other documentaries I'd made while I was a resident of that venerable place. Hazy also are the many events which took place inside its four walls when we were religious formandees struggling to imbibe the spirituality of Augustine while rationalizing the Summa Theologica of Aquinas.

Now, Marcial Barrios is proposing that we call to mind all those things gone by. He wants us to visit once more the Guadalupe Shrine and perhaps retrace our paths on those ancients steps. Ah, I rejoiced when I read his remarks. As if, the friar is reechoing the Psalmist's song extolling the virtues of going up about the house of the Lord. As if he's beckoning the pilgrim and the exile to experience once more sharing life with those who stayed put.

So I look forward to that day. In the meanwhile, floods of memories came down upon my head. Yes, I now remember that Fr. Rodolfo M. Arreza,OSA, when he was prior during the post EDSA years, commissioned the restoration of the shrine--an event which triggered some criticism from some parishioners. He managed also to write a book (The Guadalupe Shrine) about its history,a copy of which I was privileged to have been given by the author. Years later, Fr. Bernardino Ricafrente, OSA, acting as the new prior, took as his legacy the remodeling of the rest of the structures abutting to the shrine. He was responsible for the imposing "Monasterio de Guadalupe" engraved on the seminary building.

I left the place in March of 1993 and managed only to visit it once in 2002 while I was doing research about my town's elusive history. Much have changed and many events took place which I know not about. Marcial's invitation is worth heeding, that is if I want to retrace my paths upon a road less traveled by.