It's a little late, but I wanted to share a few pictures with you from our very eventful Holy Week. As we quickly learned, "Semana Santa" is the most anticipated week of the year here in the Philippines. There was no shortage of processions, some in the very early morning and others late at night.
The week began with Palm Sunday. Unlike in the U.S., people bring their own beautifully-crafted palm branches from home to have them blessed and to carry them in a procession through the streets. We stopped several times along the way to listen to children dressed as angels and singing songs of praise.
On Tuesday of Holy Week, Fr. Joe invited our mission team to accompany him to the cathedral in Cagayan de Oro for the Chrism Mass. The bishop celebrated Mass, and over 100 diocesan and religious priests were in attendance. After Mass we joined some of the priests for dinner at the bishop's house. Through our work with Fr. Joe, we are blessed to have met quite a few priests in the archdiocese, and we are always glad for a chance to visit with them.
Many Filipinos and even international tourists come to Camiguin during Semana Santa for a pilgrimage walk around the island, ending at "the walkway," a set of life-size Stations of the Cross that wind up the side of a mountain. We didn't complete the entire 63km trip, but we and a few of our friends from the parish staff did walk the 20km from Holy Rosary Church in Sagay to the walkway.
Holy Saturday morning was an opportunity for us to serve the parish altar servers and sacristans, many of whom are also students in our religion classes at Holy Rosary high school. We gave them a short retreat, teaching them about the importance of building a relationship with Jesus through prayer and Scripture study. My stick figure diagrams demonstrating how we should make Jesus the center of our lives were a hit!
Easter vigil Mass is always my favorite Mass of the year, packed with symbolism, special traditions, and Christian rituals, and this year was no different. I was grateful for my English missal so I could follow along with all the readings and prayers. Adult lay ministers and experienced altar servers had an opportunity during Mass to renew their commitment to the Church, and newly-trained altar servers were formally initiated and received their vestments for the first time.
After a busy-yet-very-blessed week, Easter Sunday finally arrived! I never thought I'd be wearing my heavy-duty hiking sandals to Easter Mass, but then again I never thought I'd be a missionary in the Philippines, either. I guess God has other plans sometimes!
Christ is risen, alleluia!!!
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