November 4, 2021 marks the day I step foot at Regina Rica; the place of healing and prayers. My friend and I had been planning it since last week. You might read a lot of travel articles from me from here onward, since I want to enjoy the last months of 2021. It has been a rough year not only for me but for everyone. To show my gratitude towards the guidance I received from above, I decided to visit places that I can be close to God and nature for mental healing. Still, we can be anywhere and say our thanks to God, he will surely hear us.
Regina Rica is located in Tanay, Rizal. We rented a roundtrip car to and from Regina Rica. We departed at 6AM and arrived at 7:38AM. The place opens at 8am and we still have time to spare but we decided rest rest on the car until it opened.
Before taking our way up, we decided to eat breakfast at the place's "Pasilungan", to be energized for it will be a long way up. After eating, we rested for a while discussing our plans for the trip. Exactly 9:30AM, we packed our things and started walking up to the Chapel. Since we visited Thursday, there is only one scheduled mass at 11AM.
On our way we can't help but be enticed by how big the statue of Mama Mary is at the top of Regina Rica. I can clearly see her smile at the starting trail. We took a couple of pictures since we still have time before the mass starts.
*Just a quick note for everyone who plans to visit Regina Rica, they have a dress code to follow as respect for the place*
It was a short walk up to the chapel and we immediately saw the it and the "Aqua Sapientie".
The mass at Regina Rica is one the best masses I have attended in my entire life, so far. Father's homily really touched my heart. They even had prayers dedicated for Mama Mary. I felt like a child that needed a mother's comfort during the prayer. The Dominican Sisters even prepared a welcome presentation for the first timers at the place and the priest blessed those who have birthdays and wedding anniversary on November. At the ending of the mass, they gave us drops of healing oil.
We continue walking until we reached Regina Rosarii. Before going up to, we lit up candles for our special intentions.
Pink - Family and Relationship, Yellow - Friendship, White - Success
When we entered the waiting area, we refrained ourselves from taking pictures. We want to focus on enjoying the view and the closeness we can get to Mama Mary's statue. We said our prayers and exit. From there, we walked our way to the garden, where you can find the Lock Your Promise area, Labyrinth Walk and the Slepping Holy Family.
Our friendship's promise lock
We ended our trip by wishing at the Aqua Sapientie and tossing coins on the well. After all those walks, I can say that it was all worth it! You will leave the place feeling healed from all the problems you were carrying.
Before going back to Manila, we asked our carpool driver if he can drop us first on Cafe Katerina to take our lunch and to fully enjoy the trip. Good thing, "Kuya" was very considerate of us and let us have the request we asked.
We bought souvenirs from Regina Rica. I really love the paper message in each item. I felt like it was a message sent from above letting me know that I am not alone in this battle.
I highly recommend visiting Regina Rica. Let's just all be a responsible visitors and make sure to only leave our problems not trash at the place. Enjoy!
Thank you for reading this article!
If you want to read some more articles of mine, I have monthly summaries here:
September 2021 Articles Summary
To show my appreciation for the support that I have been receiving, please accept a small gift I prepared for the first reader.
Maybe i would be fortunate enough to visit the Philippines one day. I will definitely stop by to check this place out