OFWs utilize the internet to hear Sinulog Masses

CEBU, Philippines — The weeklong celebration of the highly-anticipated feast honoring Sr. Santo Niño or the Holy Child Jesus extends beyond the islands of Cebu.

Cebu-born devotees who work and stay outside the country also take part in the festivity, including the religious activities, despite the distance that separates them from the celebration of faith and devotion.

Nichelle Lauron, who works in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and 47-year-old Maria Chona Labrada, who resides in the United States, took advantage of the modernized means of airing the novena Masses through Facebook live.

Lauron, from Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City, always logs online to view the live Masses celebrated for the nine-day novena of Santo Niño that started last January 11.

She participated with the Eucharistic celebration as she faces the altar while watching the online video completing the entire liturgical rites.

"Mokanta ko anang gozos makahilak gud ko. Ramdam kaayo nako si baby Niño bisag naa ko diri tungod kay makakita ko sa Misa ug lipay kaayo ko kay feeling nako naa ra ko diha nagsimba," she said.

The Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu community, which is spearheading the annual feast, just introduced the live streaming via Facebook live.

She shared even her local employer, who is a Catholic too, joined her once in hearing the Mass through the live video.

She said she is a self-professed devotee of the Santo Niño, owing this from the deep religiosity her parents had taught her and to her siblings.

With her deep faith to the Holy Child, Lauron has been saying her prayers and one got answered that is her entry to work abroad that has been her long-time appeal.

What is more disheartening to her is that the feast day and the birthday of her mother fell on the same date yesterday. The feast is annually observed every third Sunday of January.

For Labrada, living in other country with different environment and different culture, one may lose in touch with his or her faith and beliefs as liturgical celebrations are also different compared to Masses here in Cebu.

“Our Mass here in America is more modern and is not as spiritual as the one you have there. Here in America, we don’t have any statue in any house as far as I knew. And the churches here are different too. Masses are not as solemn as we have in the Philippines,” she wrote in an online message conveyed to The FREEMAN.

She, too, professed that she was a devotee to Santo Niño as she was born and raised in Barangay Bulacao Pardo, Cebu City to parents who were baptized and practicing Catholics.

She was just 22 years old when she moved to the USA for further studies. She is now teaching there and now has three kids born in America.

She said she first got married for 20 years but to a man who did not believe in Jesus. She felt her husband was unhelpful of her faith and slowly she is losing grip of it.

Both got divorced and until she met another man who shares the same faith she used to have.

“He was the one who brought me back to our culture and to Santo Niño in Cebu where I came from and where all my family is a native of,” she said.

Over 3,000 devotees from the Province of Cebu occupied the Devotee City for this year's Fiesta Señor.

Fidel Magno, head of the Department of Manpower Development and Placement and in-charge of the registration, said a total of 3,131 individuals stayed in the Devotee City.

"Years back, daghan gyud kayos tanan. Last year, mga around 3,000, karon balik na sad og daghan," Magno told The FREEMAN. — May B. Miasco, Kristine Porpayas & Jheska Mhae Buton (FREEMAN)