Day 43: Procession on a Good Friday

Mabolo Church, Cebu City

It's the 43rd day of my ICS Volunteering Journey. Today is Good Friday and most of the shops are closed. I stayed at home whole morning and then went to church around 12:30 to join the commemoration of the 7 Last Words of Jesus.

I am a practicing Catholic and I usually spend Holy Week going to the church and listen to the homily and sharing of inspiring people who have witnessed God in their lives. One of the reasons I actually do volunteering its because of how I experienced God in my life. I try to become a follower of Jesus who came to show love to the world. Sorry to sound too religious but my experiences with this community allowed me to show more kindness to others. 

Unfortunately, the 7 Last Words was centralized in Sto. Nino de Basilica and a radio coverage can only be heard at every corner of the church. So, I decided to  kneel down, just pray,  and thank God for all the blessings.

Inside the Mabolo Church, the images of Jesus are
covered with a violet cloth as to reminisce His death.

Later in the afternoon, Me and my counterpart Isabelle joined the procession. There were many people gathering outside the church bringing with them their candles. There were many floats decorated with flowers and lights.

Image of Mother Mary in a Float decorated
with flowers and lights.

In the old days, according to our host aunt, people who joins the procession usually don't wear their slippers which they consider an act of sacrifice. But I believe, more than sacrifice , God just wants us to understand that loving is the greatest sacrifice of all. He doesn't want us to hurt ourselves - He just want us be filled with love and also share love to others.

People continues to flood the streets of
Mabolo to join the procession around 6PM.

It was indeed a long walk and the night was more glittering with the beautiful lighted candles of all those who joined this community walk and prayer.

Glittering candle lights on the streets of Mabolo

I recently read a letter of a Korean to the Philippines. It talked about us being a Christian country, yet, we still experience poverty. It's because maybe we are living Christians by name. Maybe,  the poverty that we experience in our country is not more about Economic - it may be more on greed. It is when people doesn't care to share when they are experiencing a lot of surplus. May the greed in our hearts be replaced with love and sharing.