Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Earthquake aftermath: The miracles of the two statues of Blessed Virgin Mary in Bohol (?)


MADONNA STATUE AMID RUBBLE A statue of the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus is set at a makeshift altar   before a pile of stones that was the 180-year-old Our Lady of Light Church in Loon, Bohol province, a day after a 7.2-magnitude quake destroyed the church. - Inquirer News


A religious icon remains encased amid the rubble in Bohol province in central Philippines Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, a day after a 7.2-magnitude quake hit Bohol and Cebu provinces. The quake that struck the central Philippines and killed more than a hundred people also dealt a serious blow to the region's historical and religious legacy by heavily damaging a dozen or more churches, some of them hundreds of years old. --Philstar.com


Amidst the widespread devastation in  the provinces of Bohol and Cebu following the deadly  7.2 magnitude earthquake, two statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary remained not only standing but was unscathed or unblemished among the ruins of two churches in Maribojoc and Loon towns in Bohol.

From the Inquirer News: "The earthquake destroyed the church, but it spared our patron" said Fr. Tom Balatayo-- referring to the Our Lady of Light Parish Church in Barangay Napu in Loon Town.

Many people believed this was (literally) a miracle.

I was wondering-- aside from the two statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary  that were unscathed "amid the rubble," how may other statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary got destroyed?

And what about the statues of Jesus?

Surely, there are  scientific explanations to these two 'extraordinary occurrences' in the same way there are reasons why a  toilet bowl  remained  likewise standing amidst the ruins of a house. We certainly will not refer to this as the miracle of the toilet bowl.

 I probably would have believed in miracle  if despite the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Bohol and Cebu, no structures were damaged and most importantly, no lives were lost.