this is my holyweek 2013

i told you before that im not that super devoted catholic. yes i often go to church, do confession, eat bread, believe in the gospel and do good but i dont stay that long inside the church. if the priest gave his final blessing i run and go home immediately. i am just an ordinary church goer who doesnt join any religious organizations. not that i find it boring but i just dont find the will in me.

The last week of march give me time to reflect all things i did throughout the church year. We celebrated the holy week. It is traditionally a solemn occasion in the Philippines every year. It is a time for serious atonement of our sin. And when i say solemn i mean it.

right after the palm sunday our family start to practice the good old lent tradition. because we are filipinos and in our blood runs the solid catholic faith and filipinos are very much known as a solemn observer of the holyweek. and to think that my mom and my brother are far different from the way i live and believe. added to that was that our country has been spanish colony for more than 300 years. these just shows how faithful and religious we are. this is the filipino way of reflecting god's lessons and sacrifice that are written at the holy bible. holyweek, according to the traditional beliefs, is the season of repentance and mending of immoral living for many filipinos.

there are certain sacrificial acts done during the observance. this includes fasting or limiting one's food intake to one full meal a day and abstinence or avoidance of eating meat from warm-blooded animals. filipinos usually eats fish and vegetables during this season. and since i am a filipino i am not an exception to that! i too make sacrifices and i do not eat meat the entire week. 

here's how i/we celebrate our holyweek. 

we attended the 4:oo am mass at the university chapel. we listen "almost slepping" as fr rudy gives his homily. the mass took almost an hour and a half because he shares a lot of story and reflections.

fr rudy is our new parish priest. this is his first mass during the holyweek. fr rudy find it hard to read the scriptures. it was too dark and his eyes are not that good.

 the twelve disciples and other parishioners 

 the blessing of olives. some made use of young coconut fronds and of different styles but we prefer olives. my aunt planted a lot of olives in thier backyard.

fr. rudy give the final blessing.

 the 4:00 am mass was followed by long procession. 

the procession headed to our main parish church.

at the parish church the setting was like this

 hundreds of people awaits father rudy at the church ground 

 each carrying olive and singing hosana!

 i love those kids...they wake up at an early hour!

i got so many flower petals on that day. mom said we will use it this cropping.

that's me on that 4:00 am mass!

Palm Sunday commemorates the triumphal entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, when palm branches were placed in His path, before His arrest on Holy Thursday and His Crucifixion on Good Friday.

i learned that these palm leaves are known to ward off evil spirits.

fr. rudy is dressed like a king!

his holyweek mass was so solemn that i learned a lot from him. he shares stories joyfully.

many of this parishioners came from afar as we live near the mountains and within the sea.

i wonder how many olives and palm trees were bald these days.

as i said earlier that During holy week my family practice the old good holyweek tradition often we go to our kins to sing the passion of christ and visit our relatives. we go to different churches within our place and pray. My brother known to be a devoted catholic often go to church and do charitable acts. and as an active parish youth leader i seldom see him at home because he and his friends are often busy decorating the church. sometimes they ask for donations and many other things that are necessary for the church. although i am not like him somehow i give a little of my time to do some good deeds. to prepare myself for the holyweek i go to confession and ask for forgiveness for some minor wrong things and perceptions i made the entire year.

this was taken during the holy wednesday procession. i was late because we still have to go to the office and its not yet holiday according to my boss. 

  the image dress are colorful :)

 me and my cousins

 my big family each carrying lighted candles.

most of these holy images are within our neighborhood. some of these are owned by my relatives too. They prepared candles and candies for the kids and often as the sign of thanksgiving to god they give food after the procession. 

among these holy images the agony in the garden is my favorite although it is such a sad event.

lao and mom during the dawn of maundy thursday 

we used to visit hinulid every maundy thursday. that means waking up and drive at 3:00 am :)

 this is the closer look of the santo entiero. we have a deep devotion to him

this is the santo entiero's procession at the parish of la porteria on good friday.

a closer shot of hinulid

those who cant walk stay on the other side...they are my family waiting for the procession to pass by. 

this is the santo entiero in our own parish. its a little bit smaller compared to hinulid.

the twelve desciples on good friday

after the good friday procession my brother and his friends went to the hill near our place. this is where the soledad takes place.

they prepared all the necessary things for the soledad. i wonder how they managed to carry those stones!

this is how it looks like :) it was dark!

my brother took this pix of me during the soledad

this place smells of perfume because he brought all of his used perfumes and spray them to the wooden body of jesus and that too for the clothes and stones.

the moon is hiding :)

i love how my brother and his friends do for the reenactment of soledad

the final look of the calvary :)

the images and the parishioners on their way to soledad.

all dress-up for the saturday night vigil! my brother is a lector and commentator too :)

Holy Saturday night inaugurates the mother of all vigils at nightfall with the lighting of the Easter fire and the sharing of the light of Christ from the paschal candle. Darkness is a necessary component of the Easter Vigil because the coming of Christ’s light dispels it.

i love how the acolyte shot his arrow to have this fire!

on the eve of easter vigil. we brought with us water and candles too.

the fire goes up as high as the church!

then on easter sunday we wake up at 3:00 am and went to church for the easter mass

this is the front of our church. my brother and his friends decorate and design this facade too.

the closer look....all fresh flowers! and balloons :) some of the balloons fly to the moon :) hahha

when this open a lot of confetti's, small balloons, and candy's and choclates fall too :_)

i love those little angels :)

this is salubong on easter sunday!

the resurrected image of jesus.

the resurrection angel for this year happens to be my nephew!

they are all singing alleluiah!

afraid and cried to death....he doesnt even sung his piece to mama mary!

some of the holy image during the easter sunday.

although our parish is only 10 years old we are glad that somehow every year we are getting better and bigger. 

i love how they are dressed!

holy week is about penance, appreciation, and being thankful. on a catholic’s perspective, god gave up his only begotten son to save the world from its sins. it is during the holy week that we commemorate this sacrifice. we may have our own views and opinions as to how we manifest our repentance. we may choose to do things that we know we can, or do things against our limits to achieve fulfillment in repentance. however, we must keep in mind that the method towards repentance is not as important as the reason why we are doing it.

it is of great importance that what we put our hearts in things that we do. doings of the mind and not of the heart are considered useless since these are merely of logical reasons rather than that of sincere emotions.

Religious traditions strengthen our faith and connection to God.  With these traditions, we are able to be better followers.  It is not important what religion you believe in, what religious traditions you follow as long as you live what you believe in  and do it all for the glory of God. Also remember that Religious traditions are meaningless if we don’t do it wholeheartedly.

this is my 2013 holyweek and may peace be with you!