By Minnie Agdeppa (9/26/21) CBCP News
Manila, Philippines
The revered statue of Our Lady of Mercy, the “Mother of Novaliches”, was formally crowned canonically on Friday, Sept. 24.
The image received the crown from Papal nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown during Mass at the Diocesan Shrine and Parish of Our Lady of Mercy in Quezon City.
In his homily, the archbishop reminded that God exalts the lowly just as He did with the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“Today we celebrate her exultation–her coronation–in heaven. God chooses the small and the lowly and He exalts them and brings them into glory,” Brown said.
“That’s what God does with Our Lady and we celebrate that mystery, that marvelous reality in this feast today, in your parish fiesta of Our Lady of Mercy,” he said.
Concelebrants were Bishop Roberto Gaa of Novaliches and retired bishops Antonio Tobias and Teodoro Bacani, who both previously served the diocese.
The celebration coincided with the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy and the 165th anniversary of the parish.
Fondly called by devotees as “InAwa”, short for “Ina Ng Awa”, Our Lady of Mercy was declared the secondary patron of the diocese along her declaration as the mother of the diocese in January.
In June, the nuncio also led the Mass for the declaration of the shrine’s spiritual affinity with the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.
Bishop Gaa said these “graces” received by the diocese through the shrine “are true signs of God’s mercy”.
