THURSDAY. We’ve been doing the visita iglesia for the past four Maundy Thursdays, I think. Every year, we go to fourteen different churches around Metro Manila. There was one time we even went all the way to Tagaytay.

Last year, I decided to take a snapshot of each of the churches we visited. This year, I was planning on doing the same thing, but I realized how distracting that was. I just knew it was going to feel like I was going on a tourist tour, not on a religious/spiritual practice it’s supposed to be. But well, I still took a few pictures.

I told my parents that I’d prefer we go to the more traditional and poor parishes instead of going to those air-conditioned churches of the rich inside exclusive subdivisions. I was ready to argue my points, but then I thought it should not really be about the churches we visit, so I didn’t pursue my suggestion further. And I didn’t want to debate on a Holy Thursday, with my parents at that.

Right now, I don’t remember all the churches we visited. But the farthest one we went to was the Our Lady of Sorrows parish along Harrison in Pasay City. We also went to the church in the middle of the reclamation area in Manila Bay. After praying a mystery there, we decided to stop by the wide promenade nearby. It’s really nice out there. It’s like the bay walk along Roxas Blvd., only it’s much much wider, and much more windy. Once SM’s Mall of Asia is complete, it might just get even better.

FRIDAY. My mom said the day before that we should fast come Good Friday. But no, she decided that we visit their godparents’ place in Kawit, Cavite yesterday. We had lunch there, and it was a seafood feast. I tried to remind my mom that just the day before, she told us to fast and now we’re all eating like we were celebrating. Yes, I was just trying to pass on the guilt.

We proceeded to Amadeo right after lunch. We had our Good Friday mass thing (it isn’t a mass if there’s no celebration of the eucharist, right?) there. Great thing Amadeo is a hillside town and the air was cold and it was breezy. This is really petty but one of the things I don’t like when we go to Good Friday commemorations is that we often have to stand because there aren’t any seats left by the time we enter the church. And we have to stay put like that for two hours. But all’s well in sacrifice and contemplation (who am I kidding, I can’t concentrate while standing up for two hours).

Yes, there was this attempt at trying to make these two days meaningful. And it was, even though there were times when some rational thoughts kick in against all these religious rituals we’ve been doing. But that’s part of the struggle I guess, that makes all of it more profound.

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