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I once joined a concelebrated Mass for a building’s groundbreaking. As the main celebrant and I prepared to distribute Communion, he announced in English and Filipino, “Because we are all sinners, we must all go to Communion.” I walked to the back of the tent, where most of the construction workers and drivers were.
This coming Holy Week, as in previous holy weeks, the entire Christendom commemorates the passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The focus will be on him alone and, to a minor extent, on the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Even the not-very-religious Catholic does Visita Iglesia during Holy Week. Visiting seven churches on Holy Thursday, after the Holy Eucharist is brought to the “altar of repose” by the priest during the procession inside the Church, is a tradition observed by most Catholics.
Meng Canlas, executive director of ABC Promotions, Inc. which produces the “Seven Last Words” on Channel 13 has asked Archbishop of Manila Luis Antonio Tagle to reflect on the 7th Word (“Into your hands Lord, I commend my Spirit”) this Good Friday, April 6, 12 noon-3 p.m.
Today, palm or passion Sunday, we begin the observance of Holy Week. You will notice that in the Gospel readings for the daily Mass the past couple of weeks, Jesus started to declare who he was and what he came to accomplish, i.e., his mission.
A walk in and around Daet, capital of Camarines Norte, is a stroll through history, a heritage mini-tour. There are historical churches, museums, landmarks and monuments to the past.
For the long Holy Week break, Inquirer Books has released several e-books for readers preparing their book lists for the quiet afternoons ahead.
As a child I didn’t find much to look forward to on Good Friday in our hometown of Agoo, La Union.
Holy Week for me and my colegiala classmates was all about retreat (no talking), abstinence (no meat) and fasting (a good time to diet). These were our supposedly little sacrifices to earn us indulgences, the good deeds in reserve in case our book of life in the final reckoning has more bad deeds.
At UP High in Padre Faura, after the war, we read Shakespeare, notably Hamlet, which, like all the bard’s plays, teems with memorable passages like the soliloquies and lines from the dialogue, as when Hamlet tells his stoic friend, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” This, after the ghost scene.
