Garin Farm in San Joaquin, Iloilo Philippines is both a farm and a pilgrimage area in one. It's also a resort that integrates agriculture, leisure and pilgrimage, so expect it to be a place where lots of activities can be done; - from feeding the animals, doing leisure activities to Spiritual reflections.
Since I have already talked about the farm in my previous posts, I would only want to share my experience about the additional feature added at the pilgrimage area; - the meditation tunnel and stairway to heaven! It actually went famous in several social media and in the local news, so it caught my attention. With so much interest, I and my husband thought of visiting the place when we went to the Philippines for a vacation.
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| the path |
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| meditation area |
If you want to see the stairway to heaven, you can either do it in two options. Either climb up the 480-step stairways up to the Divine Mercy Cross, or hop on a cart going up with a minimal fee. The most efficient way to do it would be through the stairs; - you get free exercise, and at no cost! ;).
Take note that you have to go through the dark meditation tunnel to reach the stairway to heaven when you are coming from the stairs passing by the Divine Mercy cross.
Once you reached the top, facing the cross, you will be led to a stairs on your right going through the tunnel. It is actually dark because of black walls, and only lit by small LED lights at both sides of the main path. As you walk towards inside, you will then see a meditation area with the image of Christ where you can actually meditate and pray.
At the end of the tunnel is a bright light that actually is breathtaking when you see it...it feels like you are now few steps away to enter Heaven...God's Kingdom!
Once you've passed that bright light out of the tunnel, you will be amazed to see a "stairway to heaven"; a scene that is described mostly in the Bible (a simulation of some sort). The stairs are all pure white, lined by angels blowing trumpets on both sides, until up the main door as you go further inside where you can see more angels all dressed in white facing the Great White Throne, worshipping the Holy Trinity; - God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit on it.
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| Me and my family |
The place has a different photo effects during the night and during daytime. We went there at night and we had the camera flash so it looked brighter. But if you know how to play your camera lights in a darker mode, you might be able to get unique kind of shots during the night. It's just amazing that during night time, the white color appears so distinctively bright.
The experience of seeing a simulated heaven is surely heavenly! You can basically meditate and pray there, plus you get an amazing feeling of how glorious it is to at least get the experience to see a "glimpse of heaven"!
Wonderfully blessed!!!
