The Healing Shrine of Potenciana
The Healing Shrine of Potenciana
The GGM was a healer. One of the secrets to his healing skills was a Bottle of Oil from the Healing Shrine of Potenciana, also known as the Saranza Chapel. For a five year period back in the mid 1980s, the GGM asked his patients to donate a small amount of money to the healing shrine. Eventually, his efforts rose over $7,000 which he donated to the Shrine.
GGM’s ultimate goal was to fix up the shrine and have it blessed by the Bishop of the Philippines. After the blessing, he planned to have a giant party for the village and purchase a water buffalo for the feast. We instructors use to laugh among ourselves about the water buffalo because in Hawaii we had never heard of a water buffalo feast. But we later learned it is considered a delicacy in the Philippines, a 2,500 pound water buffalo could easily feed an entire village.
When the GGM got older and could no longer travel to the Philippines, he came up with a plan to help keep the shrine in a good condition. He continued to massage and ask his patients for small donations. We instructors use to also donate money because we knew how much the Shrine meant to him. The GGM would then write to the caretaker and give him his job requests. He would prepay for ½ of the work. When the job was done, the caretaker would send pictures of the completed project and then the remaining payment would be sent. The GGM would then send the caretaker the next set of instructions. This system worked well and the GGM had restrooms built, the shrine painted regularly and always maintained in good order, the GGM even had a beautiful garden of flowers planted around the building.
The Healing Shrine of Potenciana was soon looking great. The caretaker felt so blessed to have this relationship with the GGM and the instructors that had donated money, he ended up painting our names on the front of the chapel in appreciation for the goodwill.
Hopefully someday, someone will have a chance to fulfill the GGM’s dream of having the shrine blessed by the Bishop in the Philippines and to organize the water buffalo feast for the villagers. I recently meet someone who lives on Bohol and asked what a water buffalo would cost. He told me that it was against the law to kill young buffalo, but old ones sell for $300 to $400.
Are there any volunteers out there to assist us in this request?