KULTURA | CULTURE: Closing the Doors of Celebration: A Conclusion to the National Shrine of St. Anne as a Pilgrimage Church for the Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Malolos

     In line with the celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the Diocese of Malolos which was launched a year ago with the theme, “Malolos: Fifty Years of Transforming Grace and Unwavering Faith”, Most Rev. Jose F. Oliveros, D.D, the Bishop of the Diocese of Malolos, has declared that the doors of the chosen pilgrimage churches wherein the faithful received plenary indulgence throughout the yearlong celebration be closed in a rite. These doors of the chosen church for pilgrimage were simultaneously shut by the same member of the Clergy who opened them in the beginning of the event last year.

The rite of the closing of the Jubilee Door of the National Shrine of St. Anne that symbolized it as a Jubilee Pilgrimage Church during the Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Malolos. This was done during the 8:30 Sunday Mass last March 10, 2013, the day before the 51st Anniversary of the Diocese, making it the closing of the whole celebration.

     Just a year ago this was done to the right side door of the National Shrine of St. Anne in Hagonoy, Bulacan. With this, the bishop has assigned the said mother church of the town of Hagonoy as one of the twelve (12) pilgrimage churches of the diocesan Golden Jubilee. Because of this, entering this door within the year of blessing symbolized the blessing of God for the faithful of Hagonoy to receive plenary indulgence as they have successfully done the requirements of praying for the pope, receiving the absolution for confession and receving Holy Communion. The devotees of St. Anne as well as those who had their pilgrimage to the shrine had the same blessing of plenary indulgence given as instructed by the tour guides who are assigned by Rev. Msgr. Luciano C. Balagtas, P.C., the shrine's rector and our parish priest.

Msgr. Valera knelt in front of the Jubilee Door of the National Shrine of St Anne before its official closing.

     A year has passed, and last March 10, 2013, that door of the National Shrine and Parish of Saint Anne which welcomed the faithful of Hagonoy and pilgrims to gain entrance to the faith which the Holy Mother Church proclaims and to experience the grace of God while staying on that church was closed. This was done after a Holy Mass presided by the Vicar General of the Diocese and a fellow Hagonoeño, Rev. Msgr. Andres S. Valera, H.P. Msgr. Valera was also the one who was assigned to open the said door a year before, and now he has been given the task to close it. This was done together with Msgr. Luciano C. Balagtas, Rev. Fr. Gino Carlo B. Herrera, the Parochial Vicar and Rev. Fr. Juvenson C. Alarcon, attached priest.

     The chosen door was the one on the right side facing the church. After the mass, the faithful left the church by passing through the said door and it was closed after the prayers of thanksgiving for the year-round blessing the Lord has given by means of entering that door. A seal which contains the logo of the Golden Jubilee was placed to seal the door as a conclusion of the rite.

Msgr. Valera placed the stamp of the Golden Jubilee, signifying the symbolic closing of the Jubilee in the National Shrine and Parish of St. Anne in Hagonoy, Bulacan. 

     This significant event in the National Shrine and Parish of Saint Anne will always be a reminder for the faithful of Hagonoy that we, the pilgrim Church of the Lord, begin and end with Him. It is also a prompt for everyone that even though these Jubilee doors were closed, still, the Lord, in His grace, opens Himself and continues in the lives of those faithful to Him.